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kleonora 's review for:
Water Shall Refuse Them
by Lucie McKnight Hardy
Verdict: Atmosphere and bummer without much below the surface.
Well this was upsetting. It took about 3 sentences for me to know that this book would not jibe with my intrinsically sensitive soul. I soldiered on, partly because I do have an academic respect for an author whose prose can make screechy violins play in my head within a paragraph’s description on a family road trip, but mostly because I was the one who suggested this for book club.
The evocative prose remained consistent throughout and I continue to regard the author’s writing style highly, even if she did choose to use her powers for evil. Setting aside the inevitable emotional/moral critique of a reviewer who has a Goodreads shelf called ‘Points off for dead baby’, let’s start with the more valid criticisms concerning plot mechanics.
To put it briefly, it was obvious what was going to happen and it still didn’t make much sense when it did. The first point is more forgivable but I’m still sore about the second. There was a lot of weird, creepy stuff going on and I don’t think it’s took much to ask for at least some of it to tie together in some esoteric, fatalistic way in the end. Instead it just remains a collection of weird, creepy stuff with no significance beyond surface value all brought together by coincidence/plot contrivance.
Contrast (inevitably) to The Wasp Factory which, though also earning points off for dead baby, has such a stonkingly awesome flash grenade of an ending, illuminating everything right before it sets fire to it all, that the crawling oppressiveness of the story is an acceptable and indeed necessary price to pay. This is just gratuitous.
The saving grace of this book was the epilogue. I understand that, in later editions, this was cut either through error or design, so I have copied it here for your edification. Even so, I cannot recommend this book. I have seen it compared, in addition to The Wasp Factory, to Shirley Jackson and Hot Fuzz. I concur with all of these and recommend them ahead of Water Shall Refuse Them. As for me, I’m off to skim the next volume off my pile of un-read Pratchetts which I have judiciously rationed for just such occasions as this. Toodles.
WARNING – Implied spoilers
Epilogue
Nif was unable to follow through with any hazy notions conceived through the fog of vodka and trauma. Partly because her thoughts had been needlessly awful but, more prosaically, because she was 7 stone and had just chugged a litre of neat spirit and could not have done otherwise but pass out, the possible intentions of a misguided author notwithstanding. She had a nap under a bridge and woke up in a Premier Inn off the M11 after her family had found her and taken themselves back to civilisation.
During the course of the eventual juvenile hearing for GBH, following on from Nif’s maddened assault on Denise with the glass bottle, the full truth of the family trauma was revealed, and decisive action was taken by a firm but compassionate judge with the support of the 70s well-funded NHS system.
All members of the family were assigned councillors and frequent family sessions took place in order for everyone to work through their guilt, anger and grief in a constructive and healing environment. It was agreed that Lorry would stay the next 12 months with an older couple from Steeple Bumstead who were fostering now that their youngest was at University. They were responsible for ensuring his childhood proceeded with as much normalcy as possible, facilitated frequent supervised visits to his family and, in the intervening years, have become like family themselves to Nif’s family.
Obviously healing for the rest of the family was a long and ongoing process. Ultimately Mum and Dad decided to separate so that they might both have space to deal with their own issues but continued to co-parent compassionately. Nif continues therapy to this day and has understood, with time, to reconcile herself to the actions of her young self who was acting under strains no developing mind should have to deal with.
She has channelled her impulse for atonement into healthy and beneficial channels and today advises the government on outreach programmes for the support of adolescent mental health. Janet and Mally were swallowed up by the earth. Possibly they were not beyond redemption, but I’m ready to think about other things now.
The End
Well this was upsetting. It took about 3 sentences for me to know that this book would not jibe with my intrinsically sensitive soul. I soldiered on, partly because I do have an academic respect for an author whose prose can make screechy violins play in my head within a paragraph’s description on a family road trip, but mostly because I was the one who suggested this for book club.
The evocative prose remained consistent throughout and I continue to regard the author’s writing style highly, even if she did choose to use her powers for evil. Setting aside the inevitable emotional/moral critique of a reviewer who has a Goodreads shelf called ‘Points off for dead baby’, let’s start with the more valid criticisms concerning plot mechanics.
To put it briefly, it was obvious what was going to happen and it still didn’t make much sense when it did. The first point is more forgivable but I’m still sore about the second. There was a lot of weird, creepy stuff going on and I don’t think it’s took much to ask for at least some of it to tie together in some esoteric, fatalistic way in the end. Instead it just remains a collection of weird, creepy stuff with no significance beyond surface value all brought together by coincidence/plot contrivance.
Contrast (inevitably) to The Wasp Factory which, though also earning points off for dead baby, has such a stonkingly awesome flash grenade of an ending, illuminating everything right before it sets fire to it all, that the crawling oppressiveness of the story is an acceptable and indeed necessary price to pay. This is just gratuitous.
The saving grace of this book was the epilogue. I understand that, in later editions, this was cut either through error or design, so I have copied it here for your edification. Even so, I cannot recommend this book. I have seen it compared, in addition to The Wasp Factory, to Shirley Jackson and Hot Fuzz. I concur with all of these and recommend them ahead of Water Shall Refuse Them. As for me, I’m off to skim the next volume off my pile of un-read Pratchetts which I have judiciously rationed for just such occasions as this. Toodles.
WARNING – Implied spoilers
Epilogue
Nif was unable to follow through with any hazy notions conceived through the fog of vodka and trauma. Partly because her thoughts had been needlessly awful but, more prosaically, because she was 7 stone and had just chugged a litre of neat spirit and could not have done otherwise but pass out, the possible intentions of a misguided author notwithstanding. She had a nap under a bridge and woke up in a Premier Inn off the M11 after her family had found her and taken themselves back to civilisation.
During the course of the eventual juvenile hearing for GBH, following on from Nif’s maddened assault on Denise with the glass bottle, the full truth of the family trauma was revealed, and decisive action was taken by a firm but compassionate judge with the support of the 70s well-funded NHS system.
All members of the family were assigned councillors and frequent family sessions took place in order for everyone to work through their guilt, anger and grief in a constructive and healing environment. It was agreed that Lorry would stay the next 12 months with an older couple from Steeple Bumstead who were fostering now that their youngest was at University. They were responsible for ensuring his childhood proceeded with as much normalcy as possible, facilitated frequent supervised visits to his family and, in the intervening years, have become like family themselves to Nif’s family.
Obviously healing for the rest of the family was a long and ongoing process. Ultimately Mum and Dad decided to separate so that they might both have space to deal with their own issues but continued to co-parent compassionately. Nif continues therapy to this day and has understood, with time, to reconcile herself to the actions of her young self who was acting under strains no developing mind should have to deal with.
She has channelled her impulse for atonement into healthy and beneficial channels and today advises the government on outreach programmes for the support of adolescent mental health. Janet and Mally were swallowed up by the earth. Possibly they were not beyond redemption, but I’m ready to think about other things now.
The End