Rising Water : A Non-Fiction Book That is Actually Good?

Rising Water is a book by Marc Aronson which covers the real-life events of the 2018 Thai Cave Rescue. I would like to start this review by mentioning that I personally have never had a liking for nonfiction books, and I honestly think they are bland and coma-inducing after five pages. Usually, when looking for a new book to delve into, I overlook anything remotely related to nonfiction. But this time, I wanted to mix things up.

As I was looking for a book, I headed over to the Interesting Reads for Teens section in my library, and Rising Water caught my eye for one particular reason. It was short. That’s right, I chose to read this book because it was short. “Only 100 pages, jackpot,” I thought to myself. I decided to just start reading the book without looking on the internet about the events that occurred. I was completely expecting this read to be a mundane process, where I would have to read one page at a time to understand what was going on. How wrong could I be?

The book starts with a prologue which gives some context into the situation. Twelve boys and their coach, all belonging to a soccer team called the Wild Boars, finish their soccer practice one day and decide to visit the Tham Luan Nang Non Cave. People were advised to not enter the cave during the monsoon season, which was from July to November, because if the cave flooded, it could become one of the most dangerous caves in the world. But it was still June, and there hadn’t been any rain in a long time, so they thought they would be safe. While exploring, they were keeping track of the time because they told their parents that they would be back by 5 P.M. that evening, but didn’t tell them that they were going to explore the cave. They started to explore the cave, going deeper and deeper into this mystical area, crossing water paths and not turning back. Soon, they realized that they had gone too far in to make it back home in time. While they were exploring, there was a heavy downpour, and the water levels started to rise. When they tried to head back, they found that everything below them was completely flooded with nowhere for them to go. Their only option was to wait until the water level went down or until help came.

When 5 o’clock passed, the soccer players' parents started to worry. They had no idea where their children were, and they were starting to panic. Luckily, one boy from the soccer team came home right after soccer practice because he was the only one without a bike. This boy knew the others were in the cave and told everyone else. Everyone headed towards the cave, hoping the boys and coach were still alive. Soon the governor of Thailand was at the site, summoning the Thai Navy SEALs to try and find the boys. The story appeared in headlines in global news. Soon, people from around the world with various skill sets, even Elon Musk, came to see if they could help in any way. Putting aside differences in opinion, everyone worked around the clock to get the boys and their coach out of the cave.

            While reading this book, I was constantly amazed by how engaging it was. It almost replicates the feeling of watching a documentary on this topic. In fact, I recently learned that Amazon Prime has just released a documentary called Thirteen Lives on this exact story, and the trailer is pretty exciting. I’ll probably watch it! Reading the book, I never felt like there was a boring part, because you were always so worried if the boys would survive or not. Additionally, the book not only talks about the rescue, but also about socioeconomic problems in Thailand and around the world that relate to the people being rescued and the rescuers themselves. At the end of the story, I finally grasped the underlying message, which is that who a person is doesn’t matter, but how they act does. During a crisis, when people put their differences aside, barriers such as language, social status, and ethnicity become trivial, and the only goal is to persevere as a group until the crisis is solved.

            Now, the book hasn’t changed anything about my hatred for nonfiction. It’s still my dominant feeling toward nonfiction. But even if you are someone who absolutely hates nonfiction, this is the book for you, simply because I don’t think nonfiction can get more interesting than this. It just won’t happen. And on that bombshell, it’s time to end. Goodbye.

-Sri