Nothing but the Rain
Ratings12
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings12
Average rating4.1
A sleepy little town discovers its memories have become part of the water cycle in Naomi Salman's debut novella, Nothing but the Rain. The rain in Aloisville is never-ending, and no one can remember when it started. There’s not much they can remember. With every drop that hits their skin, a bit of memory is washed away. Stay too long in the wet, and you’ll lose everything you used to be. By the time Laverne begins keeping a journal, the small town she calls home has been irreparably changed. Every drop of water is dangerous, from leaky faucets to the near-constant rainfall, and a careless trip outside can mean a life down the drain. With mysterious forces preventing escape, calls for rebellion seem to be on every resident’s lips. But Laverne has no interest in fighting. She has no interest in rebellion. She just wants to survive.
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“Welcome to Aloisville, rainiest town in the rainiest state. Population: we don't recall.” Laverne has lived here for... well, a while. She knows she moved to Aloisville with her husband before their divorce, and at some point, it started raining, but when? There's no way to know for sure, because there's something in the rain water that erases the memories of the people of Aloisville. One drop, and you might lose just a moment, but the more time you spend in the rain, the more you forget until you're just a husk that starves to death because you don't remember how to eat. The town's been blocked off, and the citizens of Aloisville try to plan an escape, but Laverne wants no part of it. She just wants to stay home and stay alive.
I happened upon the audiobook of this novella randomly while looking for something short to listen to last night after I finished a long book. I decided to start it on my nightly walk with my dog, and when I stepped outside, it was raining. I have to say, walking a block in the rain while listening to the journal of a woman who is terrified that the nearly never-ending rainfall outside her house will strip her of her memories was, uh, quite the experience! The narrator, Soneela Nankani, is partially responsible for that, as she really did a great job capturing Laverne's personality and constantly shifting emotions.
It was interesting to see how the people of Aloisville adapted to the rain and how it affected Laverne mentally. The mystery of the rain was my favorite part of the book and I enjoyed coming up with theories about its origin along with Laverne. Her theories were better than mine, though. Because the story is so short, it's hard to say more without giving too much away, so I'll stop here with this: I think the ending was perfect.
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Nice little story. I want more. But I like the letters and the end was a gag even though it felt more like an intro. I love stories that jump right in and don't tell you anything and you have to get on board or get left behind.
This little dystopian horror tale chilled me right to the core. In Aloisville, it's been raining everyday—how long this has been going on is anyone's guess, because the rain washes people's memories away with it. Even a single droplet can erase your morning, and the more the rain touches you, the more it takes away. This novella is told through Laverne's journal entries as she attempts to find a way to hold on to what is happening, to make sense of it all, and it's like a trainwreck you just can't look away from no matter how much it horrifies you.I loved the fact that this story was told through journal entries, because you know you're only getting a small portion of the story. Laverne really has no clue what is going on, but she has her theories, and all we can do is guess along with her as more is slowly revealed. Perhaps the most unnerving part of the story for me was how Laverne suspects the government (and maybe even some of the citizens around her) knows more than they're letting on, because her rage and fear and paranoia are palpable and it's so easy to imagine ourselves in her shoes.Laverne herself is a very flawed, yet enjoyable character to read through the lens of. She's a 63-year-old retired physician who is very bright, capable, and entirely unused to feeling so helpless and oblivious. She comes off as crotchety and irritable most of the time, which added a reality to her character that I loved because it was so easy to imagine meeting someone just like her.My only complaint about Nothing but the Rain, and the reason I gave it 4 stars despite gushing about it so much, is that it's too short and would've benefited tremendously from being developed into a full novel! I hope that Salman will consider revisiting this world, maybe through a sequel novella, because there are so many questions I want answers to and so much more time I'd like to spend with Laverne.Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.✨ Representation: Laverne and a side character are both Black✨ Content warnings for: amnesia, memory loss, mentions of dementia, fear, paranoia, death, euthanasia of humans, mentions of abandoned or endangered animals, brief description of pet death (car accident), child endangerment, vague mentions of child death, kidnapping, gaslighting, violence, minor gore ———twitter booktok bookstagram blog
