Song of the Water Saints: A Novel [Hardcover]

Nelly Rosario (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2002

“The circle of myth, history, longing, and grief in Song of the Water Saints will envelop the reader as it does the lives of Nelly Rosario’s beautifully realized characters.”
—Maureen Howard, author of A Lover’s Almanac

Poetic, transporting, and heartbreaking, this debut novel traces the lives of three generations of courageous Dominican women.

First there is Graciela: a young girl rebelling against the strictures of her poor, rural life in the Dominican Republic in the early 1900s, she searches for her true destiny even as it lures her away from her husband and baby daughter. . . . Then there is Mercedes, passionately devoted to the Church, who rears herself after the death of her beloved stepfather, eventually marrying and moving with her husband to New York City, where she will bring up her granddaughter. . . . Coming of age in the freewheeling 1990s—and bringing the story full circle—Leila has without a doubt inherited the restless genes of great-grandmother Graciela. . . .

The intimate details of life in New York and the Dominican Republic, the broad strokes of history, the subtleties of familial connection amid changing notions of home and obligation—all are rendered with grace and gritty realism in this remarkably accomplished novel.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Nelly Rosario's beautifully written family saga Song of the Water Saints, Graciela, an unwilling mother and a halfhearted wife, spends her days imagining sea voyages and tracing shapes in the clouds. She is so restless, yet so trapped in Dominican village life, that she wakes at night to rub camphor oil into her itching feet. Finally, a fortuneteller advises her to "stop living between nostalgia and hope." It is up to Graciela's daughter and her children to make use of the freedoms that eluded Graciela, whose life was shaped not only by poverty but also by the brutal U.S. military occupation of the Dominican Republic, the brief flowering of a belle époque in the 1920s, and the 30-year military dictatorship of Trujillo. With an almost painterly attention to foreground and background, Rosario stresses the importance of these events without letting them overshadow her richly imagined world. Song of the Water Saints is an unusually assured debut from a promising writer. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

Four generations of Dominican woman are poetically evoked in this impressively assured first novel. The vibrant, superstitious culture of the Dominican Republic enlivens a tale that favors style over plot. As a restless young woman, Graciela is photographed in a compromising position with her first love by a yanqui man; though she marries the boy, Silvio, he never quite commits to her and, after he dies barely two years later, she never really gets over him. Her new man, Casimiro steady and a good father to her difficult daughter, Mercedes still cannot tame her. Her restlessness makes Graciela leave her little family; guilt and loneliness cause her to return after six weeks, but with a problem that ultimately ends her life. Teenaged Mercedes takes over the local grocery and marries Andres, a green-eyed dwarf. Decades fly by, and Mercedes and Andres follow the dream of a better life in the U.S. with their son and granddaughter. Though the language is gorgeous and the setting vividly rendered, the story suffers from a lack of direction and, after Graciela's death, character development is all but abandoned in the rushed final third of the book. The complex politics of the island are addressed, but only perfunctorily. Rosario has the potential to become a major novelist; she's one to watch, and this work is worthwhile for the voluptuous images alone. (Mar.)Forecast: Junot D¡az, Cristina Garcia, Julia Alvarez and Edwidge Danticat supply blurbs, and Rosario was named a Village Voice "Writer on the Verge." All of that will help sales, along with national print and radio features and a six-city author tour.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (February 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375420878
• ISBN-13: 978-0375420870
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,821,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Wave of Latina Literature..., April 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Song of the Water Saints: A Novel (Hardcover)

Ay si. Nelly can write. She is, by far, one of the best Latina novelists to hit the scene in a generation. From the opening pages we are immediately granted the pleasures and pain of three generations of Dominicanas. Their world, not always happy, not always easy to understand, unfolds through Nelly's poetic prose. Whether the reader is following the "ichy feet" of Gabriela, or grandma Mercedes lost in Nerba Yol, the reader cannot help but identify with these well-constructed characters. If you like a multi-generational story that isn't made for Disney, this novel is for you.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Song of the Water Saints, September 26, 2002

By 

Sarah barry - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of the Water Saints: A Novel (Hardcover)

I loved this book. Though written in prose, there was so much written UNDERNEATH all of the words it was like reading poetry. It was beautifully elequent and the way she tied all three generations together was excellent. The women in this story were so intense and full of spirit, and selfish too. Both sexually liberated and aware, and intent on getting what they want out of life. These were not women to give in to anyone. I was exposed to a whole new striking culture, and I can't wait to read what else Nelly has to say.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Resonates With Elegance, September 13, 2003

By 

Alan Cambeira "author of Azucar's Trilogy" (Dominican Republic, author of Tattered Paradise...Azucar's Trilogy Ends) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Song of the Water Saints (Paperback)

SONG OF THE WATER SAINTS is yet another stellar contribution to the fast-growing field of works by young escritoras dominicanas [Dominican women writers] of superior caliber and grace. Nelly Rosario, obviously undaunted by the number of novels that readily plunge the reader into the immigrant experience, adds an exciting new dimension. She clevery and artfully interweaves the delicate threads of myth, history, longing, and pain into a passionate tale of three generations of bold, intrepid Dominican women in search of their respective destinies. The interconnected stories of Graciela, Mercedes, and Leila are unforgettable. Rosario's irresistible prose reads like epic poetry; her style evokes imagination and a deep resonance of remembrance. This is a well-written novel that undergirds our continuing faith in the future direction of Latina Literature. Very Highly Recommended.

Alan Cambeira
Author of AZUCAR! The Story of Sugar (a novel)