- Hardcover: 261 pages
- Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (26 April 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1565126823
- ISBN-13: 978-1565126824
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14.8 x 2.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,586,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Watery Part of the World
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17 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Immersion
13 May 2011
Format:Hardcover
Never turn your back on the sea: an old adage about the unpredictability, mutability, and overwhelming suddenness of the ocean. Invariably, there will be tourists who don't take heed. One could say the same about the heart. The sea and love make and unmake you; they are at once necessary and have the power, as Michael Parker puts it, to "get away with you." Parker has written a beautiful, elegant novel about islanders who experience the vicissitudes and blessings of hard-earned belonging, and who withstand - sometimes admirably, sometimes not -- the losses to which we are born.
The narrative of Theodosia Burr Alston and Whaley is especially absorbing. Her survival on the island depends on the surrender of nothing less than her seemingly indelible identity; her endurance is possible because of an unadorned love that no one, especially not she, could have imagined would wash ashore. Theodosia's life is a remarkable trajectory and Parker tells her story deftly and, thankfully, without sentimentality. We need stories of (physical and emotional) survival told with honesty and compassion like this. They are the literary coordinates for our own emotional lives and too often we are insulted with the abundance of tales that offer us romance and all its overdetermined scaffolding when we'd rather have the starkness of genuine love, trust and need.
There are some minor missteps - or rather, near missteps. The historical figure of Virginia Dare, which Maggie and Miss Whaley -- both lonely children in their respective ways -- use for imaginative inspiration, seems a bit smuggled in. The potentially larger problem is Parker's delineation of Woodrow as all-knowing and mostly flawless Black waterman; the worry early on was that the author would elevate him to the level and type of mythic Black man, at one with nature. But Parker humanizes him in a way that will break your heart (here the reader is reminded of Gloria Naylor's Mama Day). Indeed, it is during Woodrow's storyline when the narrative swells, opening up unknown space - at this point the reader knows she is in good hands.
Although one supposes that Parker has read Faulkner (a remark about a coffin seems to quote As I Lay Dying), The Watery Part of the World is most strongly reminiscent of Morrison, both syntactically and in the etching of a character's thought process -- especially Theodosia, who reminds this reader of the unforgettable Sethe of Beloved. Indeed, the author is a natural inheritor of the American literary tradition, which is unflinchingly resigned to the wilderness but recognizes its sublime beauty: a nature forever redeeming the losses it exacts by provoking gratitude, mercy and awe. Like his characters, Parker is immersed in and enthralled to his island, which gives this novel its power.
The narrative of Theodosia Burr Alston and Whaley is especially absorbing. Her survival on the island depends on the surrender of nothing less than her seemingly indelible identity; her endurance is possible because of an unadorned love that no one, especially not she, could have imagined would wash ashore. Theodosia's life is a remarkable trajectory and Parker tells her story deftly and, thankfully, without sentimentality. We need stories of (physical and emotional) survival told with honesty and compassion like this. They are the literary coordinates for our own emotional lives and too often we are insulted with the abundance of tales that offer us romance and all its overdetermined scaffolding when we'd rather have the starkness of genuine love, trust and need.
There are some minor missteps - or rather, near missteps. The historical figure of Virginia Dare, which Maggie and Miss Whaley -- both lonely children in their respective ways -- use for imaginative inspiration, seems a bit smuggled in. The potentially larger problem is Parker's delineation of Woodrow as all-knowing and mostly flawless Black waterman; the worry early on was that the author would elevate him to the level and type of mythic Black man, at one with nature. But Parker humanizes him in a way that will break your heart (here the reader is reminded of Gloria Naylor's Mama Day). Indeed, it is during Woodrow's storyline when the narrative swells, opening up unknown space - at this point the reader knows she is in good hands.
Although one supposes that Parker has read Faulkner (a remark about a coffin seems to quote As I Lay Dying), The Watery Part of the World is most strongly reminiscent of Morrison, both syntactically and in the etching of a character's thought process -- especially Theodosia, who reminds this reader of the unforgettable Sethe of Beloved. Indeed, the author is a natural inheritor of the American literary tradition, which is unflinchingly resigned to the wilderness but recognizes its sublime beauty: a nature forever redeeming the losses it exacts by provoking gratitude, mercy and awe. Like his characters, Parker is immersed in and enthralled to his island, which gives this novel its power.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A Very Impressive Book
16 May 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
First, let me say, that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The prose was beautifully written, smooth as butter and a joy to read. Parker obviously knows what he's doing here. And the intertwining stories were equally engaging. I'm not always a fan of parallel storylines, but in this case they were expertly done, and it felt like the right way to tell these stories. I would recommend this book to anyone, as it was not only emotionally engaging on a plot level, but also a work of art on a sentence by sentence level.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
this relatively short (272 pages) novel really did not move me
18 July 2011
Format:Hardcover
To my mind, this story brimmed with possibility. It promised a story spanning the time period of 1800 to present day on an Outer Bank Island. Taking the life of Theodosia Burr, daughter of Aaron Burr who was lost off the Outer Banks and never again heard from, the author postulates that she survived tragedy at sea and built a life and had a family on the fictional island of Yaupon. In a parallel story 150 years later, two white women descendents of Burr live out the last days on the island with a black man, also a long time island resident. They are the only inhabitants of the island.
The story in the 1800s has lots of color. In the fictional account Burr is saved from a pirate attack because the pirate captain is convinced she is mad "touched by God". Burr had been extremely well educated by her father and was thought to be the most well educated woman in the US at that time. Then she falls into a world where foraging for shipwrecked cargo is a more valued skill that reciting Shakespeare. Despite this she adapts and thrives on this island. She meets a former pirate and falls in love with him. Her strong will to live allows her to make a life for herself and her offspring on this island. She is a memorable character.
The 1950s story of the island residents, the two white sisters Whaley and Maggie, and Woodrow a black man descendent from a free African is really quite strange and hard to relate to. Talk about lives of quiet desperation, Thoreau must have had this crew in mind with that phrase. The elder sister Whaley, the more eccentric of the two is devoted to preserving her interpretation of the island's history. Each year they are visited by anthropologists (called the Taperecorders). Whaley assumes an old island brogue and relates the history back to Theodosia leaving out any issues that would reflect poorly on the family. The younger sister unable to escape the island's hold on her life mourns the loss of a love affair with a man who left the island. Woodrow also heavily drawn to life on this island is a remote character who in very understated ways expresses the frustration of the subservient black man in his relationship with these women. The relationships between and among these three characters is the central theme of this story; they have a strange, odd dependency among them. I found this second story somewhat dissatisfying in dealing with the race issue, while it is of great importance in their relationships it is never really tackled head on. I guess the other criticism I had of this second story was that the characters were all so passive and the island hold on them was so strong. While that is surely possible it is overwhelmingly sad to have lives wasted in this way.
So this relatively short (272 pages novel) really did not move me. I liked the section dealing with Theodosia and her adaption to life on the island. All of the prose relating to the island was good and gave a dreamy (perhaps watery?) feel to the story. Lastly I was left cold with the 1950s section.
The story in the 1800s has lots of color. In the fictional account Burr is saved from a pirate attack because the pirate captain is convinced she is mad "touched by God". Burr had been extremely well educated by her father and was thought to be the most well educated woman in the US at that time. Then she falls into a world where foraging for shipwrecked cargo is a more valued skill that reciting Shakespeare. Despite this she adapts and thrives on this island. She meets a former pirate and falls in love with him. Her strong will to live allows her to make a life for herself and her offspring on this island. She is a memorable character.
The 1950s story of the island residents, the two white sisters Whaley and Maggie, and Woodrow a black man descendent from a free African is really quite strange and hard to relate to. Talk about lives of quiet desperation, Thoreau must have had this crew in mind with that phrase. The elder sister Whaley, the more eccentric of the two is devoted to preserving her interpretation of the island's history. Each year they are visited by anthropologists (called the Taperecorders). Whaley assumes an old island brogue and relates the history back to Theodosia leaving out any issues that would reflect poorly on the family. The younger sister unable to escape the island's hold on her life mourns the loss of a love affair with a man who left the island. Woodrow also heavily drawn to life on this island is a remote character who in very understated ways expresses the frustration of the subservient black man in his relationship with these women. The relationships between and among these three characters is the central theme of this story; they have a strange, odd dependency among them. I found this second story somewhat dissatisfying in dealing with the race issue, while it is of great importance in their relationships it is never really tackled head on. I guess the other criticism I had of this second story was that the characters were all so passive and the island hold on them was so strong. While that is surely possible it is overwhelmingly sad to have lives wasted in this way.
So this relatively short (272 pages novel) really did not move me. I liked the section dealing with Theodosia and her adaption to life on the island. All of the prose relating to the island was good and gave a dreamy (perhaps watery?) feel to the story. Lastly I was left cold with the 1950s section.
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