Water from the Well

By Myra McLarey

Book Overview

Acclaimed by The Boston Book Review as "incantatory ... poetic and magical," Water from the Well is a novel forged in the soul of community. Set in rural Arkansas, it opens in 1919 with a cow-pasture ball game between the whites of Sugars Springs and the coloreds of neighboring Bethel, a game that shakes the town's delicate racial balance. One year later, a cyclone visits destruction on black and white, female and male, villain and victim. Rich with image and sparkling with humor and compassion, Water from the Well is a story of ex-slaves, displaced Yankees, rapists, healers, small-town sheriffs led into temptation, and the rich weave of a century of community history. "Boldly idiosyncratic and folksy ... characters and their stories emerge with the intimacy of personal memory." -- Richard Bausch, The New York Times Book Review; "Entertaining, touching, celebratory, and absolutely pitch-perfect." -- Sandra Scofield, The Philadelphia Inquirer

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B004AYQ60A
• ISBN13: 9780802137166
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Melodic and Memorable

In Water from the Well, six short stories coil together, nestled in the spiral of a century of Southern history. On one level these could be the stories of any small town: the bit characters are universal-gossip mongers who know (or think they know) just about everything about each other. But on another level, these characters are uniquely Arkansan and their struggles pinned in place and time to the three generations who inherited the chaos and eventual resettling of the post-slavery era. "Red Sky at Night," is the story of a baseball game between the white men of Sugars Springs and the black men of Bethel. This story, set in 1905 serves as an introduction both to the characters and the tensions of the novel. "Red Sky at Dawn" is set a year later, and introduces the element of chaos in the form of a tornado that hits the town without warning. "Ransom Passing" explores the personal history of one ex-slave and then moves forward in time to his grandson's life. "Baby, Leaving," and "The Choosing of Little Jewel" demonstrate gender tensions among families of both races. Finally, "The Salvation of Cora Emery McRae" highlights religion's role in the South.Although the language is unmistakably Arkansan, Myra McLarey's voice is more fluid than the traditional women writers of the south. Think Alice Hoffman rather than Eudora Welty or Flannery O'Connor. While the depth of the characters and the vividly-painted context make this book a worthwhile read, it is the lyrical prose which makes it unforgettable.

A brilliant, beatutiful, exraordinarily spritual work.

In Water from the Well Myra McLarey reveals the soul and spirit of a racially divided community in Arkansas early 1900's. Through the stories of its inhabitants she explores the various ways in which religion, race, legend, community and personal relationships act to both keep the races apart-and at the same time binds them together. She shows how the character, soul and spirit of a place can transcend the various forces at work to shape it. In the end one realizes that the story is in fact not really about anyplace in Arkansas but a place we all "know"--that mystical, ideal, imaginary place called home.McLarey's style and craftsmanship is very reminiscent of that of Barbara Kingslover. It's a pity her work is not nearly so well known or recognized.Water from the Well ranks as one of the two or three best books I've read in the last decade. I highly recommend it.

Lyrical and Haunting

Lyrical and Haunting, McLarey's insight into all walks of life creates a book as rich in flavor as the South itself. McLarey explores the spiritual realities of a wide-spectrum of characters in a deeply touching and respectful way.

An Excellent Book Club selection

Myra McLarey is a storyteller of rare quality. Her debut novel WATER FROM THE WELL paints a mural of time and place, spanning almost a hundred years in southwest Arkansas. Like the red night that opens the first story, the book is filled with images that color symbolizes - passion, violence and blood. McLarey chose the novel's title from an old spiritual in which Jesus gave a woman living water and not water from the well. But like the woman receiving living water, McLarey's novel will send the reader away singing.

Immersive and powerful

This is a book that, like those of Toni Morrison, has the remarkable power to immerse you in the characters' world so deeply that looking up from the book to where you actually are is confusingly jarring. Ms. McLarey captures the world of rural Arkansas with broad brushstrokes and knowing dialogue. The plot lines become outrageously funny as well as hauntingly poignant. I desperately didn't want to finish this book, and pray that the sequel will come soon.