Come into the Water: A Survivor's Story (edition 2011)

This book was so-so for me. I really liked the writer's style of writing, and I loved the parts that were relevant to the flood. I felt that the author veered off topic several times. The story of the flood is heartbreaking, and the author did a great job of describing it. I just wish there had been more research about changes that the state had made following this flood, to improve their services. ( )

This book was really great. As the survivor of the Grand Rapids flood, this author shows a unique experience to a world of people who can only begin to imagine her shock, horror, and her challenge to live in the world following this event. A brilliant story. ( )

A painful and hope-filled read. Written by a survivor of the 1972 Grand Rapids flood, her story describes both the devastating experience of the flood and its continuing impact on her own life. This book is beautifully written and draws the reader into the intimate details of her life and struggle. I'd recommend this primarily for anyone who has survived a sudden loss or struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but it is a book of hope for all. ( )

I thought I would be riveted to this book, as it is a trauma that I think all of us imagine. What would you do if almost everyone in your family died? How would you feel? Could you go on? Sadly, Magner gave us pieces of the story, but there did not seem to be a natural flow in the storytelling process. Instead of concentrating on the specifics of that day, Magner takes the reader on a trip that focuses on other not so important details. I was curious to start this book, but by the end, I could not wait for it to be over.

The author survives her mother, father and brother in the Rapid City, SD, floods in 1972. She does have one surviving brother at the time. I expected this story to be more of her internal healing and rebuilding after the trauma. Instead, I found a disconnected flight of experiences, a constant repeating of the same errors of putting faith and trust in others to care for her instead of healing and caring for herself. I found gaps in her story. One chapter would end and I felt like I was hanging. My heart goes out to her. With some of the decision making she shared, I would have thought she was not capable of self care. I wonder if working with a different editor would have helped with how she wrote what she experienced.

It seems unusual that this would be published by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press when the most said about the flood was in the acknowledgements at the end of the book. I guess I expected the book to be more like the acknowledgements. Instead of historical, maybe the genre should be "memoir" or "self-help." ( )

Come Into the Water: A Survivor's Story is a very quick read about the flooding of Rapid City in 1972. As a book about a bit of local history and a commentary on surviving such a horrific natural disaster, this book is very interesting. My heart went out to the young girl who suffered through such a traumatic event and survived. My biggest question throughout was "Why didn't someone help her deal with it all?" It's very obvious throughout that Ms Magner carried the effects of the flood and her losses throughout her life. It seemed to me that had there been some kind of support system for her at the time, it might not have taken most of the rest of her life to come to terms with these events. I hope that in some way, this book has been a cathartic and cleansing tool for her to find the peace she needs.

As a story, I would have preferred more direct information about the flood with Ms. Magner's events woven into it. The letter from the former Mayor of Rapid City helped to understand just how much the flood affected the community. Would I recommend this book? I'm not sure. If you have an interest in surviving natural disasters, then yes, this would be a book for you. ( )

Over all this is a good book about a woman's experience surviving a flood and her loss of her family during the flood. It is about life after loss and trauma, and is written well enough to be interesting but lacks appeal throughout the entire book. It is a little dry in spots, but still remains a good read especially for anyone that has lost someone due to a tragedy. It is inspiring and encouraging to read how she perseveres in life after such loss. ( )

I'm reluctant to write this review as I can tell that Merlyn Magner poured her heart and soul into this book, but frankly it's not very good. I feel this book would have done better with a lot more focus and a lot less of cataloguing her whole life.
To be honest, I just started to skim pages to get through it and wouldn't have even finished it if it wasn't an Early Reviewers book. ( )

I completely understand why Merlyn Magner would be compelled to write about her life. She has certainly led an interesting and eventful life, with more than the usual measure of pain and suffering. And writing is one way we can make sense of the life we have lived. But, for a book to be literature it has to be more than just a recitation of the facts of one's life, it requires enough insight to draw out and illuminate the general principles of life. This cliche-ridden book fails on all accounts in this regard. I was lost after a long, tedious chapter outlining Magner's genealogy, only to find these facts abandoned as irrelevant in the rest of the book. I can't imagine this book being of much interest to anyone outside of Magner's personal acquaintance. ( )

Come into the Water: A Survivor's Story is a heartbreaking story of a young woman's journey. Merlyn Magner survives the 1972 Rapid City flood, where she loses her parents and her brother turning her universe upside down.

Magner survives not only a devastating flood and the loss of her family, but the deception, selfishness, & greediness of her "friends". She suffers injury, theft, natural disasters, and heartbreak over and over again. Yet, she keeps picking herself up and continuing on. Its a beautiful story of survival. ( )

I found Merlyn Magner's story of the 1972 South Dakota flood and the loss of her family heartbreaking and well told. The remainder of the book, however, seemed choppy and a little harder to get through. Overall, I enjoyed this book. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to learn how someone moves on after a traumatic event, and how it changes them so deeply. It was hard to read about the way that her friends and those close to her took advantage of her after the flood had destroyed everything that she once knew. This book is beautiful and tragic all at the same time. Definetely a book to recommend. ( )

From the author's standpoint, I can see why she wrote this book. There is a feeling of catharsis on every page as Magner divulges her life to the reader. I can see this book being of personal interest to both Magner and her friends, but I don't feel Magner is a strong enough writer to have this book engage with the wider public. I know I wasn't engaged for the most part. I could see that she lived through a horrific event, but I had no real sense of empathy for her, simply because the writing is so flat.

The writing is the weak point of this book. The text is littered with cliches and a variety of slang, like `Gawd' and `Yeah' disrupting what little narrative flow this book contains. There are so many characters who are introduced and then forgotten about, then thrown back in that even with its short length (under two hundred pages), it almost felt as if an index was necessary. There is no real focus to this book, just a detailing of Magner's ancestry in the section of the book before the flood, followed by a presentation of her life after the flood. The flood itself is only approximately a chapter in length.

I definitely think it was important for Magner to tell her story, to help clarify her thoughts and feelings surrounding the flood which killed her family. But I think this is a personal book for Magner and fails to in being a public piece of work. ( )

The author when 19 was in the Rapid City floodof June 9, 1972 Her brother and her parents perished,but she survived.Her account of this disaster is gripping, and the highlight of the book. She tells of the rough time she had coping with what had happened to her, though she seems to have indulged in a lot of high risk behavior, having an abortion, a failed marriage, and doing a lot of traveling. She describes various semi-mystical experiences, which did not add to my estmate of the book's value. But the account of the flood is indeed worth reading. ( )

Come Into The Water: A Survivor's Story by Merlyn Janet Magner is an absolutely extraordinary book. Not only is it a story of the devastating flood of 1972 in South Dakota, but of the profound and devastating effects the flood had on Merlyn’s whole life. This book is about disaster, grief, introspection and gradual rejuvenation. Somehow the author managed to write of the tragedy and of her suffering in such an astoundingly beautiful fashion that I found myself wanting to reread it as soon as I finished the last page. ( )

I really enjoyed this book (received it for free as an Early Reviewer.) I thought that the story was heart wrenching and it pained me to see what other people can do to their fellow humans when those people have already suffered so much.

Like others have already noted, I thought that the story was going to be more about the incident (flood) itself, instead of what happened afterwards. Regardless, it is a fantastic (although short) book and I highly recommend it to others. ( )

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. I expected it to be more focused on the flood itself and how she survived it physically, but it still turned out to be a very interesting and compelling read. The emotional and spiritual journey was sad and triumphant. It's an amazing and heartbreaking story. Well written and full of beautiful thought. ( )

I got this book for free from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

This wasn't what I was expecting. I thought most of it would be about the flood itself, Merlyn's family's deaths, her own struggle to survive in the raging currents. But most of the story was in fact about the aftermath -- even the long-term aftermath, decades after the flood -- and Merlyn's attempts to cope with what happened.

I was appalled to read about how many people took advantage of her tragedy and the town's tragedy. They looted the damaged houses and even raised money, supposedly for the flood victims, which they kept for themselves. Not only strangers did this, but people whom Merlyn had known, liked and trusted. After Merlyn recovered her mother's diamond ring from the mud, one of her so-called friends tried to steal it -- right in front of her and several other people. I didn't see anything about any genuine charitable efforts, and I don't know whether there weren't any or whether Merlyn just didn't write about them.

This story was often beautifully written, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I could have. Merlyn is often frustratingly vague about her life -- I suppose that might be the inevitable result of covering the nearly forty years since the flood in under 200 pages -- and it felt like I was watching through a fog. But it may be just a personal preference on my part. I would recommend this especially for those having to deal with disasters and grief. ( )

A beautiful and heartbreaking story of a woman's survival of a flood that destroyed her family and how she attempted to continue on with her life. This book was so descriptively written you feel like you are right beside Ms. Magner throughout the flood and rest of her life. A great read! ( )