The Waters: A Read with Jenna Pick

I honestly can’t say if I liked this book or not. At times it seemed never ending. At other times it went too fast. I liked the story, then disliked it the story. Just not my typical read.

The Waters is of the contemporary rural noir genre which is slowly growing in popularity now. The author is an accomplished writer who pulls various family and community secrets into a complex story...one that starts "Once upon a time..." and makes references to characters in The Wizard of Oz and other stories. Better followed if you read the written word rather than just listening. But if you are listening to it, listen for the title of the chapters which are more obvious in the writing. Also, the book has a map of parts of Michigan where the story takes place. The audio version does not.

This book has me thinking of the women in my family and the traditions and stories passed down. W we all know a woman who knows natural ways to cure ailments and wonder about modern medicine. We know men who own guns and shoot at any number of targets without considering why and consequences. This town screas religion, yet practices gossip and machoism. Hatred is just under the surface

Good book with an intriguing storyline. Characters were well developed. This book could have been based on a real story. What hog happens would be believable given the time period and setting.

I finished The Waters last night. I’m beginning it again today.The language is so beautiful, so rich, so densely textured, I want to….eat it, like I want to eat one of Herself’s Blackbird Pies. And I want to re-read all about the characters now that I have learned to know them during the first reading. I am in awe of an author who can create such disparate, detailed, characters; people who weren’t just slotted into the book to serve a purpose, but flawed and believable and complicated human beings. There are passages in the book—oh, concerning the men doing a hard and beautiful thing in the swamp and experiencing a rare moment of tenderness for one another—that literally made me weep. It’s a feast of a book, and one I know I will read and re-read for years to come.