- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books; Reprint edition (Jun 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679759603
- ISBN-13: 978-0679759607
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 1.4 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,985,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
William thought trust was a good idea; Terry needed a lover who would keep his little secret. But how does accidental monogamy survive in a world ruled by illness and denial? By the author of "Lantern Lecture", winner of the Somerset Maugham Award.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Adam Mars-Jones's first book of stories, Lantern Lecture, was published in 1981 and won a Somerset Maugham Award. In 1983 and again in 1993 he was named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists, despite not having produced a novel at the time. His Zen status as an acclaimed novelist without a novel was dented by the appearance of The Waters of Thirst, and can only suffer further with the appearance of Pilcrow, described by Margaret Drabble as 'one of the most remarkable novels I have read in recent years.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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4 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
An everyman who is a gay man
9 Oct 2000
Format:Paperback
Adam Mars-Jones' "The Waters of Thirst" is not a story of lust and unrelieved tumescence, such as those by better-known writers that often populate the shelves of "gay and lesbian" sections of bookstores. It is, rather, the story of William, a voice-over artist in London who has a monogamous relationship with Terry, an airline employee, and who enjoys tea-parties and socializing, but, who, in consequence of a medical crisis, has been reduced to sizing up his friends and neighbors as potential organ donors. It is kidney disease that is slowly overtaking his life, dictating that he may not even sleep in the arms of his lover of fourteen years and that he must transfer his amatory fantasies onto an American porn star, Peter Hunter, who may himself be dying of a degenerative disease. When we learn that William is in an AIDS ward, not because he has AIDS, but because he has just had a kidney transplant operation that appears to have gone badly, the narrative takes on the quality of a confession. Williams remembers the petty moments in his life with Terry, as when he used to humiliate him in grocery stores by parodying Terry's mother, who "listened" to the syrup levels in tins of fruit before buying them. Some of that pettiness threatens to follow William to the grave, as when he sends out a musical dedication to Terry over the hospital radio but misspells his lover's name as "Terri" on the request form to avoid embarrassment. But it is William's authentic narrative voice--the voice of everyman--rendered in masterful stream-of-consciousness form, that will continue to haunt the reader look after he has put down the book. Neither a stereotype nor an aberration, William is a man who lives and loves and who wants to continue doing both, just like the rest of us, even though he has been randomly picked out for extermination by a disease. In "The Waters of Thirst," Mars-Jones has written a novel that portrays a homosexual protagonist as everyman. May every man who reads it be enriched by the experience.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Original and Realistic. AMJ tells it like it is.
5 April 1999
Format:Paperback
This is one of the finest books I have ever read. Though it can be hard to get through (because it is not broken into chapters or sections), once you read it and get the last image, you're so in touch with the character it makes you want to cry. I almost did! Here is a man who has one of the greatest holds on characterization I have ever witnessed. It's a shame so many people won't buy him because he's not trendy enough. I only hope that he publishes another book sometime, since I see that none of his other stuff is in print anymore.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
liked it a lot
5 April 1999
Format:Paperback
To be honest, when I got this book at a bargainsale I didn't have high hopes. But I was proven wrong. Mars-Jones writes with a great, wry sense of humour and offers funny insights. Yes, it IS about a sick man, but it doesn't feel like that at all, it is as if the suffering is almost like an afterthought. A very original story.
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