Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Voted by members for the Fantasy additional read


The Shape of Water

It is 1962, and Elisa Esposito—mute her whole life, orphaned as a child—is struggling with her humdrum existence as a janitor working the graveyard shift at Baltimore’s Occam Aerospace Research Center. Were it not for Zelda, a protective coworker, and Giles, her loving neighbor, she doesn’t know how she’d make it through the day.

Then, one fateful night, she sees something she was never meant to see, the Center’s most sensitive asset ever: an amphibious man, captured in the Amazon, to be studied for Cold War advancements. The creature is terrifying but also magnificent, capable of language and of understanding emotions…and Elisa can’t keep away. Using sign language, the two learn to communicate. Soon, affection turns into love, and the creature becomes Elisa’s sole reason to live.

But outside forces are pressing in. Richard Strickland, the obsessed soldier who tracked the asset through the Amazon, wants nothing more than to dissect it before the Russians get a chance to steal it. Elisa has no choice but to risk everything to save her beloved. With the help of Zelda and Giles, Elisa hatches a plan to break out the creature. But Strickland is on to them. And the Russians are, indeed, coming.

Re-watched the movie and will start the book- on kindle as soon as I finish Dawn.

Hmm I was disappointed by this choice initially but having read this and some of the questions asked about it, I may try to read it either this month or later. Looks better than the movie (which really looked like little more than monster porn from the ads).

Monster porn? Not at all ..... it's an adult version of Beauty and the Beast, showing the cruelty of what humans are capable of and on the flip side the beauty of what can happen when you don't take things at face value. It really was a fabulous film and I'm looking forward to reading the book.

Lynn wrote: "Monster porn? Not at all ..... it's an adult version of Beauty and the Beast, showing the cruelty of what humans are capable of and on the flip side the beauty of what can happen when you don't tak..."

Understood, I'm saying that was the impression I got from the TV trailers. The book info does look quite interesting & I look forward to reading it. Glad to know that you enjoyed the movie! With films (as well as books), I can't always go by awards for whether I'll enjoy it myself.

The book is not that bad so far. I do not know why it is a slug fest for me. The tempo is off or the books I have read before this one had such good tempo's filled with twist and turns and grabbed me early. I am on page 62 so maybe it will pick up for me. I like to be pulled in early and connect emotionally with the characters. Like Liesel in the book thief she makes you feel for her you pray for her and you are sad with her when things go wrong. When this happens it brings the stories alive in my head. The Shape of Water is not doing that yet.

I am liking it OK, but it has nothing extra so far from the movie IMO. I was hoping there would be more character depth and such.

Oh, really? That's dissapointing and kind of putting me off from reading it now.

I would never have picked this up to read without it having been on this list, and I am trying to read things a bit outside my normal genres. I am surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it - I mean it was far fetched and you had to suspend reality, but I guess that's what a good books about. The writing was descriptive and the story compelling - I might even go and watch the film now. Give it a go, I surprised myself and so might you.

I did start this, but I have put it aside .... not sure I'll pick it back up again. I loved the film and maybe because I know what's happening it's spoilt the book for me.

Loved the book.....and was just as in love with the film,