The Seduction of Water

OK imaginary friends, it’s book report time.

I agree with Roger Ebert’s way of reviewing movies and think it works for books too—take the movie (book) at face value and compare it against what it’s trying to do. Don’t use an absolute scale in reviewing because that’s not fair to fluffy entertainment pieces or to the really dark, gloomy ones. So having said all that, here’s my take on Seduction.

I loved the opening of the book when Iris tells the story her mother told her. Did you ever see the movie The Princess Bride? Do you recall how you forgot that the grandfather was actually reading the story to the little boy, when you became fully immersed into the story? That’s what happened to me within a few pages of the fairy tale (and I’m not a huge fan of fantasy). In fact I had much the same jolt back to the reality of the novel when Iris returns to talking about current events as I did when in the movie, the boy interrupted his grandfather to ask if the book was a kissing book. So that was the initial hook for me and kept me from focusing on the stuff I didn’t like. Also I like mysteries.

I’m not sure what word to use but Iris’ frustration? pain? Whatever you want to call it, the way Iris felt about not knowing more about her mother or her mother’s family hooked me in as well. I have large gaps in my immediate family history due to divorce and other things. Now that entire branch of the family has died off (bio father’s side) so there are things I will just never know. And it does bother me, much as it seems to have bothered Iris.

Having said what I like, let me also list the dislikes—and I’ll be honest. I know at least a couple of these are more because I don’t understand why someone would think or feel the way Iris does.

• The ABD thing. Holy cow, get that sucker done. This is something I don’t understand in the least, not in the book and not in real life. If you have spent that much time and money pursuing your Ph.D. then finish the damn thing. I know, I know, my puny little thesis for my M.S. does not begin to compare and I’m sure I just don’t understand the stress. Even so, if Iris were a real life friend, I’d be doing my best to get her to finish it. 
• Fussing about the age difference between Iris and Aiden. Who. CARES. Again, I’ll own that’s probably a personal bias since I’m seven years older than Kent and neither of us seems to have ever given it a second thought.
• Aiden’s supposed angst over having done jail time. Honestly I think that was Carol Goodman’s angst, and it rang false for me coming from Aiden.
• Iris’ relationship with Jack. What a wretched, pathetic relationship. It’s like settling for frozen yogurt when what you want and need is full fat, full flavor, glorious ice cream.

All in all, though, I enjoyed the book. It made for a delightful retreat from reality and I’d give it a solid B.