Sunday, January 20, 2008

Trouble the Water-Nicole Seitz

Trouble the Water
Nicole Seitz
Thomas Nelson, Mar 2008, $14.99
ISBN 9781595544001

Forty something Honor believes her life is over as her marriage is history and she is unemployed. Deep in her psyche, Honor believes she deserves both and worse as she now feels there is something lacking in her that makes her contemptible not fit to be loved by anyone. Even knowing she cannot run away from herself, she flees to St. Anne’s Isle off the South Carolina coast.

Honor attempts suicide, but the islander Gullah nannies intercede and prevent her from succeeding. They nurse her back to physical health and shower her with love that brings emotional contentment. Honor moves in with another somewhat wounded adoptee Duchess. Soon she begins to paint and contacts her sister Alice. When Honor informs Alice she has cancer, the younger sibling reassesses her successful life that looks like a failure next to her dying sibling’s recent lust for life.

The three females (Honor, Duchess and Alice) rotate perspective so the audience gets to understand what motivates each of them. Adding to that insight is the back and forth major highlights of each of their lives over the past eight years. However, there is too much happening with each of these females so that none of their problems to include loneliness, physical and mental abuse, depression, and suicidal tendencies is looked at as profoundly deep as the well written TROUBLED THE WATER should. Still fans who appreciate a look into a troubled person trying to find a life preserver will enjoy this fine inspirational tale.

Harriet Klausner

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