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The Waters: A Novel

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One of the Washington Post's 50 Best Books of 2024 One of Oprah's "Most Immersive Books of 2024" A Today Show ReadWithJenna Book Club Selection One of Oprah Daily’s Most Anticipated Books of the Year One of the Chicago Review of Books’s 12 Must-Read Books of the Month Featured in Roxane Gay’s newsletter, The Audacity One of Christian Science Monitor’s Best Books of the Month “[The Waters] delivers us to a place of real magic.” ―Ron Charles, Washington Post A master of rural noir returns with a fierce, mesmerizing novel about exceptional women and the soul of a small town.On an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp―an area known as “The Waters” to the residents of nearby Whiteheart, Michigan―herbalist and eccentric Hermine “Herself” Zook has healed the local women of their ailments for generations. As stubborn as her tonics are powerful, Herself inspires reverence and fear in the people of Whiteheart, and even in her own three estranged daughters. The youngest―the beautiful, inscrutable, and lazy Rose Thorn―has left her own daughter, eleven- year-old Dorothy “Donkey” Zook, to grow up wild.Donkey spends her days searching for truths in the lush landscape and in her math books, waiting for her wayward mother and longing for a father, unaware that family secrets, passionate love, and violent men will flood through the swamp and upend her idyllic childhood. Rage simmers below the surface of this divided community, and those on both sides of the divide have closed their doors against the enemy. The only bridge across the waters is Rose Thorn.With a “ruthless and precise eye for the details of the physical world” (Jane Smiley, New York Times Book Review), Bonnie Jo Campbell presents an elegant antidote to the dark side of masculinity, celebrating the resilience of nature and the brutality and sweetness of rural life. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company


Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 29, 2024


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 416 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1324105151


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 52


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.5 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #161,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #886 in Family Life Fiction (Books) #919 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction #2,126 in Literary Fiction (Books)


#886 in Family Life Fiction (Books):


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • An exquisite book.
Format: Paperback
I finished The Waters last night. I’m beginning it again today. The language is so beautiful, so rich, so densely textured, I want to….eat it, like I want to eat one of Herself’s Blackbird Pies. And I want to re-read all about the characters now that I have learned to know them during the first reading. I am in awe of an author who can create such disparate, detailed, characters; people who weren’t just slotted into the book to serve a purpose, but flawed and believable and complicated human beings. There are passages in the book—oh, concerning the men doing a hard and beautiful thing in the swamp and experiencing a rare moment of tenderness for one another—that literally made me weep. It’s a feast of a book, and one I know I will read and re-read for years to come. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2025 by Amazon Customer
    • Really good, just not my favorite
Format: Hardcover
First of all, let me tell you I am a big fan of this author. I thought her short story collection (American Salvage) was among the finest I have ever read. And I liked this novel...but, I wanted to love it, and I didn't. I thought it was an interesting premise that should have worked, but had too many moving parts. There were passages that were achingly beautiful and some that had to power to bring instant tears. I love a good writing style and I believe this author has a unique voice and uses it well. I am glad I read it, but I am about to donate it to our library's used book sale. Whereas her previous novel, Once Upon The Water, has a permanent place of honor on my bookshelf. (that should say it all) ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2024 by Amazon Customer
    • A complex matriarchal drama that takes imagery to a new level
Format: Kindle
📚 The Waters (🎧/📖) ✍ Bonnie Jo Campbell 📖 Fiction ⭐3/5 ➡Just past the town of Whiteheart, Michigan where crops of white stalked celery used to flourish, on a secluded island in the Great Massasauga Swamp, sits Rose Cottage. Brimming with the secrets that generations of Zook family women have held, the cottage plays host to Hermine "Herself" Zook, her granddaughter "Donkey" and occasionally, her three daughters, Primrose, Molly and Rose Thorn. Written as an ode to the lush swamp and the unbreakable bond of women, The Waters is the chronicle of generations of Zook women doing their best to survive love, loss and each other. ◾ 🎯 What I loved: This felt very reminiscent of something I would have read in a high school English class albeit filled with content that would sadly be censored today. I haven't yearned for my favorite AP Lang teacher to help me make sense of something in a long time but this definitely did it. I've heard this described as similar to Where The Crawdads Sing and while there were lots of depictions of nature and animals, there was definitely not an exciting murder mystery to tie it all together. There was, however, a fascinating female-dominated family with the crookedest family tree I've ever tried to draw, a town steeped in its own traditions trying to find its new identity in a post-farming era and just enough shocking alternative medicine to really rattle your senses. Despite not feeling a deep connection to any of the characters, the Zook family was certainly interesting and this in-depth portrait of rural Michigan was descriptively told with an eye for the land and the beauty of the culture there. 🙅♀️ What I didn't: This was honestly painful to read. Where I am typically a vivacious reader, I had to bribe myself to get through this book and could only take it in bite-sized pieces. Perhaps related, I've had some of the best naps of my life in the past two weeks. The descriptions of The Waters were so detailed that it felt like pages and pages would go by without anything but nature depictions that didn't contribute to the storyline. There were also SO many characters. The first few chapters described each person in the town of Whiteheart, Michigan in depth- many of whom were never spoken about in the book again- and even with diligent notetaking, I struggled to keep track of who was who. Suffice it to say, I can appreciate this as an intensely eloquent work of literary fiction but it wasn't the book for me. ◾ Read if you love: *complex families with powerhouse matriarchs *rural communities where place feels like a character *vivid nature imagery ◾ See also: Where The Crawdads Sing, The Unmaking of June Farrow, Black Cake ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024 by Amazon Customer
    • Great read
Format: Kindle
This book has me thinking of the women in my family and the traditions and stories passed down. W we all know a woman who knows natural ways to cure ailments and wonder about modern medicine. We know men who own guns and shoot at any number of targets without considering why and consequences. This town screas religion, yet practices gossip and machoism. Hatred is just under the surface ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2025 by Amazon Customer
    • Rather long read
Format: Kindle
Not a particularly absorbing book but after about 70% finished, it became more interesting. Seemed to take forever for it to come together. I wish the author could have come up with any other name for Dorothy than Donkey. She was the star of the book but got a crappy Nick name. It’s not one I will recommend. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2024 by Amazon Customer
    • Difficult read
Format: Kindle
I am an avid reader of just about anything. This book was difficult for me in many ways. Violence and abuse of women, violence and abuse of animals disguised as either "old ways" or to save someone else using "natural remedies". Some horrifying descriptions of the death of an innocent animal. Disjointed storyline with too many characters given importance in the plot. A birth scene that bordered on unbelievable because 4 or 5 grown men couldn't either take the woman to a clean location or transport her ,so she gives birth steps away from an indoor location? The snakes given magical powers? Herself beyond reproach in all matters, but also allowing criminal acts to happen using secrets and disappearances as a way to keep mystery alive surrounding the island of only women. I could go on, but I won't. I don't know why, but this book made me want to wash my hands often. while I read it. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2024 by Amazon Customer

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