Nieva21’s Reviews > The Waters > Status Update

Campbell sets Rose Thorn’s cancer revelation up as a kind of emotional rupture—quiet but devastating. It’s one of those moments where the world of The Waters suddenly feels more fragile, more mortal. And Donkey’s decline has that same ache of pre-loss that Campbell weaves through the book: the sense that grief begins long before anything actually ends.

Campbell sets Rose Thorn’s cancer revelation up as a kind of emotional rupture—quiet but devastating. It’s one of those moments where the world of The Waters suddenly feels more fragile, more mortal. And Donkey’s decline has that same ache of pre-loss that Campbell weaves through the book: the sense that grief begins long before anything actually ends.