The Weight of Water

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A murder of two women took place over 100 years ago on the island of Smutty Nose in the Isles of Shoals. Maren Hanvent moves to this very remote, sparse island with her fisherman husband. They are followed by her sister and brother with his wife, living lives full of hardship off the coast of Maine. You were so sad and you were so lonely and you were so insecure and you were OK with letting people This is a short book to read and I loved the style of writing. No need for long chapters describing the scenes – the author conveys her story incredibly. If we had gone to school together I bet we’d be the best of friends and we’d stay up all night, swapping stories and drinking pop and being giddy.

The Weight of Water : Book summary and reviews of The Weight

The author did an amazing job with this book. I was grabbed from the start, wanting to know how the story was going to end. No physical violence, but Kasienka experiences prejudice and bullying (snide remarks, being ostracized) at school. One of the students and her clique make fun of her clothes and her haircut, whisper and gossip about her, and exclude her. Kasienka thinks,"I am a fox surrounded by beagles. They will eat me alive and spit out the fat." The plot unfolds the narrative of the papers and Hontvedt's testimony against Wagner that gets him hanged, while Jean privately struggles with jealousy as Adaline openly flirts with Thomas. Trying to suppress her fears of Adaline as a rival, Jean learns that Maren was brought from Norway to Smuttynose by her husband, a man she has no passion for. Maren staves off melancholy and loneliness on the isolated island by keeping busy. Maren's spirits are lifted when her brother arrives on the island with his new wife, Anethe Christensen. But Maren must also contend with her own sister Karen, who is stern and suspicious. At first, Maren views Anethe as a rival for the affections of Maren's brother. Soon, however, she begins to nurse a desire for Anethe. On the night of the murders, with Maren's and Anethe's husbands away from the island, Maren draws close to Anethe, only to be caught by Karen. Maren's sister condemns her. In a fury of her own, Maren kills Karen and Anethe.Anita Shreve was an American writer, chiefly known for her novels. Shreve's novels have sold millions of copies worldwide. She attended Tufts University and began writing while working as a high school teacher. One of her first published stories, Past the Island, Drifting, (published in 1975) was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1976. Among other jobs, Shreve spent three years working as a journalist in Kenya. In 1999, while she was teaching Creative Writing at Amherst College, Oprah Winfrey selected The Pilot's Wife for her book club. Her novels The Weight of Water and Resistance became a films of the same name. CBS released The Pilot's Wifeas a movie of the week. I learned that night that love is never as ferocious as when you think it is going to leave you. We are not always allowed this knowledge, and so our love sometimes becomes retrospective.” Or… well, wait until she’d changed out of her cozzie because I don’t want to get all chloriney but then we’d cuddle. Definitely.

The Weight of Water - Sarah Crossan - Google Books The Weight of Water - Sarah Crossan - Google Books

The novel is split into two parts: the present day, told from Jean's point of view and in the present tense; and 1873, told in first person from Maren's point of view, her "memoir". I love it when my heroines stand up for themselves and don’t need any body to tell them how to do it. Kasienka is from Poland. She grew up there and thats her true home, where her heart is. But Kasineka and her mum head for England to find their long lost father who abandoned them. She starts school and gets put into a lower class. Finding friends becomes problematic. She feels like an alien amongst them, she has to pay the price for being different. She comes across Claire, who torments her and makes her life even more of a misery. But Kasienka turns to the thing she loves to do most. Where she can escape and move into another world. Flow and twirl in happiness, away from bullies and away from school. She is free and can let go and this is where she feels truly at home. It's possible to rise above misfortunes and dire disappointments, and to have the courage to stand alone.Beautiful prose carry the reader into another world. So descriptive you can’t help but sink into the South, from the humidity and insect sounds to the aromas and music. I felt like I was there. The story follows two sisters, born into poverty in rural Louisiana. It takes you through their lives from their seeming abandonment by their mother, to the present day 15 years after Katrina.

TALKING POINTS CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist 2013 TALKING POINTS CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist 2013

The movie ends with Maren trying to confess before Wagner is hanged. The courts refuse to accept Maren's confession, and Wagner dies on the gallows. Well Ms Crossan obviously listened to me and therefore she deserves the prize of a Flo-induced Theme Tune. A prize so coveted by authors across the land…. The author conjures up images of both beauty and devastation as she describes the swamps and the city in poetic detail. Kasienka and her mother arrive in England from Poland, in search of Kasienka's "Tata" (father), who abandoned them when she was very young. She is enrolled in a secondary school in Coventry, but is treated as an outsider and an intruder by classmates who constantly poke fun at her. She finds solace in swimming and befriends an adult neighbour, both of which bring her comfort and teach her value of persevering in life with the things that bring you purpose.

It is with this diary that the second voice is heard. The diary is written long after the events on Smuttynose, after Maren has returned to Norway and is in the final days of her life. The diary recounts the history of Maren; her marriage and relocation to Smuttynose; the struggles of her new life and her recounting of the events the night of the murders. The diary gives you a real feel for Maren as an individual and especially what life must have been like for a lonely, foreign fisherman's wife on such a desolate island. This novel is really two stories in one. First there is the story of Norwegian immigrants coming to America, and secondly we have the contemporary story of a photographer going to the island where the immigrants lived to photograph and research a 100 year old murder. My favorite character was Kasienka. That answer may seem quite dull as she is the main character but it still stays. She is one of the most interesting characters in the story – period. As she tries to navigate her new surroundings, she makes a special friend, learns to look out for herself and even realize her potential.