Customer Reviews

Your Name Written on Water: An Erotic Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

It appears that the Spaniards, like the French, are excellent at writing erotica that is both insatiable and literary. Vicente Munoz Puelle's The Arch of Desire introduced me to the aforementioned brand of erotica, and in turn helped me discover Your Name Written on Water. This beautiful novel centers on eroticism mixed with narcissism.

Sofia and Santiago have an affair that is as barbaric as it is passionate. As Santiago's S&M-like lovemaking becomes all the brusquer for Sofia - to the point of causing a miscarriage - she decides that enough is enough. In her quest to find meaning in her life, she encounters Marina - a woman who is the identical vision of Sofia. What transpires is a disarming tale of tangible passion with narcissistic undertones, especially when the two women create Clara - an imaginary synthesis of the two women. There are various twists throughout the novel.

Your Name Written on Water is an erotic tour de force that leaves the reader satisfied - so to speak. Irene Gonzalez Frei (pseudonym) has created a wonderful masterpiece. It doesn't surprise me that this novel became a bestseller in Spain. It's rare to find a novel that is both erotic and literary, and Frei's book quenched my thirst for such an unheard-of combination.

This book hit many levels for me, and has value in many ways. First off, it is beautifully written. The writer and translater has a knowledge of language that quickly becomes poetry. Secondly, this erotica is truly original. As an author myself, I am blown away with the courage it took to write this story, which breaks many rules that commercial books seem to follow. I found a sexuality here that I can so strangely identify with, and that I haven't yet found in another book. In many ways, it is intensely pure, and not naughty at all. In fact, I think this book is shortchanged if one called it simple "an erotic novel," because the sex is a psychological feast as well as physical. And thirdly, I must add that the story itself is on my top list of favorites now.
This novel is many stories: it's an updated interpretation/spin off on the narcissus myth, it seems inspired by the textbook idea of homosexuality being a form of narcisism, and it is also the sad story of a woman who creates her own idea of love in rebellion for being abused by a man.
I read this book slowly because I didn't want it to end. But, thanks to the author, I am left with much to ponder...

Your name written on water... A beautifully written tragety, one that weaves the reader into a world that is sweet and painful. Each person who reads it will respond differently, a sign of important art; that it brings out our individual responses. This is not a book for everyone. It is a book for me. For I loved it. I laughed and cried and remembered feelings that I have had, the book took me places; some dangerous but some good. Her writing is prose-like, it has melodies that make a person want to relax into them, and yet she writes about harsh subjects, things that are dangerous, things that are cruel. This is not a book for Harlequine Romance readers. This is not a book for people who do not like to have their world view shaken up a bit. This is a book for lovers who understand that love, like life, is a two edge sword, that pleasure and pain are sometimes emeshed, and that the human experience is just that, an experience. This is a book for those who would want to take Isabel Allende one step further. For those of us that wish that "The story of O" was more lyrical. The only disappointment was that after publishing such a brave work, the author chose to use a psuedonym. Instead of celebrating her rare talent for writing strange beautiful truths, she hid behind a false name. Although it gives the reader reason to think... have I read this author before?

I read the book looking for something different. It wasn't what I expected. The book describe a beautiful love story, the kind of love we all hope for, although she found it in another female (not my alternative)still it was deep and unique. I guess it doesn't matter as long as you are happy and in love. At the same time it describes a horror story. The contrast, impact of one with the other never matches. It is like oil and vinegar, like heaven and hell, hard to describe. It was good and not good. I did and did not like it. It could have been a beautiful love story, period. It was very real, the kind of realism some of us don't want to know about.

The story suffers from a contrived ending, but the writing is so fresh and evocative, the characters so deftly drawn, that the book is a pleasure to read just the same.

There is a lot of sex in this book, but it really isn't what I would call erotic. It is frequently violent, disturbing and outside the norm of most people's experiences, whether straight or gay.

This is the story of Sofia, a sort of perpetual victim, who becomes caught up in frentic sexual activity that she sometimes thinks is love.

The book begins with a violent scene between the three main characters, then flashes back.

We learn of the s/m relationship between Sofia and Santiago, the man who eventually becomes her husband, and of Sofia's lesbian relationship with Marina.

Although unrelated, the two women are exact mirror images of each other. However, I wouldn't call this a true lesbian novel. Its focus is narcissism.

What ultimately happens to Sofia is very much in keeping with the tone of the novel's unusual characters and situations.

This book was stimulating and most of all, shocking. It explored things that most of us haven't experienced and could never imagine ourselves experiencing. I would personally like to know this author and what gave her the idea for this book. It sounds like an autobiography posed as fiction because of the rawness of it. As far a erotic novels go, this is one of the best because of it's honesty. I think people are afraid to confront things they desire and they're held back by these fears. I commend this author and would definatly read her again. I will never forget this book and I encourage people to read it all the way through to the end. It's just a book, it can't hurt you, take or leave it whatever but I believe that it can open some eyes and help people understand certain facets of the mind. If you enjoy erotica, it's a must read.

This one might be one of the books that most influenced me. It's such a nice story, with such nice characters that you must enjoy it, it's so sad and so beautiful at the same time that it really gets inside of you.
You've got to read it!

The author, certainly takes the reader on a wild roller coaster ride as we follow a young Sofia trying to cope with everyday life and certainly efervescent sexuality. She is a young married woman and it appears that her husband and most of the men she gets involved with are nothing to write home to mother about.....

Course her downfall is that she likes it rough and tht's why we have a story.

Sofia meets, well into the book, Marina a beautiful young Uruguayan girl that could well pass for her twin sister. The two girls hit it off very very very well and theres no doubt in Sohia's mind that she's dumping her husband for this new kind of sexual experience ...

The end of the story is both shocking and surprising to say the least ...... all in all it may not be my kind of book since I think it should probably be classed as 'high brow' erotica, but, it does deserve high praise of the author who paints a very realistic picture of sexual struggles with life .....

The story sticks in your mind until the last page turns. It makes you feel like you are there, living with these two women and what love can really be like. To find someone your exact double, who can love you in the way that only you can understand. I would recommend this for those who enjoy exploring there emotions.