“A gripping, sinister fable!” —Margaret Atwood, via TwitterONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR:NPR • GLAMOUR • GOOD HOUSEKEEPING • LIT HUB • THRILLISTKing has tenderly staked out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. Here on his island, women are protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them … cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world.
But when King disappears and two men and a boy wash ashore, the sisters’ safe world begins to unravel. Over the span of one blistering hot week, a psychological cat-and-mouse game plays out. Sexual tensions and sibling rivalries flare as the sisters are forced to confront the amorphous threat the strangers represent.
A haunting, riveting debut, The Water Cure is a fiercely poetic feminist revenge fantasy that’s a startling reflection of our time.
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Eerily beautiful, this strange, unsettling novel creeps up and grabs hold of you.
I’m tired of #metoo #handmaidtype tales. This story didn’t know what it wanted to be and the characters remained shapeless so I didn’t care the least bit about them.
This one really wasn’t for me at all and originally I did stop at 39% and it was going to be a DNF.
But I decided to persevere and forced myself to finish. Hoping it would get better.
I’m sorry to say for me it didn’t.
So although on paper this seemed a good fit for me in actuality it just wasn’t.
I have seen reviews on “The Wate Cure” praising the brilliance of the prose and yes while I do agree the language used here had an almost fluid brilliance to it it still for me fell flat in capturing and then retaining my complete attention.
I don’t mind admitting I felt a little lost in my overall comprehension here and while scratching my head still in confusion at a third in I decided enough was enough.
That was when I decided to down tools before later reconsidering as I just didn’t want to be beaten by this.
I really didn’t have the foggiest most of the time what the deal was here and if I’m honest I was bored and couldn’t be bothered to stay the course and find out really.
It was my sheer bloody determination that got me through this.
I am if I’m honest slightly disappointed as the blurb for this was ever so intriguing but In my opinion, this was spoiled by attempting to be too highbrow in its execution keeping me in an unnecessary state of confusion that for me rather than making me want to know more just did the complete opposite.
I don’t know what I expected from this but this sure wasn’t it.
Maybe I’m just not clever enough to truly appreciate “The Water Cure”
I read to escape and this was just too much like hard work for me.
I’m sure there are others who will absolutely adore this strange dystopian type drama I’m just really not one of them sorry.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of “The Water Cure” of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm.
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9460945-bex-beckie-bookworm
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This book for me was an incredible way to start off 2019. As a lover of dystopian women’s literary fiction I had high expectations and was not disappointed. Honestly though, in parts this novel seems so detatched from everything real but this is used to the most fabulous effect as toward the end of the narrative. Here we are bought with a staggering realisation that there is no reason why this could not be occuring ten years down the line, or even today in some parts of the world. Beautifully written, heartbreakingly eye-opening and an utter literary success from beginning to end.
Sophie Mackintosh casts an exquisite, irresistible spell in her thrilling debut. Ablaze with beauty, desire, and dread, The Water Cure is a shattering look at patriarchal control and how far three sisters will go to free themselves from it.
I loved this book. It rushes you through to the end on a tide of tension and closely held panic. Eerie, beautiful, electric.
Grace, Lia, and Sky. Three sisters raised in their secluded home by Mother and King. Purposefully segregated away from the toxic world. While growing up they were subjected to rigorous therapies to keep their bodies in tip top shape to fight off any wayward toxin.
King has taken every precaution he can think of to keep the world away from his property and family. Barbed wire lines the forest, along with hidden traps. He’s a man that takes care of his family. Creating new therapies as the girls grow. King makes trip to the mainland to restock on provisions, using a boat and the sea channel at the port just below the property.
This port is what used to bring women to the house. Battered and bruised, reeking with toxin from the world and carrying distrust toward any man. Mother would apply the therapies and King would be a presence in the corner of the room, while the girls spied on progress from the top of the stairs. Always present, never involved.
For the unsuspecting, this life is perfectly normal. What happens when there is a bump in the road? How do you deal with a feeling you have been forced to push away before your first steps? What happens when the last thing to come to the shore is a threat no one could have prepared for?
**Reviewer note** there are potential triggers in this book.
The story is a bit strange and left me with questions, but I liked it.
I didn’t like anything about the book.Got sick of the torture after about 100 pages.Read the last chapter and was done with it.
Not enough back story to be satisfying.
strange how it was presented but it held my attention
Only start this one if you’ve set aside the time to finish ….
Fascinatingly dystopian view of the way children are twisted by others.
While the book is well written and the prose pull you into the story, I was left wanting. It’s as if part of the story was left out.
Fascinating book. Quite surreal.
Whew. I was not prepared for this book and it was nothing like I thought it was going to be. This is a very Science Fiction Dystopian read and took me by surprise. This isn’t a genre I read very often but I did generally enjoy this one. A solid 3.5 star for me. I wont elaborate because it wasn’t a perfect fit for me. But if you like that genre, give it a check out
An odd, eerie dark fable. Lovely writing.
This book, a feminist dystopian fable about toxic masculinity, threw me in the beginning. The point of view change from first to third and back again, the minimalism of the writing style and the setting, the random snippets of cruelty…I almost stopped reading. But I kept going, and I’m glad that I did. The style began to grow on me, and while I didn’t really develop that much empathy for the characters, I couldn’t stop reading because I needed to know what was going to happen next—when the inevitable catalyst arrives into the cloistered enclave the mother had created for her daughters, it was like watching two trains approaching each other in slow motion. The writing is often beautifully spare, and I highlighted many passages. Recommended if you’re looking for something different and like a story that builds slowly.
From the description, this sounded intriguing. Three sisters, brought to a secluded island by their parents to protect them from the toxicity of men. The writing was good. I was hoping the story wouldn’t be as vague as The Handmaid’s Tale.
The thematic content may or may not appeal to you. Post-apocalyptic, feminist dystopian horror – all of those can be used to some extent. My main issue with the book was the pacing – it’s really really slow. In many ways it feel like a short-story that was padded out to the length of a novel. It could have had far more impact if it was more sharply paced. In reality any attempt to build suspense just created a feeling of boredom. However on the plus side this was really well-written and announces McIntosh as a writer to look out for in the future.