Ben H. Winters reviews Drowning Practice in The New York Times: “‘Drowning Practice’ is a book about a dream, and it reads like a dream too: melancholy and luminous, looping and discursive, resistant to easy interpretation. ... and like many dreams, it has stayed with me in the waking hours since I emerged.”

Kirkus reviews Drowning Practice: “The world Meginnis crafts for what could be the last nine months of life on Earth is haunting and haunted, a reality in which people who are too afraid of death to either take their own lives or wait until the end of the world beg strangers to kill them. But against this grim backdrop, Meginnis engagingly finds ways to bring Mott and Lyd real happiness while avoiding clichés or tired, easy answers. Twisty and moving, this is an apocalypse novel that will keep readers guessing till the last page.”

Publishers Weekly reviews Drowning Practice: “Meginnis (Fat Man and Little Boy) sets a mother and daughter’s escape from an abusive ex-husband against a pre-apocalyptic backdrop in his layered sophomore effort. … Meginnis writes well about the dread Lyd endured when living with David, and an ambiguous ending leaves many open questions to keep the reader pondering. Many writers continue to imagine the end of things, but Meginnis has found a new way to make it disturbing.”