Rather, the haunting is much more severe and strange than I was expecting at the outset of the novel. This might make the house seem sinister, but it’s not so much the house. In alternating chapters, we learn more about what sent Evelyn to Wakewater, what the water cure entails (lots of pruniness), and the psychic scars that were left behind. It soon becomes clear that Wakewater Apartments is haunted by what happened in Evelyn’s time. She bought the place because it overlooks the Thames and just couldn’t resist the draw of the water. Later, Wakewater has been turned into Wakewater Apartments and Kirsten has just moved in. She has been diagnosed with hysteria after an incident that is only revealed later. In the 1870s, Evelyn has been sent to Wakewater House for the water cure. It’s more a warning that, if you are or have ever been an English major, those close reading skills will activate before too many pages and may get the way of really sinking into the story.īodies of Water parallels to lives that intersect at the same place, a century apart. I enjoyed this ghostly story, but I feel that it is a dissertation waiting to happen. In addition to the overt themes of women overcoming damaging relationships with men, there are also repeated metaphors of water, women’s perspectives of reality, and wombs. Leslie’s short novella, Bodies of Water, is perfect for feminist reading.
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