Waters of Thirst [Paperback]

Adam Mars-Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 13, 1995

William and Terry chanced upon monogamy before it became the symbol of a world ruled by illness and denial. The author--an acclaimed voice in the gay community--offers a brilliant, hilarious, and touching novel about love and desire in the plague years.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The landscape of AIDS that Mars-Jones so eloquently explored in his short stories ( Monopolies of Loss ) is conspicously absent from this novel, a digressive first-person monologue. William, a voice-over actor in London, has been in a monogamous relationship with Terry since before the advent of the disease. The shadow of illness still haunts the story, however, in the form of William's debilitating kidney ailment. William's narration brims with unfulfilled desires: for food he cannot eat, for a motorcyclist he imagines as a potential organ donor, for an American porn star whose career he tracks. His bitterness has made him insensitive to the epidemic around him. "I'd been at home, mostly, nursing my strength, tending my lover," he says in defense of his unawareness of AIDS. Ironically, an unsuccessful kidney transplant propels him into a hospital AIDS ward: "After such a long time of going my own way I rejoined my generation in its place of special suffering," he says in yet another careless statement about a generation that changed without him. Though Mars-Jones's writing is fluid and polished, his oblique approach robs William's relationship, and life, of resonance.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Mars-Jones is a gifted writer whose story-telling ability shines in this tale of the relationship between William and Terry, two gay gentlemen living together in a small flat in England. Though it deals with one man's ill health, what is most refreshing is that the author has decided to embark upon another avenue of disease than AIDS-in this case, kidney disease. William requires dialysis frequently and longs for a normal life, where he can shove down salt-and-vinegar crisps and bacon sandwiches. Poignant yet hilarious aspects include William's increasing obsession with and lust for motorcycle riders, primarily because of their healthy kidneys (the majority of kidney donors in Britain are former motorcyclists): "I found my eyes were drawn to the rear contour of bikers' leather jackets ...it was for kidney protection. My immediate reaction was, oh yes, protect those kidneys. We don't want anything to happen to them." One of the most quirky-and enjoyable-novels this reviewer has read in quite a while; recommended for gay and lesbian fiction collections.
Kevin M. Roddy, Univ. of Hawaii at Hilo Lib.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (June 13, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679759603
• ISBN-13: 978-0679759607
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,669,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An everyman who is a gay man, October 8, 2000

By 

A. Hickman (Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waters of Thirst (Paperback)

Adam Mars-Jones' "The Waters of Thirst" is not a story of lust and unrelieved tumescence, such as those by better-known writers that often populate the shelves of "gay and lesbian" sections of bookstores. It is, rather, the story of William, a voice-over artist in London who has a monogamous relationship with Terry, an airline employee, and who enjoys tea-parties and socializing, but, who, in consequence of a medical crisis, has been reduced to sizing up his friends and neighbors as potential organ donors. It is kidney disease that is slowly overtaking his life, dictating that he may not even sleep in the arms of his lover of fourteen years and that he must transfer his amatory fantasies onto an American porn star, Peter Hunter, who may himself be dying of a degenerative disease. When we learn that William is in an AIDS ward, not because he has AIDS, but because he has just had a kidney transplant operation that appears to have gone badly, the narrative takes on the quality of a confession. Williams remembers the petty moments in his life with Terry, as when he used to humiliate him in grocery stores by parodying Terry's mother, who "listened" to the syrup levels in tins of fruit before buying them. Some of that pettiness threatens to follow William to the grave, as when he sends out a musical dedication to Terry over the hospital radio but misspells his lover's name as "Terri" on the request form to avoid embarrassment. But it is William's authentic narrative voice--the voice of everyman--rendered in masterful stream-of-consciousness form, that will continue to haunt the reader look after he has put down the book. Neither a stereotype nor an aberration, William is a man who lives and loves and who wants to continue doing both, just like the rest of us, even though he has been randomly picked out for extermination by a disease. In "The Waters of Thirst," Mars-Jones has written a novel that portrays a homosexual protagonist as everyman. May every man who reads it be enriched by the experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original and Realistic. AMJ tells it like it is., April 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Waters of Thirst (Paperback)

This is one of the finest books I have ever read. Though it can be hard to get through (because it is not broken into chapters or sections), once you read it and get the last image, you're so in touch with the character it makes you want to cry. I almost did! Here is a man who has one of the greatest holds on characterization I have ever witnessed. It's a shame so many people won't buy him because he's not trendy enough. I only hope that he publishes another book sometime, since I see that none of his other stuff is in print anymore.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars liked it a lot, April 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Waters of Thirst (Paperback)

To be honest, when I got this book at a bargainsale I didn't have high hopes. But I was proven wrong. Mars-Jones writes with a great, wry sense of humour and offers funny insights. Yes, it IS about a sick man, but it doesn't feel like that at all, it is as if the suffering is almost like an afterthought. A very original story.