What do you think?
Rate this book
Water
Nathaniel Water is a doodling, neurotic, self-obsessed young British artist. His career is on the up, but his love life has taken a nosedive. Bored, he proposes marriage to his beautiful Slovak girlfriend, Jelena, with whom he fights constantly. But then he meets Harriet, a curator from Berlin ...
Can Water find happiness? Or is he caught in a downward spiral of nihilism and endless art openings? Delve in to this barking tale of love, family foibles and fame to find out.
Jasper Joffe is a painter and novelist. He was born in the US in 1975 and moved to England when he was eight. He studied Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford.
He completed an MA in painting at The Royal College of Art in London and received a scholarship to the British School at Rome, where he spent nine months. He has had solo exhibitions in London, Rome, Milan and Brno; his work is also in the Saatchi collection. He lives in London.
Water is his first novel.
See his visual work at jasperjoffe.com
Can Water find happiness? Or is he caught in a downward spiral of nihilism and endless art openings? Delve in to this barking tale of love, family foibles and fame to find out.
Jasper Joffe is a painter and novelist. He was born in the US in 1975 and moved to England when he was eight. He studied Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford.
He completed an MA in painting at The Royal College of Art in London and received a scholarship to the British School at Rome, where he spent nine months. He has had solo exhibitions in London, Rome, Milan and Brno; his work is also in the Saatchi collection. He lives in London.
Water is his first novel.
See his visual work at jasperjoffe.com
256 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2006
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 27, 2023
People who enjoy Martin Amis might go for this. This pseudo-autobiographical first novel is definitely eclectic and notable for humorously characterizing the rude, self-centered, conceited side of certain successful young adult males in Britain in a way that feels genuine--and without holding back. It's like having a look behind the social self that usually hides all the politically incorrect thoughts. Indeed, this sort of approach is why I like first novels by young adult males from Britain; Amis's 'Rachel Papers' as another example. I also agree with the reviewer who called it a page turner.
Full disclosure: The author's dad was a close friend of mine and gave me this book. I met the author as a 12 year old and met all of his family. I also had the pleasure of attending one of the author's parties long after he had grown up. As such, I've had personal experience with a few scenes that certain chapters bring to mind--definitely adds to the fun! I'll also say the author is actually a lot more evolved than the "Water" character he created (at least as far as I know!). On the other hand, I knew his dear dad well enough to say that I recognize certain traits which cause me to think that the apple does not fall far from the tree! :-)
Full disclosure: The author's dad was a close friend of mine and gave me this book. I met the author as a 12 year old and met all of his family. I also had the pleasure of attending one of the author's parties long after he had grown up. As such, I've had personal experience with a few scenes that certain chapters bring to mind--definitely adds to the fun! I'll also say the author is actually a lot more evolved than the "Water" character he created (at least as far as I know!). On the other hand, I knew his dear dad well enough to say that I recognize certain traits which cause me to think that the apple does not fall far from the tree! :-)
March 16, 2018
EVERYTHING about this book is weird , including the cover . A quarter of the way in , I wondered WHY I was reading it. Half way in a started to think it was okay . Three quarters of the way through , I knew I had to see where it went . Finished it and still don't know WHY ! Guess I like weird more than I thought . ;-)
February 10, 2018
Made it halfway through. It said a romantic comedy though it was not romantic and not very funny. I couldn't make myself care about the main character, Nat Water, either... he was neither likable nor interesting.
February 4, 2014
Someone claimed it is a pageturner ... I agree! Especially if you are into the funny illustrations complementing the plot of the story.
More to come ...
October 12, 2014
I just couldn't get into this book. I didn't like the style of writing at all and I found it to be confusing. There was a lot of strong language but that didn't bother me at all.
February 8, 2014
A wonderfully funny book. Charming. I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews