I've heard from a few of you and I am much relieved to learn that you have liked the book thus far. :-) As I reread Water one of the pieces that strikes me is how well, IMHO, Goodman sets up descriptions of places, dresses, etc. that don't necessarily carry deep importance to the overall plot, but do give you an imaginary landscape within which to place the characters.
I'm a mystery addict - not necessarily murder mysteries, any kind of mystery - which is probably also why Iris' search to better understand her roots appeals to me; as a history teacher, I am all in favor of knowing and searching for one's roots, but the mysterious aspect behind Iris' background appeals to me as well. I like how Goodman teases them out, throwing in clues, but also some red herrings.
As we get closer to our March 15 "meeting" I'd be curious to know what all of you think about the minor characters; I think Goodman does a great job at filling in just enough details for each of their back stories to keep the reader following them even as they think about Iris.
4 comments:
The minor characters are really well-described. I read this book right after the one by the prison librarian, Running the Books, so I was way more leery of Aidan than the narrator was!
See and I found it very annoying that the narrator kept on about the so-called shame Aidan had in his eyes, and the way she worried about whether or not she was safe with him. Yeesh, trust your initial instincts and move on already.
She clearly has commitment issues if she's been carrying on with Jack (?) for 10 years, stuck in the same place. Those kinds of relationships always seem to benefit the man the most. He gets the best of both worlds and she gets...limbo. I'm still undecided how sympathetic I feel towards her.
I honestly think that some women end up in these relationships, think that they are for the best for some peculiar reason (as I think Iris does) and then need some sort of jolt to shake them out of just meandering along. As a woman of a certain age (ahem) I think that it seems to happen to a lot of women I know in their thirties.
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