I'm sure it's all been said already. Incredibly moving, thought provoking novel about the little mistakes that can change everything. From the beginning to the end, the novel is quickly paced, taut with foreshadowing and suspense, and the modern day story mixed in with the past is seamless in it's telling. I stayed up until 3 am reading it - truly one of my favorites!

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Complex and sensitive.
There is the story surrounding the murders that occurred on Smuttynose off the coast of New Hampshire, and there is the story of the photographer who is many a photojournal 100 yrars later. As with all things, there is the event, and there are the complexities of the lives around the event. The lives of the 1800's and the lives a hundres years later are more interesting perhaps than the event.
The book is complex and sensitive.

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The was my first audio book - back in the day! And I have forever been hooked. What a fantastic story, and narrated so beautifully. Anita Shreve's writing is stunning and flawless, and the narration in this production captures every nuance and emotion. Get lost in this one. Totally credit-worthy!!

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A disturbing story, but the writing is excellent. You must pay close attention as parallel stories weave in and out without warning. Some inexplicable moments....what exactly happened with Evan and Maren?

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The author unravels themes of adultery, jealousy, crimes of passion, incest, negligence, loss and guilt; ultimately creating an almost intolerable tension. It seems to have something for every reader.

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For Jean Janes, a photographer with the local newspaper, a century-old crime has held her spellbound for the longest time. In 1895, a crime of passion caused the deaths of two women and the temporary disappearance of another. Jean plans to write an article for her newspaper about the murder case, complete with photographs of the island where the bodies of the women were eventually found, and where the survivor was discovered cowering in a cave along the shore.

Posing the question to her readers: "If you take a woman and push her to edge, how will she behave?", Jean sets out to write her article. In 1995, she arrives on Smuttynose Island, off the coast of Maine and immerses herself in the details of the case. Deciding that she will make a vacation of the time she spends researching the case; Jean, her husband Thomas and their five-year-old daughter Billie plan to go sailing with Thomas' younger brother Rich and Rich's new girlfriend Adaline.

So Jean immerses herself in Maine of the late nineteenth-century and in the grisly details of the most shocking crime of the century. Although for some strange reason, she just can't shake the feeling of history repeating itself. Jean herself is entering some truly precarious emotional territory: suspicion and jealousy. The niggling suspicion that her husband Thomas is having an affair quickly flares into jealousy and distrust, and ultimately propels Jean to the verge of actions she had not known herself capable of - actions with horrific consequences.

In this riveting and deeply moving story of irresistible emotions and irrevocable actions, Anita Shreve takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through the farthest extremes of emotion. I must say that I have always enjoyed Anita Shreve's writing, and The Weight of Water is no exception. Ms. Shreve writes detail driven and emotional storylines, and I found myself completely immersed in this story immediately. I loved this book and give it an A+!

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I loved this book, the story will stay with me for a long time!

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This is one of those times where I saw the movie prior to reading the book and I enjoyed both. There are some variances between book and movie, and the next moment lines from the film are verbatim from the novel. That works, because I've seen the movie a few times and there are some scenes I didn't quite "get", and the book sort of filled them in, but also there's a twist or two that is not in the movie. This is so well-written that I have a tough time distinguishing fact from fiction, and I feel that's exactly what a good novel should provide.

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Interesting story. However, I saw the ending coming.

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Another great book by Anita Shreve. Also read The Pilot's Wife it is great.

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This book has a tone and an ambiance that stays with you the entire time you read it as well as after it's over. The story of a woman photographing a historic murder site for a magazine is just the background for her own troubled desires and suspicions.

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A good story.

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Gripping!

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From Amazon.com
"A newspaper photographer, Jean, researches the lurid and sensational ax murder of two women in 1873 as an editorial tie-in with a brutal modern double murder. She discovers a cache of papers that appear to give an account of the murders by an eyewitness. The plot weaves between the narrative of the eyewitness and Jean's private struggle with jealousies and suspicions as her marriage teeters. A rich, textured novel."

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