Swimming in the Dark

This is being marketed as a close kin to [b:Call Me by Your Name 10706388 Call Me by Your Name André Aciman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1515781839l/10706388.SX50.jpg 1363157] and in a sense it is. However where [a:André Aciman 2922229 André Aciman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1262677849p2/2922229.jpg]'s story was sweet and almost ethereal like a perfect summer pop song or a lemon gelato [b:Swimming in the Dark 45169231 Swimming in the Dark Tomasz Jedrowski https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582771710l/45169231.SY75.jpg 69872587] will leave teeth marks and possibly scars. It should.The blurb does a good job of summarizing the story so I won't rehash it. What mesmerized me was [a:Tomasz Jedrowski 19076173 Tomasz Jedrowski https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1578253527p2/19076173.jpg]'s lyrical style, his use of language which is at once poetic and cutting like a knife. Ludwik's journey of self discovery in the course of an idyllic summer, the rude return to the reality of life in 1980 Poland, and his disappointment in the face of Janusz's pragmatism is heart wrenching. I felt his loneliness, his sense of otherness in his own country for being gay, for not believing in a political system that's rotting from the inside. So good. ps. This isn't a romance.