The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Weight of Water
Book Review: Better than Pilots Wife
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked up Weight of Water because I had enjoyed The Pilot's Wife but I ended up liking this book even better.Book Review: Bounced hard off this one.
Summary: 2 Stars
This was seriously disappointing. Many of you folks out there have told me I should really read Anita Shreve. When a coworker lent the book to me, I was expecting Great Things.
I didn't find Great Things. I found several nice ideas for a novel. I found a few atmospheric moments. I found quite a vivid and evocative depiction of marital jealousy. I guess that I need to characterize all these points as Okay Things, or even Good Things.
But then there were the Bad Things.
First, the prose style. Although I went in with high hopes, Shreve's diction made me uneasy nearly immediately. It was awfully poetic. I don't mean that in the good sense of the word. Overripe? Something like that. I didn't start liking it better by the end of the book.
Second, the combination of stories. As I said above, *both* stories (jealous modern wife/ interesting historical murders) had a lot of promise. To my mind they did not fulfill that promise-- individually or together. Specifically, I really found the treatment of the murders distracting and weak. The way that Shreve tried to weave them together felt choppy and forced. If she'd stuck to the crumbling marriage, she might have had a minor novel about intense jealousy and a femme fatale a la Duras. It wouldn't have been awful. But mixing the two just didn't work for me.
Third, the ending felt hurried and nonsensical in several respects. I can't say much more without spoilers. Kind of as though the beat of the novel was "I thought THIS. I thought THIS. I thought THIS. I thought THIS." and it built with intensity. But then at the last minute Shreve wraps that obsession up with "but I was wrong. THE END." Very odd. Not effective, at least not for me.
Fourth, I really really really hate letters and diaries that purport to be historical, but that never read like anything except a novelist's invention. People just don't write like that. It annoys me like fury. I'll admit that this point is such an irritation for me that it might have prejudiced me against the rest of the book.
Anyhow. I don't think that I'm going to go looking for any other Shreve books anytime soon. I'll gladly hear it, however, if you think this book is atypical for her work and can recommend something better.
Book Review: Captivating but I felt manipulated
Summary: 4 Stars
I was captivated as I read this book, thought the facts of the historic murder initially put me off. It seemed insensitive to write about such a tragedy specutively and for people's entertainment and to make up such sensational material about the historic victims. I was fascinated, though, and got so involved with the story for a while that I put aside my initial feelings of voyeurism and distaste. Much of he writing was so evocative felt and thought the author did a beautiful job of showing and not telling and totally drawing me in. The sense of place was powerful and the interweaving of tales mezmerizing. When I finished the whole book, however, I felt annoyed. Both the historic and modern plots had implausibilities that ruined the story for me and seemed contrived. I felt as if things happened for effect rather than flowing naturally and authentically from the characters. I simply did not believe the historic account could have happened as it was told and felt again that this was disrespectful to real people for others' entertainment. The modern death seemed incongruent, too, and added for horrifying effect, not really related thematically to the historic tale or the modern one. It was a beautfilly written book that seemed to not live up to its promise and make the seeming authenticity of the earlier feelings inauthentic. But I still would recommend it as much better than most books with lovely and captivating passages, an engrossing and compelling plot, and much in the characters that was real and of the essence and what one reads books for, insights about people and how we feel.Book Review: Compelling Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the first Anita Shreve book that I read, and was so impressed that I recommended it to my book group. I have since read several other Shreve books that I enjoyed, but this remains my favorite. I particularly liked the story within a story device, but have to admit I found the account of the century old murder more interesting than the present day events.The ending was not as satisfying as I would have hoped it might be, but I would still find it a good re-read.
Book Review: Compelling with an interesting slant on history.
Summary: 3 Stars
I was easily drawn into this book, with the concurrent stories, one in the present, the other in the past. The author slides sometimes confusingly between the past and the present. The historical background on the Isles of Shoals and its inhabitants is great, and gives you a very real sense of what the islands immigrants suffered in making their new home in this seemingly uninhabitable place. Shreve had me right there, up until the end! While her paranoid musings of her husband's supposed infildelity was gripping, I found myself being annoyed with her response. The book's end made me throw it across the room! While I was completely involved in the book, I was disappointed that she chose to end the book in the way that she did. It seemed to me to be counter to all she wrote about how she cared for her child, always wanted her near, etc. In the end I was left with a sense of loathing for the mother, and felt the book raised too many questions which it did not answer.