Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking [Paperback]

Devyani Saltzman (Author), Deepa Mehta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2007

The highly acclaimed debut is Devyani Saltzman's remarkable story of reconnecting with her mother, award-winning filmmaker Deepa Mehta, in India and Sri Lanka during the production of the Oscar®-nominated film Water.

In Shooting Water, Devyani Saltzman recounts her experience straddling the separate worlds of her divorced parents in Canada and India—navigating between two religions (Hindu and Jewish), two traditions, two cultures, and two people—belonging to both and to neither at once. This cross-cultural memoir chronicles her life-changing experiences in India and Sri Lanka, the struggle to produce the controversial Oscar®-nominated film, and the emergence of a deeper understanding between mother and daughter.

This trade paperback edition features a reading group guide that includes an interview with the author and discussion questions. 16 black-and-white photos, maps.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Saltzman's mother, Deepa Mehta, is a filmmaker who attempts to shoot the final installment of her trilogy, Water (after Fire and Earth), in India. In 1999, the author, then 19, accompanies her mother to work as a third assistant cameraperson. A series of politically motivated attacks shut down the film's production. Four years later, shooting restarts in Sri Lanka, with Saltzman onboard as a still photographer. With the film's production as a backdrop, Canadian Saltzman delves into her past. When she was 11, her father, a Jewish Ukrainian, and her mother, a [Hindu] Indian, divorced. Saltzman was forced to choose with whom she would live. Picking her father, she created a rift with her mother that would take more than a decade to repair: "most of our relationship had to be reconstructed through fragmented pieces of memory, like shards of glass, some reflecting light, others opening deep wounds." Saltzman longs for stability, which she discovers in the world of film. "Film was my second language, even before Hindi.... It was the common culture both my parents had raised me in, beyond being Jewish or Indian." Saltzman never loses any of the threads she delicately weaves together, creating a lush, evocative memoir that is emotional but never cloying. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

A compelling diary of politics of filmmaking in India, perhaps even more compellingly a diary on the politics of love. -- Sara Suleri Goodyear, author of Meatless Days

A languid and sensuous exploration of the subcontinent through the eyes of an estranged daughter. -- Kirkus Reviews

A poignant memoir. -- The New York Times

Devyani Saltzman has written a stunning memoir of separation and reconciliation and of the ways that art and life converge. -- Hilma Wolitzer, author of Summer Reading and Hearts

Saltzman never loses any of the threads she delicately weaves together...a lush, evocative memoir that is emotional but never cloying. -- Publishers Weekly starred review

Saltzman's haunting debut is a masterpiece of the memoir form...Her precise, elegant prose continually rises above the typical journey-into-womanhood memoir. -- Library Journal starred review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (September 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557047855
• ISBN-13: 978-1557047854
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,037,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A revealing story, September 23, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking (Hardcover)

In late 1999 when the author was almost twenty her filmmaker mother Deepa Mehta invited her to come to India to work as a third assistant cameraperson on her new controversial film Water. SHOOTING WATER: A MEMOIR OF SECOND CHANCES, FAMILY, AND FILMMAKING chronicles this season where mother and daughter worked to repair a strained relationship affected by divorce and separation. The fallout of such a relationship was to affect not just their relationship but Saltzman's own choice of religion (Hinduism and Judaism), culture (Indian and Canadian) and more. Anticipate a revealing story in SHOOTING WATER which covers not just the art of filmmaking in India, but how families are separated and come back together.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating, July 19, 2006

By 

Jessica Atcheson (Lenox, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking (Hardcover)

I read this book straight through in a day and a half. A beautifully written account of the shooting of the film Water, the author's relationship with her family, and her life experiences, the narrative invokes powerful images, sounds, and emotions. The book recognizes the imperfections, the struggles, the injustices--in the world, in relationships--and is ultimately hopeful and uplifting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, August 28, 2006

By 

Bonnie Neely - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking (Hardcover)

Shooting Water by Devyani Saltzman is the touching story of the making of the film Water of which Ms. Salzman's mother, Deepa Mehta, is the writer/director. The film documents the deplorable life of widows in India in the 1930's. The shooting began in Benares, India's most holy city where many of these widows lived. However, within a couple of days dangerous demonstrations shut down the production and four years later the film was finished in Sri Lanka. The book documents the events surrounding the shooting while the mother and daughter team work out the stresses and pain of a lifetime between them, since Devyani chose to live with her father after her parents divorced. The struggle with the film-making parallels the struggle with their hearts, and as they resolved the production problems they also resolved their relationship pains. It is a touching book, timely, as the film is just being released in the U.S