Customer Reviews

Thicker Than Water: A Novel

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

 

 

I read Kathryn Harrison when I'm feeling dark and moody. Her excellent books, including "Thicker Than Water," tend to deal mainly with familial relationships that are anything but picture-perfect. I would not recommned her work if you're just looking to kill time with a light-hearted read, but, if you want something that will haunt you, and maybe even make you think a little, pick her stuff up. She's worth it.

Now that "The Kiss" is steaming up readers, and making Kathryn Harrison a much better-known name in book circles, readers should be drawn to her first novel. The story is about a young woman's need for love from a mother who can't show it, and her detachment from a father who "loves" her too much. I read this book and wondered if the details were autobiographical: there was a resonance to the narrative that suggested a deep truth being revealed and hidden at once. The writing is superb, penetrating and haunting, the kind of book you cannot get out of your mind when you are not reading it. Isabel, the young woman whose story is being told, displays an almost Joycean detachment from the events happening to her, and we see them whirling about her narrative perspective, clear and yet somehow dizzying. I would recommend that the effort to obtain this book, even used, will reward the reader with an impeccably drawn portrait of the artist as a young woman.

The first book I read by Kathryn Harrison was 'Exposure', which I loved. I picked up 'Thicker Than Water' expecting to love it, too. I ended up giving it to a friend of mine - my initial reaction after finishing it was that I couldn't deal with having it on my bookshelf.

After a couple of years (and after 'The Kiss' came out - which I read and, oddly enough, loved) I picked up 'Thicker Than Water' again. It still disturbed me, but I think it disturbed me less knowing that it was based on something that had occurred. (Notice that I say 'based'...all the critics denouncing Harrison for writing an 'autobiographic account disguised as a first novel' are, in my humble opinion, full of it.) I think what bothered me in the first place was that someone could just make up such a thing...that someone could, with merely the power of their imagination, make it seem so real. Which Harrison does. She has a gift for bringing the reader inside her head.

The only reason I give it 4 stars as opposed to 5 is because, as I said, it disturbed me.

But sometimes it's good to be disturbed.

Thicker Than Water offers great insight into the mother daughter relationship. It is generous with the intimate thoughts of Isabel and offers a realistic portrait of a young girl's emotions and conflicts. However, the book gets a little sloppy and overdramatic in regard to the father daughter relationship. It takes away from what is great about the book and it would be much richer without the added melodrama. However, it still gives an illuminating picture of what it is like to grow up as a girl and for that, the book should be celebrated.

Kathryn Harrison's debut novel is a masterpiece of darkness. In the same lyrically beautiful words that read more like a poem than prose, Harrison magically weaves a tale of a daughter who is both forgotten and clung to. Although melodrama abounds in this book, Harrison has it all well under control and the characterizations and pacing are just perfect. This is a book that will haunt you, years after you finish the last word.

I have not read any others of Kathryn Harrison's books. After reading this one, I think I probably won't try other books of hers either.

To me, the book is overwrought, both in the writing and (as another reviewer noted) and in the repetitiousness of its main character's expressions of emotions. A good editing job might have helped.

I know about the sad true-life situation which prompted Harrison to write "The Kiss." However, in this novel, the author seems to be recapitulating the incest with the father, but here it seems too calculated to move its readers.

The whole novel seems calculated, I guess I would venture to say.

Kathryn Harrison is one of my favorite writers, but of all her five books this is the worst. In substance it is nearly identical to "The Kiss", which is a superior piece of work.

I feel that Kathryn Harrison is a great author, as I was an instant admirer/fan after reading her novel "The Kiss".

Though I'm not sure if "Thicker Than Water" or "The Kiss" was written first, I found this book to be self-indulgent and repetitive. No matter what order they were written in, they deal with a subject matter all too similar. Perhaps Harrison didn't exercise her demons the first time and decided to take another long-winded stab at it. I give this book four stars because it's very well-written. One star off for pure redundancy. Just my two-cents.