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A story to make you question your own assumptions, emotions and actions.
Water Under Water is the story of Jim and Tom Campion, a father and son who share a passion for the water. Jim is a high achiever - Tom has Down Syndrome. The novel is as much about their struggle to love and accept each other as it is a boy's coming of age tale.
Tom and his Adventurers Club, all young adults with special needs, go on a white water rafting weekend with two carers. Jim, Tom’s dad, at the insistence of his wife Fran, is to drive and join them. Tom is now 19 and Fran has told Jim that she is not sure that she can love Jim anymore as she does not believe that he has allowed himself to love Tom in the same way he loves James, their older son. The rafting trip is a test of love – in every direction. And it tests a lot more.
Challenging the stability of a long-term marriage and what can wrench it apart or fritter it away, the constitution of a perfect family, independence and adventure, living with disabilities - this novel is about love.
Reading Group Book Questions
- A central issue in the story is what makes us different, what makes us the same. Did you feel that the characters of Jim and Tom help develop this idea?
- What role did the character Andy, Tom’s old best friend, play in the story?
- Is Jim a bad father? Did you see him in any sense as a victim?
- Water Under Water is told mainly from two points of view – Jim’s and Tom’s. How do you think this approach affected your understanding of the two characters?
- Do you regard Water Under Water as ultimately a tragedy or as a celebration of a hero?
About the Author
As a young man Peter Rix started out to become a writer. He lost his way and then spent years selling cognac to the Chinese, mushrooms in paper bags, developing a golf course for bored Canberrans and providing childcare for a generation of Australian mothers. For the last twenty years he has written a number of business textbooks for the tertiary sector, including the award-winning Marketing: a practical approach, published by McGraw-Hill and now in its 7th edition. Five years ago he returned to creative writing for solace. He completed a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and was published in the 2008 UTS anthology We All Need a Witness. Peter lives in Sydney’s inner west with his photographer wife, Jenny, and their adult daughter with Down Syndrome. Water Under Water is was inspired by his daughter and her friends with intellectual disabilities, their love of life, their humour and courage.
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In The Press
“A brilliant book.”
Sunday Herald Sun
“A masterful first novel.”
Barbara Baker, Good Reading
“The direct nature of Rix's language evokes an emotional response by not overwhelming the reader's imagination; so much is conveyed in tight, closely rendered communications. This is a successful debut with a closely wrought narrative that holds the reader from start to finish. As Rix forces Jim, a lifelong high achiever, to discover the extent of his love, we witness an author unafraid of asking life's big questions.”
Louise Swinn, The Australian
