The Memory of Water

The context of this story is so rich and deep and textured. The characters are just brought to life through the artistry of this authors words. I wanted so badly to just take my time and relax into this book but the pages kept turning and turning. The setting, the plot, the characters; everything felt so real and so close. I expected to smell the ocean and the pluff mud, the paint and the cigarettes. I expected to hear the waves, sails flapping, and the herons. It was pure word magic.

I've really begun to love Karen White's works and have been trying to get my hands on each one. The Memory of Water sounded quite interesting to me but it has moments where it really seemed to drag along.Diana and Marnie both have issues with the night their mother dragged them into a storm. That night their mother drowned and it has turned the two sisters against each other. Marnie returns to the home of her grandfather due to an accident involving her sister and the nephew she's never met. That part sounded pretty good to me.However getting to the truth of what happened that night is implied heavily throughout the book. Getting to that truth is another story entirely. It takes the final pages to really show what happened that night. Even from Marnie's flashbacks I couldn't tell what was going on or what caused Diana to have such an attitude from her sister, other than her being bipolar.Like the other Karen White books I've read, I really loved several of the characters. Quinn and Gil especially. Quinn came off as a gentle soul to me, haunted by the death of his brother but willing to help anyone he can. Gil was smart beyond his years and I wondered what caused this child to go quiet.Marnie and Diana I could not make my opinions of. Sometimes I hated one or the other. Sometimes I loved them both. Seeing Marnie transform back into the Marnie that Diana knew was one of the things I truly loved about the book. The twist at the end was pretty amazing, but not something that has driven me to tears like Karen's other books. I guess I just couldn't get as emotionally attached to this one as I did her others.

I did not like this book, but I finished it because it was so beautifully written. The entire novel was based on sadness. Even the ending was based on a death of one of the main, but flawed, characters. I recommend it because it was so beautifully written and others may interpret it differently.

Felt like a really slow book and normally I don't feel that way about Karen White books. I felt like it took forever to read.

Another well written story by my favorite author. I gave it three stats because although interesting I found it to be depressing. Mental illness that results in attempted murder is not my idea of summer reading. The main characters are not likable. There should have been more back history on the sister Marnie. She was the only likeable character. The boat scenes were long and ridiculous. No justice served. I will continue reading Karen White because overall her books are five star.

Great book. Great stories.

The pace of this book was as slow as a sloth, and I had to FORCE myself to finish the entire book (I am one of those people who sticks with a book, to give it every chance!). Far too much time was spent describing unimportant details, especially in regard to sailing terms (I had the feeling that the author was trying to 'impress' the readers with her newly learned sailing vocabulary, by throwing every nautical term available into this book!), and the alternating viewpoints of the four main characters were more annoying and distracting than interesting.The plot was predictable early on, but I kept hoping that maybe the reader would be rewarded later with a 'Wow, I didn't see that coming' moment, but that never happened. It was difficult to retain interest in any of the characters, since none of them had much spark, and I kept wondering why this family didn't just go in for some group counseling, rather than thinking that they had the capacity to confront and conquer their demons on their own?I truly regret the time that I wasted trying to plod through this boring, mind-numbing, disappointing mess, and I am hoping that the 'memory' of reading this book will soon 'sail' right out of my mind!

I so enjoy Karen White's stories that develop characters so well that you feel you know them. To me, her stories which have a haunting mystery and drama remind me of Daphne DuMaurier. I gave this story a 4 rather than a 5 as I was not rooting for the characters as I do in some of her other stories and I found it depressing. I guessed what the secret was about 2/3 of the way through.

Was sorry to see the end of this one. What a wonderful book

Terrific read.

Karen white is a good author. She tells a story that keeps the reader engaged right until the very end. I liked this book.

Not what I thought it was going to be about and did not even finish the book. Very small print

This author is amazing.