The Water Cure
by Sophie Mackintosh
“King has tenderly staked
out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. He has
lain the barbed wire; he has anchored the buoys in the water; he has marked out
a clear message: Do not enter. Or, viewed from another angle: Not safe to leave."
I’ve waited weeks to
write this review, because when I finished I wasn’t even sure how I felt about
the book. I don’t mean that I was unsure if I liked it, but rather the content
of the book was so heavy and so muddled that I needed some time to sift through
it alone.
“Here women are
protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like
rituals and therapies they endure fortify them against the spreading toxicity
of a degrading world.”
So, The Water Cure features a family of five.
Two parents—Mother and King, and three girls—Grace, Lia, and Sky. From the
moment you start reading this book you know there’s something funny about this
family.
I don’t know what year
it is or their exact geographical location, but King has taken his women and
moved them to a deserted island to protect them. Or so he thought.
As the quote directly
from the book states above, some of the rituals Mother and King made their
daughters do for protection and healing were cult like. And, truly, most of the
rituals bordered on abusive.
Drinking salt water
Being sewn into a sac
and put into a sauna
Being held underwater
by a dress filled with weights
Anti-depressants
Anti-psychotics
Cutting
Rape.
I had so many questions
while reading this book, and most of the time they didn’t get answered. This
was kind of a beautiful thing while reading, though, because I was able to
share in the confusion that the girls were experiencing.
Then, King dies.
The women are lost,
they’re running low on supplies, and then three men wash up on shore.
The girls have never
met men other than King, and they’ve been conditioned to believe that the very
air that the men release from their lungs will poison them. The girls must
learn to cohabitate in the absence of BOTH of their parents when their mother
sets off for supplies from the mainland.
This is when the real
growth and change began.
The girls are different.
They’re unstable.
Pregnancy, lust, and
anxiety threaten to tear them apart.
"There is no hiding the damage the outside world can do, if a woman hasn't been taking the right precautions to guard her body."
Sophie Mackintosh made
me feel like I was floating in the water watching all of this happen right
before my eyes. I was right next to the girls as they made discoveries. The
writing was both mystical and harsh.
It wasn’t a book that
I tore through at lightning speed, but don’t let that discount it’s content. I
was emotionally invested in this book, and the dark corners were meant to be
savored not devoured.
To buy: The
Water Cure
Thank you Sophie and
NetGalley for the Review Copy.
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