At the Water's Edge

Sigh- superb. Not often does a book capture me & sate my desire for all things historical, suspenseful & romantic quite the way this one did. Set in WWII Philadelphia & Scotland, Gruen captured the age exquisitely. With historical mystery, intrigue, social heirarchy, marriage, love, lore & legend, Gruen knitted together a tale that will leave you yearning for more. The character & plot details were spot on, and although some actual events were changed (and cited) they definitely enhanced the story. Highest accolades to Sara Gruen and At the Water's Edge- go read this book now.

This gripping story about three young wealthy effete socialites begins in Philadelphia at the end of 1944 at a party celebrating the New Year. Ellis and Maddy have been married for four and a half years, and Hank is the third musketeer of this inseparable group. Neither of the young men have gone to war; Hank is flat-footed (at that time, a flat foot kept you out of the armed serves on the theory - since refuted, that flat feet caused injuries during training and physical activity), and Ellis was rejected for color blindness.

Ellis’ father is contemptuous of his son for not serving, but Ellis claims his father brought his own shame on the family by faking pictures of a Loch Ness Monster. At New Year’s, the three friends drunkenly show more agree to take off for the Scottish Highlands so Ellis can reclaim his honor vis-a-vis his father by capturing “authentic” photos of the monster. Money being no object, the three cross the Atlantic, and settle into a rooming house of considerably less luxury than they were accustomed to expect.

On the ocean voyage, the three had encountered men injured horribly by the war, but only Maddie was affected. Moreover, when Maddie gets to know the hard-working people who run the inn in Scotland, she finds that they have a lot more character than the two men she is with, who not only consider themselves superior to “help,” but spend most of their time goofing off and getting drunk.

As Maddie comes to understand that the monster in the Highlands is the one to whom she is married, it puts her life in peril much more than any antediluvian creature, mythical or otherwise.

Discussion: This is a lovely story, with characters both horrible and wonderful, but none of them caricatures. All of them are hard to forget, especially the courageous people Maddie befriended, and who befriended her, in the Highlands.

An author’s note at the end of the book details which events were changed, and in what ways, for the story.

The dangers to Maddie, as a woman and a wife in the 1940’s, were real enough, and ones today’s women [in America, at least] are fortunate enough not to have to endure.

Evaluation: I really liked this book. It is historical fiction but with a greater emphasis on interpersonal relationships and romance than the war, even though the war forms the scaffolding for the plot. And although two of the protagonists became less and less likable, the other characters become more so as the story progresses. I also loved the setting in, and lore about, the Highlands. show less

At the Water’s Edge by author Sara Gruen is the story of three spoiled rich brats who make a scene at a party, are disowned by their fabulously wealthy parents, and decide to go off to Scotland in the middle of WWII to discover the Loch Ness monster.

Okay, so I might be understating things a bit and it probably sounds like I didn’t like the book when I actually enjoyed it a lot. I’ve seen it compared to many things both good and bad and some of them were genius but, to me, it felt like a modern fairy tale. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about those modern romance fairy tales Hollywood constantly makes for us womenfolk, I’m talking more Grimm which, admittedly, are sanitized versions of earlier folk tales. I know, sounds show more like a bit of a stretch but hear me out:

1-after being abandoned by her guardians or inlaws for an infraction outside of her control, an orphan (well, okay father’s alive but uninterested) is captured by two evil witch types ie her rich spoiled husband and his even richer and more spoiled BFF who, having her under a kind of sleeping spell, take her to a far-away and dangerous land (Scotland during WWII) and keep her locked up in a tower or, in this case, a hotel

2-in a very short space of time, she is awakened or to be more accurate is shown the error of her ways by the kind and gentle denizens of this land and she makes everyone around her love her even though she’s a bit of an insipid passive weakling because fairy tale heroines are almost always passive ‘good girls’. Although they cannot openly free her, the denizens take pity on her especially after she offers to help around their cottage or, in this case, said hotel. Some of these good folk must suffer but only because they attempt to abandon their proper place in the story – in this case, fall for a Canadian soldier

3-which brings us to Prince Charming who any Snow White must fall in love with suddenly and without any real explanation of why and who is in disguise as a peasant, farmer, sheepherder or bartender and hotel manager but turns out to be a prince or Lord (because class structure and all) who rescues her from the evil doers who are punished quickly as in two paragraphs quickly and everyone except said evil doers lives happily ever after.

4-there are supernatural elements: magic, giants, or, here, a dragon AKA the Loch Ness monster but they are mostly incidental to the real purpose of the tale

5- which is to give the audience both a morality and cautionary tale meant to warn of the dangers lurking outside the pale whether in the woods or relationships for innocents but promising that, in the end, there will always be a happy ending if the innocent remains or, in this case, becomes pure and good

Anyway, that’s my take-away from this book. As I said, I did like it a lot. It’s very well-written and Gruen has a deft hand with description – her Scotland even in wartime is a magical place. And, if it’s a bit black and white with mostly one-dimensional characters who rarely depart from their role as hero or villain and if it’s implausible in many parts, well, that’s the way of fairy tales. On the other hand, I might just be over-thinking this whole thing and it’s simply a very well-written romance novel. show less

On a champagne-fueled whim, a trio of wealthy young Americans decide to embark on a search for the Loch Ness Monster, in the waning months of WWII. Totally unprepared for the realities of wartime life in the UK, they blunder about in a classic Ugly American dance until Madeline Hyde begins to discover that something in her spoiled and aimless life is responding to the needs of the people she had initially seen only as servants and innkeeper.

Madeline’s growth into a caring and capable human being is the most successful, and truest, part of the novel. Her husband and his friend never manage to see past their preconceptions and are gradually revealed to be the true monsters of Loch Ness.

There are touches of supernatural here, resting show more uneasily with the realities of village life, and Gruen sidles carefully around the question of just what kind of relationship Ellis and Hank have, with Hank wavering uncomfortably and a bit unbelievably as events rush themselves to a climax.

Gruen then wraps everything up with an almost fairy-tale ending that’s jarringly at odds with the dark and frightening events earlier in the book. It’s an engaging read, but it’s certainly not without flaws. show less

This is a lush, beautifully painful book, using the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster during World War II as a backdrop to the fallout of a father’s deceptions and a son’s lies. Maddie Hyde is officially one of my favorite literary characters – her slow awakening to the realities of her life and her marriage, while painful to behold, are ultimately lovely as she finds her own way and stands on her own two feet. Her character comes a long way from the beginning to the end, making this book an interesting character study. Definitely a book I would recommend and might even read again.

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen is a very highly recommended period piece set during WWII.

Maddie Hyde, her husband, Ellis, and their friend, Hank, are part of Philadelphia society. After a drunken New Year's Eve party that results in some disastrous familial/financial repercussions for Maddie and Ellis, the trio decides to go to Scotland and prove the Loch Ness monster really exists. This is something Ellis's father attempted to do years before and his photos were later discredited. The fact that Ellis is color blind and Hank has flat feet, which prevented the two from enlisting, also plays into their decision. They are tired of the insinuations being thrown toward them. Despite the fact that it is during the war and U-boats are show more patrolling the very area of the Atlantic that they will cross, the trio finds transportation and manages to make their way to the village of Drumnadrochit, Scotland, and a small, quaint inn.

Maddie has a hard time with motion sickness while crossing the Atlantic and it is during the crossing that the effects of war also becomes very real to her. Then, once in Scotland, Maddie seems to completely sober up and take a good look at herself, as well as Ellis and Hank, who are insensitive, privileged, inebriated morons, and she realizes that she is associated with them and their entitled, gauche, drunken search for Nessie. Maddie begins to grow as a person and connect with the people in the village while Ellis and Hank become less civilized and more self-obsessed caricatures. But, due to the times, Maddie is also subjugated to Ellis, which creates a difficult dilemma.

I really liked At the Water's Edge and was totally engrossed in the story from start to finish. First, Sara Gruen is an excellent writer so she is able to describe imagery and capture the settings so vividly that it seems effortless and allows the story to flow along smoothly. I appreciated the growth and transformation Maddie experiences as she is presented with some hard truths and realizes the true essence of Ellis's character. She matures while Ellis and Hank are diminished. Including the local myths and signs as harbingers of what could happen provides nice foreshadowing. The totality added up to a great historical fiction novel. I could have done without the love story, but, obviously, it certainly didn't detract from my enjoyment.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Spiegel & Grau at Random House for review purposes. show less

Set in the final months of World War II, At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen explores love and loss in a changing world. One does not need to look far for real-life monsters given what is happening in Europe, but Ellis, Hank, and Maddie find themselves crossing the ocean to do just that. This inexplicable journey sets up the rest of the story as Maddie must reevaluate everything she thought she knew.

There is no doubt that Ms. Gruen can write. As she sets the stage for everything Maddie faces, there is a poetry to her words which are mesmerizing. However, in this particular novel, the writing cannot make up for the flat story. There is a heavy-handed use of convenient plot twists that make the story more of a fairy tale than a realistic show more piece of historical fiction. One can make an argument that the story is magical realism, which makes sense in many ways. However, the general impression is that Ms. Gruen’s intention is for this to be a serious historical fiction piece with a little magic thrown in for good measure. This makes the fairy tale aspect unexpected and out of place.

The other disconcerting element of the novel is how quickly everything happens. Maddie realizes the truth about her marriage, falls in love with someone else, and makes life-altering decisions all within a matter of pages. In the case of falling in love, she does so without speaking more than a few words to her new love interest. The whole scenario is just odd, and as with the convenient plot devices, feels inauthentic to the underlying story.

Sara Gruen will always be synonymous with her breakout novel, Water for Elephants, and with good reason. It is the perfect marriage of beautiful writing, a fascinating setting, interesting characters, and a compelling story. Unfortunately, At the Water’s Edge fails to measure up to her previous success. As beautifully written as it is, there is a lack of connection between the characters which keeps them aloof. The setting is gorgeous, but it never becomes anything more than a backdrop. Also, the characters fail to remain static and loosely developed, The rapid pace of the story prevents it from becoming anything more than a superficial romance and diminishes any of the otherworldly elements. Had Ms. Gruen not had such a spectacular first novel, At the Water’s Edge would be perfectly decent in spite of its flaws. However, knowing what she is capable of writing does nothing but highlight the story’s deficiencies and make a reader wish for what could have been. show less