The Waters

By: Bonnie Jo Campbell

Narrated by: Lili Taylor

A master of rural noir returns with a fierce, mesmerizing novel about exceptional women and the soul of a small town.

On an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp—an area known as “The Waters” to the residents of nearby Whiteheart, Michigan—herbalist and eccentric Hermine “Herself” Zook has healed the local women of their ailments for generations. As stubborn as her tonics are powerful, Herself inspires reverence and fear in the people of Whiteheart, and even in her own three estranged daughters. The youngest—the beautiful, inscrutable, and lazy Rose Thorn—has left her own daughter, eleven-year-old Dorothy “Donkey” Zook, to grow up wild.

Donkey spends her days searching for truths in the lush landscape and in her math books, waiting for her wayward mother and longing for a father, unaware that family secrets, passionate love, and violent men will flood through the swamp and upend her idyllic childhood. Rage simmers below the surface of this divided community, and those on both sides of the divide have closed their doors against the enemy. The only bridge across the waters is Rose Thorn.

With a “ruthless and precise eye for the details of the physical world” (Jane Smiley, New York Times Book Review), Bonnie Jo Campbell presents an elegant antidote to the dark side of masculinity, celebrating the resilience of nature and the brutality and sweetness of rural life.

"Bonnie Jo Campbell’s The Waters is a novel, a living myth, and a place. … Imagine a mash-up of Flannery O’Connor and the Brothers Grimm, of Angela Carter’s reimagined fairy tales and William Faulkner’s gothic sublime. And yet, The Waters is all Bonnie Jo. …" —DIANE SEUSS, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Frank: Sonnets

©2024 Bonnie Jo Campbell (P)2024 Recorded Books

Magical sentence structure

At first I got frustrated and lost in the run on sentences. Then I fell under the spell of the island.

GAH This narrator ruins the story

I don't want to be negative, but I'm trying to dissuade folks from purchasing the narrated version of this book. I purchased both the kindle version and the audible version since it's for Book Club and I bounce back and forth between the two. The narrator's cadence is very distracting and confusing and the recording is unprofessional. I am enjoying the story, just not this narrator.

A very detailed account of a very specific place in Michigan.

This book shows how secrets and stubbornness affect families. I didn’t enjoy the constant tension between the characters. The use of cures from nature was the most interesting part for me.

I can see it

If you listen to a book and you can see it you know it’s a a good book ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Interesting characters. beautiful and wild descriptions of the location.

the narrator has a beautiful voice but the overall editing of the performance took away from the story telling with awkward pauses and changes in sound.

Obsession with snakes

This story was very confusing with alternate names for the same character. I spent too much right in keeping the names straight. The snake theme throughout the story was definitely not my cup of tea.

Beware

I really hate snakes so it was difficult to read/hear some parts of this book, BUT the snake is a very integral part of the story. That said, I still hate snakes!!

I loved the characters, some strong, some weak, some just willing to do whatever was necessary for her family and community.

It was interesting to read a “swamp” story in a setting in Michigan. I never knew about their swamps.

It took a while to get used to the narrator’s cadence and I was disturbed by her occasional mispronounced words, but her voice became very lulling and I think her delivery was an important part of this storytelling.

Beautiful

So this tale went looooooong like way to long. Especially the epilogue. I love Lily but you have to turn the volume up sky high to hear her. It’s the same thing watching her on tv. She’s just one of those voices that are so low. I did not like that you could hear her turn pages! I liked how she read the tale making it more fantastical. The tale was weird but I enjoyed it, it just went on and on and on and on……..and on.

Beautiful descriptive writing

Great story of a place I knew nothing about - felt like you really got to know characters. I’ll miss them.

Unsettled love.

Story is in Michigan, my home. Well written very descriptive. From a Detroit urban area impressed by small rural communities neighbor’s care. Liked listening as the story unfolds.