Lately, I’ve noticed a renewed interest in books from the 1960s and 1970s. Normally, that isn’t a time period I’m drawn to, but this novel, set in 1969, never felt like a barrier to my enjoyment. Instead, the setting blended naturally into the story and quickly faded into the background.

I’m drawn to dark, emotional stories, and this book did not disappoint. It is deeply sad and heavy, the kind of story that stays with you. The novel is very character driven, which I appreciated, as we move from person to person throughout the book. I especially liked how the perspective even shifts to the boy who drowns, allowing the reader to experience the tragedy from multiple angles.

As a mother myself, I strongly connected with the portrayal of a mother grieving the loss of her son. That grief felt raw, honest, and painfully real, adding a powerful emotional layer to the story. Overall, I found this to be a moving and well-written novel. I gave it 3.5 stars, and I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

Thank You to NetGalley for the ARC

This book was just absolutely incredible! I could not stop thinking about it for days. I couldn’t get over the ending.

The Lifeguard had me captivated from the very first sentence. Told through shifting perspectives, the story unpacks all of the details - even seemingly mundane ones - that occurred before, during, and after the tragic death of a young boy.

The story was haunting and is sure to stick with me, but I also deeply appreciated the strength of writing. Every word felt carefully selected, and though perspectives shifted frequently, it never felt rushed or distracting. Instead, I felt immersed in the characters, their world, and their emotions.

I’ll be purchasing this one for my shelf when it’s released in May.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

I found The Lifeguard to be beautifully written, with a strong sense of atmosphere and thoughtful prose that made it easy to stay engaged. At times, however, the repetition of certain paragraphs and ideas pulled me out of the story, and I wasn’t always sure what purpose the repetition was meant to serve.

The ending tied everything together neatly, which was satisfying, though it leaned a bit saccharine after the tense drama on the preceding pages.. Overall, I appreciated the author’s writing style and the emotional tone of the book, even if some narrative choices didn’t fully land for me.

the different perspectives in this book can really show you different points of view, even how that can change considering mood of the time or even who that person in is general, where our first thoughts might jump to naturally? its like in families where siblings even can experience the same event so differently. here we have an incident where wide views come differently.
this is such a strong and story full of sadness but also full of so much feeling.you could feel the atmosphere of the moments. this was an emotional read for sure. you are remembered and certainly for someone how much small details can very much matter.
you feel right into the shifting perspectives. they felt like they each had their moment to talk, think and for us as readers to feel and join them there.
the feeling from the pool, the tragedy and to the people felt totally immersive. you are sad, unsettled and also feeling so sorry for so much innocent lost her both in children and adults alike.
how memory can alter, change, and sit for an individual. how sight and thought might shift even from the person sat right next to you.
this book was so raw and honest at time i felt it within my own heart.
a stunning book. one i dont think I've read the like of quite like this before. and i enjoyed every moment of it, if i can say enjoyment when it comes to a book like this. what a beautiful and emotional story it was with a unique way all of its own.

What a read. So many angles to the story. Direct writing, no fluff. Great read.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. The Lifeguard is the first book by Laura Kasischke that I've read. The Lifeguard herself is everything a teenage boy in 1969 would want her to be - blonde, long tan legs and strawberry lip gloss. Hiding behind her pilot's sunglasses, its hard to know who she is watching, until she blows her whistle at the offending youngster who is disobeying the community pool rules. On the summer day in 1969 that the astronauts were launched in their quest to reach the moon, a smaller but more devastating event takes place at the pool club. Five year old Richie doesn't really care about the launch much to the dismay of his father but he cares about getting to the pool just in time after adult swim to maximize his time in the sun and chlorine. Unfortunately, there is a tragedy that day at the pool, intricately written and described painfully by the author. The lifeguard is blamed for the tragedy and is shamed by the town - her school mates, her church and its difficult for her single mother to cope with the town's reaction. This was a 5-star read for me - very sad, very beautiful and I'm eager to read more by Laura Kasischke.

The Lifeguard is a quiet, unsettling novel that stays with you. Laura Kasischke sets the story in a Midwestern town in the summer of 1969, unfolding alongside the backdrop of the Apollo 11 launch, a moment of national awe that contrasts sharply with the private tragedy at the center of the book.

After a young child drowns at a local swim club, the teenage lifeguard on duty becomes the focus of the town’s grief and suspicion. Notably, she remains unnamed throughout the novel, a choice that reinforces how easily she is reduced to a role rather than seen as a person. The story moves forward and backward in time, gradually reshaping what that day meant and how it was remembered.

The pacing is deliberate, and the atmosphere does much of the work. The pool, the heat, and the closed-in dynamics of a small town are heartbreaking, real and beautiful. Kasischke allows silence, rumor, and distance to accumulate, rather than forcing resolution.

This is not a loud book, but it is an absorbing one, particularly in how it captures the long shadow cast by a single moment.

#TheLifeguard #LauraKasischke #RedHenPress

I cannot stop thinking about this book. Laura Kasischke’s The Lifeguard is a quietly devastating novel about grief, culpability, and the fragile mechanics of memory. Set in Mission Hills, Michigan, during the summer of 1969, the story unfolds around the drowning of a young boy at a crowded swim club pool, which is a tragedy that ripples outward through time and through the lives of those who witnessed it. Kasischke structures the novel through shifting perspectives and layered recollections, revealing how a single moment can fracture a community and transform an ordinary afternoon into something mythic.

The brilliance of the novel lies in its juxtaposition of national triumph and private catastrophe. As Kasischke writes, “three American astronauts had been launched into space in the direction of the moon,” while chaos quietly builds around the pool where the child disappears beneath the water. The teenage lifeguard—sunburned, adorned with “tiny silver doves in her pierced ears”—becomes the town’s scapegoat, her ordinary gestures rendered tragic in retrospect. “His whole body would be like it felt to be made out of water, free, swimming away and leaving yourself and all the walking and sitting and standing behind you, always stuck on the ground without ever having the wind pick you up and pull you over” is a perfect metaphor not only for the astronauts in space, but of dying, of death, of the hereafter. It’s gorgeous, sad, and thought-provoking.

Kasischke’s prose is superb: sensory, lyrical, and precise. Through a harrowing confluence of small decisions, distractions, and chance, The Lifeguard reveals how history and accident intersect, leaving behind questions that no amount of hindsight can fully answer.