This novella was a great piece of fiction and kept me invested until the very end. I loved the persona and the voice of the diary writer and really liked the way the book was setup and how it snowballed into revealing more information about what was going on. The mystery is never completely revealed, however it was the unsettled nature of the read and the information that seems to shift from section to section. I would love to read more from this author. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Unfortunately, I did not finish. This is a book with high premise but pretty weak execution. This could’ve possibly worked better as a short story of maybe 20 pages, but at 96 pages I could quickly tell we were just gonna meander for the majority of the book so it was best I let this go and move on to something else.

To be honest I’m not sure how I feel about this book. It’s a science fiction dystopian novella about a town in which never ending rain wipes away peoples memories. It was very atmospheric and the journal entry format worked for me for a while, but I found this boring. It was a repetitive and I didn’t really understand what was going on.

At first, I wasn’t engaged with the journal format of the story, but as the book went on and more questions were raised and things began to ramp up, I was really engaged! This was a really great story, with a great voice and atmosphere!

I read an ARC of Nothing but the Rain from NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group.

This short story is written in small spurts as a journal. It chronicles the life of an older woman stuck in the "rainiest" town in America. The thing is, this rain isn't just depressing, it's stealing people's memories. If any of the rain falls on you, gets on you, memories disappear, starting with the ones closest to the surface. The protagonist has found herself forgetting she had a kitten, to forgetting that she had the car running when mourning for the kitten when she ran it over by accident.

The reason she's even keeping the journal is to make sure that she has a chronicle of what has happened, what she's learned, and approximately how much time has gone by. She also learns that they can drink the water from the pipes as long as it's been out and "dead" for two, to be safe, three hours. She also writes certain facts on the walls, parts that she wants to make sure she won't forget even if she loses the journal.

She also has a "buddy". A single mother with a toddler who she resents but who is also her connection to anyone human and the woman is an electrician so she can help her out when things go out around the house.

As the story goes on, more and more questions are raised. It turns out there are armed guards keeping them from leaving the city. And that a part of the city either died or lost their minds and that's why the buddy system was implemented. The story dives more and more into the mystery of who these people are to each other. If they can make a plan to get out. What is happening outside? How much of their lives they have lost and have people used the water on each other and how has that effected what happened in the past.

This all happens in this short story, and honestly, it's amazing, and I really adored this short story and all that it brought up. I have to say, while I like the questions, I would have liked a few more answers, but overall, if you're looking for a quick dystopian story to read, this is a good book to pick up!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Nothing but the Rain" is an epistolary dystopian sci-fi novella about a rain that washes away people's memories. The story is split into 3 sections, with the first two being formatted as diary entries and the third as a confessional letter.

The MC is an older African-American lady and that was cool to see (I think it took place in America anyway). We don't get a lot of senior citizen MCs in SFF and I'd like to see more of them!

Despite how short this is, I actually got a bit bored around the middle, feeling like the characters and the world had been established but the action hadn't really started yet. Overall it was satisfying, I just think the prose could've been tighter.

Fair warning to readers - "Nothing but the Rain" was "Bird Box" - esque in that most of your questions won't be answered at the end. I know this structure works for some people and very much does not work for others.

Even though this was not a long novella - it was still a DNF finish and I gave up around 30% when it was clear the book was just going to go around in circles with little or no resolution. Something in the rain effects the memory of a small town (are they part of a wider experiment?) and whenever the old woman tries to do something about it, she forgets what she was doing. Momento style, she keeps notes, but it doesn't make any difference. By the time I hit DNF it was clear that the book was going to follow this pattern for its remainder and I had had enough of it.

"Nothing But the Rain" is an odd, poetic 96-page novella told through personal diary entries. Laverne lives in a small, Isolated town surrounded by soldiers and from which no one can leave. Most importantly, it rains constantly and the rain causes one to forget within ninety seconds. The piped water too has poisoning and memories fade as quickly as they are made. Notes on walls are pretty much the only salvation else all would be forgotten. There's no news from the outside world. The only question though is whether it's real or madness has fully set in. That question is never answered. It's a short absorbing story, reminding us all of what it's like to lose one's grip on reality and how much we depend on even the briefest of memories.

WoW! Salman has created a very unique story.

Nothing but the Rain by Naomi Salman was a captivating dystopian type novel.
The whole concept here is brilliant.
I mean rain that's been coming down nonstop in Aloisville is never-ending, and no one remembers when it started.
Here in a sleepy little town called Aloisville with every single drop that hits their skin, a bit of memory is washed away.
So if you stay outside too long you’ll lose everything you used to be.
Tell me that's going to be one great story? And it was truly was.
The characters are well thought out and written.
Laverne, all she wants to do is survive and that she does.
It was quite interesting and fun to see how this all played out.
I very much enjoyed this debut novel and believe Naomi Salman executed it.
Overall, the book itself was really a great experience and I look forward to more of her books in the future.

Tordotcom,
Thank you for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

If there ever was a book to read on a rainy day.
Not just any rainy day, but those days when it feels like rain is ever going to end, like it’s always been and always will be raining.
This is a story of a neverending rain…with a trick. It brings amnesia. The raindrops wipe away your memory, so depending on how wet you get, it’s anywhere from forgetting where you were going to forgetting how to stay alive.
A very dangerous rain indeed.
There’s no explanation for it. It’s just what’s going on in this novella. We know about this because we are told epistolary style via diary entries of an older woman, a determined survivor. She writes things down so she doesn’t forget them, she conducts experiments to determine the rain’s effectiveness, etc.
Maybe it’s only rainy in her small corner of the world. Maybe it’s a government experiment. There’s military perimeterring the place after all, making food drops, etc.
Now some of the locals have planned a revolution of sorts, one the story’s protagonist wants nothing to do with, but one way or another, things are about to change.
Nothing but the Rain is a fine story. It uses its epistolary style effectively, has an engaging protagonist and a compelling narrative. There’s just sort of not enough of it. Mind you, I’m all for brevity and succinctness, but this story does leave a reader wanting more. Which isn’t a terrible thing by all means. It’s just more of the “Apocalypse: slice of life” sort of thing than a complete story. Or maybe you just have to use your imagination. Again, by no means a terrible thing.
Very brazen of a publisher as hyperwoke as Tor to put out a book where an older black protagonist is written by a young white person. What? No whimpers of cultural appropriation? Did everyone suddenly remember that fiction is meant to be fictional and imaginative? Awesome.
Anyway, this novella was a quick fun read. Thanks Netgalley.

This dystopian novella kept my attention. I enjoyed Laverne's old lady attitude..

The loss of one star is because though some of the story is resolved in the ending, we are still left with an unsolved mystery. Just what was going on here, and why?

Laverne is a retired doctor stuck in a quarantined rainy town where the rain makes you forget. A single drop makes you forget the past 90 seconds, and being stuck in the rain longer can result in an empty husk of a human. With no idea how it began or how long it’s been, Laverne’s only goal is survival.

I was in the mood for a novella and I really enjoyed this one! I loved the premise, the prose, and the sassy narrator. You know it’s good when you gasp at the last line. I do wish the reader got clarity on what the hell was going on, but that’s pretty much how novellas work most of the time so I’m not too torn up about it. The mystery of it all ended up working anyways. Overall, a very quick and intriguing read. If you enjoy novellas with post-apocalyptic setting or science fiction, totally recommend this one.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.