The Weight of Water Paperback – January 7, 1998

This is one of my personal Top 10 favorite books. It is hard for me to even imagine a book better than this one. I've read The Weight of Water numerous times, suggested it for my book club, where it was overwhelming well-received.As other reviewers have stated, there are two intertwining stories, and in both, you see that in each tale, the characters are heading for disaster. In the tale based on the actual Smuttynose murders, the reader can strongly feel the dark threat and sinister shadows lengthening as the action moves forward. But the real "dark" lies in the story taking place in the present, as each foolish and self-centered iota of jealousy and malevolence builds upon itself and gets stronger. It is so subtle--and yet, strongly and clearly there. The readers in my book club caught the hints even earlier in the book than I did. Such a marvelous read!! I often wonder - "How did Anita Shreve do this?"As the evens of the present erupt into a psychological and actual storm, the corrupted souls of the characters are exposed, and all can see the horrific results. Such a brilliant book!BTW - this wonderful book was given a disgraceful transfer to film. Of all the book-to-film entries I've ever seen, this is the worst.

This author doesn’t ever disappoint. I loved it. She’s so good at drawing the emotions out of each of her characters and making them so real and believable.

The setting is very engaging and the author did well to paint the picture of the islands and the sea. However the two plots that are intertwined, sometimes on the same page, are not. One set in the 1800's, a good tale and one that can be figured out before the end of the book. The second, set in current day, rambled. The character were vague, somewhat irritating (for multiple reasons) and for me - I was not invested in their situations. There is a very good list of oddities in the book in Goodreads as a 3 star. Can't wait for book club to see what others thought.

Loved it, it was two stories intertwined, one historical, the other fictional, and they unfolded right next to each other, not in separate chapters, but on the same page, that was a little adjustment, but once made, I liked it, I didn't have to wait for a whole chapter to pass before returning to the present, or to go back to the past , you could follow the stories almost simultaneously, for multi taskers, and people who get a little bored this is a two for one done so carefully that you are literally following two stories at the same time, and it forces you to pay closer attention to the details, because the story, or parts of it are completely lost if you don't get all the details. You do keep thinking about it, or I did, afterward, and really, was thinking about both stories, not just the one, wondering how the characters' lives continued, wishing for more updates on the characters, the characters became quite real and believable. Interesting way to write, and to read.

I saw the movie and liked it, so I read this book. The book has much more information about the characters. I appreciate the difficulties the immigrants faced, and it makes me feel grateful to my ancestors, Norwegian immigrants who fished for a living. This is a tragic story, but in a different way from the movie. The author has written a deep and moving story, and I look forward to reading more of her books. This story illustrates how emotions build in people, small or large things happen, and tragedies occur. We should all be careful what we say to others, and I have noticed that so many people are not careful, but instead choose to verbally attack others. If we could only rise above this one thing as a species, much would be achieved.

Shreve has an undeniable gift for storytelling, as evidenced by the popularity of her novels. More importantly, the strength of her tale lies in fertile and seemingly endless permutations of the human condition. The Weight of Water is finely balanced between action and emotion, often juxtaposed in such a way as to move from the plot line of the protagonist to the historical personal documents she is reading. Jean, a photojournalist, is researching a century-old crime on one of the islands of The Isle of Shoals, Smuttynose Island, off the rough-hewn New Hampshire coast. Seduced by the intensely personal memoirs of the lone survivor of the murders, Jean's thoughts are constantly drawn to the difficult and barren life of Maren Honvent. At the same time, she is instinctively aware of an imbalance in the tensions among the four adults sailing to the island. The presence of Jean's small daughter alleviates some of this tension, her youth allowing a measure of levity and innocence.Originally structured, the novel moves forward flawlessly, with a stunning and unexpected climax. Shreve's natural mastery of images and language is accomplished. Yet I think of Shreve's work as an ensemble of possibilities, a "skimmer", an action-oriented story that flows toward denouement. A compulsively quick read, I am left desiring more. I crave more substance from her characters, increased depth and motivation, less facile, albeit dramatic, resolution of issues. It's all there, "skimming" the surface, teasing the imagination, but I need something additional from this gifted writer. I cannot help but wonder what a hundred or so pages would bring, a fleshing out of her multi-faceted ensemble. With a style similar to that of Alice Hoffman, another wonderful talent, Shreve offers lyrical phrasing and an interesting themes, but, selfishly, I would love to see this artist's work mature, fulfilling its rich promise.

For anyone who likes a good ‘who-done-it’, this is the book for you. But the novel is much, much more. It is a wonderful character study.

I found the writing style a bit difficult at times and not having breaks in the page for different time periods was a struggle. The basic story was quite good and it improved towards the end. A very interesting story based on a real life story.

Great read. Sad ending

Ich fand/ finde das Buch wundervoll! Die zwei Geschichten, die darin erzählt werden und teilweise ineinanderer greifen, machen das Buch zu etwas besonderem. Besonders gut hat mir gefallen, wie Anita Shreve eine reale Geschichte aufgreift und diese durch gekonnte Verdrehungen zu einer neuen, fiktiven Geschichte macht. Ich kann das jetzt leider nur schwer formulieren, aber wer das Buch liest, wird verstehen was gemeint ist. Ich habe mich im Nachhinein mit der wahren Begebenheit auseinandergesetzt und musste so einige Male staunen, wie gekonnt die Autorin Lücken in der Nacherzählung dieser Begebenheit gefüllt hat, sodass sie einen neuen, anderen Sinn ergeben bzw. die ganze Sache in ein neues Licht gerückt wurde oder gänzlich anders dargestellt war. Dennoch war das niemals unlogisch, es hätte auch alles so sein können, wie Anita Shreve es "umschreibt". Jedenfalls nach meinem Empfinden. :-)Die Art zu Schreiben, die Anita Shreve hat gefällt mir generell sehr gut. Sie schafft es irgendwie, dass ich während des Lesens stets schöne Bilder vor meinem geistigen Auge sehe. Fast wie ein kleiner Urlaub.Ich gebe eine ganz klare Kaufempfehlung. Unbedingt lesen!

I'm not a big fan of Shreve's novels, with the exception of this book, "The Weight of Water," and "Light on Snow," because they tend to be so predictable. "Water," however, could truly be called serious fiction. I was drawn to it due to the parallels the story makes between the life of a contemporary woman, a photographer struggling with jealousy in her marriage to a well-known poet, and the nineteenth-century account she becomes interested in of a local woman who may have committed--and gotten away with--murder. The novel is surprising and unexpected--and ultimately tragic--in the truths uncovered by the main character about the shocking murder in the past and her own life.This is not light-weight beach reading, but for readers who enjoy novels about the impact of past upon present and the revelation of secrets, this is a worthwhile and haunting novel. Other novels with a similar theme and connections to the nineteenth century and earlier are "Alias Grace" (Margaret Atwood), "Possession" (A.S. Byatt), and "Virgin Blue" (Tracy Chevalier).