Customer Reviews

Water Witches (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Chris Bohjalian's book, Water Witches, is a fascinating study of one Vermont family. Laura and her daughter Miranda are "water witches" - they are able to use rods, and their intuition, to advise people where to place wells so as to have clear, drinkable water in their homes. Laura's sister is also a dowser - however her power extends beyond water, and she is able to find lost items and people.

Scottie is married to Laura. After moving to Vermont, he took the highest-paid job he could find, as a lobbyist for the ski industry. While he has built a name for himself, this job has pitted him against environmental activists. However, Scottie finds himself in a bind when his current employer, Powder Peak, wants to build new trails and tap a depleted river for water to make snow. Scottie, however, becomes a reluctant convert to the environmentalists' point of view when he spies a catamount, an endangered Vermont mountain, where the ski resort was planning on placing the trails. He must wrestle with himself and his commitments to do the right thing.

The ending of the story is incredibly powerful, and winds these two tales together with astonishing grace.

Overall, this book is highly recommended for fans of Bohjalian's other books, including Midwives, and readers who are interested in the often delicate balance between environmental preservation and economic growth.

I found Water Witches to be a surprisingly engaging story. No over-the-top midwives or larger-than-life heroes here: the tale is populated by a bunch of ordinary people trying to do the right thing as best they can. Even the magic is low-key. Thus, the story isn't really just about the conflict between environment/development -- it's an extended character study of a man who has to make decisions that can't please everyone. Bohjalian propels the narrative along a little unevenly, but that only adds to the small-town, real-life feel of it.

This was a quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I am a huge fan of Bohjalian's "Midwives" and could not wait to read this book. While it is not his best (in my humble opinion) it is certainly worth the time to read it. The sisters' problem with the community is a wonderful statement on the difficulties of being different in today's society. What truelly continues to amaze me is that Bohjalian speaks through a woman's eyes so knowingly, hard to believe it is written by a man.

I found this book much more "realistic" than "Midwives" I could relate to it! In fact, I was caught between reality and the book while I was reading it on a recent June visit to my daughter's in VT!! I actually kept forgetting that VT was NOT experiencing a drought while I was visiting!! Caught myself turning off the water while brushing my teeth, looking at the Winooski River for low levels, and observing the countryside in general for signs of "drought"!!

Chris Bohjalian is a master story teller in a "kinder and gentler" way!! His beautiful descriptions of the VT countryside, the numerous SMALL towns, and the life these people lead are exactly what I have encountered on my numerous visits to the state! But the really compelling story he tells is of the encroachment of business, homes, development on our beatiful and old New England towns. I live in one of these in CT. We have no beautiful catamounts as in Bohjalian's story, but the deer and bear in our area are being squeezed out by development! This is the case in a lot of New England. I could certainly relate to this story, but even people in inner-cities would certainly hate to see what little is left of our beautiful "country" destroyed! Where would they go on weekends to get OUT of the city? Bravo, Chris, for a beautiful story!!!!

Having just read Robert L. Park's Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud, Chris Bohjalian's Water Witches came to my attention. The two books take completely different approaches. Voodoo Science is a non-fiction examination of extraordinary claims from a purely rational viewpoint; Water Witches is a fictional account of humanity's deep need to believe in the mystical. Read together, the two complement one another in a remarkable fashion (although surely Park would cringe to hear me say so), for after all, even if the rational mind ever is able to explain everything, it surely still will not satisfy our desire for the divine.

Divination or dowsing, not just hunting for water but seeking contact with an outer force, is the root of the mystical in Bohjalian's book, which pits this extraordinary force against not the rationality of science but the economic force of the modern businessman. Bohjalian is fair to both sides for the most part but certainly loads things in favor of the supernatural at the end. This I found to be the greatest flaw of the book--the dowser's power was so strong, so consistent and so universally recognized throughout the area that what should have been a matter of faith became instead matter-of-fact, and the vision that came with such difficulty to the main character will seem obvious to most readers well in advance. But the gentle story is attractive and the characters well drawn. The protagonist's journey from rationalist to believer was convincing within the context Bohjalian creates. Robert Park most likely wouldn't enjoy this book, and neither will real estate developers, action fans or seekers of the dark occult arts. But the rest of us are likely to find a lovely insight into what we hope is true.

The story, at heart, of one man's acceptance of who he is. Scottie Winston is a lobbiest for several large resorts in Vermont. Resorts which use (or abuse) the environment. He is also married into a family of dousers, who, along with many others, oppose the current development in their neck of the woods. Through the processes of time, the timely intervention of three wildcats, and, most of all, love for his wife and daughter, he becomes true to himself. This is a nicely written book, with well-defined characters, a coherent plot, and a happy ending.

a little slow to get into, but very much worth it. Chris Bohjalian knows how to spin a story.

Water Witches is an excellent tale, intertwining dowsing, environmental awareness and Grisham-ish legal twists! Bohjalian's books are invariably well-researched and full of interesting tidbits- and his characters never fail to be engaging and vivid. If you are a Jodi Picoult fan, check out Mr. Bohjalian; start with The Buffalo Soldier, The Double Bind, and Water Witches. You'll love him!

Chris Bohjalian's Water Witches is an engaging and thought-provoking novel that keeps students interested and nurtures a deep fascination for the art of dowsing. Bohjalian's flair for capturing the heartbeat of small town America is unmatched. Not only did my students enjoy this novel, most of them finished it long before the due date (which is certainly rare). I taught this book in a college level humanities class, but it could easily be adapted to any classroom. In addition, the discussion questions offered in the back of the novel are fabulous springboards for essays and for a more in-depth analysis of some of the key themes present here.

A five-star rating for this novel!

After reading Midwives, Bohjalian's recent book, I went to see what other works of his were around. I was glad to find Water Witches. Its portrait of family, storyline, and setting were all wonderful. It showed a Vermont that I had never imagined and made this Southern Californian all the more aware of the mystical qualities of water.