Rating: 
Summary: Clumsy, Obvious and Cliched - but Entertaining
Review: I was lured into reading the first of of Carol Goodman's books because of the comparisions that had been made to the Secret History by Donna Tartt. To put it bluntly, there is no comparison. TSH is an incredibly well-written and intelligent book and while Ms. Goodman's books may touch on some of the same themes (mystery, suspense, ancient Latin or in this case, Irish mythology) they rank far below Donna Tartt's on any sort of literary scale. The "hints" of what will prove to be important plot points reverberate more like somebody beating on a congo drum. FIRE. NECKLACE. SHEDDING YOUR IDENTITY. However, with all that said, nobody forced me to read her second book and I truthfully couldn't wait to start it. Despite my frustrations with Ms. Goodman's talents, she manages to create sympathetic characters and a story line that leaves the reader eager to find out what happens next -- even if it's only to confirm what the reader has long since figured out. Anyone who enjoys this genre of writing might also really enjoy Madeleine's Ghost, by Robert Girardi, which has a similar effect in a less formulaic way.
Rating: 
Summary: Getting There Slowly, But Arriving
Review: I'm giving Carol Goodman's second novel, the Seduction of Water, 3.5 stars because the book feels more like a blocked writer's extended journal entry than a fully realized story. Not that there's anything wrong with that; I love reading about the writing process. Yet in the context of a novel, that approach feels a tiny bit like a cheat to me. In spite of that, once she gets past her anxiety, she finds a story worth telling and that's what drew me in.Iris Greenfeder, the protagonist and narrator, is a writer who by her own confession, never finishes anything. Instead of Ph.D. at the end of her name, she puts ABD for All But Dissertation. She got her master's but didn't finish her Ph.D. Her mother, the now deceased K. R. LaFleur, wrote two books in an unfinished trilogy about a fantasy world called Tirra Glynn. Iris's mother was quite famous and Iris sees an opportunity to complete her dissertation by writing a memoir of her mother's life. But first, she must uncover the circumstances of her mother's mysterious death. She sets out for the Catskills to spend the summer at the grand vacation hotel that has been in her family for many years. Over the summer, Iris hopes to find the missing manuscript of volume 3 of her mother's unfinished trilogy (egged on by her mother's infamous editor) and solve the mystery of her mother's death. The question of whether a woman must sacrifice her art (and therefore, her self) to have a man in her life is a subtext throughout the story. It factors into the lives of Iris, her mother, Iris's maternal aunt, and the deceased mother of Phoebe Nix (yes, rhymes with Stevie Nicks), a poet of Sylvia Plath-like fame. Phoebe is a great character; I picture Parker Posie with a buzz cut. Phoebe's mother committed suicide at the height of her success. There's a connection between Iris and Phoebe's parents, and that's one of the mysteries of the story. Phoebe is certain that marriage and motherhood destroyed her artistic mother (her suicide has since been attributed to post-partum depression); Iris wonders if the same is true of her mother, although her mom died in a hotel fire on Coney Island. The legend of the Selkie is the folktale-metaphor throughout the story, showing what happens when women sacrifice their art and identity to please man. I'm not terribly thrilled with Iris's retelling of the Selkie legend, which is placed at the beginning of each chapter as excerpts from her mother's work. But there's a heartbreakingly beautiful telling of the Japanese folktale, the Crane Wife on page 64. A Japanese rendering of the universal "wife must sacrifice all for her husband" theme, this tragic folktale will leave you in tears. It's thoughtfully woven in as a homework assignment from one of Iris's students. My thanks to Carol Goodman for sharing this wonderful folktale with me. If she included the whole Iris-as-writing-instructor part just to share this exquisite little piece with the reader, it was 100% worth it. No sooner does the plot thicken in one area of the story than Goodman adds a new, unpredicted twist to generate greater intrigue and momentum. Not as atmospheric and closely knit as Lake of Dead Languages, but a respectable follow-up. Goodman hit her stride halfway through this book, and I hope she continues it with her next effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful and languid mystery that seeps in to your soul.
Review: Iris Greenfelder is trying to make peace with herself, her life, her choices but can't quite move forward with out going back to her past. She begins inquiring on her mother who passed away in a tragic hotel fire when Iris was ten. This fire was mysterious and left Iris with a sense that somethings gone off kilter. So Iris begins her own journey of discovery as she slowly uncovers her mothers secrets.
The picturesque descriptions of the Catskill Mountains in which some of the book takes place are breath taking and will seduce you into inquiring on a vacation in NY. The characters are wonderfully flawed and you'll be able to identify with their struggles as Iris uncovers her mothers secrets.
I truly enjoyed this book and loved the deep connection Ms. Goodman evokes between Iris and her mother.
girldiver:)
Rating:
Summary: slopped together rehash of her first book
Review: It seemed to me that Carol Goodman, heady from the success of her extremely gripping first book, decided to write another one with practically the same plot twists, protagonist and supporting characters. Maybe if she was doing a standard mystery series this would be okay with me but I expected better from her. The pacing is extremely slow, the characters' actions often don't make a lot of sense and the convenient coincidences pile on thick, making a lot of the novel's outcome easy to see from a mile away.
With hope Ms. Goodman, who obviously can write very movingingly and convincingly (just see her first book), will take some time to make her next book much more original and less contrived than her second effort.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting, then Hopelessly Obvious
Review: It's fantasy, it's a mystery, it's a romance. Actually, The Seduction of Water has elements of all three, and while it began with a beatiful, even lyrical, tone, and the folktale woven into the novel was haunting and beautiful, about halfway through it became hopelessly obvious what was going to happen, and who people really were. It could have been an amazing story, with life parallelling a folktale, and the tale being woven into the novel within the novel. But I, at least, never really empathized with the main character, Iris. True, she's a bit older than I am, but she seems so wishy-washy, never standing up for herself. She falls into the mystery of her mother's past unwillingly, and seems to think solving it is more an obligation than a true quest for knowledge or peace. This novel could have been amazing. Instead, it's a great afternoon's entertainment, with some vivid scenery, and some nice language, but a flawed plot and characters that never truly breathe.
Rating:
Summary: A Made-For-TV Movie
Review: OK I read the entire book to see if Iris ever found her mother's third book, but midway through I became disappointed with the writing. The language was cliched and much of the plot was predictable--as soon as the dry summer and water system was discussed I knew there would be a fire at the hotel. And what was that to-do about the 7-year age difference?
But most of all, I could never warm up to Iris. What she (and the author) seem to be lacking is a good sense of humor!
Rating: 
Summary: A book to savor
Review: Once again, Carol Goodman has woven a world filled with complex, multi-dimensional characters, an absorbing plot, and a masterful use of language that made my time reading this book magical and something apart from my daily life. I often have four or five books going at once, but from the moment I picked up Seduction of Water, I was unable to leave the Hotel Equinox until reluctantly turning the last page.
Rating:
Summary: great story
Review: perhaps it's because i didn't read her first book, but i totally loved this book. it took me a couple of days to get into it, but once i did, i was hooked. i found the characters to be engaging and three-dimensional. now i'm going to read her first book with great anticipation!
Rating:
Summary: Still looking for a thrill
Review: The review quote on the book's cover called this an atmospheric thriller. Hardly. The book certainly had atmosphere as most well written novels do, but it was more of a mystery novel than a thriller. Much of the novel's length was spent in character development. The last hundred pages or so presented the mystery. I don't like being mislead by review blurbs that don't present a true depiction of the novel. A thriller is a book that you can't put down. This novel was easy to put down and hard to pick up again.
Rating:
Summary: Seduction, Mystery, Intrigue, Romance,
Review: This book has them all. It is the story of a woman, Iris Greenfeder; an almost writer, an almost professor, and an almost wife. An urge to write a story told to her nightly by her mother, leads to her quest to find out more about her late mother, who died in a hotel fire, registered under a different name. Under the pretenses of writing her mother's memiors and looking for her mother's lost manuscript, Iris becomes manager at the hotel she lived in as a child. She finds love in an unlikely place, as well as a renewed love for the hotel she grew up in as her parents worked in the hotel. The writing in this book is beautiful. The imagery in both the fairy tale and the rest of the novel, jumps out of the book and paints a picture of the time and the place. The author's characters are real people- not "fairy-tale" people who live perfect lives. Every time I had to put the book down, I could not wait to be able to pick it back up again to finish it. It was a very satisfying story- and I will be sure to check out Goodman's first book- and her new book.
|
