The Disobedience of Water: Stories and Novellas

By Sena Jeter Naslund

Book Overview

Evoking passion and heartbreak., intelligence and unapologetic humanity, these eight beautifully crafted stories explore the boundary conditions between the self and others. Although social realities -- racial and ethnic tensions, sexual harassment, and abuse -- make up their background, these are really love stories in which people discover and forgive one another. A daughter finds her father's kindness extends beyond her and their family; a wife discovers and forgives the affair between her husband and best friend; and, in the title story which takes the form of a letter to an almost-lover, the narrator winds through swirling eddies of memory and language to relate her present and past lives and the loves that have informed them. Written with a masterful sureness of hand and heart, these captivating, intimate stories display Sena Jeter Naslund's extraordinary presence as one of today's most rewarding writers of fiction.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688178456
• ISBN13: 9780688178451
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Physical experience

Each of these short stories leave you with a sense of the physical, whether good or ill (and even the disturbing moments are memorable). You cannot be lifted by these offerings and set down anything other than full. Sometimes I felt as though I was peeping through a keyhole at something so personal that I could almost hear my (dead) mother warn me to "mind my own business"... and other times I could swear that I felt the touch of soft, mountain breezes and knew I was safe in my place as reader. If you loved Ahab's Wife and Naslund's way of stringing words together, read this book... or better yet, read it twice to make sure nothing was lost. Beautiful.

A collection that pushes and pulls

The stories contained in _The Disobedience of Water_ are about emotions, how they control us and shape our lives. The characters Naslund creates are rich with conflicting feelings about faith, love, and friendship. They're at once kind and cruel, moral and amoral, as these waves of emotion build and break. Naslund's courageous honesty will change the way you think about love, life, and art, while her beautiful, Southern style will leave you waiting for more.