Having lived in so many areas of the country, I have always enjoyed reading works of fiction by authors who are local to the area where I am currently living. It is interesting to get a regional historical perspective through the intertwining of real places, people and events in order to understand the backdrop for an author’s story. Anita Shreve is a masterful author from New England who has taken a real event—a horrific double murder of two Norwegian women in the Isle of Shoals in the late 1800’s, and married it with the story of a modern-day photojournalist who is investigating this “crime of the century” murder. The story is set off the coast of Maine on the island of Smuttynose, where Jean is researching the details of the bloody axe-murder. Jean and her poet-husband Thomas set out on a weekend boat trip with their 9-year-old daughter Billie, on a sailboat captained by Thomas’ brother Rich, along with Rich’s latest, and very flirtatious girlfriend, Adeline. Adeline seems to have a very specific knowledge of Thomas’ poetry, which she continues to quote back and forth with Thomas during the boat trip, to the point where Jean becomes suspicious of Adeline’s familiarity with her husband. Meanwhile, Jean uses some old letters and a diary of Maren’s to shed light on what might have happened to cause the infamous axe-murder on this small island off the coast of Maine.Shreve concurrently weaves in the storyline of the Norwegian wife, Maren, who is married at a young age to a fisherman from Norway who becomes obsessed over moving to America, where much wealth is to be made in the fishing business. She ends up isolated on a bleak, cold island, where she has very little contact with other people, until her older sister Karen arrives and imposes herself into the already small, dreary space that Maren and her husband share. Another lodger, Louis Wagner becomes entrenched as a tenant in the already-cramped duplex house, and he eventually becomes accused of the bloody murder that takes place. The problem becomes, however, that most of the circumstantial evidence pointing to Wagner’s guilt is questionable, despite leading the reader to the plausibility that he is responsible.Shreve alternates the story between Jean’s existence on a small watercraft with her family and an unknown, mysterious woman who flirts with her husband, and Maren’s existence in a cramped house with her family and tenant. The storylines, feelings and emotions begin to blur and boil over in such a suspenseful manner, and we see that Jean can no longer separate herself emotionally from her investigation of the Smuttynose murders. As Jean discovers more and more about Maren’s life, she begins to question her own life, and what consequences might arise from taking certain matters into her own hands as the tension builds during a storm later during the boat trip.Shreve has a way vividly describing the landscape and pulling you right into the scenes on the boat and in the freezing landscape of the Isle of Shoals. This was a fairly easy read that kept you guessing and wondering about what really happened, and the story had a shocking ending that makes this book worthy of its title.
Anita Shreve (author of the much-touted "The Pilot’s Wife") has done the near-impossible in "The Weight of Water." She has written two tragic tales, separated by more than 100 years, and coiled them seamlessly into one compelling narrative. This is one of the most emotional, provocative and exciting novels I’ve read in a long time. For those who dismissed "The Pilot’s Wife" with a shrug, this is THE Shreve novel to search out at the local bookstore. "The Weight of Water" is a much better crafted work than the more recent Oprah pick.In the novel, a photojournalist named Jean gets an assignment to do a photo essay on a 100-year-old double-murder that happened on the Isles of Shoals, a tiny group of islands off the coast of New Hampshire. Jean brings along her poet husband, her five-year-old daughter, her brother-in-law and his new girlfriend. They all climb aboard an old sailboat and head out for the barren islands. Turmoil brews as quick as afternoon storm clouds. Jean and her husband Thomas have a strained marriage, full of jealousy and stony silences; Rich, Thomas’ brother, has a physically passionate relationship with his girlfriend, but their relationship also shows signs of trouble when she starts to flirt with Thomas; then there’s the volatile relationship between Thomas and Rich. Let's just say, it’s a far cry from the Love Boat.Shreve skillfully gets the reader involved in the soap opera when, in the first few pages, Jean and Rich take a trip onto the island to photograph the murder scene. The attraction and tension between them is as palpable as the briny sea air.Interwoven with the modern story is the saga of what happened on the island in 1873 when two women were brutally murdered with an ax. This part of the novel, told in a memoir by another woman who hid in a cave after the murders, is even more intense than Jean’s marital woes. I don’t want to spoil any of the delicious narrative surprises Shreve has in store, so I’ll just say that there’s insanity, jealousy and incest at work on the island in 1873—problems that continue to resonate and haunt characters 100 years later.As she proved in "The Pilot’s Wife," Shreve has a sure touch when it comes to accurate, detailed descriptions. With an admirable economy of words, she gets us right under the skin of the characters. Here’s Jean’s lament from the opening pages of the novel: "Sometimes I think that if it were possible to tell a story often enough to make the hurt ease up, to make the words slide down my arms and away from me like water, I would tell that story a thousand times."Fortunately for us, we are given the story and all of its pain and passion.(As an aside, Shreve’s descriptions of Smuttynose Island and the rest of the Isles of Shoals were so graphic and interesting, that I immediately searched the Internet for photos of the area. I found one site [though there may be more] that had a collection of beautiful images: http://www.perpublisher.com/shoals.html)
What do You think about The Weight Of Water (1998)?
Este livro suscitou em mim emoções contraditórias. Primeiro porque achei em certas partes a narrativa maçadora, mas depois, sobretudo para o fim do romance, tornou-se bastante empolgante saber-se o desenrolar tanto do crime antigo, como do próprio romance actual vivenciado entre a personagem principal e secundárias.Fazendo uma análise geral do livro gostei do livro no seu todo, embora mais na parte final, visto ter tido bastante mais acção e menos “palha” e momentos supérfluos. Jean leva-nos a conhecer a história das duas mulheres assassinadas na ilha inóspita de Smuttynose, mas também de Maren, uma mulher ligada às mesmas e também aos seus assassinatos. Através do seu diário vamos percebendo um pouco da realidade da ilha, das mulheres que foram assassinadas e que têm uma ligação de parentesco com Maren e de alguns segredos de família que vão sendo revelados aos poucos. Ao mesmo tempo que tenta perceber a história do crime de há cem anos, Jean vive também uma fase problemática na sua vida. Assaltada de ciúmes em relação ao seu marido e, ao mesmo tempo, caindo em tentação em relação a um outro homem, Jean vai viver momentos de grande contradição nesta viagem que se vai revelar numa grande descoberta em relação ao seu relacionamento e em relação ao seu eu.
—Maria
I was surprised when I finished this book to discover I kind of liked it when there are so many reasons not to. 1)The long and largely irrelevant passages about Maren's life in Norway. 2) The unexplained hostility between the two sisters (Maren and Karen--yikes--imagination where art thou?)3)The past story of the murders and the present tale of jealousy went off the rails at the critical moment. Frankly, the whole narrative from the past didn't hang together very well.4)The cliched moody drunk poet husband pining for his dead girlfriend of 30 years ago. No one wants this guy, stop inflicting him on us. 5) The protag, Jean is not very bright and quite self-absorbed. She makes stupid, impulsive choices but I have no clue why.6) The child is supposed to be 5 but she seems closer to 2 or 3 to me. A small thing but it kind of bothered me. 7) There didn't seem to be a reason for anything that happened on that boat. A lack of common sense must be privilege of the upper middle class. I liked it though because of the setting, the boat, the tension Shreve built when she wasn't boring me with detail on Norwegian life. And I suppose because Jean was so flawed. Her paranoia and obsession with Adaline were compelling to watch. Painful. It was that lack of common sense, the stupid complusive choices that change our lives forever that Shreve was exploring and even if it had bumpy moments, over all I thought she pulled it off.
—Nadine Doolittle
Anita Shreve wrote two tragic tales, separated by more than 100 years, and coiled them seamlessly into one compelling narrative.In the novel, a photojournalist named Jean gets an assignment to do a photo essay on a 100-year-old double -murder that happened on the isles of Shoals, a tiny group of islands off the coast of New Hampshire. Jean brings along her poet husband, her five-years-old daughter, her brother-in-low and his new girlfriend. Shreve skillfully got me involved in the soap opera when, in the first few pages, Jean and Rich take a trip to the island to photograph the murder scene.The attraction and tension between them is as palpable as briny sea air.I quite liked Shreve's description of Smuttynose Island and the rest of the Isles of Shoals -- so graphic and interesting that I immediately searched the Internet for the photos of the area.However, there are also many reasons not to like this book; the past story of the murders and the present tale of jealousy went off the rails at the critical moment. Frankly, the whole narrative didn't hang together very well.
—Yumiko Hansen
