Waterborne [Hardcover]

Bruce Murkoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2004

A panorama of human desire and enterprise, Bruce Murkoff’s first novel is exceptional for its ambition, its grasp of history and, above all, its stunning array of characters. 

Waterborne is set in the Great Depression, and culminates at the Boulder Dam: the greatest engineering project of its time, and a beacon of hope capable of altering the course of society. The nation, crippled by poverty and despair, clearly needs a transformation, and the same is true of the people. Filius Poe grew up with everything, then lost nearly all of it. Lew Beck felt deprived of everything, and now means to have his revenge. Lena McCardell, who thought she had exactly what she wanted, discovers almost overnight that only by taking her son and joining the multitude already on the road will she have the chance of a fresh start and a brighter future.

From various directions and distances, these three are inevitably drawn to this vast construction site in the Nevada desert, along with the stories of their families, their friends and their fellow travelers–the novel itself developing the force of a mighty river, then channeling and harnessing its prodigious energy. With generous understanding and absolute authority, Bruce Murkoff captures the conflicting imperatives of these vivid lives as well as the heart and breadth of the country through which they move, and whose destiny they help shape.
 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Murkoff's stately debut novel tracks three characters whose lives and fates converge at the building of the Boulder Dam near Las Vegas during the Great Depression. Filius Poe, an engineer, escapes from Chicago and heads to Boulder City to bury himself in work, hoping to erase memories of a recent tragedy. Lena McCardell, too, is fleeing calamity, hoping for a new start with her young son in tow. And then there is Lew Beck, born to loving parents but eventually hardened into a bitter avenger after years of being tormented for his abnormal shortness. Murkoff takes his time laying out each individual's story, but the novel's pace, though measured, never flags, and eventually all three characters arrive in Boulder City, "the only city in America where everyone has a job." At times, Filius seems a bit too much like a square-jawed, heroic martyr and Lena the picture of persevering female strength. Murkoff's strongest creation is Lew, a terrifying, angry man prone to quick and violent outbursts, who "looked for the soft places" in people "and remembered them." He moves through the novel like a menacing black cloud, earning both the reader's sympathy and disgust. Murkoff's precise, period-flavored prose deftly captures the inner lives and physical presence of his characters (Lena's friend Fanny makes an appearance "trailing a Max Factor lilac scent that overpowered the smell of the fresh-baked doughnuts she carried in a paper sack") as well as the harsh landscape of Nevada ("the dull richness of this carmine palette, with its rugged skin and dismal reach") and the Colorado River that must be tamed. Marred only by a melodramatic ending, the novel announces the arrival of a real talent. 5-city author tour.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* First-time novelist Murkoff's dramatic vision encompasses nothing less than humankind's attempt to conquer nature all around us as well as the wildness within our hearts. Reveling in the "endless and harsh beauty" of the American West circa 1930 and excelling at vivid descriptions and breathtaking action, he tracks various pilgrims to the Colorado River, where a frenzied workforce is building the Boulder Dam, one of the world's largest. There's Wisconsonite engineer Filius Poe, who led a charmed life until suffering the worst tragedy to befall a young husband and father. Pretty and sweet Lena McCardell, who has fled Oklahoma with her young son after discovering that her husband is a bigamist. And little Lew Beck, a shockingly vicious and violent Jewish outlaw who takes up residence in a black bordello and becomes malevolently obsessed with Lena and Filius. These complex primary players come together like a confluence of rivers in Murkoff's masterfully orchestrated novel of love, hate, hard work, and bad luck, a gorgeously written, Steinbeck-like saga that is part thriller, part romance, and part social critique, replete with blissful and brutal sexuality, unbridled prejudice, and acts of both kindness and mayhem. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; Stated First Edition edition (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400040388
• ISBN-13: 978-1400040384
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,580,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where did this author come from?!, April 11, 2004

By 

Richard P. Fohrenbach, Sr. (Milford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waterborne (Hardcover)

This is the first review that I have written. Bruce Murkoff is a writer of the first order. His evocation of turn-of-the-century America up to the Depression era ia astounding. Best fiction I have found in over a year. Abosultely, stunningly good. Writes like someone who has lived rather than someone who wants to be a writer....I only wish I had been so inspired on visit to the Hoover dam in 1980! ;>) Watch this book and author begin to gain critical acclaim. But that's not what's important, Mr. Murkoff has come out of nowhere and is better (way better) than authors who fill pages with junk. This is a talent of the first order.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Three well-told stories, March 6, 2005

By 

Earthling1 (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waterborne (Hardcover)

This was a good book about three people, set at a time and place in American history we don't ordinarily get to see. Most Depression-era stories are about, well, the Depression; this story depicts the other side of American life, the side which didn't perhaps suffer as badly financially, but still had its difficulties and crises to contend with.

Murkoff paces himself and takes the time to truly develop his characters. Most pitiful and terrifying -- and most complex -- is Lew Beck. It would have been simple for Murkoff to make him wholly loathesome, but through crafty, patient narration, he manages to give the character depth and even a strange sense of decency.

I disagree with the reviewer who said Murkoff's narration was teeming with cliches. (I suspect that my definition of "cliche" differs from that reviewer's definition. I didn't even think the examples the reviewer quoted were cliches.) I thought that, on occasion, the descriptions of people and terrain went a bit far with their detail, but on the whole, his narration was layered and rich. This is the work of a patient writer.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top shelf - outstanding, March 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Waterborne (Hardcover)

Waterborne is a gritty, sexy tale of three people looking for redemption and fulfillment in a new life. Mr Murkoff does an excellent job of creating characters we can love, hate, empathize with, but never be indifferent about. What a talent!

The raging Colorado River and the construction of the Hoover Dam is an ever present metaphor throughout the story. Ingenious storytelling!

Once I started this book I didn't want to put it down but then nearing the end I didn't want the book to end.