It’s 1985, in the valley-of-the-squinting-windows type of small town that is Kettle Lake, a fishing community on the edge of Michigan’s Great Lakes. We follow Joanne ‘Joey’ Kennedy over the course of a formative teenage summer, as she navigates her sense of self and sexuality in tandem with the unspooling of her family.
The Polite Act of Drowning has all the evocative small-town drama and mystery of Celeste Ng, anything Reese Witherspoon has gone near recently and, also, Jessica Fletcher’s beloved Cabot Cove.
The backdrop to the summer of 1985 is the tragic drowning of a young girl, an accident which stirs up uncomfortable memories for this tightly knit community – especially for Joey’s mother, Rosemary. There are a lot of tangled dynamics here, friendships that tip and sway from the pressure of peers and social hierarchies, marriages on the brink and betrayals building up.
Hurtubise pulls the world of this coastal town into focus quickly and there’s a warm nostalgic streak running through her descriptions. Snapshots of the everyday in Kettle Lake are well framed, especially of the diner, where an older woman still sartorially committed to the sixties paces behind the Formica as if it were her cage, the customers watching her like an endangered bird.
At points, the characters do start to feel thin and their operation within the plot feels a little mechanical. There is a strong cast of characters in this story but they lack a sufficient level of depth outside of their “role” within the progression of the plot.
As Joey hits the milestones of teenage transgressions in quick succession with her new friend Lucinda, her home life becomes more unstable and dealing with both simultaneously churns up difficult emotions. Sexual discovery and queerness is well done here and Lucinda and Joey’s bond is an exquisite portrayal of teenage friendship. This storyline is where Hurtubise is at her best, working her way deftly through the sensitivities and politics of young female bonds.
The Polite Act of Drowning is an impressive debut, establishing its author as someone with a keen eye for emotional detail and luscious scene-setting. Hurtubise’s coming of age tale balances the tension of the trouble brewing in this community with the vulnerability, joy and pain of growing up.
