Book Review: We Are Water

Wally Lamb is one of my all-time favorite authors. He even wrote my favorite novel, She's Come Undone (see why here). Since then, he's had a couple of other epic novels that were impossible to put down. I read I Know This Much is True in less than a month, and that was balanced with studying for finals in college. And yes, it was 900 pages long. Then I had to wait almost 10 years for The Hour I First Believed, which was also extremely powerful. (I still wonder what Velvet Hoon is up to these days and she's a secondary character!) He even brought back the main characters from his previous novels so that we could see what was happening with them. This time around, we only had to wait five years for another novel. And, like the art featured at Viveca's gallery, it truly is a masterpiece! Even though it is not chick lit, I didn't want to miss a chance to review it, as it was a fantastic novel and it deserves its day in the sun!

We Are Water is a disquieting and ultimately uplifting novel about a marriage, a family, and human resilience in the face of tragedy.

After 27 years of marriage and three children, Annie Oh—wife, mother, outsider artist—has fallen in love with Viveca, the wealthy Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her success. They plan to wed in the Oh family’s hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut. But the wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora’s Box of toxic secrets—dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs’ lives.

We Are Water is a layered portrait of marriage, family, and the inexorable need for understanding and connection, told in the alternating voices of the Ohs—nonconformist, Annie; her ex-husband, Orion, a psychologist; Ariane, the do-gooder daughter, and her twin, Andrew, the rebellious only son; and free-spirited Marissa, the youngest. It is also a portrait of modern America, exploring issues of class, changing social mores, the legacy of racial violence, and the nature of creativity and art. (Synopsis adapted from Amazon.)

Have you ever had a really good workout that manages to exhilarate and wear you out while also giving you an increased endorphin level? That's how it felt to read We Are Water. I was taken on this emotional roller coaster throughout, never knowing if I should be sympathizing with someone or resenting them. The constant in this story is Orion. I liked reading his parts the most and he was definitely my favorite character, even when he did something really stupid to destroy his career. I felt like he was the closest to Wally Lamb's personality. Like I could sit down with either of them and tell them my life story or whatever else was on my mind and they'd just listen and I'd feel so much better when I was done. I could tell that Orion was a really good dad to his kids, even if he wasn't around as much during their youth. They just respected and trusted him and that spoke volumes.

I don't want to say what happens throughout the novel or why things unfold the way they do. All I can tell you is that Wally's storytelling talent is evident and he weaves characters in and out of chapters in perfect harmony with the themes and messages. The dialogue is realistic and it is easy to visualize people and places. He got my adrenaline going quite a few times, which is why I compared it to a workout. He knows how to pack an incredible punch.

What didn't always work so well was when chapters ended abruptly (almost like the next chapter is interrupting the previous one). I also felt like the ages were hard to conceptualize. I am obsessive about age and time in a story and I had to keep doing the math to see if things made sense. I know the story is supposed to take place around 2008-2009, so maybe that threw me off a bit, as I kept thinking in terms of the present day. I noticed a glaring detail error at one point, but I'll be interested to see if anyone else picks up on that.

I wish Wally had made this another 900 page novel, as I would have loved to spend another week with it. I would have wanted more of Marissa's perspective. And it would have been interesting to learn about Viveca from her point of view. I'll warn you that there are some very heavy parts in this story and a lot of graphic language. It makes me wish I had met Wally in person long after I read it so I wouldn't have to associate such a nice man with these things. It's more on par with She's Come Undone in terms of how disturbing it could be at times. However, I never wanted to put it down. (Of course, life--and sleep--got in the way of that!)

Overall, We are Water is intelligent, heartfelt and thought-provoking. I have a feeling it will be staying with me for a long time to come. I just hope Wally doesn't wait as long to write his next novel. I don't know that I can wait another five years. Thankfully, I recently obtained Wishin' and Hopin'.  I don't normally read Christmas stories, but I'll make an exception for Wally.

As with any novel I read, I'm always casting it in my head. It was difficult to cast this one, even with the pictures I had going in my mind of how everyone should look. Some ideas just came to me though....

Annie (adult): Melora Walters (I had Julianne Moore in mind for a while and then Felicity Huffman. I was listening to the Magnolia soundtrack recently and immediately flashed back to the image of Melora Walters in that movie. A perfect Annie!)
Kent (adult): Steve Buscemi (Again, this just came to me when I started to get images of Kent in my mind. Steve Buscemi has the perfect blend of charming and creepy to pull it off.)
Orion (adult): Steve Carell (Annie says that Orion looks like James Farentino. I looked him up on IMDB and he reminded me of Steve Carell. Then I remembered that Steve Carell played a psychologist in Hope Springs and he also does really great work in serious roles. Voila!)

The rest can be played by unknown actors, as it might make a movie version seem even more genuine (of course, it would have to be "watered" down a lot because I don't know how comfortable I'd be seeing certain scenes on the big screen).

Disclosure of Material Connection:
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