≫ Read We Are Water A Novel Wally Lamb 9780061941023 Books

We Are Water A Novel Wally Lamb 9780061941023 Books

Download As PDF : We Are Water A Novel Wally Lamb 9780061941023 Books

We Are Water A Novel Wally Lamb 9780061941023 Books

I'm a huge Wally Lamb fan (I Know This Much is True is my favorite book of all time, and She's Come Undone is very unique and well written) but wasn't too crazy about The Hour I First Believed, so I didn't have super high expectations for this book but was so pleasantly surprised! I'm really impressed with how realistic his characters are, especially the female characters that he probably has little in common with (also what amazed me about She's Come Undone). His writing is very thoughtful and thought provoking. I initially didn't care for certain characters but then as they are developed you can really understand why they do or act the way they do. There were a few surprising twists, and a couple really disturbing and descriptive chapters that were hard to read (dealing with pedophilia) but I think those experiences add even more depth to the main characters. I would recommend that if you typically prefer not to read disturbing books than don't read this one because it can get to be a bit much at points. It's an intense page turner dealing with some heavy topics, but it's one who's characters will stick with me for a long time to come.


Tags : We Are Water: A Novel [Wally Lamb] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <em>We Are Water</em> is a disquieting and ultimately uplifting novel about a marriage, a family, and human resilience in the face of tragedy,Wally Lamb,We Are Water: A Novel,Harper,0061941026,Family Life,Literary,Connecticut,Divorce,Domestic fiction,Family secrets,Lesbians,Lesbians;Fiction.,Parent and adult child,Same-sex marriage,Same-sex marriage;Fiction.,Women artists,Women artists;Fiction.,AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY FICTION,American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION General,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction-Coming of Age,GENERAL,General Adult,LAMB, WALLY - PROSE & CRITICISM,LGBT,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),United States,Wally Lamb; story of a marriage; fiction; domestic story; family wedding; affair; family secrets; portrait of a marriage; psychologist; rebellions teenager; modern America; racial violence; class issues; search for love; gay marriage; Obama presidency; Christian fundamentalism; redemptive narrative; She’ s Come Undone; New York Times Bestseller; New York Times Notable Book of the year; This Much I Know if True; Couldn’ t Keep it to Myself; I’ ll Fly Away; Connecticut Author; Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers award; Connecticut Governors Arts Award; New England Book Award for fiction; The Hour I First Believed; I’ ll Take You There; We Are Water; Wishin and Hopin; I’ ll Fly Away

We Are Water A Novel Wally Lamb 9780061941023 Books Reviews

This book could easily become a classic in character development for literature classes. Each character is explored, explained and grows within the context of the story and the settings. The depth of insight takes the reader from a basic story into an un-mapped tunnel full of twists, turns and even some dead ends. Knowing the area represented in this story makes it easier for me to visualize the settings and the stories "behind the story" like the art and life of the primitive painter. This is yet another tightly woven novel by Wally Lamb with exceptional character exploration as another device to move the story along and develop the plot.
I give this 5 stars based on my engagement in the story. And that I love Wally Lamb. But, from a critical perspective it would be a 3. It really should have been a trilogy. This book covered decades, and was written from the perspective of seven (?) characters. Each has a back story. Nevertheless, I did not feel like I knew many of the characters very well. Annie meanders through relationships, clubbing her son, dumping her hard working but probably insensitive husband, becoming a lesbian and then wading in regrets and a giant secret. The story is told from most characters' perspectives except Viveca, the bride to be in the lesbian wedding. We dont learn her backstory and at times she seems shallow and a financial opportunist. The best written character is the most evil. I plan to read it again because I am sure there were character clues I skipped over.
While I have enjoyed books by Wally Lamb, this one isn't a favorite.

This story revolves around a disrupted Connecticut family as one family member is about to marry her second love. It is a history of the Oh family a father who never had one himself who searches for connection and meaning, a gender fluid mother whose actions and decisions find their roots in abuse and neglect, and the three Oh children, each having challenges of their own.

I probably would have liked this more had I read it closer to the publication date. Lamb has referenced several social issues that in our ever-changing news cycle now seem passe (same sex marriage, our first black president, etc). However, at its core, it is a book about trauma, and how that trauma directs our lives even when we strive for a different course. Our trauma is a river, and rerouting it is often a Herculean task. But like the river, only we can change our course, for we *are* water.
This is a very difficult review for me to write. I've thought about it for a couple of days now and wondered if I'd get it down right for you. I've been an avid fan of Wally Lamb's for many, many years and had such excitement when I learned he had a new book out. I rushed to get a copy. I'm sad to say this one was a disappointment to me in some major ways, although I did grasp the over all story and could appreciate what Mr. Lamb's intention was in telling it. (See Summary above)

This is first of all a long book that became increasingly a drain to read as I found it less engaging. It was mostly a stream of consciousness novel, and I'm not fond of that writing style (I've never been a James Joyce fan) so the 570 some pages became a torture that I seemed never to make headway on. I began to dread picking the book up. Does this tell you something?

While I expected it to be a book that was focused more on the story of a lesbian couple, it really wasn't. It's more a story of a wildly dysfunctional and bleeding family told mostly from the perspective of a wildly dysfunctional psychologist father. Which would have been fine if it were interesting...

While the book is divided into chapters/segments written from the minds and voices of the different characters, it weighed heavily on the view of the father of the family, it seemed to me.

I found I couldn't feel an affinity with any of these characters. For the most part they were a very whiny and self-serving bunch...self-absorbed in their different psychosis's. It became a downer. It wasn't a pleasant read. While we are given the most minute details of the characters and their personal issues, this was couched in a stream of consciousness that was boring. It clogged things up. There seemed no light at the end of the dark tunnel as life's greatest horror stories were revealed. Just too wordy and dense.

I was soundly disappointed. Over the course of his career, I've been an avid reader and follower of Wally Lamb. I feel this one falls short of his other writings. It may be a melting pot of his life experiences, and perhaps his informative times with the women prisoners he's encountered. I have no idea. Maybe it was a story just too close for him to write about successfully.

In wrapping up, again, I found "We Are Water" a struggle to get through. I finished it because it was a Wally Lamb book and I really wanted to push my way through it hoping it would get better. Was the story worth it ultimately? Not in my opinion. Would it have been better in another format/writing style? Perhaps.

I'm sad to say it was disappointing.
I'm a huge Wally Lamb fan (I Know This Much is True is my favorite book of all time, and She's Come Undone is very unique and well written) but wasn't too crazy about The Hour I First Believed, so I didn't have super high expectations for this book but was so pleasantly surprised! I'm really impressed with how realistic his characters are, especially the female characters that he probably has little in common with (also what amazed me about She's Come Undone). His writing is very thoughtful and thought provoking. I initially didn't care for certain characters but then as they are developed you can really understand why they do or act the way they do. There were a few surprising twists, and a couple really disturbing and descriptive chapters that were hard to read (dealing with pedophilia) but I think those experiences add even more depth to the main characters. I would recommend that if you typically prefer not to read disturbing books than don't read this one because it can get to be a bit much at points. It's an intense page turner dealing with some heavy topics, but it's one who's characters will stick with me for a long time to come.