Customer Reviews

Carry Me Like Water

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Carry me like water uses some very fun and surreal Mexican catholic imagery and new age spiritual imagery. More importantly, it has the best character development of any novel I've read. I highly recommend this book!

Here is a book that is touching and moving in its ability to illuminate the reality of life in a bicultural setting. The interlacing of the Latino sensibility with the Anglo is expertly done. The story deals with life's hard realities as tempered by faith and magic. The characters are colorfully drawn and quickly endear themselves to the reader. As someone who grew up along the Mexico-U.S. border I found this book to be especially meaningful and familiar. For those seeking a fuller understanding of a culture through a rendering of life experiences that are universal, this is a must-read book

I can't recall the last time I was so moved by a novel. A story of love, family lost and found, of community, of humanity in the toughest of environments, of broken hearts on the mend. Here is a promise- you will feel so wonderful as you cry through this read. Get it now!!

Part of this favorable review comes from the fact that I grew up in Palo Alto and the S.F. Bay Area. The book is about language, about communication, about the need we all have to achieve it, even if it means shaking up our life. The coincidences of the plot all work to perfection. It works. The book makes you believe all things are possible, all things can change, and it's never too later. It also presents a sadly accurate view of gay love in the Bay Area. It's a fine, fine book.

This contemporary novel will touch your heart. Wonderfully written, it is the tale of several characters whose life paths cross in unsuspecting ways. It is a story about love and hate, happiness and pain, faith and mistrust, life and death. While reading the book I came to like some of the characters, dislike others. It is a great read

Carry Me Like Water is ingenious because of the way it incorporates magic realism. In order for a book to be considered magic realism, the core of the story has to be realistic with fantastic elements mingled in ever so casually.

Imagine a coy flirt at a bar. She's intriguing to people because she knows how to capture their attention, without having to surrender to blatant attention getting tactics, such as the party socialite. The same thing applies to magic realism. The minute these elements take over the novel, you can argue the book is no longer magic realist.

And that is unfortunately the main problem with Saenz's character, Lizzie, who is given a psychic gift. Her new abilities, at times, take over the story and become distracting. (That same flirt from the bar that was mysterious, is now screaming, "Look at me! Look at me!") Lizzie loses purpose and all the threads that bring everyone together are no longer special with a histrionic women at the center of these events.

There is still plenty to be praised about Carry Me Like Water. Saenz's ability to write powerful, imaginative prose is awe inspiring. Every single page is filled with several poetic lines strung together to create a powerful image. Knowing that his words capture moments perfectly, Saenz becomes opportunistic and uses his writing ability to address cultural issues, the AIDS epidemic, religion, gay culture and several more taboo subjects.

The story's focus is on Diego a deaf-mute in El Paso, and the remaining cast who can be found in California such as Helen, Helen's best friend Lizzie, and Jake, a gay man coping with the HIV virus. As the story progresses, secrets become unraveled and all of a sudden every character is connected to one another through fate and unexpected events. The focus is not so much on what ties them together, rather how the events that bring them together changes them for the better or worse.

At times you may start to think that the whole cast of characters will suffer tragedy after tragedy as Saenz takes great pleasure in torturing his characters. Will these characters ever see the light? However, there is a balance to his Guantanamo Bay-character-torture tactics. Every character's story line (with the exception of Lizzie) follows a natural progression and reaches a logical conclusion rather than a Disney-esque ending.

I'm a lover of Disney endings, but had he done that, it would have been a huge disservice to the novel. He eventually manages to reign in Lizzie so that the reader can enjoy the story, rather than focus on her selfish, all consuming, obnoxious behavior. Their are plenty of obnoxious characters in Carry Me Like Water, but only Lizzie detracts from the novel suggesting that somewhere along the line Saenz lost control of the character. Thankfully though, this behavior doesn't last long. (Even the desperate gal at the bar realizes her mistake and comes up with a better method for gaining attention.)

It's an amazing story, despite that one flaw (Lizzie) that you can enjoy. It's not preachy, but it does highlight different segments of society that we as a society tend to shun or ignore for one reason or another.

However, that being said there are some warnings:

1. Don't read the book if you usually are the sort to censor or ban books. You won't like this.
2. Don't read the book if a hurricane just passed through your area and you're without electricity and wanted a fun light read. This is not it.
3. Don't read the book if you have strong feelings towards immigration, homosexuality, religion, and other subjects that you feel are either fundamentally right or wrong. If you don't believe in gray areas, you will be disappointed. This book won't change your mind and all it will do is upset you and make you wonder if you can join the people in bullet point 1.


All in all, an amazing book.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. (Lizzie just had to ruin it.)