Nothing but the Rain

“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.

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. 

I reviewed this book for the Hugo-winning blog Nerds of a Feather:
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2023/03/nanoreview-nothing-but-rain-by-naomi.html

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
Rain makes people forget. One woman tries to figure out why, and who's keeping the population of Aloisville captive in the constant downpour.

Review
Purely through my own error, I went into this expecting it to be a longer version of a different story I'd read from Tor about rain. Within the first page, it was clear that wasn't true, but I do admit that I went in expecting a lyrical, emotional story, and this is more middle of the road adventure.

There's nothing wrong with that. At the same time, the story felt long to me – a good short story stretched out to unsatisfying novella length, and I thought it showed. The concept is interesting, but never really explored. The story focuses more on the daily mechanics of one woman's reaction – a little bit of her analysis of how the rain causes memory loss, a little speculation as to why it's happening, and how she writes reminder notes to herself. There are a few red herrings about her identity that are not explored, and the causes are not really explored either. As a short story, that might have worked well. As a novella, I expected much more from the resolution and didn't get it.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.