THE WATER CURE has an incredible premise, and one that initially drew me to this title (along with the stunning cover). However I found it a bit slow and never got as enveloped as I wanted. This definitely has its audience but unfortunately wasn't right for me.

i loved the way this was written. i know there are a lot of complaints about the ending being so vague but i actually kind of liked it. especially since the reader only has as much knowledge as the sisters. incredibly haunting and definitely one i will think of often

This book was different from my usual read and that’s why I wanted to read it. Sometimes I find myself drawn to the same types of books so by reading this I was leaving my comfort zone.

The story of a father called King and his wife bringing up his 3 children on an Island away from the mainland and everything toxic!! Sometimes women appear damaged with tales of abuse, violence but mysteriously leave the Island cured.

It is beautifully written and very atmospheric, at times it is brutal and violent but mesmerising at the same time.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my review.

Not really the feminist dystopian novel it was pitched as. Overall - too predictable to be engaging or entertaining. A lot of parts just felt not-credible.

This book is just not for me. Too Handmaid’s Tale for my taste. Not a fan of this brand of feminism.

I've tried many times to read this book, but it just doesn't work for me. I appreciate you providing me with a copy.

My book club ended up reading this before I had a chance to pick up the ARC. While it inspired good discussion, we ultimately thought it fell short of other culty books we'd read.

Very lyrically written and beautiful with an artsy feel, but a little slow and confusing. I kept getting the sisters mixed up, and therefore becoming confused and at times I felt as though I was missing the point of the whole book.

This book is about three sisters who grow up on an isolated island with their parents (who are quite decidedly abusive and manipulative). They're made to believe that the outside world is extremely dangerous and is therefore off-limits. The sisters' lives are upended when their father disappears and three strangers show up on the island.

First, I'll start with what I liked. The tone of this book was created so well for the reader. There is so much darkness, pain, and mystery all wrapped together in this dystopian tale. It's impossible not to feel swept up in the despair of it all. However, there was way too much ambiguity for me. The reader is let in on a few secrets, but there are far more questions than answers (especially when the book ends). I didn't feel like there was a strong enough foundation for these characters to exist in because everything was sort of vague.

I thought some of the prose was beautiful in this, even if a bit disturbing. But I was left with a general confused feeling throughout most of the book (especially the beginning when I couldn't tell the sisters apart). There were some good elements of this creepy book, but I wouldn't recommend it other than as a way to teach other writers about how to set a specific mood in their storytelling.

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A dystopian novel takes on rape culture
By Lorraine Berry
Jan. 10, 2019 at 3:26 p.m. EST
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(Doubleday)
If you and your children survived an apocalypse, how would you raise them to be safe in what remains of the world? On its surface, Sophie Mackintosh’s remarkable “The Water Cure” is a post-apocalyptic story in which the three adult daughters — Grace, Lia and Sky — of parents known as King and Mother have found shelter on a tiny island after a catastrophe turns the mainland into a toxic chemical stew. The daughters came to the island as children but no longer have any sense of how long they have been there.
The sisters have been raised to believe that unmanageable emotions, especially those of men, led to the chemical destruction of the mainland. Men’s uncontrolled feelings and the violence they provoke continues to be the greatest threat to the small family of survivors, and so the parents use daily exercises to associate negative physical sensations — mostly pain — with their children’s emotional responses. After Lia cries, for example, she is compelled to submerge her hands in ice water long past the point of pain and numbness. At the start of the book, each daughter takes turns narrating, describing the various rituals used to purify them. The most extreme of these measures is referred to as the water cure.
Early in the story, King fails to return from a trip to the mainland to glean equipment and food supplies from the ruined world. After days of waiting, the women accept that he has been killed — and that is when the grief kicks in. Mother panics at her daughters’ extreme reactions to this loss and drugs her daughters, keeping them unconscious for a week. Afraid that her girls will be broken by this dangerous emotion, Mother invents a new therapy to cleanse them of their sadness.
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“Mother told us about these kinds of energies,” Lia says. “Especially dangerous for women, our bodies already so vulnerable in ways that the bodies of men are not.”
Keeping her daughters pure becomes more difficult after a tempestuous storm washes up two men and a young boy. At this point, Lia takes over the narrative through journal entries in which she apprises her dead father of all that transpires. Lia now understands the “emergency” that King and Mother had been preparing their girls for since the beginning: contact with other survivors, especially men. She also recognizes that without King, “we have become softer already, worn by the burden of vigilance.”
Mother and King have brought up their children to resist any potential feelings that could make them vulnerable to men’s violence, just as modern-day rape culture assigns blame to victims based on what they were wearing, what they were drinking, where they were walking and when. Victims are told that they could have prevented assault by following certain rules. Through the story of this family, Mackintosh delves into the question of whether it makes sense to put the onus on women to keep themselves safe in a dangerous world.
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Mother allows the men to stay temporarily, although she warns them that if they touch her daughters, she will kill them. Lia, meanwhile, becomes fascinated by the way men inhabit their bodies in alien ways. She contrasts her own body — which she has learned to treat as a discrete, closed unit — with the body of one of the men.
“There is a fluidity to his movements, despite his size, that tells me he has never had to justify his existence, has never had to fold himself into a hidden thing,” she thinks, “and I wonder what that must be like, to know that your body is irreproachable.”
Lia will also acknowledge that despite all the forced training, she feels an overwhelming need to be touched. When she acts on her craving, she sets in motion a chain of events that will test whether “the water cure” has provided the daughters with the tools to withstand the horrors caused by human desire.
AD

Mackintosh seamlessly weaves together the themes of Shakespeare — the harsh, overprotective fathers from “The Tempest” and “King Lear” — with the very modern issue of toxic masculinity. Theories drawn from French feminism are also present. Julia Kristeva argued in “Powers of Horror” that communities maintain their cohesion by the designation of a “pollution” that must be rejected by the group’s members. The rituals that hold the group together are designed to cleanse the community of any contact with the forbidden. In this case, that poison is literal, demonstrated by a ravaged land, polluted by the emotions men are unable to process.
King and Mother take draconian measure to create a world in which women can be safe. But, as it happens in our own culture, that illusion of safety can only be maintained if women are willing to accept constricted lives in virtual prisons where men cannot touch them.
Lorraine Berry has written about books for the Guardian and Salon, among other outlets.
The Water Cure
By Sophie Mackintosh
Doubleday. 288 pp. $25.95.
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While I found the concept to be appealing, I didn't fully connect with the characters and what was exactly going on in the story. I think there's an audience for it, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

I recieved an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book and will recommend it often to lovers of mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels!

I put this on a dystopian shelf, but was it really a dystopia? There was never any indication that the calamities that King and the mother used to keep their daughters isolated was real. Also, what was supposed to have happened? I hate when the story is so vague.

This book was not what I expected at all- The characters seemed to be one way, and then they shifted. It was a compelling and disturbing read that made me wish for a prequel or even a short story sequel.

Toxic masculinity takes a turn for the worse as women become deathly ill simply by being in the presence of a man. A young family flees to a deserted island. Together, they build a respite and shelter against the increasingly destructive world. However, when the father, they call King, goes missing their world and their protection is threatened. They must continue on their own until the arrival of three men puts everything they have known to the test.

The story moves back and forth in time. We find out how the family arrived at the island, their life before, and the women who visited them seeking The Water Cure. Women, sickly, hair falling out, and weak get the treatment and recovery. The three daughters ritualistically go through various training and treatment involving salt water, ice, and heat. Any animal could contaminate them. The strict mother and the protocol drive the next aspects of the story. The three men arrive seemingly from a shipwreck. The mother, initially wary, welcomes them in. Then she disappears as well. Llew, one of the men, then seduces the touch and loved starved, Lia. This part takes up the majority of the rest of the story. It's a familiar tale of manipulation and betrayal (with similarities to The Beguiled). The ultimate betrayal is in the big reveal. (Spoiler, That King has not disappeared, he has left them). He has returned to the country with the false impression that it's not all that bad and to trust the men. However, the men kill the mother and try to take the girls with them. Lia kills two of them with the small child killed by hornets. The sisters learn to be self-sufficient and that the extreme measures weren't as necessary but that didn't'; make men any less dangerous. It also teaches them to love each other more. They are not rivals in this world, but allies.

TW: self-harm, child abuse, toxic sexual relationships, and more.

Och aye, I don't know how to write about this one without coming off as unnecessarily mean, so I'll keep this short and note that several other three-or-fewer-star reviewers have already eloquently described the book's faults: style over substance does not a compelling read make; cardboard cutout villains do not an interesting read make; women in competition/conflict with each other over male attention DOES a threadbare tale tell; cults don't work the way this book seems to make out; revenge fantasies ought to feel a lot more fun and a lot more effective in actually solving problems. This book left me feeling *dirty* after I'd finished it, and it pushed every triggering button it possibly could. My least favorite thing *might* be how the book glitzes up cutting (one of my own childhood coping mechanisms in dealing with trauma) with pretty and languid language ... but frankly? It had a lot of competition for least favorite thing, and that's not a happy place for a book to live.

I have a hard time recommending this one. It is a bit similar to other books that follow this trope. Nothing super original.

This book literally gave me nightmares. It is perhaps one of the best books I’ve read in terms of creating a sense of atmosphere and I was thoroughly unsettled reading it. I think the comparison to Virgin Suicides is quite perfect because both books create an incredible sense of tension and unease and both books have a dreamlike quality to the narrative and plot.

I was pretty hooked from the first page in part because the author brilliantly makes you question everything that is happening. Is the world really ending? Are the parents brainwashing their children? It it a combination of both?

For the most part, I thought it was very well written but with some flaws — it certainly had its share of overwritten sentences. I also found the message a little over-the-top, but to be fair it is a dark fantasy and Mackintosh intentionally pushes boundaries of what is believable — clearly I found it believable enough to give me nightmares. This book would make a fantastic book club selection. I’m a bit skeptical about it’s chances for the shortlist but several of this year’s selections seem odd to me.


Review posted in my blog:

https://thereadersroom.org/2018/09/03/2018-man-booker-longlist-the-water-cure/

The writing is quite good for this book and the premise is amazing. I just didn't love the book as much as I thought I would. This book is not for everyone and it takes a while to digest the beautifully constructed sentences crafted in this book. Ultimately, it is a read unlike any I've read that is very gender blendy and so it deserves to be experienced, savored and for you to come up with your own conclusions about women, feminism, agency, not all men, cults, nurture and so many other themes.

If you liked Madeline Miller's CIRCE, you simply have to read this book! I loved it! This book was very different than expected but in the best of ways. I definitely haven't encountered a book like this before.