4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Waterwoman Novel Review, October 25, 2004
This review is from: Waterwoman (Mass Market Paperback)
Waterwoman
Lenore Hart
Berkley Books
ISBN: 0-425-18471-4
Hardcover $21.95
June 2003
Lenore Hart lived as a child in "old" Florida. When Hart began college the Disney World theme park was being constructed across from her parents' home. The change from rural Florida to a theme park capital was Hart's inspiration to write Waterwoman, so that she was able to capture and preserve an ageless quality of a place that changes little over time.
Waterwoman is the story of two sisters, growing up on an island off the coast of Virginia. Annie Revels, a tall, insecure woman and her sister, Rebecca, who is beautiful and desired. Initially these women live in a simple country style house and carry out their duties at home such as collecting vegetables for dinner and washing clothes, but terrible mistakes lead to jealousy and antagonism, which tears the girls' friendship and almost strips them of all that they have together.
This story is about change and he sacrifices made for family. Despite her wishes, Annie, takes over the challenge of household chores when her grandmother passes away due to a chain of severe heart attacks. Annie has always dreamed of being a waterwoman and working on the sea. As her father is a waterman, she is privileged on occasions to accompany her father at sea and learn the basics of the profession. Annie then thinks when her father dies as a result of an unfortunate fishing tragedy, that she must provide the money for the family. While her sister remains at home caring for their mother and doing the household chores, Annie, takes over her father's profession and becomes a waterwoman.
Waterwoman is written in a manner that only provides the audience a view of what Annie is experiencing, the use of first person narrative enables the audience to have contact with Annie's emotions and also provides an insight to what she is experiencing. Other characters, such as Rebecca and Mrs Revels, are not expressed in the same manner; they are portrayed through what Annie's experiences and through her thoughts. As a consequence of this, the novel becomes biased, as the audience becomes manipulated and unable to understand the emotions of the other characters.
Waterwoman is unrealistic; in the way that one misfortune is followed by another, like a chain of unlikely events, hitting Annie in every direction she faces. This novel is almost like a fairytale, as Annie falls for men too quickly, but they all end up breaking her heart. The issues in Waterwoman follow a pattern like a roller coaster ride; times of contentment are followed by times of grief and after a while the novel becomes a bit predictable. As the audience continues the novel, they begin to ride this roller coaster along with Annie, in order to see what rough moments will hit her next.
Hart has targeted a mature female audience, from the age of 16 to 25. Waterwoman is targeted towards a female audience as the main characters in this novel are female and this novel covers issues that are very common for a female audience of this age, therefore because of this, the audience is able to relate well to the characters and become entangled in the novel until reading is complete.
Despite flashbacks that alter the linear narrative and the fact that this novel is described as belonging to a poetic genre, Hart's style is very basic, as it uses simple, accessible language. Hart works on developing Annie's character throughout the novel, each personal obstacle that Annie experiences and overcomes, makes her more internally stronger and determined to make everything work out in the end.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Waterwoman, June 11, 2004
Lenore Hart lived as a child in "old" Florida, when she began college the Disney World theme park was being constructed across from her parents' home. The change from rural Florida to a theme park capital was Lenore's inspiration to write Waterwoman, so that she was able to capture and preserve an ageless quality of a place that changes little over time.
Lenore is currently working on her second novel.
Waterwoman, is the story of two sisters growing up on an island off the coast of Virginia. Annie Revels, a tall, insecure woman and her younger sister, Rebecca, who is beautiful and desired carry out their duties at home, but terrible mistakes lead to jealousy and antagonism which tears the girls friendship and almost stripping them of all they have together.
Annie takes over the challenge of household jobs when her grandmother passes away. Annie has always wanted to be a waterwoman and work on the sea. As her father is a waterman, she is privileged on occasions to accompany her father at sea. When her father passes away by an unfortunate fishing tragedy, Annie continues her father's job in becoming the provider for the family while her sister does the jobs at home.
Waterwoman, is written in first person narrative, this is good, as we are able to understand Annie's emotions. This novel is also biased, because we are not hearing any of the other characters voices.
This novel is written for a mature audience. Females from the age of 16 to 25 would be best suited, because it covers issues, which are very common for an audience of this age and the main characters are female, and so females would more relate to the characters.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Read, Great Writing, June 24, 2002
At last, a writer who knows how to use the first-person narrator, opens with a great first line, and does not disappoint the reader with either the craft of story-telling or writing.
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