- Hardcover: 269 pages
- Publisher: MacAdam/Cage Publishing (February 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1931561613
- ISBN-13: 978-1931561617
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.2 x 2.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 490 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,786,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Amazon.ca
In Kristen den Hartog's first novel, Water Wings, sexy and impetuous Darlene is getting married for the second time, surprisingly enough to a dull shoe salesman. Her wedding, which prompts her grown-up daughters, Vivian and Hannah, to return home and revisit their vivid childhood memories, provides the centre for a beautifully wrought exploration of sibling relationships, soaring with elegant prose and loving characterizations.
Vivian and Hannah take turns telling how they came of age, surviving the death of their father in a freak boating accident and their mother's often erratic behaviour. The sisters also share the book with other characters, notably a young female cousin named Wren who has webbed fingers and a limitless capacity for wonder at the natural world. In the end, the plot is minimal except for the seemingly obligatory revelation of a not-so-surprising family secret, and all the talk of the past hugely overshadows the meager framework of the present-day events. But den Hartog's crystalline descriptions and insights into the human heart make this novel a memorable debut. --Nigel Hunt --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Set in a small town in Ontario, this delicately wrought family drama opens as Darlene Olepke, mother to Vivian and Hannah, prepares for her wedding to Reg Sinclair, the shoe store man. Vivian and Hannah's father, Mick, died in a tragic water-skiing accident many years ago, and since then Darlene has depended on a string of men for support. However, her inexplicable marriage to Reg, "a large pale man with a perm," dredges up memories and questions for Darlene's family. Darlene's two very different daughters, sharp-witted Vivian and dreamy Hannah, each narrate chapters, as do Angie, Darlene's practical sister, and Wren, Angie's deformed but sensitive daughter. Wren, sensitive to small wonders, draws parallels between human relations and the natural world-particularly the fragile and beautiful insects that inhabit the surrounding Ontario forests-that become increasingly relevant as darker truths about the town emerge. Despite the fine-grained loveliness of Hartog's prose, the novel suffers from a lack of focus, none of the characters crystallizing into distinct, memorable creations. The narrative swings freely from past to present and back again, sweeping memories of sticky summers and lost dreams in its wake. This patchwork construction, along with erratic pacing, decreases the tension and appeal of what is otherwise a beautifully rendered tale.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A lyrical treatment of love and loss,
By
This review is from: Water Wings (Hardcover)
Water Wings is this author's lyrical second novel, fashioned into an exquisite story of two sisters, Hannah and Vivian, and their cousin Wren. A terrible disappointment to her mother, Wren is born imperfect, with deformed hands, but has a soul filled with light, her world one of grace and acceptance that she often doesn't receive from the world. All of the girls remember their earliest years in rural Canada vividly, the lush countryside the backdrop for their adventures and life lessons.Soon after the final divorce decree from his wife, Darlene, Mick dies in a freak accident. The beautiful, Darlene and her husband make a striking couple and the girls cannot comprehend how their once loving parents could fall out of love. Years later, Darlene makes a decision to remarry, this time to a local shoe storeowner and the sisters must come home for the wedding. Upon their return, long-forgotten memories surface and they are drawn back, moment by moment, into a past filled with both the joy of discovery and the permanent etching of loss. We see the past as it evolves, slowly, measured through the eyes of the little girls, Hannah, Vivian and Wren. The children's hearts are exposed, their innocence shattered by their parent's separation and eventual divorce. The chapters about Wren are particularly insightful, because of the small tortures visited upon a girl who is different than her peers. The cruelties she endures, each a challenge to a fragile young ego, make her a stronger person. Before the wedding, Hannah and Vivian reconnect, thinking of the irony of Darlene's marriage. Mick and Darlene's emotional connections have been destroyed by Darlene's incessant need for attention, which precipitates the end of the marriage. Yet she continues collecting men, because they allow an escape and comfort in the moment. Darlene's substance is in her beauty; that is her only legacy to her daughters. Using their own resources, Hannah and Vivian discover another path toward self-definition, accessing memories of a loving father, scattered like so many jewels, as they move farther away from the green-painted house. Their cousin, the wise Wren, with her own little daughter, is the mainstay of the girlhood triad. These are females who have somehow lost their center and Mick's untimely death changes everything. Mick leaves a legacy, however, an abundance of love to guide his daughters, a presence to help navigate the difficult years ahead. Unfortunately, Darlene squanders the affection and natural beauty she takes for granted and is unable to do much else with her life. Unlike their mother, the girls find meaning in their memories, their history, each a part of the fabric of the present and necessary to the whole, where even loss relinquishes its bitterness. Luan Gaines/2004.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully Written,
By
This review is from: Water Wings (Paperback)
This is a wonderfully observed novel that takes us gently into the heart of a family and a town. No, there isn't a hugely dramatic plot, so if you're looking for a thriller, look elsewhere. What there is is an invitation to sit at the breakfast table with den Hartog's characters and to share in their lives. I was more profoundly affected by the novel the deeper I was drawn into the distinct perspectives of each character and their memories.
Rarely do we get to see inside a family so intimately. I highly recommend this novel.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Flaccid,
By
This review is from: Water Wings (Hardcover)
Overall, I think this book is flaccid. While not terrible, it is too MFA'd for my taste. Regardless if the writer is a graduate of one doesn't matter- the writing is still like that of an MFA course. I'll begin by saying that I didn't get very far in this book, because I found the passive tone in the speaker's voice unnerving. This book is all tell, tell, tell & no show. I wouldn't say this is a bad book, just mediocre & not memorable. Why is it that women writers always feel that they have to write about women, and family, and childhood? Where are all the LeGuin's of the world who are not afraid to take the POV of a male chararacter? This book reminded me too much of Anne Tyler meets Fitch's White Oleander. Get this from the library if you want to read it. The cover, however, is nice. I'm glad to see my one star went somewhere.
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