Carry Me Like Water: A Novel [Paperback]

Benjamin Alire Saenz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1996

The yuppie lifestyle of Helen and Eddie Marsh strongly conflicts with the struggles of Helen's impoverished deaf-mute brother Diego, until she develops the ability to have out-of-body experiences. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The river metaphor courses everywhere through this first novel by the author of the American Book Award-winning poetry collection Calendar of Dust. It's evident in the spate of words that gushes from every character, including deaf-mute Chicano Diego, who muses in dolorous torrents as he writes his life work, a suicide letter. There are characters, themes and plot elements enough for three books, let alone one, and the resultant cascade comes perilously close to overflowing the banks of potboilerdom. In El Paso, Diego misses his long-lost sister Maria Elena (aka Helen), who can't believe she deserves to be living the good life in Palo Alto, married to Eddie, a secret millionaire who misses his long-lost big brother, Jacob. Helen's nurse friend Lizzie inherits her long-lost twin brother's gift of astral travel and second sight, discovers her Mexican roots and feels mysteriously drawn to Jacob (who misses Eddie) while nursing his dying Chicano lover, who comes from El Paso. Although there are flashes of lyricism, the flood of repetitive verbiage quickly palls. Only after almost half of the characters die do the survivors reunite in El Paso. Readers who enjoy a long, involved narrative with ethnic detail may find this a good summer read. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Poet Saenz's first novel blends ingenuousness into an ensemble cast of betrayed, alienated, abused individuals-to mixed results. In El Paso, Diego works for less than minimum wage in a bar-restaurant, writes a never-ending suicide note, and befriends the odd and crazy. In California, his sister, Maria Helena, doffs her Mexican-American identity to pass for Helen La Greca, an Italian. Her Anglo husband Eddie's father sexually abused him, later his mother killed his father and then herself, and Eddie has rejected his first name for his middle one. Lizzie is adopted by Anglos but is, in fact, Mexican American. The characters find that, though family and national origin can make a mess of one's life, facing one's past can assuage a myriad of personal trauma. Through snappy dialog, Saenz makes this culture of interior monolog seem sunny and normal. Recommended for larger literary collections.
Harold Augenbraum, Mercantile Lib., New York
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Harpercollins (July 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060977000
• ISBN-13: 978-0060977009
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,253,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Benjamin Alire Sáenz was born in 1954 in his grandmother's house in Old Picacho, a small farming village in the outskirts of Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1954. He was the fourth of seven children and was raised on a small farm near Mesilla Park. Later, when the family lost the farm, his father went back to his former occupation--being a cement finisher. His mother worked as a cleaning woman and a factory worker. During his youth, he worked at various jobs--painting apartments, roofing houses, picking onions, and working for a janitorial service. He graduated from high school in 1972, and went on to college and became something of a world traveler. He studied philosophy and theology in Europe for four years and spent a summer in Tanzania. He eventually became a writer and professor and moved back to the border--the only place where he feels he truly belongs. He is an associate professor in the MFA creative writing program at the University of Texas at El Paso, the only bilingual creative writing program in the country. Ben Saenz considers himself a fronterizo, a person of the border. He is also a visual artist and has been involved as a political and cultural activist throughout his life. Benjamin Sáenz­ is a novelist, poet, essayist and writer of children's books. His young adult novel Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood was selected as one of the Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults in 2005, and his prize-winning bilingual picture books for children--A Gift from Papá Diego and Grandma Fina and Her Wonderful Umbrellas--have been best-selling titles. A Perfect Season for Dreaming is Ben's newest bilingual children's book which has received two starred reviews, one from Publishers Weekly and one from Kirkus Reviews. He has received the Wallace Stegner Fellowship, the Lannan Fellowship and an American Book Award. His first book of poems, Calendar of Dust, won an American Book Award in 1992. That same year, he published his first collection of short stories, Flowers for the Broken. In 1995, he published his first novel, Carry Me Like Water (Hyperion), and that same year, he published his second book of poems, Dark and Perfect Angels. Both books were awarded a Southwest Book Award by the Border Area Librarians Association. In 1997, HarperCollins published his second novel, The House of Forgetting. Ben is a prolific writer whose more recent titles include In Perfect Light (Rayo/Harper Collins), Names on a Map (Rayo/Harper Collins), He Forgot to Say Goodbye (Simon and Schuster), and two books of poetry Elegies in Blue (Cinco Puntos Press), and Dreaming the End of War (Copper Canyon Press).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars creative imagery, intriguing conflicts, a great read, January 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Carry Me Like Water: A Novel (Hardcover)

The imagery in Carry Me Like Water is incredible.. You can feel the El Paso desert envelop you, as you will the lives of the characters. As the conflicts unfold, you begin to connect so much with the characters that you feel you are part of their intimate but confused circle. Saenz keeps you hooked till the end. My book group (which focuses on Latino fiction) loved it so much our next book was his latest, House of Dreams (another fabulous read!!) I highly recommend them both.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please, read this book now. It will change you., March 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Carry Me Like Water: A Novel (Paperback)

I am pretty picky about books about the southwest, the meeting of cultures, and AIDS, as I find these three areas too easy to exploit, skin the surface of, and capitalize upon. Add spirituality to the mix, and chances are you will lose me, as I have no tolerance for the new-agey stuff, especially if it feels too burgeois, as much of it does. This book is so beautiful, i loved it so much the first time I read it, and it truly changed me the second time. It all feels real to me, the magic, the connections, the pain. Any flaws in plot or dialogue are easily forgiven in view of the tremendous power and heart of this work. Alire Saenz is a genius.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book of all time..., April 15, 2000

By 

Michelle Zoodsma (Temecula, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carry Me Like Water: A Novel (Paperback)

This is the finest writing I've ever seen - you literally forget you're reading a work of fiction. The characters and their stories are so finely crafted, no coincidence is beyond belief, no emotion too handily displayed. This book breaks your heart and fills you with joy at the same time. So unfortunate that it's out of print.