On the night their mother drowns, sisters Marnie and Diana Maitland discover there is more than one kind of death. There is the death of innocence,...
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Mar 25, 2008
Susan
rated it: 
This book tells of two sisters, one of whom has psychological problems that are similar to their mother's.
This is described as the family "curse." The sisters have different memories of a boating accident when their mother is killed and they are saved. As the cursed sister tries to ensure that her son not live as cursed as she is, her sister works to free that son from a hysterical silence caused by a boating accident quite similar to his mother's.
The story is told throug More...
This is described as the family "curse." The sisters have different memories of a boating accident when their mother is killed and they are saved. As the cursed sister tries to ensure that her son not live as cursed as she is, her sister works to free that son from a hysterical silence caused by a boating accident quite similar to his mother's.
The story is told throug More...
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Feb 22, 2009
Kelly
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What happens when you discover the ones you love best are intent on hurting you? And what if, they are your family? This book focuses on secrets, mental illness and childhood wounds. Exquisitely written, the book reveals a family and a community still reeling from a past tragic event that threatens to be repeated today.
Marnie and Diana are sisters, born into a dysfunctional family and they spend much of their early years clinging to each other for safety. The father has left fo More...
Marnie and Diana are sisters, born into a dysfunctional family and they spend much of their early years clinging to each other for safety. The father has left fo More...
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Jun 16, 2011
Katie Blacker
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This book is definitely one of the more serious Karen White books I've read lately. It has her usual style of mystery with a touch of romance, but also touches on more serious issues - like bipolar disorder and how it can affect everyone around the person suffering - and it also shows the chapters from a different perspective in real time, which is something different.
The part that I found most intriguing was how she wrote Gil, one of the character's nine-year old son, who is suffering tra More...
The part that I found most intriguing was how she wrote Gil, one of the character's nine-year old son, who is suffering tra More...
Sep 06, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
So I picked this book up after not being able to finish it. It started out kind of slow and at times I was confused if we were going backwards in the story or forwards. I did like everyone's different point of view. At times the discriptions were a bit long winded and I skimmed some parts. <spoiler> I am not sure why Diana was always visiting her mother in the nursing home. Why visit someone who tried to kill you? Nor do I understand how just knowing that she thought she should kill her ow
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Jul 08, 2009
Kristy
rated it:
I felt that this book was difficult to get into, especially since I had not read anything by Karen White before. Once you get past the first half of the book, it gets to the point where you can't put it down. It was not my favorite novel I have ever read, but I enjoyed it because it was a compelling novel about sisters, and since I have a sister I understood a few of the things that Marnie and Diana Maitland went through. It has also taught me a little something about flawed relationships, wheth
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Jul 26, 2010
A Memória da Água, finalista do prémio National Reader’s Choice não foi dos livros que mais me tenha seduzido. Com uma história que poderia ter algum potencial, a autora, no meu entender, tornou a obra um pouco maçadora, e pouco desenvolveu a temática, tendo tornado o livro interessante apenas a algumas páginas do seu final.
O livro conta a história de duas irmãs, Diana e Marnie Maitland que se separam afectivamente logo após o acidente de barco que, viria a vitimar a sua mãe, e do qual tam More...
O livro conta a história de duas irmãs, Diana e Marnie Maitland que se separam afectivamente logo após o acidente de barco que, viria a vitimar a sua mãe, e do qual tam More...
Jun 23, 2008
Linda
rated it: 
I liked this book because it was a fast read (Seattle visit/airplane book) and because it was about a topic I don't usually read about, mental illness. It was a good story (except for the part when mothers try to kill there children so they won't grow up to have mental illnesses) with a fairly happy ending.
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Oct 16, 2009
bookczuk
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I have a weakness for books set in the lowcountry of South Carolina. Sometimes they please, sometimes they don't. This story about two sisters, their lives and shared sorrows was fairly predictable. Told from 4 perspectives, there was a lot about family curses, mental disease, separation through loss, jealously, and finding the truth. Heavy in forshadow, the basic plot twist and the ending were fairly predictable, but not necessarily satisfying. I didn't find any of the four narrating chara
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Dec 15, 2009
Amy
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I liked this book more than 3 stars, but not nearly as much as most of my 4 starers...again, the half star option would be great.
I did enjoy this book. Like my contemporaries, I thought it was beautifully written. The scenery and language were both amazing. Normally, I would find the number of similes and metaphors in this book annoying. For some reason, however, the unique landscape, and the paintings of a troubled artist needed that, and I doubt the feeling could have been conve More...
I did enjoy this book. Like my contemporaries, I thought it was beautifully written. The scenery and language were both amazing. Normally, I would find the number of similes and metaphors in this book annoying. For some reason, however, the unique landscape, and the paintings of a troubled artist needed that, and I doubt the feeling could have been conve More...
Sep 11, 2011
Katrina
rated it:
Four main characters tell the story in first person, so there were times I had to double check to see who was speaking. I liked the style because it allowed opportunities to be inside the heads of each character. The story takes place in South Carolina lowlands where Marnie and Diana Maitland were raised in their family home that is haunted by the legend of the Maitland Curse. Diana and Marnie are driven apart when their mother drowned in a sailing accident. After ten years of separation, Ma
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Nov 30, 2008
Andie
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I enjoyed parts of this book, and was frustrated by others. I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, but I enjoyed the writing. I think the simplistic analogy of all the artists being bi-polar and the non-artists not having the disease was lame. But reading about bi-polar disorder, how it continues through generations and ruins families, was fascinating.
There was a twist, but I had it figured out pretty early on, and can't really figure out if it was supposed to be a More...
There was a twist, but I had it figured out pretty early on, and can't really figure out if it was supposed to be a More...
Jan 18, 2009
Kathleen
rated it:
Somehow I have recently found my way to novels set in the Low Country of South Carolina, a part of the country I have always loved reading about. This novel involves two sisters and a series of tragedies, small and large, that have both bonded and estranged them. One sister is called home from her self-imposed exile in the southwest to assist in the healing of her young nephew. While she has the training to do this, the road to this healing is arduous. All of the characters here are complex, and
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Mar 24, 2009
Cecily
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On the night their mother drowns, sisters Marnie and Diana Maitland discover there is more than one kind of death. There is the death of innocence, of love, and of hope. Each sister harbors a secret about that night-secrets that will erode their lives as they grow into adulthood.
After ten years of silence between the sisters, Marnie is called back to the South Carolina Lowcountry by Diana's ex-husband, Quinn. His young son has returned from a sailing trip with his emotionally unstabl More...
After ten years of silence between the sisters, Marnie is called back to the South Carolina Lowcountry by Diana's ex-husband, Quinn. His young son has returned from a sailing trip with his emotionally unstabl More...
Jan 25, 2009
Darla
rated it:
An intriguing story, told from four peoples' perspectives. A story about destructive family secrets, mental illness and damaged love between siblings. There is much sadness within the pages of this book, but an ending that gives rise to hope and the power of redemption.
I liked it. White is a good storyteller, but sometimes the flow seemed a bit strained. Similes and metaphors didn't always feel natural and I am really getting tired of the multiple view point narrative style. It feel More...
I liked it. White is a good storyteller, but sometimes the flow seemed a bit strained. Similes and metaphors didn't always feel natural and I am really getting tired of the multiple view point narrative style. It feel More...
Aug 03, 2011
Shannon
rated it: 
I usually like Karen White, but I could not get into this book. I didn't like either of the main characters, sisters Diana and Marnie. Both seemed selfish and too into their own problems to do any good. Now, Marnie did come back to help her nephew, so she was starting to be better, but it was taking too long for me. Also, there were so many secrets that weren't being revealed. Another reviewer said the last half of the book was great, after a slow start. Maybe I should've persevered, but I
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Aug 02, 2011
Suze
rated it:
The Memory of Water explores the conflicting perspectives two sisters have about one another and their positions in their mother's heart. Much of the book works well -- in particular, the sisters' slow move toward reconciliation and their consistency of voice as they confront and begin to address old wounds and fears. Other parts of the book work less effectively. The nine-year-old boy's voice, far more adult than is accurate for that age, detracts from his character's authenticity. And, while t
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May 29, 2008
Lisa
rated it:
i read it on the beach, so it was okay, but incredibly predictable.
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Dec 12, 2009
Renee
rated it:
This book is for anyone whose soul has sung while participating in any particular activity ... and then stopped doing it. It's for anyone who's experienced the joy and pain of having siblings. It's a study of family, of relationships, of memory and of mental illness. Somehow, though, White manages to explore difficult, painful material without the book ever becoming a chore to read -- probably because of those activities that lead characters' souls to sing. And even though I don't know much abou
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Jun 04, 2010
Deanna
rated it:
This was an easy read in some ways and not in other ways. I enjoyed the descriptive language. I thought the exploration of the sometimes conflicted "sister" relationships was well done. My connections to the characters were not always present, perhaps more my issue not the author's. The bipolar mental illness described in the book is very extreme and makes me hesitate since I believe it paints a stereotypical picture of mental illness. The plot was fairly predicatable yet I still enjoy
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Jan 07, 2011
Kris
rated it:
This book was so. freaking. slow. After the first 70 pages, it's all filler until the last 10 pages. Ugh, I was so bored reading this book. It was frustrating especially since it's pretty obvious what the main conflict is over, so you figure out the big mystery about 200 pages before the main characters do and you sit there for the rest of the time going "YOU ARE SO DUMB." None of the characters sound any different from each other, despite one of them being a 9 year old boy. Reall
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Jul 20, 2009
Laurie
rated it:
There is not much I can say about The Memory of Water. It is a Lifetime movie in pages rather than on the TV screen. It is predictable and the characters lack the depth Karen White was hoping to create. Some of the book was charming and White's story-telling was thorough, the predictability of the story just made it difficult to want to continue reading because the reader knows what is going to happen well before it happens.
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Jul 24, 2011
Susan
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Dec 07, 2010
Anne
rated it:
Karen White writes a solid book about the subtleties of relationship gone wrong and the efforts to reconnect. I love the lesson that "happily ever after" doesn't always happen, but healing can occur if both parties work at it. She creates lush emotional tugs that appeal to women, or at least to me. Sometimes I have a bit of a problem with her POV issues,but then,I'm a writer,and we are death on the minutia of story. Her writing is breezy and contemporary, and reading her dialog is like
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Aug 26, 2011
Célia
rated it:
Após dez anos afastada da sua terra natal, numa zona costeira da Carolina do Sul, Marnie regressa a pedido do pai do seu sobrinho Gil. A criança não fala desde um acidente de barco com a mãe, Diana, e tendo em conta a experiência de Marnie com crianças, Quinn pede-lhe ajuda. Ao regressar, Marnie pensa cada vez mais no que a fez partir: também um acidente de barco, que a envolveu a ela, à irmã e à mãe, e que tirou a vida a esta última. Diana sofre, tal como a mãe, da doença bipolar, e o seu compo
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Jul 18, 2010
Rachelle
rated it:
On the night their mother drowns, sisters Marnie and Diana Maitland discover there is more than one kind of death. There is the death of innocence, of love, and of hope. Each sister harbors a secret about that night-secrets that will erode their lives as they grow into adulthood.
After ten years of silence between the sisters, Marnie is called back to the South Carolina Lowcountry by Diana's ex-husband, Quinn. His young son has returned from a sailing trip with his emotionally unstab More...
After ten years of silence between the sisters, Marnie is called back to the South Carolina Lowcountry by Diana's ex-husband, Quinn. His young son has returned from a sailing trip with his emotionally unstab More...
Dec 05, 2009
The Memory of Water, by Karen white, B-plus, narrated by Susanna Burney, produced by Listen and Live audio, downloaded from audible.com.
Marnie and Diana are sisters who have not spoken to each other in fifteen years-not since the night they, with their mother, capsized the boat in a storm. While the sisters survived, their mother’s body was never found and she was presumed to have drowned. Both sisters are hiding secrets from each other about that night, and they tell themselves th More...
Marnie and Diana are sisters who have not spoken to each other in fifteen years-not since the night they, with their mother, capsized the boat in a storm. While the sisters survived, their mother’s body was never found and she was presumed to have drowned. Both sisters are hiding secrets from each other about that night, and they tell themselves th More...
Apr 14, 2009
seanat (elka)
rated it:
Marnie returns to her childhood home to help her nephew, who is refusing to speak, since suffering a trauma on a boat with his mother.
This re-opens old wounds between herself and her sister as they also were on the boat that ended in their mother's death many years ago. Many secrets have been buried and start to emerge.
The four viewpoint naratives here did seem too many. Could probably have done without Quinn's, never really liked his character, his expectation that his son's More...
This re-opens old wounds between herself and her sister as they also were on the boat that ended in their mother's death many years ago. Many secrets have been buried and start to emerge.
The four viewpoint naratives here did seem too many. Could probably have done without Quinn's, never really liked his character, his expectation that his son's More...
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Oct 28, 2008
Marika
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There is not much that could make Marnie Maitland return to the South Carolina Lowcountry. But, when her young nephew survives a sailing accident with his mother but is traumatized enough to stop speaking, Marnie is convinced to go home in order to help her young nephew. Being back in her home state, Marnie comes face to face with the conflicting emotions that have caused a rift between herself and her sister, Diana. Both sisters are forced to confront these feelings and relive the night their o
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Dec 16, 2011
Wendy
rated it:
I am so annoyed with the whole deep, dark, mysterious family secret of generations that "threatens to tear apart the very fabric of the family..." blah, blah, blah. I'm not sure if the "big reveal" was ever supposed to be a secret, because I figured it out less than a third of the way in..... The very end was sort of interesting and satisfying though, so I can't say I regret finishing it. Though I am glad I finished it and it's over. Blech.
Feb 27, 2009
Aetuck
rated it:
This is the story of two sisters who had an unbreakable bond growing up until they ended up on a sailboat during a storm with their crazy mother. The mother actually tries to kill one of the daughters when the sailboat capsizes. The story goes on with the sisters ending up despising one another. Each of the girls have secrets from one another and they get in the way of a reconciliation. I enjoyed the scenery of the book which is the Lowcountry in SC.
