The Weight of Water

The prequel to "The Last Time They Met," this is by far the better book. It provides a great deal of insight into the character of Thomas, the melancholy and ultimately doomed hero of the latter. And it also poses, I believe, an interesting question: Is tragedy predestined?

It certainly seems so in the two intertwined stories told in this book. The first, based on dual murders that actually took place in the 1800s, is the story of a Norwegian woman who is transplanted to a desolate and uninhabited New England island by her fisherman husband, there to live for many years with little or no human companionship under the harshest of circumstances. Her life is so rigid, so devoid of any tenderness or care, so barren (the fact that she cannot conceive a child is a metaphor for her entire existence) that her ultimate tragedy seems inevitable.

The second story is that of Thomas, a poet whose entire ouvre is limited to one collection of brilliant poems, an outpouring of grief and emotion about his first love, tragically killed in a car accident. Married to a photojournalist, Jean, Thomas seems half a person--desperately trying to regain his art, but in his way as barren as Maren, the lonely Norwegian wife. His only real joy is his and Jean's precocious and adorable 5-year-old daughter, Billie, whose mere existence has kept her parents in their difficult marriage. As Thomas and Billie accompany Jean on a photo assignment that will document the historic facts of the murders that changed a small group of Norwegian immigrants forever, Thomas seems to be unraveling. Situated with the others on a schooner piloted by his brother, Rich, Thomas seems to be a cypher, only alive in brief spurts punctuated by interactions with Billie and Rich's flirtatious girlfriend.

The steady unraveling of Thomas's sanity (and thus his marriage), juxtaposed against the story of Maren's own unraveling, makes for a heavy reading experience. And yet the book is so well written, and so insightful, that it moves along very quickly toward its inevitable and tragic ending.

Highly recommended, especially when paired with "The Last Time They Met," which should be read second, although I inadvertently reversed the order.

Having just created a Reading Club with 14 women of diverse backgrounds, ages, and Ethnicity, this book proved to be an excellent choice. Chosen predominantly because of the author's prior work and recommendations from this site, it yielded an invigorating read by sweeping the reader into two different stories set within one novel. Although at times I found the constant transitioning from the current day story to the SmuttyNose Murder story disruptive, I soon realized there was a reason for this style of writing and that perhaps Shreve was trying to lead the reader to some story parallel's. I was quite surprised that so much of the novel involved the actual historical story of the SmuttyNose Murders. I enjoyed this immensely as it kept the reader questioning the outcome of the investigation even centuries later. This book had much discussion material and I would recommend it for a group if interesting and lively discussion is what you are seeking. I look forward to reading more of her works.

Having read several other people's reviews of this novel while I was reading it, I generally agree with most of their criticisms. "Weight of Water" has a fascinating premise--a photojournalist goes back to the scene of an 1800's crime in New England in which two women were murdered on an isolated island, while one woman managed to escape. The story shifts back and forth (with little notice to the reader, but the transitions aren't difficult to follow) between the present-day story of Jean, the photojournalist, who is boating to this island with her husband, her brother-in-law and his attractive girlfriend, and her young daughter, and the story of the murder.

Based on true events, the murder is narrated by the survivor, Maren, who wrote a narrative document that Jean pinches from the local historical society. The tension of Maren's story concerns her loveless marriage, her frail (at best) relationships with her sister Karen and her sister-in-law Anethe, and her deep love for her brother Evan.

BOTH stories have the potential to be interesting. I began the novel with high hopes. However, neither story really pays off. For the whodunit to work, there would need to be more tension. You start to suspect the murderer's true identity too early, and ultimately you find that none of the characters in this story are very sympathetic. Plus, a key element to caring about this story is to know more about why Maren adores her brother so much--we get a very veiled hint, and that's about it.

The present-day story also suffers from a lack of sympathetic characters. Jean is interesting, but when her character stumbles (I won't reveal how) late in the novel, the question is WHY she reacts in this manner rather than delving deeper into her problems with her poet husband. The brother-in-law and his girlfriend come across as too one-dimensional, although they are supposed to be pivotal characters in the relationship between Jean and her husband.

A lot happens in this novel--a murder story is resolved, Jean comes to a point of personal crisis, and a death occurs in Jean's story (again, I won't tell you who). But the narrative is so flat (and slow, at times) that it's difficult to remain attentive, much less sympathetic.

I can't imagine not finishing this book once you start it, but it's difficult to imagine being drawn in by any of these characters.

This was a very enjoyable book. I read it in about two days. The plot was pretty suspenseful, and the way it was written really hooks you in and makes you want to keep on reading! I liked the historical references and murder-mystery plot, and I found the fictional parts of the novel to be interesting as well. I find the author to be a very good writer and look forward to reading more books by Anita Shreve. If I could change one thing about the book, it would be to make the transition between the fictional character Jean's thoughts and the historical character Maren's tale a bit more seamless. At times the switchover was very choppy and abrupt, without even a change of paragraph. Of course, perhaps the author wrote it this way because she was trying to show how intertwined and tangled-up Jean was becoming in Maren's tale, and how Jean couldn't separate her own emotional angst from the historical character's due to the fact that she identified so closely with her. This book was about love, jealousy, choices, and betrayal (but not in the way that you'd think!). I believe many women would enjoy this book and I recommend it to all.

This was my first time reading something from Shreve, and I will read her again. I like how she goes back and forth between the story lines, with simultaneous climaxes of both stories. You can feel the oppression of the women as you read. Very absorbing, I highly recommend it.