For such an evasively written novel, this book was fairly intriguing. I became interested in this book when I saw it was compared to The Handmaids Tale meets The Virgin Suicides. 

As mentioned before the plot was rather evasive in letting you know anything direct but that's what makes this story work so well. This novel raises many tensions as you question what is really going on physically  and psychologically. 

The shades of gray vs the black and white, clear cut ending did leave me wanting more and some things answered, however in a good way. This is a hard thing o pull off in books and I felt the author did a tremendous job of balancing it all in a poetic way.

The plot itself was captivating and kept me reading on searching for answers, I already knew I wouldn't most likely get. i felt that each character benefited the story and worked well to keep it moving along for a one click read. 4 stars from me.

Three girls and their parents live alone on a supposed island. Taught that men are disease ridden things to be avoided at all costs.

There are drills, treatments and oh, yeah...the are all crazy as loons. We are left to figure out how they got there, why they are here and who knocked one of them up???

Honestly we are given no details. No questions were answered and you are left to interpret what is going on. And there is something going on and since I have no idea what, I'm going to say it was some type of cultish abuse going on.

But who knows. When I was finished I felt like I had wasted hours on an unfinished and unedited story. Told only from the viewpoints of the three sisters, I would have liked to hear from the parents. What happened to them and the outside world? Who knows. Not the reader.

Sorry but this one I will give a hard pass.

Netgalley/Doubleday Books    My paperwork says January 8, 2019

The Water Cure is about three sisters living on an island with Mother and "King", isolated from the rest of the world. They grow up learning the mainland is toxic, making women physically ill, and that men are not to be trusted. They perform rituals, or therapies, to rid their bodies of possible toxins and as prevention from any they may encounter. They grow up enclosed by the barbed wire fence and the buoys with the words Do not enter. Or viewed from another angle: Not safe to leave. Their world is turned upside down when King disappears, and three strange men show up on the shore. Told in first person perspective from two of the sisters, Lia and Grace, and interlaced with chapters written in the third person.

This book was.....odd. The pitch for this book was "The Handmaid's Tale meets The Virgin Suicides in this dystopic feminist revenge fantasy about three sisters on an isolated island, raised to fear men", but I really didn't get many Handmaid's Tale vibes from this book other than it was feminist and possibly dystopic. I gave it 3 stars because it was something different, a new plot I haven't encountered before. I liked that the author didn't feel the need to explain everything and left the reader to interpret the situation by themselves. However, I feel like most of the book was this way and nothing was really explained, so I have a lot of unanswered questions. It was a quick read, but the ending fell flat for me. Overall, I would recommend this book to someone looking for a short, but deep, read.

I don't even know how many stars to give this. I'm not even sure what I just read. It was NOTHING like the description that's for sure. I was expecting some "go get em girl" crosses Mad Max. The only thing this can be described as is extreme Stockholm Syndrome meets Stranger Things with some psych ward journaling thrown in. Asides from being extremely hard to read language wise - jumping between third person and first person, viewpoint to viewpoint etc. it took until about 3/4 of the way (when the men arrived) through the book for me to even find something considering a plot. I still haven't got a clue if they're in a post ap world or if King was simply batshit crazy or if it was the mom who was crazy and what exactly the women were being "cured" of. The three girls are frankly insane, They're not feminists, they're cult-member-crazy insane. This isn't a feminist book, it's a rambling, chaotic, (I can't even call it a thriller because it wasn't thrilling for most of the book). I'm only giving it two stars because the last quarter of the book had some semblance of bringing everything together and anything resembling excitement and sense. What a confusing book! Definitely not reading it again, I had to read something else after to get this one scrubbed out of my head.

This was such a strange yet brilliant book. It hooked me in from the beginning because it was so different from anything I recall reading. It felt like a novel I’d be assigned to read for an English Literature class, filled with symbolism and a dystopian feminist theme. At first it seemed almost cult-like — they’re extremely paranoid about pretty much everything including getting sick or being harmed from all the “toxins” around them. The women and King are also always dressed in white, I imagine white symbolizing "purity" against those said toxins.

There were times were I also felt this novel was a little bit more sinister than I anticipated. Mother treats her daughters horrendously, not only abusing them but forcing them to do horrible things to themselves and each other. And I have to also say that up until I discovered the relation between Grace and King, I was disturbed but none-the-less, it’s still pretty gross to get your step-daughter pregnant.

I still have so many unanswered questions! Why did they end up this way? How’d they get there? When is this? What happened to the rest of the world? Where did they come from? What’s up with King? The entire thing seems so poetic and simple with the way the words flow together. This will definitely stick with me for a while.

The Water Cure tells the story of three sisters who live a secluded, and strange, life on a perceived island. On this island, the sisters are educated by their father and mother on the abusive and toxic life that women are forced to live on the mainland. That if they were not careful they would become sick with disease from the radicals in the air or if touched by someone other than themselves. Lastly men, especially, are to be feared as they are created and made to harm women. Becoming contaminated is greatly emphasized while reading.

Immediately you realize that something is not quite right with this family, nor the island, and you begin to feel uneasy while reading. Every so often the author brushes on something that can be perceived as very wrong. Yet, it is made to seem quite right. On one hand, you are made to believe that this secluded hideaway home is grand and necessary. Although there is a great sense of decay and filth. Each of the sisters must go through rituals created by King, the father, and their mother. These rituals which are designed to make them stronger also have the ability to do more harm than good. From burning themselves to harming each other, it is apparent that these required rituals have a very negative mental effect. Even the sisters begin to slowly turn from each other.

Although the writing can be a little difficult to read, it makes perfect sense with the book. The character building is subtle but wonderful. While you do not get backgrounds on the supporting characters, you can easily put that together yourself. The three sisters evolve throughout the book and their actions begin to become understandable. Written in the points of view of the sisters, the narrative often does not make much sense. I found myself piecing together what I believe and sort of building my own story and weaving it in with what the author wrote.

Sophie Mackintosh did something different. I feel that readers will either like The Water Cure or they will not. I do not see much in between feelings.

I read the first few pages and gave up. I have no patience for a book this confusing. I liked the premise from the blurb, but I wasn't willing to navigate the confusion.

Honestly, I'm sort of speechless. I read this book in about 3 hours, and now I feel like I need to sit with my feelings about it for 3 days.

The story is a radical feminist allegory, a dark fairytale that will probably resonate most with women. Not that men shouldn't read it--they should...They should witness the simmering rage beneath Mackintosh's words, and understand that this rage is something many women feel every day, just moving about in the world. Some of the passages were so profoundly truthful and cathartic that I had to stop reading for a few minutes just to turn them over in my head again. "Yes! THIS!" I wanted to scream, every single time.

The language is beautiful and spare, the atmosphere dreamy--which I thought enhanced the feeling that this place could be anywhere and any time, including now. I would compare the book to The Virgin Suicides, but I found it far more satisfying. Eugenides' novel is gorgeous, but ultimately it's told from the point of view of the boys orbiting around the Lisbon girls; this was more like being inside the house with them, inside their brains, and I relished it.

I can't say any more without spoiling things or influencing how people understand the story. I think it's vague in places because what you're meant to take away is specific to the reader. Anyway, PLEASE READ THIS BOOK. I will probably be reading it again myself very soon! :)

The Water Cure is billed as a mystery and I would safely say that that is true, though maybe not in the way the author intended. It follows three sisters, with three separate voices and perspectives as the reader is taken on a journey of exploration.

Some books are snacks. Some are desserts. This is a seven-course meal. The language is at times very beautiful and poetic. Pieces coming out in short verses seemingly. It isn’t an quick and easy read, one will have to savior the meaning and the language.

However, what makes this a mystery is that the reader doesn’t always know what is happening. The ending isn’t satisfying. I literally caught myself scratching me head at the end.

There are things here to like. It is a “thinker” and that is a great thing in a book. It’s just not how it was billed.