“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳? 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥? 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺? 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?”

A2.5 rounded down. Thank you Spiegel & Grau for inviting me to review and providing advanced readers copies via NetGalley! This is classic sad girl lit fic written in observant prose. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it was for me for the first 65% of the story. Even by the end, it still wasn’t.

Let me break it down for you: Gaia is coming-of-age but unlike many, she recoils from connections and relationships, despite the fact that secretly, deep down, she desires them. This story is highly introspective as we readers are privy to Gaia’s inner thoughts about everything, from her disdain against classmates with wealth and status while her family struggles to make ends meet and she wears hand-me-downs from her brother, to her rage about her tumultuous home life with a bitter mother who labors extensively for her family to compensate for her father’s physical disability. This anger, resentment, is what Gaia uses to distance herself from her pain and grief, desires and longings, from everyone.

It’s sad, yet also relatable in ways; that challenging season of life that is adolescence, when we struggle with our identity, social circles and status, family life, education, desires, and explorations. But this one was too sad. Too depressing. I hoped so much that things would turn around for Gaia, that she could grow and look beyond her circumstances, learn and heal, move on, but she remained more than content in her misery, at times deliberating turning into it, knowing the outcomes would be devastating. I listened to this one in small dosages over the course of about two months because it was exhausting. The writing is lovely, the narration well done, but the story? I need to go find something lighter now. Thankfully another bookstagrammer felt the exact same, so I know it wasn’t just me.

Parts of this book were beautifully written with sensitivity and care but somewhere in the middle section the over descriptions and long winded lists became a chore to read. I really liked the mother, who through ingenuity and extreme hard work kept this family of four children and a disabled husband together, securing them better accommodation and lives. Meanwhile her self absorbed, self centred daughter did nothing to help the family, either in terms of financial or emotional support, expecting that everything should be provided for her. She hid her family and home life from her friends and when not studying had a dilettante lifestyle. I wasn’t totally surprised to learn at the end of the book that it was loosely based on the author’s life and knowing human nature tries to paint a kinder picture than the reality, then I can only begin to imagine the sociopathic reality. Maybe the writing of this book was cathartic and therapeutic to Guilia Caminito, one can only hope.

Will appeal to Ferrante lovers; explores similar themes of adolescence, working class Italy, enraged-and-highly intelligent female protagonists. Much of this is set in a lakeside town an hour or so away from Rome, and that change of setting is welcome — a seaside feel with festivals and beach clubs and fried fish and small town dynamics. This is a sad and angry book, and I think that earned it another ½ point at least, because I was sad and angry while reading it. The writing is very good, but could be challenging to some, veering into poetic prose for chunks at a time. Haunting.

This is such a big character driven story, which is beautifully done. And I think it's such a good look at girlhood and how that can be a struggle and how loneliness is such a thing and the fact that there's the Italian theme in it, it's just beautiful, beautiful read.

A coming of age story and family saga that will transport you and is well worth a read. Finally translated from Italian, and the writing is incredible, so kuddos to both the author and translator.

The Lakes water Is Never Sweet by Julia Caminito, This book is told through the main characters perspective and as it wasn’t heavy on conversation I really didn’t get a grasp on her name I know it started with an M like Marella or something like that but either way I really found myself more into the book than I usually would be on such a slow burn story it was about a girl her angry brother who was older by four years and the younger brothers the twins her disabled dad and her fierce mom. Her mom‘s character was definitely flushed out big time having a big sense of right and wrong Never giving up and if she determines it to be right she will not stop until others see it the way she does. Thanks to her mom’s can do attitude, they went from a one room cement floor basement to a three bedroom home by a beautiful lake and we get to watch the young girl or rather hear about it as she grows up in and around Rome. she runs into some horrible people Some kind people and I found it all very interesting. As I said I usually do not like books with no conversation and nothing that helps the story move forward but there was something about the writing style although translated that I really liked I don’t know if it was the easy in which she told it IDK but I really did like this book.#NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #TheLakeWaterIsNeverSweet,

This is a beautifully written, emotionally intense coming-of-age story about class, rage, and disillusionment. Gaia is a compelling protagonist, shaped by a volatile home life and the brutal expectations of her environment. Caminito’s prose is sharp and immersive, capturing both tenderness and simmering fury.

That said, the unrelenting bleakness made it hard to stay emotionally connected. Gaia’s bitterness and isolation, while understandable, left little room for hope or softness. Powerful and memorable—but not an easy or particularly uplifting read.

I enjoyed this novel and the author. It felt reminiscent of Elena Ferrante, one of my favorite authors. The reflection on female friendship and family dynamics over time is a topic that will always be a favorite. The author did a great job brining naunance to all the characters in the book.

This was an intriguing, albeit difficult read. It reminded me of Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend in the way the characters think and deal with issues and the overarching relationships that form the heart of this novel. I will be buying this when it's out for my shelf!

The Lake's Water is Never Sweet follows Gaia, an Italian teen growing up with her family in Rome. Gaia and her family live in poverty, defining Gaia's life. In her English language debut, Giulia Caminito's writing of Gaia's struggles coming of age with friends and relationships with eloquence and realism. Gaia's sadness, rage, and alienation felt so authentic that I needed to take breaks to process. I love that the book didn't follow the usual map. Gaia's story, raw, painful, and heartbreaking rang true. I recommend The Lake's Water is Never Sweet to readers interested in strong character-driven stories.

Girlhood, coming of age, fraught female friendships, lakeside towns… say less. Giulia Caminito’s English-language debut follows a young woman, Gaia, whose family moves from a poor suburb of Rome to a beautiful town by a lake in an attempt to escape their poverty. Gaia’s family is falling apart, her parents and siblings all struggling in their own private ways. Gaia builds a tenuous friendship with two local girls and tries to fit into her new life, but she begins to believe she might always be an outsider. And then something terrible happens to her friends, and her fragile new life falls apart. A complex, precise portrait of the loneliness of girlhood, The Lake’s Water is Never Sweet is exactly the kind of book I’m looking for this year.

A gorgeous, lyrical coming of age story that reminded me a lot of Elena Ferrante. The Italian translation reads great and I was transported to Italy through the author's beautiful book. A great summer read.

This was an amazing read. Gaia,a young Italian girl grows up in poverty,in a town 20 miles outside Rome. Life is tough. Her Mother works all hours to provide while her father is wheelchair bound following an accident at work.She is bright and can hold her own academically but her poverty is obvious. She is bullied until she fights back in an unexpected way. We follow her trials and tribulations with her family,her few friends,her fellow citizens. It is unsentimental. It is addictive. While reminiscent of My Brilliant Friend it is quite distinctive in tone and characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

A coming-of-age story set in 1990s Rome. This is the author's English language debut.


The things I liked:

(1) The mother- Antonia. A fierce woman whom one does not cross.
(2) The author's note- It's at the end, discovered a lot of the topics were historically based; I wish it had been at the beginning.



What I didn't like:
(1) Gaia, as our protagonist, filled with rage, I failed to connect.
(2) I found this was a slow read. I kept turning my attention to other books I was reading.



There are so many 4-star and 5-star reviews of this book, I encourage everyone to try it out for themselves. It wasn't my cup of tea. But it might be yours!



#TheLakesWaterisNeverSweet #NetGalley.
Publication Date 08/07/25
Goodreads Review 14/07/25

1990s. Rome. Coming of age. These are some of my forever buzzwords and, man, does Giulia Caminito know how to harness the powerful, inescapable feelings of living in extreme poverty.

Our main characters are a mother and her daughter. We meet Antonia, Gaia, and the rest of their family in a Parasite-like basement apartment in the bowels of Rome, From the very first lines, we are swept away in their undertow; riding fast and furious from upper class Rome to its lakeside suburbs and back again. We’ see, with visceral realism, the lengths Antonia and Gaia take to get out of poverty. The strikes and protests they no longer are able to join. The various jobs they must keep. The amount of extracurricular homework them must do to keep afloat among the elite and privileged children. It is both deeply frustrating and incredibly heart rendering. The talent Caminito exudes in each sentence is exuberant, and she is not afraid to let her reader sit in their discomfort.

This is a powerful English debut and stands up to the excellent Italian translated novels we’ve recently been gifted.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early ARC of this book. It is beautifully written and definitely a book worth checking out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Spiegel & Grau for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved the storyline and the characters. I thought it was well written. I would definitely recommend this book.

A touching coming-of-age novel commenting on social class, familial ties and friendship, offering a raw and realistic look at growing up and trying to fit in. This brilliantly captured teenage thoughts and emotions, especially when faced with difficult situations, showing the intensity of these experiences and the impact they can have.

I loved that we got to follow our main character, Gaia, across many years, as she discovered what she wanted amidst peer pressure and familial obligations. Highly recommend this one!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. It’s the 1990s in this book and that is my favorite decade so right away I loved this book. This family was very relatable as they hope to escape poverty and Gaia, the daughter is a wonderful main character. As she navigates friendships and.l betrayals she becomes even more relatable. The themes of a fragile mind, pain, and determination are strong in this plot but most of all I loved the great detail and emotion on every page, no sugar coating needed at all. This was a beautiful and deep look at the feelings most of us have had at one point in life.

"It wasn't about that horse, it wasn't about the competition, and it wasn't about not having enough money, it was that no one seemed to care about hurting you."

The narrator, Gaia, takes us with her from childhood to young adulthood as she tries to make sense of her relationships with her family, her peers, and perhaps most difficult of all, herself. She's an unreliable narrator in the way that pretty much all of us are: No matter how much we might try otherwise, ultimately we can rely only on our own perceptions.

If all this sounds philosophical and cerebral, "The Lake's Water Is Never Sweet" somewhat is, especially for a coming-of-age story. There's not much joy in it either; Gaia seems to be a poster child for persistent depressive disorder. Much of the writing is beautiful, however, without being showy. And though I don't necessarily want to admit it, I could relate an awful lot to Gaia. She's a character who resonates, and I'm glad I made her acquaintance.

Thank you, Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley, for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.