Seduction of Water [Perfect Paperback]

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 438 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099468247
• ISBN-13: 978-0099468240
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Carol Goodman graduated from Vassar College, where she majored in Latin. After teaching Latin for several years, she studied for an MFA in Fiction. Her writing has been published in a number of literary magazines. She currently teaches writing and works as a writer-in-residence. She lives in Long Island, USA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Lake of Dead Languages Vs. The Seduction of Water, March 8, 2004

By 

Turquoise (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Seduction of Water (Hardcover)

Admittedly, this is a good, engrossing book. I am not going to recount the story because it's already recounted in many other reviews but I'm writing about what I think of the book since it may help other avid readers decide whether to give this book a try. First of all, if you'd read and like the Lake of Dead Languages by the same author then I urge you to try reading this. However, if you are still skeptical, then I will give you the following comparison pointers:
First of all, the Lake of Dead Languages is a thriller all the way. The story keeps you reading from the beginning to the end and there's no question at all that it's a page-turner. On the other hand, The Seduction of Water is a little more 'classic', the story somehow not moving as fast. This is because it is also a love story. Her descriptions are still chilling and morbid, but the reader is not as tempted to turn the page as much as the last book. When I read the book I feel that only half of the book is an element of 'mystery'.
If you are looking for a very fast page-turner , then this is not the book for you. In that case, read The Lake of Dead Languages.
Don't get me wrong. This is still a great book with a great storyline, it just goes slower, weaved with a love story that gives it a more 'classic' than a 'mystery' feel. However, the ending is suspenseful and I still highly recommend the book!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to savor, January 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Seduction of Water (Hardcover)

Once again, Carol Goodman has woven a world filled with complex, multi-dimensional characters, an absorbing plot, and a masterful use of language that made my time reading this book magical and something apart from my daily life. I often have four or five books going at once, but from the moment I picked up Seduction of Water, I was unable to leave the Hotel Equinox until reluctantly turning the last page.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lyrical telling of one woman's search for truth, June 9, 2008

By 

Bookphile (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Seduction of Water (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

Several years ago, I read Goodman's wonderful novel The Lake of the Dead Languages and it was one of those books that just stuck with me. I gave it to my husband to read and, shortly thereafter, stumbled upon this book and wondered why I hadn't yet read anything more by Goodman. While I found this book to be another lovely and lyrical tale, I don't think I liked it as much as The Lake of the Dead Languages, though that's not meant to be a criticism.

As with her previous novel, Goodman works several themes into the novel. The main character of this novel is similar to the main character in that previous work in that they are both women who appear to be in a sort of stasis. Iris Greenfeder, the protagonist of this novel, is somewhat aware that she is a soul in flux but she doesn't quite seem to know how to shake herself out of her torpor. Iris herself puts it best when she notes that her life is a series of "all buts": all but thesis, all but married, all but a writer. Her character exemplifies the trap that we all fall into in which we yearn for the things we really want in life but stay where we are because we know it, which therefor makes it safe. Unfulfilled in her career and her relationship, she is, however, reluctant to be proactive and seek what it is she desires.

A lot of her uncertainty is tied to the mysterious death of her mother, who was registered as another man's wife when she died in a hotel fire when Iris was young. Before her death, Iris's mother had written two of the planned three novels of trilogy and Iris returns to the hotel where she grew up, ostensibly to work on a memoir for her mother while seeking the manuscript for her mother's third novel. Iris, however, does precious little of either and, instead, spends the summer at the hotel engaged in an affair with an ex-convict who is her former student.

Though Iris's search for the truth about her mother is a central theme of the novel, her search for the truth in her own life is just as prominent. As her relationship with Aidan progresses and she begins to think about leaving her old and rather stultifying life behind her, she must face the truth about what she's made of her own life. Has she been so obsessed with what happened to her mother and why that she has forgotten how to live herself?

Like the main character in The Lake of the Dead Languages, Iris's quest is more internal and while it is tied to a mystery, the mystery is really secondary. Goodman writes eloquently about women who think they know what they want out of life but who don't quite have the courage to pursue it. It's a compelling theme and one with which I imagine many women can identify.