Shreve always has an emotional story to tell and this is no exception. weaving past and present together we learn about an old mystery. I enjoyed the past story and she did an wonderful job of exploring the psychological affects of isolation and loneliness. ( )

Once again, Shreve mingles the past and present, this time following Jean, a newspaper photographer, her poet husband Thomas, their young daughter Billie, Thomas' brother Rich, and Rich's girlfriend Adaline. They are traveling to the Isles of Shoals on the New Hampshire coast in Rich's boat so Jean can take pictures of the site where a brutal murder took place in 1873. Shreve places the reader in the past as Jean uncovers historical documents detailing the murders of two women as seen from the point of view of a third, who survived by hiding in a cave. Was the man who arrested and put to death for murdering the women actually guilty, or was the surviving woman responsible? Jean becomes engrossed in the history of the island in an attempt to solve the mystery, while back in the present, her attraction to Rich and Adaline's attraction to Thomas becomes apparent. Little did they know that the trip and a storm at sea would change their lives forever, and Shreve uses the storm and the sea to tie the stories together. ( )

Heartbreaking, dark, and beautifully written. ( )

The Weight of Water is a book I just read for my book group. Anita Shreve's books aren't normally ones I would pick to read, so this was a bit of a challenge.

I have to say that I didn't really care too much for the modern-day people and their woes. I just couldn't relate to the female characters here (either Jean or Adaline) as real people with real problems. However, I did enjoy the story about the Norwegian immigrants who came to Smuttynose Island. They had some serious issues to deal with, especially Maren, none the least of which were isolation, both mental and physical. Plus, a mystery always grabs me, and this one was based, in part, on real murders committed on that Island sometime back in the 1870s.

Overall, it was okay, and I say that because of the story from the past. The modern-day characterization was just kind of blah, and I think that it detracted from my reading and from trying to get a handle on the four people on the boat in the modern story.

I'd recommend it, but with reservations. I'm not a chick-lit kind of person, but I think readers who are will probably like the book much more than myself. ( )

Note to Ms. Shreve: for a tragedy to be tragic, the reader must have the tiniest reason to give a sliver of a damn about at least one of the characters. I don't give a damn about four jerks on a yacht. And only A. S. Byatt has ever pulled off the Super Sekrit Manuscript Unread for a Hundred Years.