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In The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve tells a story of pain, jealousy, and passion. Her characters and their closest relationships--with siblings, with partners--are trapped in isolated and claustrophobic spaces. Shreve tells the story of the murders of two Norwegian immigrant women on Smuttynose Island off the coast of New Hampshire in the late 19th century. She explores the 19th Century events in the context of a contemporary photographer's trip to the island to capture the location for a magaz
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I couldn't warm to this book. I think it tries too hard, it feels affected, insincere. It's mostly told from the perspective of Jean. She's a photographer sent to get photographs of Smuttynose, Maine, part of the Shoal Islands near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1873, it was the setting of a gruesome double murder, so she visits the island accompanied by her husband, five-year-old daughter and her brother-in-law and his girlfriend. The novel is mostly written in a first person present voice that
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Not that good. Two stories in one. Two women murdered on Smutty Nose Island in 1800's. Jean is now taking pictures of it. Her daughter Billie falls off the boat and drowns.
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Oct 15, 2007
Krista the Krazy Kataloguer
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Lisa Ricciuti
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Joanna Casale
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May 06, 2012
Tanya (mom's small victories)
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Jennifer Corgiat
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Jan 27, 2025
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