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The Waters: A Novel
A master of rural noir returns with a fierce, mesmerizing novel about exceptional women and the soul of a small town.
On an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp—an area known as “The Waters” to the residents of nearby Whiteheart, Michigan—herbalist Hermine “Herself” Zook has healed the local women of their ailments for generations. As stubborn as her tonics are powerful, Herself inspires reverence and fear in the people of Whiteheart, and even in her own three daughters. The youngest, beautiful and inscrutable Rose Thorn, has left her own daughter, eleven-year-old Dorothy “Donkey” Zook, to grow up wild.
Donkey spends her days searching for truths in the lush landscape and in her math books, waiting for her wayward mother and longing for a father, unaware that family secrets, passionate love, and violent men will flood through the swamp and upend her idyllic childhood.
With a “ruthless and precise eye for the details of the physical world” (New York Times Book Review), Bonnie Jo Campbell presents an elegant antidote to the dark side of masculinity, celebrating the resilience of nature and the brutality and sweetness of rural life.
On an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp—an area known as “The Waters” to the residents of nearby Whiteheart, Michigan—herbalist Hermine “Herself” Zook has healed the local women of their ailments for generations. As stubborn as her tonics are powerful, Herself inspires reverence and fear in the people of Whiteheart, and even in her own three daughters. The youngest, beautiful and inscrutable Rose Thorn, has left her own daughter, eleven-year-old Dorothy “Donkey” Zook, to grow up wild.
Donkey spends her days searching for truths in the lush landscape and in her math books, waiting for her wayward mother and longing for a father, unaware that family secrets, passionate love, and violent men will flood through the swamp and upend her idyllic childhood.
With a “ruthless and precise eye for the details of the physical world” (New York Times Book Review), Bonnie Jo Campbell presents an elegant antidote to the dark side of masculinity, celebrating the resilience of nature and the brutality and sweetness of rural life.
386 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 10, 2023
3586 people are currently reading
26609 people want to read
About the author
Bonnie Jo Campbell
23 books671 followersBonnie Jo Campbell is the author of the National Book Award finalist American Salvage, Women & Other Animals, and the novels Q Road and Once Upon a River. She is the winner of a Pushcart Prize, the AWP Award for Short Fiction, and Southern Review’s 2008 Eudora Welty Prize for “The Inventor, 1972,” which is included in American Salvage. Her work has appeared in Southern Review, Kenyon Review, and Ontario Review. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she studies kobudo, the art of Okinawan weapons, and hangs out with her two donkeys, Jack and Don Quixote.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,386 reviews
December 27, 2023
"Love is a sharp hollow tooth."
Man, I pretty much hated this book, but it was undeniably good
I wanted to slap nearly every character for being so stubborn and set in their ways that they became blind to the needs of those around them, AND for placing so much responsibility on a young girl who really only wanted to go to school. ALSO, there are highly detailed, horrific instances of animal cruelty.
On the other hand . . .
This is first and foremost a book about women - three sisters, one of the women's daughter, and one domineering legend of a matriarch who looms large not only over her offspring, but over the neighboring town as well. She's a woman townsfolk both rely on AND resent. The main characters live on an island, accessible only by a sort of drawbridge controlled by the women on the island. Pretty cool, I thought. As for the menfolk, well . . . right up until the end of the book when an emergency forces them to "man up," male characters exist merely as sperm donors, or catalysts for crises that the women must handle.
If none of this has dissuaded you, you may find the book to be an involving, immersive, character-driven read. I certainly did. As I've said before, I don't need to like characters to find them interesting, and the womenfolk of this novel were pretty fascinating. This is one that'll stick with me for quite a while.
Thanks to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for sharing.
Man, I pretty much hated this book, but it was undeniably good
I wanted to slap nearly every character for being so stubborn and set in their ways that they became blind to the needs of those around them, AND for placing so much responsibility on a young girl who really only wanted to go to school. ALSO, there are highly detailed, horrific instances of animal cruelty.
On the other hand . . .
This is first and foremost a book about women - three sisters, one of the women's daughter, and one domineering legend of a matriarch who looms large not only over her offspring, but over the neighboring town as well. She's a woman townsfolk both rely on AND resent. The main characters live on an island, accessible only by a sort of drawbridge controlled by the women on the island. Pretty cool, I thought. As for the menfolk, well . . . right up until the end of the book when an emergency forces them to "man up," male characters exist merely as sperm donors, or catalysts for crises that the women must handle.
If none of this has dissuaded you, you may find the book to be an involving, immersive, character-driven read. I certainly did. As I've said before, I don't need to like characters to find them interesting, and the womenfolk of this novel were pretty fascinating. This is one that'll stick with me for quite a while.
Thanks to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for sharing.
January 13, 2024
dnf @ 42%
thought I would love this based on the synopsis but it is so boring. 42% in and still don’t understand the plot of the book. Very little happened and incredibly repetitive. You can skip page after page and miss *nothing.* I’m not one to dnf a book, but I couldn’t bear to spend another minute reading this one.
thought I would love this based on the synopsis but it is so boring. 42% in and still don’t understand the plot of the book. Very little happened and incredibly repetitive. You can skip page after page and miss *nothing.* I’m not one to dnf a book, but I couldn’t bear to spend another minute reading this one.
January 8, 2024
Bonnie Jo Campbell knows rural Michigan right down to the vertical pupils of the massasauga rattlesnake. For almost 25 years, in her celebrated novels and story collections, she’s been charting streams and hauling logs to construct her own space in the literature of Midwestern gothic. She focuses on a realm largely written off, ignored or shellacked in national mythology, a world of hardscrabble farmers and laborers stumbling around in the long shadow of America’s collapsed manufacturing economy.
That sounds grim, but there’s an indomitable spirit pushing back against despair in Campbell’s work. I’ve been looking forward to a new novel from her since 2011, when she published “Once Upon a River,” the unforgettable tale of a young woman who lights off on her own to escape a rising tide of family violence.
Campbell attends to people forced to slog through the muck of crushed hopes. Even when her women are subjected to betrayal and sexual abuse, they are. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
That sounds grim, but there’s an indomitable spirit pushing back against despair in Campbell’s work. I’ve been looking forward to a new novel from her since 2011, when she published “Once Upon a River,” the unforgettable tale of a young woman who lights off on her own to escape a rising tide of family violence.
Campbell attends to people forced to slog through the muck of crushed hopes. Even when her women are subjected to betrayal and sexual abuse, they are. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
February 28, 2024
3.5⭐️
Hermine “Herself ” Zook has spent all of her life on her little island in the Great Massasauga Swamp—an area known as “The Waters” to the residents of Whiteheart, Michigan. Herself is known for her skill as an herbalist and has made a living out of selling herbal remedies to those from nearby towns seeking her help. Her marriage of fifteen years ended after she threw her husband out after a scandal that is still fodder for gossip among the townspeople. Her daughters have grown up and have all left home, her eldest Primrose a lawyer, her middle daughter Maryrose (Molly) a nurse and her youngest Rose Thorn who lives in California with Primrose but has left her daughter Dorothy “Donkey” Zook with Herself to raise. As the story begins, we find out that Herself has isolated herself from her community, rarely venturing out of her home with only her eleven-year-old granddaughter for company. Donkey has questions about her family, has heard the whispers and has sensed the strained relationship between the women in her family but is unable to get anyone to tell her all she wants to know. Donkey also misses her mother and craves having a father in her life and spends her time learning from the nooks her aunts send her, bonding with animals and nature and following after her grandmother, secretly concocting remedies for those requesting Herself’s services. When Rose Thorn returns to Rose Cottage, old friendships are rekindled, resentments resurface and as the secrets about her family begin to unravel it is to be seen whether Donkey will finally get the family she desires, or the revelations drive the family further apart.
The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell is an intriguing story revolving around themes of family, loneliness, isolation, grief, and community. I loved the vividly described setting of the island, the surrounding rural community and the mystique of Herself and her remedies. My heart ached for Donkey and her loneliness. Her desire for a family and her connection to nature and her love for animals will strike a chord in your heart. The main female characters are well thought out, as is the dynamic between the Zook women and their immediate community who regard them in turn with awe, admiration, curiosity, resentment, and a bit of fear. It did bother me that none of the male characters were portrayed in a positive light. Titus Jr. whose history with Rose plays a significant role in the story and who remains, for the most part, a positive influence in Donkey’s life lacked depth and certain aspects of his storyline toward the end felt inconsistent compared to how his character was built up. There is a lot to unpack in this story – long-buried secrets, mysteries, and deeply emotional moments but perhaps, there was too much going on with the characters, which resulted in a long-drawn (and a tad convoluted) narrative with inconsistent pacing and more than a few unnecessary supporting characters and underwhelming plot points. I was glad the pace picked up in the last quarter but overall, though there is a lot to like about the writing and despite being a fan of character-driven immersive stories, I struggled to stay invested in the characters or the narrative as a whole.
Please note that there are scenes of animal cruelty that might prove disturbing for some readers.
Finally, I love that cover!
I received a digital review copy from the publisher via Edelweiss+. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel was published in the USA on January 09, 2024.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
Hermine “Herself ” Zook has spent all of her life on her little island in the Great Massasauga Swamp—an area known as “The Waters” to the residents of Whiteheart, Michigan. Herself is known for her skill as an herbalist and has made a living out of selling herbal remedies to those from nearby towns seeking her help. Her marriage of fifteen years ended after she threw her husband out after a scandal that is still fodder for gossip among the townspeople. Her daughters have grown up and have all left home, her eldest Primrose a lawyer, her middle daughter Maryrose (Molly) a nurse and her youngest Rose Thorn who lives in California with Primrose but has left her daughter Dorothy “Donkey” Zook with Herself to raise. As the story begins, we find out that Herself has isolated herself from her community, rarely venturing out of her home with only her eleven-year-old granddaughter for company. Donkey has questions about her family, has heard the whispers and has sensed the strained relationship between the women in her family but is unable to get anyone to tell her all she wants to know. Donkey also misses her mother and craves having a father in her life and spends her time learning from the nooks her aunts send her, bonding with animals and nature and following after her grandmother, secretly concocting remedies for those requesting Herself’s services. When Rose Thorn returns to Rose Cottage, old friendships are rekindled, resentments resurface and as the secrets about her family begin to unravel it is to be seen whether Donkey will finally get the family she desires, or the revelations drive the family further apart.
The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell is an intriguing story revolving around themes of family, loneliness, isolation, grief, and community. I loved the vividly described setting of the island, the surrounding rural community and the mystique of Herself and her remedies. My heart ached for Donkey and her loneliness. Her desire for a family and her connection to nature and her love for animals will strike a chord in your heart. The main female characters are well thought out, as is the dynamic between the Zook women and their immediate community who regard them in turn with awe, admiration, curiosity, resentment, and a bit of fear. It did bother me that none of the male characters were portrayed in a positive light. Titus Jr. whose history with Rose plays a significant role in the story and who remains, for the most part, a positive influence in Donkey’s life lacked depth and certain aspects of his storyline toward the end felt inconsistent compared to how his character was built up. There is a lot to unpack in this story – long-buried secrets, mysteries, and deeply emotional moments but perhaps, there was too much going on with the characters, which resulted in a long-drawn (and a tad convoluted) narrative with inconsistent pacing and more than a few unnecessary supporting characters and underwhelming plot points. I was glad the pace picked up in the last quarter but overall, though there is a lot to like about the writing and despite being a fan of character-driven immersive stories, I struggled to stay invested in the characters or the narrative as a whole.
Please note that there are scenes of animal cruelty that might prove disturbing for some readers.
Finally, I love that cover!
I received a digital review copy from the publisher via Edelweiss+. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel was published in the USA on January 09, 2024.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
January 16, 2024
I read it but I didn't like it or understand it
A Read with Jenna pick, I was prepared to like this book--many reviews compare it with Where the Crawdads Sing--and I can see the similarities--a family of women living on an island in the Waters. But the similarity stops there for me. I got frustrated with every one of the characters--the tension between the men and women--the awful focus on rattlesnakes. Ugh.
A Read with Jenna pick, I was prepared to like this book--many reviews compare it with Where the Crawdads Sing--and I can see the similarities--a family of women living on an island in the Waters. But the similarity stops there for me. I got frustrated with every one of the characters--the tension between the men and women--the awful focus on rattlesnakes. Ugh.
January 30, 2024
At one point I fell asleep listening to the audio, woke up and felt like I didn’t miss any because the story was still talking about the same thing. It’s 15 hours of not a whole heck of a lot. My newest book ick is comparing novels to books I rated 5 stars and then being so incredibly disappointed.
November 17, 2023
Phew, I have a lot of thoughts about this book. Buckle up if you want to listen.
In "The Waters," fairy tales and reality are melded together but not in ways that you might think. Not all magic is fantastical, and not every reality is barbaric, though both traits exist within each other.
Dorothy "Donkey" Zook has grown up on an island in the middle of a swamp known as "The Waters" with her grandmother Hermine "Herself" Zook, shielded away from the mainland and a normal life. Donkey's mother Rose Thorne disappears and reappears like Persephone, leaving Donkey to feel unwanted and abandoned as she craves a secure family unit. When an act of violence handicaps Hermine, Donkey takes on the burdens of the Waters as its new caretaker. But even as a smart, compassionate eleven year old, she soon learns that not every good intention has good consequences.
This story has as much to do with the characters as it does with a place. One could easily say that people are a product of the environment they grew up in, but as far as "The Waters" goes, the people *are* the environment. Donkey describes the women of the Waters "no longer five separate bodies in a kitchen but five flowers growing from the same root; whether she hated or loved them wasn't relevant to their work together." Donkey grows up separated from "the Brutes of Nowhere" (as her grandmother Hermine describes them") but once she is introduced to the men in Whiteheart outside of the island, she seems to be the only Zook girl who recognizes their proverbial flowers growing in the root as well, but not without noting their toxicity. Hermine and her daughters are right to distance themselves from the men, and Donkey is also wary of their violence and assertiveness. However, as much as she is afraid of them, she is fascinated and excited by them just as intensely. In a similar way, the men and "the Brutes of Nowhere" fear and revere the witchy Hermine Zook for her cures and potions.
To me, "The Waters" is a commentary on the condition of the soul, how two opposite things can be true at once, and how that fact doesn't diminish the validity of either.
In "The Waters," fairy tales and reality are melded together but not in ways that you might think. Not all magic is fantastical, and not every reality is barbaric, though both traits exist within each other.
Dorothy "Donkey" Zook has grown up on an island in the middle of a swamp known as "The Waters" with her grandmother Hermine "Herself" Zook, shielded away from the mainland and a normal life. Donkey's mother Rose Thorne disappears and reappears like Persephone, leaving Donkey to feel unwanted and abandoned as she craves a secure family unit. When an act of violence handicaps Hermine, Donkey takes on the burdens of the Waters as its new caretaker. But even as a smart, compassionate eleven year old, she soon learns that not every good intention has good consequences.
This story has as much to do with the characters as it does with a place. One could easily say that people are a product of the environment they grew up in, but as far as "The Waters" goes, the people *are* the environment. Donkey describes the women of the Waters "no longer five separate bodies in a kitchen but five flowers growing from the same root; whether she hated or loved them wasn't relevant to their work together." Donkey grows up separated from "the Brutes of Nowhere" (as her grandmother Hermine describes them") but once she is introduced to the men in Whiteheart outside of the island, she seems to be the only Zook girl who recognizes their proverbial flowers growing in the root as well, but not without noting their toxicity. Hermine and her daughters are right to distance themselves from the men, and Donkey is also wary of their violence and assertiveness. However, as much as she is afraid of them, she is fascinated and excited by them just as intensely. In a similar way, the men and "the Brutes of Nowhere" fear and revere the witchy Hermine Zook for her cures and potions.
To me, "The Waters" is a commentary on the condition of the soul, how two opposite things can be true at once, and how that fact doesn't diminish the validity of either.
January 20, 2024
The writing is lovely, the beginning reminded me a little of Alice Hoffman. However the actual story didn’t move along enough, and could’ve been much shorter.
What the writing doesn’t cover up is that this is the story of “Strong, QuIrkY Women serve their community and protect crappy weak men who don’t deserve it” they live on an island, have weird names, commune with animals, handle snakes, & practice folklore medicine.
Hermine, Herself, is the matriarch with three daughters, only one she birthed, and the youngest is her oldests’ child , by way of her stepdad. At least Hermine threw him out after that.
And this youngest, Rose, was raped by her boyfriend’s father, runs away, gives birth, comes back, and continues to leave every year while carrying on with this deadbeat guy who’s unfaithful and stupid.
There are idiot men who are obsessed with these island women, especially Rose, worship the ground she walks on even, but do nothing to stop her rape. She doesn’t tell her boyfriend bc god forbid he has to deal with the fact his dad’s a predator, he won’t be a father to the girl who’s really his sister but will still sleep with Rose and love love loves her. Rose becomes pregnant again. And his wife doesn’t show him the door? She even breastfeeds the baby bc she’s nursing her own twins!
Ladies, please stop being martyrs. Go live on the island and leave these idiots to their own devices while they shoot at tractors and pretend they are nice guys.
What the writing doesn’t cover up is that this is the story of “Strong, QuIrkY Women serve their community and protect crappy weak men who don’t deserve it” they live on an island, have weird names, commune with animals, handle snakes, & practice folklore medicine.
Hermine, Herself, is the matriarch with three daughters, only one she birthed, and the youngest is her oldests’ child , by way of her stepdad. At least Hermine threw him out after that.
And this youngest, Rose, was raped by her boyfriend’s father, runs away, gives birth, comes back, and continues to leave every year while carrying on with this deadbeat guy who’s unfaithful and stupid.
There are idiot men who are obsessed with these island women, especially Rose, worship the ground she walks on even, but do nothing to stop her rape. She doesn’t tell her boyfriend bc god forbid he has to deal with the fact his dad’s a predator, he won’t be a father to the girl who’s really his sister but will still sleep with Rose and love love loves her. Rose becomes pregnant again. And his wife doesn’t show him the door? She even breastfeeds the baby bc she’s nursing her own twins!
Ladies, please stop being martyrs. Go live on the island and leave these idiots to their own devices while they shoot at tractors and pretend they are nice guys.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2023
Rose Cottage sat in the middle of a marsh, the home of Herself. She made herbal remedies for the people of Whiteheart, Michigan. She had raised three girls; her biological daughter, Molly, a doctor; the foundling Primrose, a lawyer in California; and Rose Thorne, the most beautiful and charismatic, but laziest, of all. Then, there was Rose Thorne’s daughter Dorothy, nicknamed Donkey because she had been raised on donkey milk.
Rose Thorne and Titus Jr. are in love, but she will not marry him, for she cannot share the secret of Donkey’s birth with him. She has been away for almost two years, living with Primrose in California. Donkey badly misses her mother.
Donkey has spent her life in the marsh. She has never been to school or been around menfolk. Herself draws up the bridge to the mainland at night. Donkey’s huge heart and attachment to animals, makes her prone to choices that do not end well.
The marsh is home to Mississauga rattlesnakes and mosquitos and wild plants and flowers. the women keep two donkeys and a goat and chickens, and forage the marsh. They have everything they need.
The townspeople both depend on Herself’s cures and fear her strange witchy ways. Men sometimes shoot their guns towards the hidden cottage. When the charismatic Rose Thorne returns home, she attracts the townsfolk around her, and they build bonfires at night and bring out alcohol and instruments, partying all night long.
Donkey does not know the hidden history of her family. Why Herself sent away a beloved husband. Why Primrose moved so far away. The identity of her father. And why her mother keeps leaving and won’t marry Titus Jr. But she knows she looks like Titus Jr. and longs for them to marry, to have a father at last.
There are threats all around. The marsh and farm land has been polluted by chemicals, new cancers have arisen that Herself cannot cure. The marsh is haunted by a ghost. And some menfolk fear and hate Herself, and loathe her ministrations to solve women’s burdens and problems.
The novel reads like a dark fairy tale and spools out like a suspense thriller, but with deep explorations into the characters inner thoughts and motivations. Ominous threats are ever present; you expect an inevitable tragedy to take place. And tragedies do happen, and have happened, losses and changes and revelations that alter Donkey’s life.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
Rose Thorne and Titus Jr. are in love, but she will not marry him, for she cannot share the secret of Donkey’s birth with him. She has been away for almost two years, living with Primrose in California. Donkey badly misses her mother.
Donkey has spent her life in the marsh. She has never been to school or been around menfolk. Herself draws up the bridge to the mainland at night. Donkey’s huge heart and attachment to animals, makes her prone to choices that do not end well.
The marsh is home to Mississauga rattlesnakes and mosquitos and wild plants and flowers. the women keep two donkeys and a goat and chickens, and forage the marsh. They have everything they need.
The townspeople both depend on Herself’s cures and fear her strange witchy ways. Men sometimes shoot their guns towards the hidden cottage. When the charismatic Rose Thorne returns home, she attracts the townsfolk around her, and they build bonfires at night and bring out alcohol and instruments, partying all night long.
Donkey does not know the hidden history of her family. Why Herself sent away a beloved husband. Why Primrose moved so far away. The identity of her father. And why her mother keeps leaving and won’t marry Titus Jr. But she knows she looks like Titus Jr. and longs for them to marry, to have a father at last.
There are threats all around. The marsh and farm land has been polluted by chemicals, new cancers have arisen that Herself cannot cure. The marsh is haunted by a ghost. And some menfolk fear and hate Herself, and loathe her ministrations to solve women’s burdens and problems.
The novel reads like a dark fairy tale and spools out like a suspense thriller, but with deep explorations into the characters inner thoughts and motivations. Ominous threats are ever present; you expect an inevitable tragedy to take place. And tragedies do happen, and have happened, losses and changes and revelations that alter Donkey’s life.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
June 27, 2023
Rural Noir! I actually did not know there was a genre called rural noir but it fits this story very well.
When we meet Hermine "Herself" Zook we learned that her healing has changed quite a bit to reflect her point of view of life. Once welcoming and open, herself is now a force to be reckoned with. Her three lovely daughters have ruled the area with their beauty. Dorothy, her grandchild who goes by Donk/ey run wild on the island and much of her coming of age takes place in this story. But like all noir tales and most rural novels, there is a sinister edge to the nature, the working men and the ways that people deal with poverty and disappointment. A beautiful and lyrical story for all rural tale lovers ! #TheWaters #BonnieJoCampbell #WWnorton
When we meet Hermine "Herself" Zook we learned that her healing has changed quite a bit to reflect her point of view of life. Once welcoming and open, herself is now a force to be reckoned with. Her three lovely daughters have ruled the area with their beauty. Dorothy, her grandchild who goes by Donk/ey run wild on the island and much of her coming of age takes place in this story. But like all noir tales and most rural novels, there is a sinister edge to the nature, the working men and the ways that people deal with poverty and disappointment. A beautiful and lyrical story for all rural tale lovers ! #TheWaters #BonnieJoCampbell #WWnorton
January 20, 2024
3.5 💧💧💧💧
February 2, 2024
January 2024 Read with Jenna pick.
Nature lovers will enjoy reading about this scenic place.. it’s an island in the Massasauga Swamp in an area of Michigan referred to by locals as ‘The Waters.’ The scenery is beautifully written giving you all the feels.. it is alive and vibrant with nature.. plants and animals alike.. all living within a danger-filled swamp environment giving the story a very strong sense of place. And this is very much character driven.. both things I enjoy when reading. The rattlesnake (not so much) as it seems to be a character in of itself with quite a bit of the story revolving around it.
The story begins when the matriarch’s daughter Rose Thorn Zook returns home with a baby they name Dorothy ‘Donkey’ (adored her), whom the story is mainly told through, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother, Hermine ‘Herself’ Zook. Donkey grows up in the wilds of the island with her math books searching for truths about her family. Waiting for her mother’s return. Wanting to meet the father she’s never known.
SECRETS.. oh my, the secrets kept in this little troubled community is staggering.. between this multi-generational family of women, and the insensitive male characters whom bring about abuse in many forms.. show how they are all a product of their environment. The grandmother revered as much as feared with her cures and potions, and her overprotectiveness of Donkey.. beautiful but lazy Rose Thorn being ‘the Belle’—is everything good to everyone.. the other two daughters.. Molly a nurse, and Primrose a lawyer living in California want Herself, Rose and Donkey to leave the island. They are under constant threat due to local farmers trying to take their land. THE WATERS is dark at points (death of a family pet, etc), also a bit confusing and on the strange side, but then I really enjoyed its tender-hearted moments within some of the characters. Somehow this all worked for me. I found it captivating with a satisfying conclusion. 4 stars — Pub. 1/9/24
Nature lovers will enjoy reading about this scenic place.. it’s an island in the Massasauga Swamp in an area of Michigan referred to by locals as ‘The Waters.’ The scenery is beautifully written giving you all the feels.. it is alive and vibrant with nature.. plants and animals alike.. all living within a danger-filled swamp environment giving the story a very strong sense of place. And this is very much character driven.. both things I enjoy when reading. The rattlesnake (not so much) as it seems to be a character in of itself with quite a bit of the story revolving around it.
The story begins when the matriarch’s daughter Rose Thorn Zook returns home with a baby they name Dorothy ‘Donkey’ (adored her), whom the story is mainly told through, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother, Hermine ‘Herself’ Zook. Donkey grows up in the wilds of the island with her math books searching for truths about her family. Waiting for her mother’s return. Wanting to meet the father she’s never known.
SECRETS.. oh my, the secrets kept in this little troubled community is staggering.. between this multi-generational family of women, and the insensitive male characters whom bring about abuse in many forms.. show how they are all a product of their environment. The grandmother revered as much as feared with her cures and potions, and her overprotectiveness of Donkey.. beautiful but lazy Rose Thorn being ‘the Belle’—is everything good to everyone.. the other two daughters.. Molly a nurse, and Primrose a lawyer living in California want Herself, Rose and Donkey to leave the island. They are under constant threat due to local farmers trying to take their land. THE WATERS is dark at points (death of a family pet, etc), also a bit confusing and on the strange side, but then I really enjoyed its tender-hearted moments within some of the characters. Somehow this all worked for me. I found it captivating with a satisfying conclusion. 4 stars — Pub. 1/9/24
July 1, 2024
The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell is a novel that explores human resilience and the unbreakable bonds between people and the places they call home. The author had a good ability for detail and her profound empathy for her female characters. The female characters are complex and resilient, while they find a way in a world that is frequently unforgiving. Campbell writes of their struggles and triumphs in a way that the reader can feel. Wonderful descriptive writing that takes place in the Midwest on an island called Great Massasauga Swamp near Whiteheart, Michigan.
November 25, 2023
2.5 This is a lush, sensual novel set in the rural swamps of northern Michigan. I really tried to get into the story but found it a slog most of the way. I think if you are interested in herbal medicine and nature, especially snakes, it would be enjoyable as Campbell is a good writer. It definitely picks up speed in the second half but not enough for me to not be very glad when it was over. Think this one will have limited appeal to the general reading audience.
January 25, 2025
This Read with Jenna pick is beautifully written but simply wasn't my favorite. The storyline follows matriarch Hermine and her three daughters living in The Waters, an isolated rural area in Michigan. The women survive poverty, nature, and abusive men. There is also a heartbreaking love story and Dorothy, Hermine's granddaughter, who longs to know who her father is. The sacrifices that the characters make for their loved ones is endearing.
February 12, 2024
Hated every minute of it….bizarre and took forever to kind of have a plot that no one cares about. Kinda reminded me of my 3rd graders writing and I’d have to redirect them to try to stay on topic. WTF
January 16, 2024
This was a let down for me
January 18, 2024
DNF couldn’t finish this book. What a waste of my time. Worst Jenna book ever
January 25, 2024
I read Bonnie Jo Campbell's short story collection, American Salvage, last year and it was possibly my top read of the year, at very least in the top three. So many things made that book special, but chief among its virtues is Campbell's almost otherworldly ability to create a sense of place. As it happens, I know well Southwestern Michigan, where The Waters and most of the stories in American Salvage are set but have not been there in many years. Campbell brought me right back (Often kicking and screaming, I left MI 40 years ago and sometimes I still feel if I stop running I will end up there again, it happens right in the book, against everyone's will.) It is gritty and ugly, except where it is surpassingly beautiful and the ethos of the place has changed little in the last 100 years. Though I would never have thought of it, it turns out it is a pretty perfect place to set a fairy tale, which in part is what this book is.
Within the first 20 pages I said this was like a mashup of the Brothers Grimm and Willa Cather. I was amused to later see that one of the people who blurbed this said it read like a combination of the Brothers Grimm and Flannery O'Connor. I can see that, and people often label Campbell as a Southern Gothic writer, but she is not. I suspect those people know nothing about the Northern Midwest. Having lived in both regions I see clearly the differences. The most important distinction for me is that Midwestern Gothic is, like Midwesterners, polite, restrained, more lurks under the surface than above. You have to work for things, and the churn below the surface will let you ignore it for a very long time. Southern Gothic is the book equivalent of an over-the-top 24-hour-a-day crime scene, you are not allowed to look away, the ugliness will hit you over the head with a socket wrench if you try. To see the horror and pathos in Midwestern gothic you need to look into the back of Granny's cupboards or under the floormats of the most beleaguered men. You need to work for your violence and pain.
Campbell is an absolute master of Midwestern Gothic, and this book is really impressive. In addition to creating an alternate world filled with wonder and violence in equal measure, Campell introduces us to amazing women forging a life out of nothing, either running from this world or cemented in place. They are fascinating creatures, simultaneously fit for those fairy tales and extraordinarily real. I took of a star because there were times I thought it dragged. It always came back powerfully, but for me the part of the book that centered on Donkey and Herself (Dorothy and Hermine, there are lots of nicknames) and the specifics of creating medicines from nature and of Donkey learning outside of a formal environment started to get dull. As mentioned this was just a small part of the book, but that drag kept me from being fully in love with this. Still, I passionately recommend it.
I listened to this book read by the incomparable Lili Taylor (whom I have loved since Say Anything and Mystic Pizza) and it was great. It is only January, but I suspect this will be on my top 10 audiobook narration list at year's end.
Within the first 20 pages I said this was like a mashup of the Brothers Grimm and Willa Cather. I was amused to later see that one of the people who blurbed this said it read like a combination of the Brothers Grimm and Flannery O'Connor. I can see that, and people often label Campbell as a Southern Gothic writer, but she is not. I suspect those people know nothing about the Northern Midwest. Having lived in both regions I see clearly the differences. The most important distinction for me is that Midwestern Gothic is, like Midwesterners, polite, restrained, more lurks under the surface than above. You have to work for things, and the churn below the surface will let you ignore it for a very long time. Southern Gothic is the book equivalent of an over-the-top 24-hour-a-day crime scene, you are not allowed to look away, the ugliness will hit you over the head with a socket wrench if you try. To see the horror and pathos in Midwestern gothic you need to look into the back of Granny's cupboards or under the floormats of the most beleaguered men. You need to work for your violence and pain.
Campbell is an absolute master of Midwestern Gothic, and this book is really impressive. In addition to creating an alternate world filled with wonder and violence in equal measure, Campell introduces us to amazing women forging a life out of nothing, either running from this world or cemented in place. They are fascinating creatures, simultaneously fit for those fairy tales and extraordinarily real. I took of a star because there were times I thought it dragged. It always came back powerfully, but for me the part of the book that centered on Donkey and Herself (Dorothy and Hermine, there are lots of nicknames) and the specifics of creating medicines from nature and of Donkey learning outside of a formal environment started to get dull. As mentioned this was just a small part of the book, but that drag kept me from being fully in love with this. Still, I passionately recommend it.
I listened to this book read by the incomparable Lili Taylor (whom I have loved since Say Anything and Mystic Pizza) and it was great. It is only January, but I suspect this will be on my top 10 audiobook narration list at year's end.
Read
January 17, 2024The strange witchy-woman who lives on M'Sauga Island outside small-town Michigan in Bonnie Jo Campbell's newest (and very much best) novel distrusts the outside world of men and their violence and their soulless medicine, even though all of her equally eccentric daughters are deeply and ambivalently involved in that world. In this weird, beautiful story, all the family's old secrets (and a couple of blockbuster new ones, one very effectively saved for the end of the book) are gradually dredged from the muck. This kind of heavily-written hick-lit is ordinarily guaranteed to annoy me, but this book completely swept me away. My full review here: https://openlettersreview.com/posts/t...
January 15, 2024
The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Rating (3.5/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Reminiscent of Where the Crawdads Sing ; The Waters is January’s Read With Jenna pick.
A bit slow in the beginning. I really enjoyed the setting & the characters. The author’s descriptions of The Waters location and nearby village “Whiteheart” were so good you could almost picture yourself there. This book has strong female characters, firstly in “Herself” the heroine of the story, her three daughters, and her granddaughter Donkey. A story of moms, daughters, and granddaughters. A tale of family, joy, grief, and secrets unfolded with unexpected twists and turns!
Rating (3.5/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Reminiscent of Where the Crawdads Sing ; The Waters is January’s Read With Jenna pick.
A bit slow in the beginning. I really enjoyed the setting & the characters. The author’s descriptions of The Waters location and nearby village “Whiteheart” were so good you could almost picture yourself there. This book has strong female characters, firstly in “Herself” the heroine of the story, her three daughters, and her granddaughter Donkey. A story of moms, daughters, and granddaughters. A tale of family, joy, grief, and secrets unfolded with unexpected twists and turns!
January 18, 2024
DNF at 4% I know that is early but I could not read any more of this book. The writing was confusing and I could not see where this story wanted to go. It all felt like meaningless filler with too many random characters. I have no desire to finish this book especially when my kindle says I have over 17hrs left. This was the January read with Jenna pick and I am disappointed.
One star because maybe I just hate the genre of books? Other people seem to like it.
One star because maybe I just hate the genre of books? Other people seem to like it.
January 24, 2024
So. Very. Slow.
March 13, 2024
The first part of this book was a slog to get through. I'd rate it 2 stars, but the last third of the book was much better and I'd give it 4 stars, so a rating of 3 stars felt appropriate.
This book felt unnecessarily long. There's a lot of descriptive imagery that really puts you in the setting which I liked, but most of the time it dragged. The setting reminded me a lot of Where the Crawdads Sing, but the difference is I loved WTCS and I really didn’t care for The Waters.
There's so many characters and the only one I really liked was Donkey. I could hear her voice and get a good sense of her, whereas the other characters felt a bit more amorphous to me. And almost all of them seemed selfish and made poor decisions. It was just hard to connect with them, which was what I tried to do for the first half of the book since there was no real plot line. A few times I found myself spacing out while listening to the audiobook but I don’t think I missed much since most plot points were so long and convoluted.
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been told from multiple POVs - maybe Donkey's, Herself's, and Rose Thorn's. At times I got a bit confused because in the middle of paragraph, it would just point of view and suddenly I'd be seeing the scene through another characters POV or even at times, an animal's POV.
Lastly, as many other reviewers have said, there are multiple depictions of graphic animal abuse. This was quite hard to get through.
This book felt unnecessarily long. There's a lot of descriptive imagery that really puts you in the setting which I liked, but most of the time it dragged. The setting reminded me a lot of Where the Crawdads Sing, but the difference is I loved WTCS and I really didn’t care for The Waters.
There's so many characters and the only one I really liked was Donkey. I could hear her voice and get a good sense of her, whereas the other characters felt a bit more amorphous to me. And almost all of them seemed selfish and made poor decisions. It was just hard to connect with them, which was what I tried to do for the first half of the book since there was no real plot line. A few times I found myself spacing out while listening to the audiobook but I don’t think I missed much since most plot points were so long and convoluted.
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been told from multiple POVs - maybe Donkey's, Herself's, and Rose Thorn's. At times I got a bit confused because in the middle of paragraph, it would just point of view and suddenly I'd be seeing the scene through another characters POV or even at times, an animal's POV.
Lastly, as many other reviewers have said, there are multiple depictions of graphic animal abuse. This was quite hard to get through.
January 29, 2024
3.5 stars
Several generations of a family of women live on an island in a swamp (dubbed “The Waters” by the locals) in rural Michigan. Well, three daughters have moved off-island and now just visit their elderly mother, Hermine, and the 10-year-old Donkey (Dorothy), who is learning natural medicine from her gran and helps her gather the plants and other items needed. The residents of the nearby small town are divided in their opinion about Hermine: the women respect her and consult her for all manner of ailments, but especially those related to women, especially starting—or stopping—a pregnancy; the men generally fear her, regard her with great suspicion, and call her a witch. Very melodramatic, with great romance, faithlessness, rape, endangered rattlesnakes, a cave-dwelling hermit—well, maybe you get the picture.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by actress Lili Taylor. I love her intriguingly raspy voice, but her delivery was strange, with unnatural sentence breaks and hesitations, or with the stress placed on the wrong word. Very unexpected from such a gifted actress.
Several generations of a family of women live on an island in a swamp (dubbed “The Waters” by the locals) in rural Michigan. Well, three daughters have moved off-island and now just visit their elderly mother, Hermine, and the 10-year-old Donkey (Dorothy), who is learning natural medicine from her gran and helps her gather the plants and other items needed. The residents of the nearby small town are divided in their opinion about Hermine: the women respect her and consult her for all manner of ailments, but especially those related to women, especially starting—or stopping—a pregnancy; the men generally fear her, regard her with great suspicion, and call her a witch. Very melodramatic, with great romance, faithlessness, rape, endangered rattlesnakes, a cave-dwelling hermit—well, maybe you get the picture.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by actress Lili Taylor. I love her intriguingly raspy voice, but her delivery was strange, with unnatural sentence breaks and hesitations, or with the stress placed on the wrong word. Very unexpected from such a gifted actress.
January 20, 2024
I was utterly lost with this one. Beautiful narration in audiobook but the story was all over the place - a mix of WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING and ONCE UPON A RIVER. Oy. Lush writing but a bit too la-la for me; herbal/healer keeps the menfolk off her island. The men depicted in this novel are nothing special and issues of rape, abortion, alcoholism, and more pepper the poverty in this 'rural noir' book. So disappointing. I kept listening to it thinking it would redeem some shred of story but it was such a mess of wordy bits.
There's a scene in the beginning where these fellas are watching something/someone come down the road towards them - it's clearly a woman but they guess animal and then it must've been the longest road ever because FINALLY they say it's blond ... ah yes, it was Rose Thorn - a daughter of the matriarch of the island. Goodness me, her name alone gives you an idea of how this story pans out.
There's a scene in the beginning where these fellas are watching something/someone come down the road towards them - it's clearly a woman but they guess animal and then it must've been the longest road ever because FINALLY they say it's blond ... ah yes, it was Rose Thorn - a daughter of the matriarch of the island. Goodness me, her name alone gives you an idea of how this story pans out.
January 5, 2024
I want to love stories of women being powerful and being healers and yet they all seem to come with someone being raped. It's a plot line I try to avoid but here it was again. This could have been a 5 star read but it drudged through some unnecessary stuff (for me) in making a point about toxic masculinity.
November 1, 2024
A story of knowing what you don’t want, rather than what you do. Three generations of tough, somewhat shunned, women, all unique in their strengths. Dorothy, aka Donkey, steals the show. I loved the symbolism of the rattler. An ouroboros; the circle of life. I picked this up after hearing Campbell speak at Southern Festival of Books. She’s so sharp and funny! Meeting her was an absolute pleasure. Will def read more from her!
May 13, 2025
I would give this zero stars if I could. This book was both very bad and very long, which is a dreadful combination. I must have wanted to read it because it is set in northern Michigan. Unfortunately I was too stubborn to stop reading this so instead I let it drag on and put me in a months long reading slump. Learn from me and do not pick this one up.
November 18, 2023
Thank you for the ARC copy. I wish I could say I enjoyed the book, but I did not. I must be in the minority since it seems like most people did enjoy it. I didn't think the chapters were well connected.
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