Die Süße von Wasser

by Nathan Harris, Tobias Schnettler (Translator)

Georgia in den Nachwehen des Amerikanischen Bürgerkriegs: Ein aus der Sklaverei befreites, aber mittelloses Brüderpaar verdingt sich auf einer Farm, deren Besitzer um seinen im Krieg gefallenen Sohn trauert. Zwischen den dreien entwickelt sich eine zarte, bis dahin undenkbare Freundschaft. Doch nicht alle Bewohner von Old Ox sehen solche neuartigen Allianzen gern. Nicht lange, und die Angst vor der neuen Welt bricht sich Bahn in blinder Raserei ...

Mit großem psychologischen Feingefühl erschafft Nathan Harris unverwechselbare Figuren und beschwört die erbarmungslose Zeit des Wiederaufbaus herauf. So fesselnd wie berührend, grandios komponiert und sprachlich brillant - ein fulminantes Epos!

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Book Club, Historical, Audiobook, LGBT, Race

365 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2021

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sweetness of Water is a contemporary classic about the Reconstruction period of the southern states after the Civil War.
George is a transplanted northerner in Georgia. Originally content to sell off his land to make ends meet, after the War, he looks to make his mark on his remaining acres. To do so, he hires two recently freed men. As would be expected, this doesn’t go over well with the plantation owners who have lost their slaves or the recently returned Confederate soldiers.
His own son, Caleb, was a confederate soldier, but unlike the others, he disgraced himself on the battlefield. He is also engaged in an illicit love affair which is a subplot of the story. It’s obvious none of these stories are going to end well and they don’t.
I can see why Oprah picked this for her book club. The characters are richly drawn, and I was drawn into George’s fight to do the right thing. But it’s not just George, everyone is so developed that I could see them standing before me. Parts of the story were so tense, I had to keep putting the book down.
There are multiple themes in the book - equality, prejudice, love in all its various guises. But above all, the book focuses on finding one’s courage regardless of the repercussions. Every single one of the main characters is put in that position.
I recommend this for fans of The Water Dancer - the same rich language, the same depth of sorrow. But this book does end on a small note of hope. Credit to Harris for writing such a profound book as a debut and at a fairly young age.
My thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown for an advance copy of this book.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heartbreaking but hopeful novel .. written so beautifully.. and this is one that I went into blind.. and enjoyed it so much, so I’m not going to say much about it.
I will say that this author did an outstanding job on character development.
I especially loved George and Isabelle Walker.. the white land owners who employ two brothers who are emancipated slaves to work their land.
This is set in a town in Georgia, just as the Civil War is ending and just after the Emancipation.
So many topics in this book… an emotionally distant marriage, race relations and tension, murder, a gay romance.
Just read this! 😊

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook….read by William DeMeritt,
who was outstanding!!!
… 12 hours and 8 minutes

Magnificent…. an instant classic!
Really extraordinary!

…Engrossing storytelling …
…Heartbreaking cruelty, loss, grief, racial and sexual bigotry….
yet also full of promise, courage, and humanity.
…Many underline themes - with surprise turns throughout.
…Incredible debut!

As the story deepens (after first hooking the reader from the start),
it becomes clear that the lives of the characters are caught in tumultuous swirls in very unexpected ways…
….truth emerges — and we wonder are secrets best staying hidden or not?

Very powerful!
Oprah got it right..picking this book for her ‘July’ read.

Huge congrats to Nathan Harris. Hard to believe the author of this complex sophisticated well written novel is only twenty-nine years old.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fabulous debut novel from Nathan Harris. With sparkling prose, Harris tells a compelling story set in the early days of Reconstruction in Georgia. The Walker family is front and center - a white family, descended from northerners, who are sympathetic to the newly freed slaves. Prentiss and Landry, brothers and freedmen, work with the Walkers after Emancipation. This is a story about good people doing their best in the face of a systemically racist and corrupt society - undoubtedly on point and relevant today.

[Canadian Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slow burn of a story. It’s the end of the civil war and the slaves have been freed.
Two of them, Prentiss and Landry, make their way to a farm where they are hired by a white man, George Walker, to help him till his land. But, he is judged harshly by the town for hiring these men.
Then a murder happens and the family unravels.

This is a story of humanity, humility and the harsh reality during these times.
So many themes packed into this, one can see how it has quickly become a favourite.
Themes of homosexuality, discrimination, distance in a marriage, friendship, grief and family.
What an awesome debut!
4.5⭐️

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize as well as an Oprah Book club pick – an impressive double for a debut novelist under 30.

The book opens, in my view, very impressively for the first 150 pages or so with a restrained and distinctive look at what initially seems like it is going to be a combination of say “Days Without End” and “Underground Railroad/Washington Black” and is marketed like that by its UK publishers.

For this is US civil war/slave era historical fiction – a period which unfortunately seems a rather unimaginative go to staple for UK literary prize juries (the 2017 Booker for example – one of the best longlists ever in terms of the literary reception and success of the books – had no fewer than three, including the outstanding winner “Lincoln in the Bardo”). Many of those books added an additional element to a familiar tale - be it spirituality, steampunk ("Washington Black"), science fiction ("Underground Railroad") or additional intersectionality ("Days Without End" and "The Prophets" which was heavily tipped for this year's list) with varied success. This one I feel is aiming to be distinctive more on the strength of the writing, and on the quiet message at its core, and that is a hard task to pull off.

The novel is set immediately after the end of the war in a small Georgian Town – Old Ox – coming to terms not just with its defeat but with the implications of the emancipation proclamation.

The book opens with a landowner – George Walker – walking his fields at night and stumbling across two black men – the garrulous Prentiss and his silent slack-jawed brother Landry. For a fleeting moment he thinks they are a legendary beast his farmer father (from whom he inherited the 200 acre land) told him about and which he saw as a youngster.

But rather than any immediate confrontation or violence all of them seem rather lost in themselves - and their meeting only pushes each of them further into their own thoughts (which is what I found refreshingly different about the beginning).

The brothers are freemen who have chosen to leave the neighbouring plantation – but have still to resolve on their future plans - Landry in particular reluctant to rush into moving away from a familiar area.

And George’s midnight walk is haunted both by news he has heard today from his son’s best friend (a well connected August Webler) that Caleb was killed in the war – news he still does not know how to break to his wife Isabelle.

George, who has never been a farmer, but largely survived by selling of properties and parcels of land, decides to channel his grief into starting a peanut farm, paying Prentiss and Landry fair wages to assist him.

When Caleb suddenly returns harbouring two secrets, of his own desertion and of his love for August, as well as the scars of some beatings at the hands of those who captured him – he finds that August is about to be married off by his rich father and is unwilling to acknowledge their relationship, and that rumours of his war actions are widespread.

George and Isabel always had something of a distanced albeit loving marriage – both largely keeping themselves to themselves, both believing that the other is holding their true selves back. Caleb’s return and George’s scheme to involve the two freemen only seems to exacerbate this sense of distancing.

He often had this same feeling in his own home, facing Isabelle: that the space, although shared, had been cordoned off, with invisible lines demarcating who belonged where. They spoke more than they had before, since the night she'd joined him at the table with Caleb and the brothers, but the cold front holding them apart was taking its time in dissipating, and meanwhile he walked around her like a child tiptoeing at night so as not to wake his mother.

George’s only real consolation is a whore Clementine that he pays to listen to the feelings that would he thinks make him appear weak if he shared with his wife. Isabel gains strong consolation in a close but non-sexual female relationship with a widow. Further both are considered something of outsiders – even Northerners – in the town and George’s decision to employ two blacks as fair-paid labourers when the town is full of out of work soldiers and other plantations (including his neighbours) are having to adjust to a sudden loss of their entire economic basis – only adds to this.

Caleb is haunted both by his own cowardice and by August’s apparent rejection.

We also learn more about Landry and Prentiss – their mother having been sold by the plantation slave owner, before that Landry inadvertently became for many years the literal whipping boy for all the others slaves misdemeanors, in a collective punishment devised after two of their number escape. Over time with the monthly beatings he retreated into silence – focused more on the natural world on the sound and sight of running water.

For this period the novel becomes very much one of interiors – with the character’s thoughts, their pasts and their inability to communicate, much more central to the novel than their actions, the present day developments around them and their dialogue.

And the book is all the better for it – and different both from what I had expected and more standard civil war/slavery novels but without relying on the need for a gimmick or an added intersectionality.

But then the outside world intrudes violently and disturbingly on their world – and I had something of an analogous feeling as a reader that the publisher and/or author’s need for a plot intruded on my own contemplation of the novel with a series of violent (but disappointingly cliched) acts and ideas: a brutal beating, a crooked sheriff, a bent judge, a horse theft, a jailbreak, a runaway black man and a pursuing posse, a sacrificial action, an arson attack and a friendship forged on the run.

While I would not go anywhere near as far as the back-page quote from Richard Russo that “The result is better than any debut novel has a right to be” – I did think there was a lot of writing promise shown here and I will be interested to follow the writer’s career.

I did also feel that this was a more measured and unusual debut than say “Real Life” by Brandon Taylor on last year’s Booker shortlist. That made the classic debut novel mistake of packing in too much of the author’s autobiographical essays and other writing ideas/exercises: this by contrast reads very much like a fully formed novel although one I wish had stuck to its initial understated intent rather than feeling the need to spiral into action.

The Booker Judges citation to me implies that it was more the first part of the novel that engaged them as they said how they were incredibly impressed by the way it probes themes of trans-historical importance—about race, sexuality, violence, and grief—through meticulously-drawn characters and a patient examination of their relationships

And on the characters I would say that those of George, Landry, Prentice, Caleb and particularly Isabelle are definitely meticulously drawn. The portrayal of Isabelle and George’s lengthy marriage and of Isabelle’s platonic female friendship with Mildred are (returning to Russo - much better than a 29 year old has the right to write).

But those of many others - mainly the bad characters (Austen’s father, the “Sheriff”, the nearby landowner) but some others (a somnolent hat wearing man who suddenly springs to life to save the town, a “tart with a heart”) are more like caricatures borrowed from Westerns or (like Austen himself) rough outline sketches.

The legendary beast storyline slightly strained my credulity but I did appreciate the way it was ultimately used with a jovial conversation revealing the truth but causing George to question what he has perhaps seen as the one true friendship of his life and had been looking possibly to reproduce in his relationship with Clementine (interestingly Prentiss too projects a fantasy relationship on to her).

I would agree on the trans-historical importance – because ultimately this is a book about how differences need to be set aside and replaced by empathy if a nation is to be healed of racial divides – something as true for America now.

I think this is an author to watch in a literary sense, particularly if he can dial down the need to add borrowed plot and characters (which may well have come from editor and publisher) and use the huge success this book will bring him (Oprah and Booker) to be able to forge his own path and write to his obvious great strengths.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Civil War is over. The blacks have been freed. What is freedom though when they have no money, no place to live, no place to work unless they decide to stay and work for their former owners. The war is over, just words, words that don't change beliefs, prejudices nor the will to give up what they had previously. Those confederates who have made it through alive are returning to this Georgia town and Union soldiers are there to try to keep things stable. Some of the blacks, like brothers Prentiss and Landry take to the woods, trying to trap food. This is where they meet George, a white man who hires them to farm his land. This is the situation, a situation that ignites a simmering town, and one with devastating consequences. A forbidden love between two confederate soldiers, a murder and a young man who lacked courage will find it in a meaningful way. It is a woman though who will find her strength and bring hope when least expected.

A stunning debut novel. Heartbreaking and heartfelt. Realistically illuminating the tensions at wars end, during reconstruction and with many wanting only to hold on to past beliefs. Memorable characters that I came to embrace. I felt so many emotions while I read this and drawing parallels to today, though circumstances are different, have we really come as far as we think we have? Possibly not, even all these years later.

ARC from Netgalley.

[Ron Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Sweetness of Water” — the latest Oprah Book Club pick — unfolds in Georgia during the murky twilight of the Civil War. Union soldiers have marched through the state telling enslaved Black people they’re free, but that freedom exists in the ruins of a White society seething with resentment, determined to maintain its superiority.

That this powerful book is Nathan Harris’s debut novel is remarkable; that he’s only 29 is miraculous. His prose is burnished with an antique patina that evokes the mid-19th century. And he explores this liminal moment in our history with extraordinary sensitivity to the range of responses from Black and White Americans contending with a revolutionary ideal of personhood.

The story opens in a fugue of mourning. George Walker is wandering through his 200-acre wood. A Northerner brought to Georgia decades ago as a child, George never developed any sympathy for the Southern cause. But the end of the War Between the States brings him no joy. He’s just received word that his only son, who enlisted with the Confederacy, was killed in the final weeks of battle. He reportedly died in. . . .

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

~This is why I read.~ During the first chapter of The Sweetness of Water I was reminded that this immersive storytelling is exactly why I read. Nathan Harris is a born storyteller, and The Sweetness of Water is a bold story that travels with ease in directions I never expected.

About the book: “In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, a profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever.”

The story opens with George Walker and his wife being informed they have lost their only son in the Civil War. Just prior, the Emancipation Proclamation is issued, and George finds two of his neighbor’s former slaves resting on his property. Little does he know then that Prentiss and Landry would become his closest friends and allies.

I have many favorite things about this story, but my top favorite is all the empathy and insight. Nathan Harris put his whole heart into every word. No wonder this stunning book has been nominated for so many awards! Breathtaking!

I received a gifted copy.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous debut novel, my first five-star read since June of 2021. The Sweetness of Water begins with Prentiss and Landry, two brothers freed from enslavement by the Emancipation Proclamation, who seek refuge on the home of George Walker, a transplanted northerner white man who wants the brothers’ help to farm his remaining acres of land. The novel focuses mostly on George and his wife Isabelle and the escalating tension they face with the white people nearby – consisting of plantation owners who recently lost the Black people they enslaved, as well as returning Confederate soldiers – who do not approve of the Walkers’ more equitable treatment of Prentiss and Landry. Slightly parallel to this conflict runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers, Caleb, the son of George and Isabelle, and August, a well-connected son of rich parents who’s set to marry a woman.

Nathan Harris writes so beautifully, especially in how he shows instead of tells about his characters’ interior and exterior lives. Though I felt skeptical at first when I realized the book would focus mostly on the white characters instead of Prentiss and Landry, I soon grew to care deeply about all of the characters in The Sweetness of Water. Harris crafts such distinct, well-developed characters with realistic limitations and a relatable desire to do better (excluding the racist white people who were straight garbage, just gonna say it like it is). His writing reminded me of Adam Haslett’s in its emotional depth that felt both direct, understated, yet so moving at the same time. I am always impressed by writers who can craft fiction with important social commentary that still centers the characters’ growth and relationships with one another – Harris accomplishes that with this debut without a doubt.

One of the two themes I loved the most in The Sweetness of Water is: what does it look like for white people to actually be allies/accomplishes for racial justice (and even more broadly what does it mean for any privileged group to try to advocate for oppressed groups)? Harris does a masterful job of showing how George, a well-intentioned progressive-minded white person, actually really messes up in his initial attempts to be an ally which has serious, devastating consequences for Prentiss and Landry. I think this idea of performative allyship and advocacy is increasingly important in a time when some academic institutions, corporations, etc. are embracing “diversity and inclusion” while still perpetuating racism and other forms of bigotry. What does it mean to truly walk the walk and put your life and resources on the line for justice? Though I’m still processing the profound way Harris writes about this question in The Sweetness of Water, I feel pretty certain that Harris avoids any white savior tropes and instead shows the complexities of racial solidarity, including the uncomfortable parts.

I also loved how Harris shows how white queer men can be extremely racist and problematic. Yes, the summary of this book mentions a queer romance between two men, though I think this romance is definitely secondary to the Walkers’ relationship with their own whiteness and the bigotry of their neighboring white townspeople. In fact, the romance, or at least one of the characters within the romance, exemplifies how just because someone is marginalized doesn’t mean they’ll actually support other marginalized people – they may just cling to whatever power they do have to advance in their lives. Reading about this part of the book reminded me of a time when I tweeted about white gay men perpetuating racism and sexism, and a white gay man I used to respect direct messaged me and essentially said that “not all white gay men are like that” and tried to gaslight me. He unfollowed me when I stood my ground and asked him why he isn’t trying to call out/in white gay men who are racist and sexist instead of defending himself to me. While I recognize this little Twitter exchange is by no means comparable to the anti-Black racism experienced by the characters in this book, I share the story because I think pretty much all of us can practice more intensive introspection about the ways we put down other marginalized people intentionally or unintentionally, even if we ourselves are marginalized.

Harris also writes about important themes including softer forms of masculinity and the bonds between mothers and their children. His prose never feels intellectualized or didactic though. He shows us these characters’ desires and their struggles and lets their actions and emotions convey the deeper themes of the novel. Highly recommended and I’m definitely keeping an eye out for whatever Harris writes next, if he does want to write another book.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize

I am firmly of the view that the vast majority of novels over 300 pages would be improved by simply halving their length, but seldom have I come across such a clear-cut case where the reader would find their experience considerably improved simply by ceasing at that point, with no modification required to the text.

Indeed the change in nature of this novel at the exact halfway point is so precise in its timing and stark in its execution, that it defies belief that this isn't the manifestation of a deliberate design, rather than natural evolution.

The novel is 356 pages and 30 chapters long, and for the first 15 chapters, which end on page 178, this is a character-driven novel, with lyrical prose, if rather overwritten at times.

"I do not appreciate anyone," Isabelle continued "who pays mind to cruel rumors and outright lies. Or those who speak behind the backs of others. Now hear me say this. My husband is a kind man. A decent man. And he has done nothing, since the day he entered my life, but follow his passions, no matter how remote, no matter how odd, and often in the face of those who might think him different. But nothing he's done has ever had ill intent. Such trifles of character are beneath him. Can any of you say the same of yourselves? I surely cannot. But I admire those, like him, who can."

And then in chapter 16, a cartoonish racist Sheriff arrives, even to the discombobulation of the novel's own characters as they had expected a different man, and the novel lurches into cliched movie-style action, the cast completed with the incompetently bumbing Deputy, cruel local landowner and the tart-with-a-heart, and with a rather incongruous happy ending.

3.5 stars for the first half, 1.5 for the second, giving 2.5 overall, rounded to 2 as the editing here is so disappointing.

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinary novel, sad but optimistic. A beautiful story that is so well written

This was my real life book club Oct choice and what a great discussion book this was. I genuinely would have passed by this one in book stores and probably have on many occasions because the cover didn’t speak to me and what a great reading experience I would have missed out on.

Set in the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Landry and Prentiss are freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. They seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife Isabelle. The Walkers are grieving the loss of their only son to the war but hire the two boys to work their farm. Parallel to their story runs the story of two soldiers newly returned to the town of Old Ox. They are hiding a shameful secret that when discovered tears the town apart.

Every character in this novel is so memorable and unique and you become invested in them and want the best for most of them, and the worst for others. But you care what happens to all of them. For me that is what makes a great reading experience. The story is a slow burn but the writing is so descriptive and the plot so realistic that you feel drawn back in time.

This made for wonderful discussion in our group and I can highly recommend that will get a good discussion going. I listened and read this one and can also recommend the audio version as the narrator was excellent.

[Marchpane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize

The Sweetness of Water takes an historical moment of great flux—the abolition of slavery at the end of the American Civil War—and distils from it a tender story of resilience and compassion in a divided time.

George Walker, grieving a son lost to war, makes an abrupt decision to take up farming. He hires two freedmen, brothers who had been the ‘property’ of his nearest neighbour to help him work his land.

‘His land was his only escape, the only place a man with such a narrowed existence might find a sense of adventure. So he kept the brothers around to keep that part of him alive. Yet where would he stand on the night when the men in town carried torches to his property and demanded payment on the misshapen justice they sought? He would not pay with his life.’

Meanwhile, the town is roiling in disquiet. Formerly enslaved people are legally free but impoverished and unsupported; Confederate soldiers return home defeated and dazed; locals are unwilling to relinquish the old status quo. Tension mounts.

The pressure rouses some people to bravery and others to cowardice, but most characters show a complex mixture of both. I loved Harris’s follow-through: almost every character, no matter how minor, is a variation on this theme. Mostly the approach works (as with the deputy sheriff so traumatised by war that he fails to discharge his duties) and occasionally it falls flat (a sudden ‘awakening’ late in the piece strikes a jarringly comic tone).

Harris’s prose is lyrical but restrained enough that the writing never overshadows the story. The main characters have real depth and believability, and the settings—the town of Old Ox, the Walker farm, the woods and marshes—are vividly evoked.

At times the novel’s ambitions extend beyond its reach, leaving it uneven. Some of the characters contain multitudes and others are a little cartoony. A queer relationship, while sensitively drawn, serves mainly as a catalyst for the plot. And the plot, for me, was this novel’s weakest aspect. While the characters individually could surprise, the major plot turns never did—in fact they veered into cliché quite a few times. The novel also continues for 50 pages past a natural stopping point, rather unnecessarily putting every storyline to bed and tucking in the covers.

It’s definitely a worthwhile read from an exciting new talent, despite losing its way a little. The Sweetness of Water is an affecting and impressive debut.

[Em Lost In Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

Melancholic.

[Provin Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of forgiveness and doing the right thing. Set in Georgia during the final days of the Civil War, we meet George Walker who lives on his farm with his wife, Isabelle. They have recently received notice that their son Caleb has died fighting in the war. Within days, two Freedmen (Prentiss and Landry) show up on the farm seeking refuge. They do not want George and Isabelle to have to care for them, but George presents the opportunity to farm his land in hopes of gaining a peanut crop. As the days go by, their son Caleb returns, having not been killed in the war. He joins his father, Prentiss and Landry working the land.

As word spreads in town, we see the racism that came after the war. George is willing to pay equal wages, treat the newly freed fair and well, and help those who needed it to start a new independent life. Many others in the town refused to pay decent wages or allow the Friedman their due rights.

There is murder, Mayham and plenty of mischief in this book – making it a real page turner. The reader will feel a bond with these amazing characters and their epic journey to true freedom!

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the fictional village of Old Ox in Georgia, this story begins after the surrender of the Confederacy and the Reconstruction era that followed. Families whose sons had not yet returned from the war, and were left waiting for word, but already grieving the loss. Among them are the Walkers, George and Isabelle who live just outside of Old Ox on their family homestead. Their grief is palpable, as their son has not returned, leaving them to believe the worst, and their silence with each other enshrouds them.

When George Walker encounters Prentiss and Landry, two recently freed brothers - one the same age as his son Caleb - who have managed to end up on his property in their search for their mother. Rather than tell them to get off his property, he asks if they have any water to share, and if they will help him get back to his home, as his hip is acting up. He tells them he will make it worth their while, along with another offer - if they will help him with his crop, he will pay them so they will have the money to continue their search. With few options for income, they accept.

’They walked as one through the trees with Landry trailing them. Though George needed the stars for guidance, it was all he could do to keep his sight straight ahead to stop himself from falling over, from giving in to the pain. He placed his head in the nook where Prentiss’s chest met his shoulder and allowed the man to balance him.’

’For the slightest moment, before going inside, he peered back at the forest, silent and void of life in the darkness. Like there was nothing there at all.’

When Caleb does return home, it’s clear that he’s survived some brutal moments, but he doesn’t share his story with his parents, more out of shame that it would reveal too much about him. He was a deserter. Not only was he a traitor and a runaway from his duties as a soldier, he deserted the one he loved. His best friend and lover, secretly of course, August. A man who has also returned, and is about to be married. But that doesn’t discourage Caleb from wanting to continue their secret affair.

Their lives, along with everyone else’s, have changed. As the days pass, George’s health declines, Isabelle seems to find a way to navigate this new life with a believable mix of feelings, but also a resolve to find a way to navigate this new life. Instead of bitterness or despair, there is a sense of grace that goes beyond mere acceptance or this new life, there is a sense of welcoming the change.
A debut novel of unexpected relationships and acceptance, with a focus on the personal feelings of these people, and navigating uncertain times.

Published: 15 Jun 2021

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Little, Brown and Company

#TheSweetnessofWater #NetGalley

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Instead, the spark of life that connects you to the other you cherish simply dims and then goes black entirely. The present thunders on while the past is a wound untended, unstitched, felt but never healed.”

After the end of the Civil War the people in Old Ox are trying to come to terms with Reconstruction. Many resent the presence of freedmen. George Walker and his wife Isabelle are more accepting than most, and George hires the brothers Prentiss and Landry to work on their land. The brothers dream of heading north eventually, and maybe even finding their mother who had been sold. There is also a homosexual couple with a long-standing secret relationship. The combination of stresses on the fabric of the town leads to murder, a conflagration, hidden strengths, unexpected bravery and hope.

I’m not a fan of Oprah and I am skeptical of her book recommendations, but I think she got it right this time. The writing in this book is clear, direct and beautiful. A woman is “…..so severe and translucent in her visage as to seem composed of pure crystal…”. All of the characters are well developed. The plot is engaging and believable and it felt like these people might actually have existed. I have nothing bad to say about this book. It certainly doesn’t seem like a first book and I look forward to what the author writes next. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator William DeMeritt also did an excellent job.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I went into this hoping for a tense and emotional conflict between black men who dare to have self-determination on their minds and those who need to bend others to their will and uphold the values of a conservative Southern community. I was rewarded with all of this and more. Love marred by obsession and cruelty, the desperate plight to carve a meaningful existence in the post war construction era, and loneliness born from lack of connection to name a few. So many feelings. I'm emotionally exhausted.

Prentiss and Landry are finally free men after the surrender of the Confederacy that ended the American Civil War. The bond between them was so well written and this drew me into the story. The evolution of George and Isabelle over the course of the story was devastatingly beautiful and I loved how this unfolded so gently.

This is not without its flaws but what an amazing debut. This incredibly well written novel is a slow burn and that may not suit some people as it could feel long. I had nowhere to be in a hurry so I enjoyed the drawn out character studies and the multi POV narration.

Lastly, the socks y'all 😭😭😭😭😭😭

CW: Homomisia, racism

[Lisa (NY) · Rating 5 out of 5]

[4.5] Set at the end of the Civil War, The Sweetness of Water focuses on the aftermath of slavery through the lives of two formerly enslaved men and a white couple who employ them on their farm. Harris delves into the interior lives of his characters, bringing them to life on the page. Beautifully written, I was captivated.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Longlisted for 2021 Man Booker Award

The Sweetness of Water is full of surprises. It is a debut novel and one of the most unevenly written books I have read.

The first half of the book is outstanding. The setting is a small town in Georgia, Old Ox. It is just after the Civil War, and George Walker, a white southerner, is hiking across his land when he comes across two newly freed slaves, Prentiss and Landry. George has been contemplating planting his land with peanuts, and Prentiss and Landry need work. Their dream is to travel northward and search for their mother, who the plantation owner sold before the war.

Prentiss and Landry agree to work for George only if he pays them the same wage he would pay white workers. George concurs, and this simple act of decency creates such controversy that George and his family become the focus of malicious gossip. As a result, the majority of the townspeople slowly ostracized them from the community.

Nathan Harris does an excellent job creating an ambiance of violence, hate, and resentment that underlies a thin veneer of civility. I recently read Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste, and I felt like I was watching the underlying structures of Jim Crow take hold.

However, as the second half of the novel unfolds, there is a crime, a murder, and the writing and character development become uneven, lacking the subtlety of the first part of the book. There are some poignant scenes, but there is also much overwriting and melodrama. I especially had difficulty with Harris' portrayal of some of the female characters, which at times seemed like well-meaning male fantasies. For example, there was Clementine, the hooker with a heart of gold, stoic Isabelle, all-giving and forgiving mother, wife, and savior, and Martha, her perfect best friend. While these characters were likable, admirable even, they are a bit too good.

Despite my criticisms, I feel that Nathan Harris shows excellent potential as a writer. I will be curious to read his next book.

[Kerrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to stay away from celebrity book club recommendations, but this one kept popping up as a recommendation. I am so glad I read it. It is an excellent historical fiction about the time immediately following the emancipation proclamation. Highly recommend.

[Dwayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given her track record, I was a little hesitant in reading this upon hearing that it was chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Shortly after that, however, it was selected by Obama as one of his must-reads for Summer 2021, and then not too long afterward, it was longlisted for the Booker prize. So I caved in and bought it; it's very rare that a debut from a Black author gets this kind of attention, and I needed to know why.

Simply put, the hype is justified- the writing is really, really good while the story is engaging from the first page. And what a story it is. Taking his cues from Gone With the Wind and Cold Mountain, Harris writes about a familiar period in American history- freed by the Emancipation Declaration, Prentiss and Landry form an unlikely bond with George Walker and his wife Isabelle. The two former slaves come to work for George as freed men, but this doesn't sit right with the other white people who live in the town of Old Ox, especially considering that these men used to be slaves of George's rival, Mr. Morton. George's son Caleb is a Confederate soldier fighting in the Civil War with his childhood friend and secret lover, August. When August comes back to tell George that Caleb has died, everything changes.

What's remarkable about this novel is, given the synopsis above, I really thought that was all it had to offer in terms of plot. Boy, was I wrong... The characters are indelible and feel like real people. Most of the white characters are terrible people who do and say terrible things. Given the time period, the law justified pretty much everything they did. I was pissed off by a lot of what happens, but one gets the sense that this isn't the reason why Harris wanted to write a story like this. Sure, slavery and racism went hand-in-hand during the Antebellum South, but if Harris had just relied on the cruelties of slavery to drive the plot, we probably would have had a different book.

What we do have is a book about Black fraternity, a book about family and what it means to belong to one, and yes- a book about Black/white relations after the Civil War and how fucking terrible that whole time period was. The narrative could have easily gone off into White Saviour-ism, but kudos to Harris for giving us unsentimental and nuanced storytelling instead. I can't wait to see where he goes from here. My rating is between a 4 and a 4.5- I'd highly recommend it.

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2021
This is a formally unambitious, conventionally told novel set right after the Emancipation Proclamation - it's not that it's a bad effort per se, but all the hype suggests that this is some larger-than-life masterpiece, and it's just not (at least not for this reader). It's a good story, told in decent prose. It opens with a landowner named George Walker (not Bush, it's probably more a nod to George Washington plus his ability to cross social and geographical lines, thus Walker) who has moved from New England to the South. He is grieving the death of his son Caleb, as he's been informed that he died in the Civil War. To get to terms with his sadness, he decides to farm his land, which lay fallow for years. In order to do so, he employs two newly freeman, the brothers Prentiss and Landry. Especially Landry is severely traumatized by the abuse he suffered as a slave on a plantation. In a second narrative thread, we hear the forbidden love story of two Conferedate soldiers, and when the stories overlap, tragedy ensues...

The Booker has highlighted quite a few novels about slavery and emancipation in the US, and rightly so, and that gives us the opportunity to make some comparisons: Booker winner Lincoln in the Bardo was formally highly ambitious, a challenging read with a stunning final image -great stuff. Washington Black turned a slave into the hero of a fantastical adventure story, and while you could argue about the literary value, it was at least a new, creative concept. The Underground Railroad was a historical novel that worked with portals, a concept taken right out of science fiction, to weave together numerous stories about slaves. All of these books added a new spin, they framed history in a way that allowed readers to gain new insights, they conveyed historical truths in fictional form.

As the "Washington Post" points out about Harris' book: "His prose is burnished with an antique patina that evokes the mid-19th century." They mean it as praise, but, alas, I don't want prose that is so conventional that it reads like I was transported back into the 19th century. Please: No patina. The narrative structure is also quite in-your-face. What Harris does well is drawing believable characters and conveying emotions, he illustrates the political standpoints of his literary personnel with great detail and thus manages to point from singular people to the historical landscape at large. That's very well done, but is this exciting, surprising storytelling?

It probably comes down to what you expect from a novel and from the Booker: I enjoy historical stories, but I want them to radiate that they have been written now, in our time, thus adding aesthetic and narrative aspects that add layers of meaning. I want the Booker to highlight ambitious literature that stands for the year the respective longlist is published (and a historical novel can easily achieve that, it's just a question of how the story is told). Harris is certainly a talented author, but I'm sure he can do more than this.

The truth is: This novel bored me. It reminded me of The Water Dancer, a book I wanted to love (it's by Ta-Nehisi Coates), but couldn't. If I decided what was on the shortlist, "The Sweetness of Water" wouldn't be on it.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

We're living in a new "Golden Age" of novels, television, and films from young Black creators. Spectacular TV series like I May Destroy You, Lovecraft Country, and Small Axe, along with extraordinary novels like Caleb Azuma Nelson's Open Water, have brought long-ignored perspectives and blasts of creative fresh air to the pop culture landscape, unlike anything I've ever seen in my lifetime.

Along with this recent creative explosion, however, I've noticed a troubling trend where virtually all the white characters in a film, TV series, or novel get reduced to irredeemably evil caricatures, one step away from twirling their mustaches and cackling maniacally while performing grotesque racist acts. Or implications that it's somehow "whiteness" itself that is inherently and immutably evil, every white man one triggering social interaction away from blurting out a racial epithet, every white woman a latent or already fully activated "Karen."

This joins other trends I've noticed (to be fair, mostly on Twitter; real life, not so much) where interracial relationships are viewed with skepticism as toxic minefields at best, regressive race-betrayal at worst, and where retreating to our respective racially segregated communities is now seen as an acceptable, even desirable, goal replacing the ideals of racial integration with which most of us grew up.

Before anyone starts to mistake me for a Fox News anchor throwing a temper tantrum about teaching "Critical Race Theory" to kindergarteners, let me unequivocally acknowledge that America has a long and disgraceful history of white supremacy that still needs to be taught and examined and confronted with courage and unsparing honesty. But I also think it's less than completely honest, and does a grave disservice to that very same history and its tragically enduring legacy, when one reduces it to the level of mere cartoon villainy.

Most human beings, even the evil racist ones, are a lot more complicated than that. And there are lots of gray areas in which deeply flawed, often ignorant, sometimes insensitive, but usually well-intentioned white Americans strive to be the best neighbors, co-workers, friends, and Allies we can be by educating ourselves, learning to humbly recognize our own privilege, and challenging racism within ourselves, our families, our institutions, our politicians, and our other close social circles. Sometimes stumbling and faltering along the way.

Considering this fraught and polarized cultural moment, imagine my complete delight and surprise to discover this earnest, old-fashioned, refreshingly optimistic novel by a young Black writer about several unexpected and unlikely friendships that transcend racial lines, set in the South during the final days of the Civil War and early months of Reconstruction.

This is a novel that dwells in and celebrates the hopeful gray areas.

When George Walker, an elderly and introverted white landowner in the South, literally stumbles upon two recently emancipated Black brothers seeking temporary refuge on his land, the seeds of an unlikely friendship and alliance are planted, setting into motion a series of events - some devastating and tragic, others hopeful and redemptive - that will forever alter the course of each character's life.

If you tend to gravitate toward historical fiction with richly developed, compelling characters, then you'll probably find this Booker Prize Longlist nominee worth picking up.

Not since Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd in Paula Giles' News of the World have I met a character that felt as authentic and relatable and irresistibly charming to me as the eccentric George Walker. He's far from perfect, and there are plenty of cringe-worthy moments in his early interactions with Prentiss and Landry, the former slaves now "trespassing" on his property. Author Nathan Harris doesn't shy away from showing us the instinctive selfishness, natural mistrust, and social awkwardness that are always stumbling blocks to true friendship, especially between those from drastically different backgrounds.

The complex and unconventional marriage between George and his independent wife Isabelle felt distinctly true to me too. These are characters I will miss and won't soon forget.

Why only 3 stars, you're probably wondering?

At a certain point, things started to feel a tad TOO sweet and sentimental for my tastes, like a revisionist Hallmark version of this chapter in history. I don't need graphic sex or relentless brutality, but I did find myself longing for a little more dirt and grime and grit in a story like this. I don't need to have "f-bombs" dropped every other sentence, but there's a noticeable lack of profanity here that I also found a bit jarring and hard to believe.

And why bother to include gay characters if you're going to gloss over the actual "gay" part? Gay characters are still so rare in historical fiction, and I found myself wishing Harris would explore more explicitly what homosexuality might have felt like in that era, both as an emotional identity and as a taboo sexual act in a time before showers.

Similarly frustrating are depictions of women that sugarcoat the pervasive and no doubt dangerous misogyny of the time period. For example, we’re introduced to a Black single mother who earns her living as a prostitute, but based on Harris's cheerful description, you'd think she was the town baker serving up fresh pastries instead of her own weary body.

Not trying to shame our 19th century sex workers, but let's also not gloss over the kind of racism and misogyny one would no doubt have encountered in such a profession, especially during the Reconstruction-era South. There's a weird Young Adult vibe to some of the writing here.

And while there are some beautiful passages and striking insights scattered throughout, Harris's dialogue all too often falls flat, sounding awkward and anachronistic. I found myself wishing the characters would just shut up and stick to their much better written internal thoughts.

The final third of the novel also loses its sense of direction, like the author wasn't sure how or when he wanted to end and just continued writing until he eventually found his way there. Wish a more ruthless editor had trimmed some of the fat to leave us with a leaner, more compelling narrative overall.

Still, if it's not already obvious from this ridiculously long review (where's my ruthless editor, you're probably wondering 😅), this was an intellectually and emotionally stimulating read that I won't be forgetting any time soon.

How refreshing to find a novel about this dark chapter in American history that somehow still manages to leave its readers with a small glimmer of hope.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

And perhaps that was the great ill of the world, that those prone to evil were left untouched by guilt to a degree so vast that they might sleep through a storm, while better men, conscience stained men, lay awake as though that very storm persisted unyieldingly in the furthest reaches of their soul.

It is post-Civil war Georgia, and the men have come home from the war in various states of mental and physical disrepair. The slaves have been freed, but few of them know how to embrace the new life they have found, and most of the townsmen and previous slave owners do not mean to see them succeed. Disarray is everywhere, loss is everywhere, and the scavengers have control of things.

Two of the freedmen released into the town of Old Ox, Georgia are brothers, Landrey and Prentiss, who make their way onto the land of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. George is a good man, who recognizes that he and the brothers might fill one another’s needs: his to begin a field of peanuts (a task he is ill-equipped to perform), and theirs to make enough money to leave the town and find their way North to a new life. He has a genuine respect for these men, he pays a fair wage, neither of these facts is considered an attribute by his neighbors.

That this relationship should end in tragedy is almost a given. In fact, there is much these men have in common, but little they understand of one another, and they are all struggling to find their feet in a world that has just turned inside-out. Woven into this tale is another kind of struggle, experienced by two other men, but one that impacts directly the events that follow.

Harris has also created, along with this variety of male characters, a couple of female characters that make the book whole and complete. Isabelle, and her growth during the course of the novel, shows, for me, how truly adept a writer Nathan Harris is. She reacts in ways that I did not anticipate, but never in ways that do not ring true.

There is so much one wishes to say, but too difficult to do so without spoiling some aspects of the book for others, which I always strive to avoid. So, I will simply say this is a powerful read, it deserves the attention and award nominations it has received.

The Sweetness of Water is Nathan Harris’ debut offering, and I hope it is a sign of things to come from this very talented and skillful writer.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't have the words to convey just how great this book is. Think of every synonym for magnificent and it's still not enough. Nathan Harris has taken the raw material of the time just after the Civil War, in the town of Old Ox, Georgia, and fashioned a timeless novel that will be a classic. He's done it without a single stereotype or trite phrase or expected plot development you might anticipate. There are characters you will love and hate in one chapter, then change your mind about in the next. They are creatures of their time in history, their circumstances, and their natures, which is what makes them human. Some of them are able to rise above those things to shine what little light they can, and they are the ones who make this book special.

I am in awe of this young author and what he has accomplished in this first novel. I haven't been this impressed since Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. To come out of nowhere to produce something like this is amazing. Long may he continue in the same vein.

It's only mid-March, but I believe it might be the best thing I'll read all year.

[enzoreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow un roman comme on les aime c’était parfait de A à Z une très très belle histoire

[Darryl Suite · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof, I didn’t care for this one. I’m not going to totally get into it here cuz I think I need to write a full review for it. I didn’t say a thing about it while I was reading it and that was on purpose. I loved the first 150 pages (introspective, character-driven, subtle) and then the book fell apart… hard.

I had two major problems:

After page 150-ish, the book becomes all plot-driven, especially after one of the most cartoonish characters I’ve read this year enters the picture. Sadly, there are more over-the-top characters after this point.

But my biggest issue is that the Black characters are literally here to prop up the white characters. Approximately only 15% of this book is told through the black characters’ viewpoint even though the plot, plot developments, and plot twists are literally centered around the Black characters. Like, why? In the rare moments we get to be in a black character’s head, its purpose is to help us understand how the white characters are feeling. Ugh and blah, I’m tired of that crap. Prentiss and Landry felt like stick figures. And there’s a request asked of a black character that made me think why the f**k should he care to do this? I’ll get more into it at a later time. Yeah, to put it bluntly, this book is tone deaf. I’m irked. But I’ll say this, Harris is a promising writer; the talent is there.

NOTE: I want to add that all readings of this book can’t be perceived the same way. I know there are a lot of people who love this book and for those of you who haven’t read it and are curious about it, you should still check it out. My opinion is just an opinion.

At the end of the day, we can’t all love the same books and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Some books just hit us differently.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up.

#9 of the Booker longlist for me, and I think it has a fairly decent chance of making the shortlist also, although it's chances of winning are fairly slim, IMHO. It's a very accomplished first novel . especially given the author's age (29), and that he's tackling a rather ticklish time and subject matter: namely the Reconstruction era following the US Civil War.

As I've said often during this year's Booker marathon, plot and characters always takes precedent for me overly flowery prose stylings or experimentation/innovation, and although this has some longueurs that a more skillful editor could judiciously have pruned, the basic storyline is satisfying and goes a few unexpected places (including the gay romance, which I somewhat expected to be more prominent). Both the main and subsidiary characters are nicely drawn and unusual, but I am not sure they always behave/react in period appropriate ways. But perhaps that is part of the author's point - people 160 years ago might not be so different from folks today. And it could have used a more dynamic ending - it's rather low-key.

[Lyn❤Loves❤Listening to Real Voices Only!!!!❤️🎧📚 Addict ON HIATUS · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audio - 5 +++ Stars
Story - 2.5 Stars

The narrator's performance as well as the author's writing were STELLAR. Unfortunately, I found the story to be long winded, and I struggled to finish it.