Monday, December 01, 2008

The Tale Of Two Tragedies

I just finished the latest Anita Shreve novel I bought. Consistent with other Shreve novels, this one leads you into a sobering yet intense emotional journey, this time in what may be the darkest travail of love and negligence. What is compelling here is that she weaves a contemporary family tragedy with a true story of a celebrated 1873 murder, creating an almost intolerable parallel crisis.

This is the most hauntingly disturbing Shreve novel I have read to date. You will be at a lost at what to feel after reading the finale. And since I have been quite exposed to her craft, I was able to guess the whodunit end-shocker that defines each of Shreve’s work. Still, it did hit me blind sighted by its scrumptious horror and confusing intensity.

The booked is called The Weight Of Water, the title of which serves as the inspiration to a introspective blog I wrote weeks ago.