- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Riverhead (TRD); Reissue edition (Jan 24 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1573228540
- ISBN-13: 978-1573228541
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 12.9 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 299 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Entrapment is a recurring theme in the art of Thomas Moran. His first novel, The Man in the Box, concerns a Jew hiding from Nazis in a secret, boxlike room in an Austrian farmer's barn. His next, The World I Made for Her, features a protagonist imprisoned within his own disease-ravaged body. In Water, Carry Me, Moran expands beyond physical constraints to explore the greatest trap of all: love. When we first meet Una Moss, she is in her final year of medical school in Ireland. Orphaned at the age of 8, she has grown up uneasily straddling two worlds: that of her working-class grandfather, Rawney, with whom she lives in a village outside of Cork, and the upper-class milieu of private school and moneyed friends. Early in the novel Moran hints at the political themes that will soon enmesh her: Rawney, a railroad engineer, frequently carries mysterious crates "all the way to Sligo, up near the Ulster border," and boasts of his "dangerous friends." In reality, though, his friends are more endangered than dangerous: Mungo, the fisherman who occasionally brings strange packages ashore in his boat, is the victim of a mysterious shipwreck; Des and Mick, who help load the contraband, are both picked up by the police, only to reappear weeks later with "a hole in their lives, an awful, secret space, a haunting."
Indeed everyone in Moran's novel is haunted in some way by the conflict in Northern Ireland. Una herself was orphaned because of her father's involvement with one side or the other:
The violence is like a virus moving invisibly through our blood, the IRA and the Ulster Defense Association the Typhoid Marys of it. It kills some, and deadens the hearts of the rest of us. Nobody but idiots--and the mad fanatics--are immune.Neither, it turns out, is Una. Though at first she manages to lead a fairly normal life--going to school, spending time with her friends, and even falling in love with charming Aidan Ferrel--eventually the Troubles engulf her, too, and it is love that proves to be her undoing. In the haunting, heartbreaking Water, Carry Me Moran weaves the political and the personal into a net so subtle that his characters don't know they've been caught in it until it's too late. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Though unclear until its conclusion, Moran's compelling third novel continues his explorations of confinement and memory. As Una Moss, a young Irish Catholic medical student from Cobh and the heroine of the story, notes, "Times past are not times gone, so long as they live inside you. My memory's like a theater?." For Una, her memories of floating peacefully in the sea are all she will have to sustain her during her coming ordeal. Like so many Irish, she has found herself tangled in "the troubles," even though she is unwilling to accept heir reality. After her mother and father are killed in a car "accident" when she is eight, her Grandda, a crotchety old railway engineer who makes weekly runs to Sligo, takes care of her. Life goes on, and when, as a medical student, she meets Aidan Ferrel, she thinks that at last she has found "the one." He adores her, but he is very quiet about his past. Born in the North, he does not like talking about the things he has seen, and when he does, he expresses only repulsion at the excesses of both sides. All too soon reality strikes in the form of an "18th century" plaque that piques the interest of an airport security guard dog. This is a well-crafted, haunting tale filled with very human characters caught in a web much bigger than themselves. Highly recommended for all public and larger academic libraries.
David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, FL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, FL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful emotional ride,
By
This review is from: Water Carry Me (Paperback)
Owning an Irish American newspaper, and reviewing over one hundred books with Irish themes the last three years, I now have to revise my list of top ten favorite books, having just completed "Water, Carry Me" last night. As other reviewers have hinted, it's a book that stays with you. I woke up in the middle of the night still agonizing over the lovers, Uma and Aidan.I would love to see a sequel, with Aidan redeeming himself, writing to substain Uma's spirits, but I suppose he is beyond redemption and would have to live with his guilt, as he has all the years since the Remembrance Day Celebration. I have been in Northern Ireland, have visited the IRA prisoners in Long Kesh, questioning their choices and commitment. It is almost beyond understanding, though they've often tried to explain it to me. As an American, perhaps we can never understand. I also write novels about the Troubles, but in "Water,Carry Me", Moran has definitely raised the bar. I never wanted it to end, and while I knew in time Aidan's secrets would be revealed, I never foresaw the consequences to Uma. Since I work part-time in a bookstore, I've had my eye on this book for awhile. After reading "The World I Made For Her" I was pretty sure I'd love it, but had no idea it would be so powerful.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking story,
By
This review is from: Water Carry Me (Paperback)
Although the title may indicate "Water, Carry Me" is a love story, it is, in fact, so much more. Set against the backdrop of a divided Ireland, the novel tracks a few years in the life of Una Moss, the book's fascinating narrator, as she rides the turbulent waves of her early 20's.Orphaned at eight and raised by her grandfather Rawney in Cobh, County Cork, Una is perhaps one of the most interesting and compelling characters in recent fiction. Cynical yet naive, insightful yet oblivious, she is a wholly real person and draws us into her world and her experiences as she comes of age as an adult. As she enters university, she watches her longtime friends Fallon, Collie, and Gaynor drawing away from her, changing and developing tastes and interests completely different from her own, and finds her best friends are not who she thought they were. And when "the Troubles" violently hit home for Una, she slowly discovers the truth behind the long-held secrets in her family, and her life suddenly becomes enmeshed in that conflict. But all of these changes become secondary when she meets Aidan Ferrel, a draughtsman from the North, who sweeps her off her feet with his self-depricating charm and adoration of her. Una believes she has found true love and begins to plan her future with the man who, in her eyes, is perfection. Of course, Una then finds out she doesn't quite know everything she thought she did about Aidan. Moran's deft writing moves the book along at a swift pace, and the interest never sags. This is a thoroughly engrossing, enjoyable, and ultimately heartbreaking read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
worthwhile read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Water Carry Me (Paperback)
I truely enjoyed the writing style and content. After spending 3 weeks in Northern Ireland recently, I felt the characters were true to many Irish people which made the story more believable and interesting. It is a very beautiful country that must live with such underlying unrest and I felt this was conveyed masterfully in this book. I do agree that having a fundamental knowledge of Irish history is helpful. It is a deeply moving story of some interesting characters. I am anxious to read more from this author.
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