Deep Salt Water

Synopsis

Deep Salt Water Is An Intimate Memoir About Abortion, Expressed Through A Layering Of Language And Imagery Of The Ocean. The Story Gravitates Around The Reconnection And Ongoing Entanglements Of A Couple Who'd Had An Abortion Twenty Years Earlier. Interdisciplinary In Nature And Entre-genre In Style, Deep Salt Water Is Organized As Thirty-seven Separate Pieces, Divided Into Three Sections (or 'trimesters') That Detail The Couple's Love Affair And Unwanted Pregnancy; The Abortion Itself; Their Separation And Tenuous Reconnection; And The Sorrowful, Urgent Attempt To Come To Terms With The Abortion And Its Consequences. Included In Its Pages Are Two Innovative Elements-a Series Of Collages By Visual Artist Catherine Mellinger And A Section Entitled The 'afterbirth, ' Which Discusses Environmental Issues That Informed Apostolides' Writing And Moves The Book From A Place Of Intense Intimacy To An Outward Focus That Engages With The Broader World And Our Shared Responsibility And Hope.--