The Forms of Water

by Andrea Barrett

Set in New England, The Forms of Water is a superb exploration of the complexities of family life, grief and the ties that continue to bind us to the past. At the age of 80, Brendan Auberon, a former monk, is now confined to a wheelchair in a nursing home. As a last wish, he is desperate to catch a final glimpse of the 200 acres of woodland on which once stood his parental home. Half a century ago, the owners of the land were evicted from their homes and the land was flooded to create a reservoir which would provide water for the big city. The Forms of Water is the story of what happens when Brendan convinces his staid nephew Henry to hijack the nursing home van to make this ancestral visit. What begins as a joke, becomes infinitely more complex as the family roles begin to rearrange themselves. A rich and absorbing look at the complexities of family life, at grief and at the ties that continue to bind us to the past.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Andrea Barrett is the author of The Air We Breathe, Servants of the Map (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), The Voyage of the Narwhal, Ship Fever (winner of the National Book Award), and other books. She teaches at Williams College and lives in northwestern Massachusetts.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-1/2 stars
This novel is about a family suffering upheaval and damage caused by local and world problems. The repercussions are shown in each character, seeking from each other and from the world time, money, attention, affection, and understanding. I was especially moved by the heartbreaking descriptions of Brendan’s suffering when living the life of a monk and the physical and emotional afflictions he endured.

[Lee Ann Johnson]

a wonderful story of a troubled family. Incredible sense of places. Characters are full and well-drawn.

[Bob Stocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The Forms of Water is told through the eyes of the four main characters: Henry, a down-and-out divorced fifty-year-old bankrupt developer and dreamer who is shunned by his ex-wife and two daughters; Henry's younger sister Wiloma, a divorced recovering alcoholic who has found solace in an off-beat religion; Brendan, a crippled ex-monk dying of cancer in a nursing home; and Wendy, Wiloma's rebellious eighteen-year-old kleptomaniac daughter. All of them are lonely.

Brendan owns some land overlooking the Stillwater (Quabbin?) Reservoir in Massachusetts. He'd like to see the land before he dies, but more than that, he'd like to gaze at the portion of the Reservoir that now covers the monastery where he once had a spiritual, bucolic life. Henry, who expects to inherit half the land, would like to assess its development potential. Wiloma plans to check Brendan out of the nursing home so he can live with her and be healed by a spiritual neuro-nutritionist from her church. She expects to inherit the other half of Brendan's land and is concerned that Henry will manage to drag her into a hare-brained development scheme that will go belly-up. Brendan wants nothing to do with Wiloma's religion. Wendy wants nothing to do with her crazy family.

Such an assortment of characters and conflicting desires would provide good ingredients for a farce, but Andrea Barrett resists any temptation to turn it into one. Instead she adds depth to the characters and tells an amusing and almost believable story that revolves around Brendan's attempt to visit the Stillwater Reservoir before he dies.

[Ellen Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved all the different points of view. combined the audaciousness of the runaway elderly person (cf Harold Fry) with the always fascinating story of a sunken town like another book I read (Fall Line). poignant. I couldn't get this for a long time and ended up reading all her science stories but this is very different and I enjoyed it.

[Kjones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gift from tom

[Paul Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a nice story with good characters and development, not the type of book I usually pick up but I'm glad that I took the time to read this,well worth the time

[Ddoyle90 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dysfunctional family

[D.A. Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written last adventure and a glimpse at the complexities of family relationships.