Wetlands [Hardcover]

CHARLOTTE ROCHE (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: FOURTH ESTATE LTD; First Edition, Third Printing edition (2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007296703
• ISBN-13: 978-0007296705
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,067,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a refreshing look at all the most taboo parts of normal human experience, January 3, 2010

By 

Diana S. Fleischman "evolutionary psychologist" (London, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wetlands (Hardcover)

As someone who studies the psychology of disgust this book was recommended to me by a colleague. It is a startlingly refreshing book that engages with subjects that I have never seen so well described before. This book takes an unflinching look at so many things which make human beings uncomfortable, disgusted, ashamed, embarrassed and aroused. The reader is put inside the mind of a young woman who is totally comfortable and even fascinated with all of her body's secretions and manifestations. Thus the book forges a deep intimacy with the main character but also will make a self-reflective reader analyze their own responses and attitudes towards the most private, mundane and animalistic aspects of human beings. This book is not amazing because it deals with anything extraordinary or has a complex plot or character development but because it handles so comprehensively taboo subjects that are at their heart a totally normal part of the human experience.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Miller? Greer? Salinger? No. Maybe Palahniuk..., July 5, 2009

By 

mrs_somnambulist - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wetlands (Hardcover)

Billed as the female "Tropic of Cancer" , the modern "Female Eunuch", or even the teen girl's "Catcher in the Rye", the hype surrounding this "Wetlands" is a million times more titillating and infuriating than the book itself.

While it's notions of feminine hygiene and propriety seem ground-breaking to the uninitiated, they've been dealt with earlier (and sadly, with more empowerment) in the male-penned "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues or in a more artful manner in the works of Kathy Acker.

The main character is an emotionally damaged teen whose self-endangerment ( and the endangerment of others) is a "equal-and-opposite" style display of rebellion from her mother's hygiene fixation and whose sexual "freedom" serves to placate her feelings of detachment from her father and abandonment by both parents.
To borrow from the lexicon of the modern 18 year old; This is SO not the feminist manifesto so many make it out to be.

If gross-out stories a la Chuck Palahniuk amuse and entertain you, by all means pick this up.
It was a quick, funny read for what it was worth, however, don't make the mistake of heading into this with the idea that this is an important work, or even one that will be remembered in ten years.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sheesh....., March 16, 2010

By 

Danielle (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wetlands (Paperback)

I was excited about the prospect of a book like this - something I hadn't come across before. I am writing this review after having read only 1/3 of it before losing interest. You pick up your novel night after night because you want to know what will happen next. Yes, this is a character study more than than story, but a girl in hopsital after a butt operation relaying gross stories for the sake of grossness, just doesnt cut it.

At first it's quirky, then it's just silly. She eats her snot. Eats her scabs. Sucks on the left overs on her knickers. She drops tampons she is using on the dirty floor, with the intention of it getting dirty, then re-uses it. I'm sorry but you REALLY need more than that stuff to round out a character.

I'm sure the author would be delighted to read the reviews. It really seems like the whole purpose of this book was just to shock and create controversy rather than produce a meaningful or insightful piece. And for anyone who wrote that they were hoping this book was an insight into the female mind, OH PLEASE. Come on.

You should read a few pages of this book before buying it to make sure you can handle/ will enjoy the contents. You won't have to dig very far to discover the flavour of the book. Might suit male readers more... I'm not sure.