A GUIDE TO OPEN WATER LIFESAVING

A hybrid work of memoir, reportage, and instruction inspired by caring for a partner with PTSD.

“If you cannot avoid contact with a drowning person, if he gets an arm around your throat, the best and most effective way to respond is to go limp and submerge. The panicked swimmer will release their grip if the rescuer is no longer the closest buoyant thing.” Weaving her personal narrative around a wealth of metaphorically resonant information on aquatic lifesaving and wilderness survival, Eubanks follows three books of investigative journalism with this comprehensive opus, which includes extensive resources, bibliography, notes, and index. In October 2015, her partner, J., was attacked and severely beaten by a gang just across the street from their home in Troy, New York. A second attack occurred less than two months later, this one involving verbal abuse, threats and being chased through the streets by “a drunk who took issue with J’s non-gender-conforming clothing.” For the next eight-plus years, Eubanks assumed the role of J.’s “caring kin,” joining an army estimated to be 59 million strong. In 2024, 23% of American adults provided an estimated $600 billion of caring labor for adult family and friends—81% of which was unpaid. And as this book so eloquently illustrates, these caretakers may end up with collateral PTSD themselves. Eubanks is both a thorough reporter and a beautiful prose stylist: “[C]are is limitless. It is as inevitable a part of the human experience as death. As restorative as a walk in the woods or a float in a mountain pond. As depthless and sharp-edged as winter, as abundant and gentle as spring. Care is as boundless as air, as water. And as easily poisoned.” There is a great deal of space devoted to Eubanks’ experiences with kayak self-rescue training, winter survival 101, orienteering, bushwhacking, wilderness first aid, lifeguarding, all of which help to set her on the path to healing. No stone is left unturned.

This eloquent, well-buttressed plea for improved support for trauma survivors is itself a significant contribution.