A haunting view of human behaviour in a strange sort of isolation. The sacrifices we accept from others and make ourselves. Nothing but the Rain is an apocalyptic tale like no other. There is no mountain of corpses, or battle against creatures or demons, aliens or ghosts. The death of the mind is only thing to fear and yet it is more chilling than being hunted.
The main focus however is not on the world itself but rather on the difference between surviving and living. And how sometimes a sacrifice of morality is the most moral thing to do.

The first thought that comes to mind after finishing this novella is that the ending felt too abrupt and I wanted more information. We really don’t get any resolution about the main premise of the story and that left me dissatisfied. Otherwise, the story itself told through the eyes of an old woman Laverne, from her journal entries, was very intriguing. Her fear, panic attacks, paranoia, the idea that she might forget itself - all of her emotions are captured perfectly by the author. There are a couple of twists too which I didn’t see coming and immediately thrilled me.

Ultimately though, without the important mystery of the story being solved, I just found it incomplete. I wish it was a novel so we could have gotten to know Laverne and Zoe better and also get more world building, or I can hope that maybe the author will write a sequel novella and give me the catharsis I want.

Nothing but the Rain was an extremely pleasant surprise for me. In my quest to read all the Tordotcom novellas, I picked it up without knowing anything about the plot nor having heard any other reviews on it and boy did it take me by surprise. Making great use of what I typically think of as an unnecessary literary device of a textual explanation for the main character to be narrating and writing down the events of the story, this quick little novella brings some interesting moral quandaries to ponder, as well as a fascinating and confusing world to explore. But don’t expect answers, this is a book that leaves you to come to your own conclusions. And the conclusion I’ve come to is that this is definitely in my top 5 Tordotcom novellas released in 2023, if not my favorite of the year. Thank you to Macmillan/Tor and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fascinating to me as a person that regularly experiences a lot of rain (gotta love living close to mountains). I loved the creepy rain, it really made me reflect on the melancholy lot of rain and grey skies bring. It was beautifully written, and the mystery was so intriguing.

‘Nothing but the Rain’ by Naomi Salman is a book about a town where it always rains and the mysterious things that the rain brings.

It rains a lot in Aloisville, but the rain also wipes the town folks' memories if they don’t take precautions. Laverne realizes this at some point and starts a journal (as well as writing on the walls of her house). Any trip outside is an ordeal of dressing in waterproof layers to keep the rain from touching your skin. A short exposure wipes short term memory. Any longer exposure can be permanent. When a plan to escape the town is formed, Laverne is hesitant, but treachery finds a way, even in the rain.

I liked this story of creepy rain. I also like stories with narrators who may not be completely clued in. There were a couple good twists and turns along the way as well.

Nothing but the Rain is a debut novella by Naomi Salman. This is a speculative fiction book that takes place in a small town where for some unknown reason, the water is making people forget. The longer you stand out in the rain or are immersed in water, the longer back you forget.

The main character is a female black doctor who is just trying to remember and survive. We follow through her journal, where we find a conflicted, complex character that will instantly draw in the reader.

I left the story wondering, so much so that I normally would be frustrated. Yet, somehow it worked perfectly. I think because this story is less about the what and how and more about the characters we meet along the way. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

TW: death of animal, divorce, language, toxic friendships, murder

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:The rain in Aloisville is never-ending, and no one can remember when it started. There’s not much they can remember. With every drop that hits their skin, a bit of memory is washed away. Stay too long in the wet, and you’ll lose everything you used to be.

By the time Laverne begins keeping a journal, the small town she calls home has been irreparably changed. Every drop of water is dangerous, from leaky faucets to the near-constant rainfall, and a careless trip outside can mean a life down the drain. With mysterious forces preventing escape, calls for rebellion seem to be on every resident’s lips. But Laverne has no interest in fighting. She has no interest in rebellion. She just wants to survive.
Release Date: March 13th, 2023
Genre: Horror
Pages: 93
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

What I Liked:
1. Format of writing in a journal
2. Plot of story was interesting


What I Didn't Like:
1. Journal entries felt redundant
2. Some parts dragged on

Overall Thoughts:
If I could advise you of one thing it would be this; read this book on a rainy day or night. It really sets the mood for what our character is dealing with.

Personally it makes more sense to have more people move into one house together so less walking in the rain.

I thought this novella was interesting. I liked reading about Laverne slowly losing her memory to her struggling to keep a hold on it. I felt like some parts were redundant and some parts really slowed down.

I wish we could have gotten more about who Laverne was as a person so I could have cared more about her journey and wanting to stay in the house other than her just retiring and moving back home. Why did she move back home?

I enjoyed that she changed her mind about wanting to care for Zoe. I don’t know if it was the doctor in her wanting to save lives or that she grew to care about the child in such a short time.

Final Thoughts:
I really enoyed the writing style of the author. I will definitely check out other things from them.

Recommend For:
• Isolation stories
• Character studies
• Strong women
• Creepy towns
• Human struggles

IG | Blog

Thanks to @Netgalley and @tornightfire for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Since we’re fast approaching summer in the northern hemisphere, we should take some time to appreciate some of the things we associate with spring: the turn towards warmer weather, the blooming of flowers, and of course, the life-giving rains. However, Naomi Salman has chosen violence and made the rain something to fear in her debut novella, Nothing But The Rain.

Laverne lives, no survives, in a town she knows as Aloisville. Here the rain makes you forget, and the rain does not stop. One drop wipes moments from your conscience, while a bucket load has the power to erase your entire identity. Laverne survives through her journaling, finding ways to stay connected in the haunted landscape she calls home. There are others, though they are separated by the unending downpour. Precautions have been taken to reduce exposure, and in the haunting tranquility the town stirs to escape. But there is something holding them all back. Laverne doesn’t want to fight but may not have a choice in the matter. So she’ll do what it takes to survive.

Nothing But The Rain is a short and chilling story that cuts right down to the bone. It’s told through a collection of nearly coherent journals written by Laverne as she details her life in the rain. She documents small discoveries about the rain, and clues the reader in to what she might think is happening. Salman’s prose is meticulous and cold, giving Laverne’s voice a sharpness to her world weary perspective. It gives her everyday observations an edge that shadows every sentence. She is exhausted by her predicament, but manages to stay on her toes, on guard for the slightest changes in her circumstance. It’s a tenuous and stressful life that teeters on the edge, and Laverne does everything in her power to keep from falling off.

Salman pulls no punches though in this short narrative. Laverne is pure survival. Her past, while not wholly missing, is irrelevant. The future is inconceivable beyond the next few hours. This is not only displayed directly in Laverne’s words, but in how the diaries are arrayed. They are populated by broken thoughts, long diatribes, quick notes, and semi extensive histories on the ambiguous past. There are times where it feels like she is trying to console herself, the sole reader. Other times it feels like she is justifying to her future self the person she has had to become, as if looking back is a waste of time and energy. Community plans are near irresponsible in her mind, even though she admits their need at times. Salman is incredible at putting the reader in Laverne’s mindset even though from an outsider view, it’s hard to condone her worldview. It’s haunting in its ability to be understood. The fact that Salman leaves a lot of the mysteries ambiguous only heightens the character tensions.

The story is a strong use of the novella, leaning heavily on its vibes and themes to create an unforgettably stressful experience. It’s a horror story about what it means to survive when you’re unsure of who you might be from one day to the next. How it is to live when you’ve been robbed of being able to be human. How can one trust themselves when their memories, written or not can be called into question? It’s a terrifying story that wears its brutality openly, but not proudly. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and leaves the reader with more than they were looking for, despite Salman leaving many threads left tangled. I implore you to dive in head first even though it may not be safe to do so.

Rating: Nothing But The Rain – 8.0/10

-Alex

An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.

If you like to know the whys and wherefores, Nothing but the Rain is not going to be for you. It explains nothing about its central premise, which is that all of a sudden, water (not just rain, but water coming out of the taps as well) induces amnesia in people in a certain town. A droplet of water might take away a few seconds of memory; a sudden inundation might wipe out a person’s entire memory and leave them empty of everything.

And we never find out why! Which I know will be deeply infuriating to some folks, so I mention it first here because it’s important to know. Instead, the story is more about how people might act in this situation, and how one particular person — the narrator — makes her way.

There were a few things other than the basic premise that I feel weren’t thought through. For example, at one point a character does something to the narrator that she should’ve been suspicious about — she has 24 hours of her memory removed, not weeks, so she should notice a particular thing is amiss. (I don’t want to say too much; when this gets posted on my blog [breathesbooks.com], I’ll happily elaborate in comments if anyone else who has read it wants me to point to the thing that bugged me.)

It’s overall an interesting idea and execution, and I don’t actually mind that we don’t know why the situation is happening, but I do mind when things like that don’t connect up. The ending has a nice sting in the tail.

I really enjoyed this novella! It was short and sweet and I ALMOST wish it were longer. However, I completely respect that it is not longer and/or a full length novel because then you would be left with more of the questions you need answers to...answered? My favorite part of this book is the fact that even though I was confused at what was going on half the time, I was fully invested and along for the ride!

"Welcome to Aloisville, rainiest town in the rainiest state. Population: we don’t recall."

Nothing but the Rain is a novella told through diary entries. The rain is dangerous and wipes away memories. Laverne started writing on her walls and in the diary to keep track of her memories and to remind herself of all the things she might forget. The town is barricaded by mysterious soldiers wearing full body suits. Phones are down so there's no connection with the outside world. It’s a quick read, hard to put down and the ending left me wanting to read more!

Nothing But the Rain is a strange apocalyptic novella clocking in at just under 100 pages. Perfectly digestible on this lazy Easter Sunday afternoon.

In it, we follow Laverne, who is keeping a daily journal to remind herself of all the things she might forget. She can't remember when it started. No one can. But they do know that for every drop of rain that hits your skin, you'll lose a recent memory, though there's no way to know which ones it'll take. Stand outside long enough and the rain will wash you clean... completely.

What she does know is that they're quarantined. And it rains every. single. day. And that they have a buddy system in place where neighbors go out to check on other neighbors, dressed up in whatever they can concoct to protect themselves from the wet. They still have power, and food, and bottled water but no cell service. TV's not running either. And the soliders stationed outside the town borders are shooting anyone who approaches. Is this some deranged government experiment? Or a new chemical weapon? Or the beginning of the end of the world?

Laverne writes it all down. Not in the hopes of figuring it out. She's not necessarily seeking answers. She just wants to ensure she survives.

What's intriguing about Nothing But the Rain is that we're limited so strictly to Laverne's experience that we find ourselves questioning what is reality vs what could be the delusions of an old woman. It's tender and tense and atomospheric at all once.

Highly recommend.

Nothing by the Rain is an interesting novella written as a journal. The journal format is needed because the main character Laverne is losing her memories and the journal helps her remember things. Laverne lives in the town of Aloisville where it rains all of the time but this rain takes away your memories. One drop will take away the last minute and being caught in a downpour could wipe away everything. The town is cut off from the outside world, guarded by men with machine guns with no internet. The book follows Laverne and some of the townspeople as they try to figure out what is going on and how to survive going forward.

There is mystery, the most unreliable of unreliable narrators, and plenty of twists in a very small package. I finished this book in one sitting and wanted to know more.

Short yet so intense and beautifully written. Packed with suspense and an engaging layout (Journal entries), I just loved everything about it. Although this was short there was so many twists and theories and the ending was also so amazing - I did not see it coming. I highly recommend, especially if you want something short to help you get out of a reading slump

"Welcome to Aloisville, rainiest town in the rainiest state. Population: we don’t recall."

Literally, the rain makes this whole town forget. Forget what? Oh, well that would be everything. Laverne makes the really great idea to start writing everything down in a journal, which is how we are told this story: through her perspective, in her journal. She is just trying to keep on keeping on, and when people approach her to leave, she thinks that is probably a bad plan.

I loved this story, in fact my only real issue was that I wanted more of it. I wanted to know all the things, but since we are reading this from Laverne's perspective, we are nearly as in the dark as she is (though luckily, we get to keep her memories, as our rain isn't poisoning us, you know, yet). The atmosphere was awesome, I felt Laverne's frustrations and fears so much, and the dreariness of the town really works. The townspeople have found some ways to dampen (heh) the effects of the rain, but one leaky roof can destroy everything. They have to make some very brutal decisions, and let's just say this is not a place I would want to find myself. I would love to read more of this story, or at least from this world, as I was really fascinated and have so many more questions.

Bottom Line: An exciting and very readable novella about an amnesia-inducing rain that we definitely do NOT want to be a part of!

Here we are again, with my love of novellas. Literary gymnasts: Compact, packed with power, and they let all of that go in one shot. Or a compact bow: Draw, hold, and release. Stick the landing or hit the target, it’s all the same. An author has a very short time to make their case.

The two most important components of novella writing are economy of words and sentence construction. The point is to use as few words as possible to construct beautiful sentences that can tell a complete story in 200 pages or less.

Clocking in at just 90 pages, Nothing but the Rain manages to tell us the story of Laverne Gordon, a retired doctor in her sixties who’s divorced and lives alone in a town that at some point was put under a military blockade and quarantine due to some kind of memory-eroding rain that has also infected their water supply. Since no one can remember when the first drops fell, no one can remember how long this has been going on or when it started. Worse, the citizens of the town have no phone service of any kind, no television, no internet access, and no mail. They are cut off from the outside world, so they have no clue if they’re the only ones affected or if they’re some kind of government experiment or if the world has just forgotten about them (if they even knew about them in the first place). The only constant is the rain. Whether it’s a sprinkle or a downpour, it’s always raining.

I think the brilliance in this novella lies in how author Naomi Halman decided to write it in epistolary format. The novella is written as if it is Laverne’s journal that she carries with her, writing down anything and everything she finds to be pertinent or noteworthy, because she knows that without having something to keep track of her days she’d have panic attacks and eventually just go out and sit in the rain until there was no Laverne anymore. But Laverne is a cranky old woman, and some of her entries are dotted with a delightful rancor you only ever encounter with old ladies who are just done with stupid young people and their stupid plans that will only blow up in their faces. But for all that rancor and hand wringing, there is also a deeply settled melancholy within Laverne that can only come from knowing that any day now could be the day. All it would take is one bad day.

It’s a quick read (duh), and I highly recommend you check it out for a short speculative fiction read. If you’re new to speculative fiction, this is a great intro to the genre if you just want to dip a toe in before you go for something a little longer.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All ideas, views, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Epistolary/Speculative Fiction/Novella/5 Star Read

Haunting frightening read. It was short, but dense. Careful attention must be paid. What it feels like to slowly to forget everything. Only to have what was written down to remember anything. The story is written in a way that you have to rely on what was written and what the character was feeling. Everything else, you have to piece together. Who knew water/rain could be so terrifying? Can you trust the narration? Could you survive? Those are some questions that you find yourself wondering.

#NOTHINGBUTTHERAIN #NETGALLEY #NaomiSalman

such an oddly haunting little novella. ‘nothing but the rain’ follows an elderly woman in a town where the rain, for apocalyptic, non-explained reasons, has started to wipe the inhabitants’ memories. the narrator keeps diary entries so she won’t forget, which is a format i’m always into. it’s a quick and engaging read which doesn’t provide any answers but does raise some interesting questions about morality and madness. there was an interesting parallel as well about rather developing dementia and forgetting about the forgetting, than to give in to this apocalyptic amnesia rain. the only downside is i felt like the narrator wasn’t interesting and three-dimensional enough to keep me completely interested in her stream of consciousness the whole time.

Nothing but the Rain is seriously impressive. Salman built an entire world in a limited number of pages and told a complex and compelling story. The number of twists and turns had me second-guessing everything.

This is the kind of psychological thriller I can get behind. We know we have an unreliable narrator, even the narrator knows she’s unreliable. At any moment, the wrong decision can wipe away days or months or years, rewriting everything we’ve come to accept as fact. And since our narrator doesn’t know when this is happening - only that it could happen - it starts to make the reader question what is truth and what is delusion.

Nothing but the Rain packs a serious punch in a short amount of time. It perfectly balances completing the story while leaving you wanting more. I can highly recommend Nothing but the Rain for a quick read that won’t let you go.

Nothing but the Rain is a novella from the perspective of a retired doctor in her 60s who is trapped in a town where the rain erases away your memories. Exactly how this started or how it is happening is a mystery, but we enter the story at a point where our main character has learned to write her memories into a journal. This story is that journal. It begins as a fascinating introduction to the world, investigating what the cause is and the broader implications. At some point, it slowly evolves into a different type of story that I think is best discovered while reading. It was well written, thought provoking, and very compelling. It makes good use of its premise in some shocking and interesting ways. What's more, it ended in a way that I found surprising. All in all, this was a really good read. I can't promise the mysteries of the premise will be solved, but I found it very satisfying nonetheless.