Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but could of been so much more
Review: I first read the "Pilot's Wife" then this one. I have to admit her style of writing is interesting and keeps you involved, but overall she must be a depressed person to be able to write these novels. While I had to pay attention so as not to get confused between past and present I found her writing lacking any emotion except utter sadness. Good thing I was already feeling down in the dumps when I began her book.
Rating: 
Summary: New to me, but now one of my favorite authors
Review: Oprah can surely pick 'em!. I had not read any of Anita Shreve's books until this one. She has now captured my attention in a big way. The moving from the present to the past was intriguing and allowed the stories to flow so smoothly that I had no trouble at all keeping the essence of each story. Maren's character development was so complete by the end of the book that she could have walked into the room and I would have known her. Ms. Shreve leads you to the ending of her books with grace and with anxiety. Rich's scream, "Where's Billie!" almost brought me out of my chair! I am now a devoted Anita Shreve fan. Can't wait for her next one.
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Summary: Modern Fiction's female misogynist strikes again
Review: As in A PILOT's WIFE and now in THE WEIGHT OF WATER Anita Shreve continues her latent hatred of the male species by combining the likes of incestual love,the killing of an innocent man and the basic distrust of all that is not female.She treats her male characters as "in the way" of women becoming self-actualized (or perhaps it's a longing to be male and she's just so angry that she doesn't enjoy the same "privilege" given them in society).I couldn't stand the protagonist. I wished her husband had thrown her overboard and gone to bed with Adeline. The story would have been more interesting. And as for her Smuttynose story,Maren seemed like a spoiled baby at times and deserves to die with a heavy heart. Anyone who could take an ax to someone with no teeth does not deserve any compassion.The ending was a horrible copout.Jean and Adeline should have run off together. Much more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling with an interesting slant on history.
Review: I was easily drawn into this book, with the concurrent stories, one in the present, the other in the past. The author slides sometimes confusingly between the past and the present. The historical background on the Isles of Shoals and its inhabitants is great, and gives you a very real sense of what the islands immigrants suffered in making their new home in this seemingly uninhabitable place. Shreve had me right there, up until the end! While her paranoid musings of her husband's supposed infildelity was gripping, I found myself being annoyed with her response. The book's end made me throw it across the room! While I was completely involved in the book, I was disappointed that she chose to end the book in the way that she did. It seemed to me to be counter to all she wrote about how she cared for her child, always wanted her near, etc. In the end I was left with a sense of loathing for the mother, and felt the book raised too many questions which it did not answer.
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Summary: There's always a story behind the story
Review: My first experience with Anita Shreve and it won't be my last. I found the characters of the Smutty Nose murders side of the story very well developed but felt less in touch with the present day characters and their problems. It was a bit too evocative of Chappaquidick and stories I have heard before. The 1871 murder story was darkly fascinating and while the real "murderess" did not surprise me (who would not be pushed to the brink of homicide with such an evil, condescending and mean-spirited sister? Why Anethe, though? She stole Evan?). It made for lots of interesting discussion in my book group.
Rating:
Summary: Only the ending was a let down.
Review: I thought Ms.Shreve's prose was vivid and compelling. The characters were sympathetic, even when you may not have liked them. I especially felt for the character of Maren. I accept the overall tragedy of both storylines but I am not convinced it had to end exactly as it did.
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Summary: A fascinating attempt at "weaving" past and present.
Review: Although this was not a perfect book, it was fascinating to see the author attempt to weave meaning into her text using a historical murder case and a contemporary story for counterpoint. This is a complex and challenging task, and though not perfectly achieved, it was admirable nonetheless. This, and other "less than perfect" current writing merits more respect than they seem to be getting from some of the self-appointed critics who choose to comment on texts chosen by Oprah for her book club, or on authors whose other works she has chosen. I must admit to being appalled by literary snobs who seem to find it necessary to bash these authors as well as Oprah for not living up to their "literary" standards.It was reading the commentary on the latest Anita Shreve book--after having enjoyed "The Weight of Water"--that motivated me to write my own comment. I am so offended by the faux-intellectual snobbery of those who look down at Oprah and her book club choices. By looking down your nose at anything smacking of less than the most refined level of literary worth, and refusing to recognize what is positive about Oprah's book club--and her choices--people who consider themselves "well-read" are descending to the lowest form of snobbery--and the least justifiable one as well. These self-appointed critics exhibit their own ignorance and not a small amount of envy. I highly doubt that many writers of any worth would look upon a renaissance of serious reading by millions of people in all different levels of society as anything less than miraculous and praiseworthy. People who really love books and love to read should join in LOUD praise of Oprah's REVOLUTIONARY actions and EFFECTIVENESS at getting America not only to read, but to think about books and discuss them, in record large numbers. I think what Oprah has done for American women, and for writers all over the world, is worthy of tremendous recognition, praise and gratitude. For how many years have we heard how little reading goes on in the American home, and how few children are exposed to even 15 minutes a day of watching a parent sit and read a book? And instead of preaching about the need for people to read and think and imagine the lives of other people in other situations, or to see other ways of dealing with the same problems we live -- Oprah DID something!!!!!! I think someone ought to give her a prize on the order of the Nobel Peace Prize--and pin some huge medal on her chest. I think what Oprah is doing will affect more people's lives in a positive fashion, than the actions of most of the politicians of the last three decades in this country. Those of us blessed with parents who read to us a lot, who may have spent our lives reading and studying and taking apart literature, may not agree with each and every one of her choices--or even any of them. But we owe her a good deal of respect and gratitude, along with the same for her chosen authors. Would that every smart aleck writing pompous and thoughtless comments from their comfortable anonymity, gifted with "superior"literary taste were able to make such a productive and beneficial contribution to society.
Rating: 
Summary: helainebinstock&yahoo.com
Review: Easy-to-read, flowing prose. On photo-essay assignment off coast of New Hamshire, to reasearch a brutal l871 murder, narrator juxtaposes past with present. Familiar passions and emotions, clearly described, makes for mezmerizing reading.
Rating:
Summary: The Weightiness of Anita Shreve.........
Review: The Weight of Water is written in a very detached way.... there is no depth of feeling. It is impassionate, hazy. Shreve worries too much about what she thinks is the beauty of her language, and not enough about character development (there is none) and plot (thin, predictable, uninteresting.) The language should be the strength then, but it's overwrought and pretentious. Written annoyingly in present tense, Shreve lets her protagonist wander around in some kind of detached, poetic stupor. The off-in-space look on Shreve's face on the picture printed on the back of the novel is appropriate. The Smutty Nose murders are a great topic for a novel, and I even approve of the direction Shreve takes this. However, she feels the need to attach a dumb modern co-plot, and ruins the whole thing anyway with her so-so very lovely prose. Avoid this book at all costs.
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Summary: I could taste the sea air and feel the swells,under me.
Review: I grew up on the west coast and have always had a bond with the ocean. "The weight of water" carried me to the deck of the boat, where the main character wrote most of her discoveries, on land and while she was at sea. I read the book within my first summer, coinsidently in the town that the story took place. The author made a lasting empression, I will hold for years to come. When I return to Portsmith, New Hampshire I will recall her discriptive details. The shore view of Smuttynose,Island will be full mystery and discovery. This is a"must read".
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