DREAMING WATER

DREAMING WATER
Gail Tsukiyama
St. Martin's Griffin, 240 pages
2003




STORY CAUTION Don't read the following entry if you don't want to know pretty much what happens in this story. Please return after you've read the book or seen the movie and leave a comment to tell us what you thought.

"Dreaming Water" is the story of a syndrome--Werner's--that causes people to age prematurely, becoming gray, wrinkled, and brittle when they reach puberty. Life expectancy is usually somewhere in the 40s and 50s. So this is a sad story with early death in sight from page one.

Tsukiyama, though, is a lyric writer, and she conveys the story of Hana, who describes her disease as if it were a person (Werner) living inside her, with the sense of mystery and beauty that is characteristic of her prose.

Though I love the writing style, I found this one hard to get through, not because of the subject matter but because it is so jammed with personal detail: feelings in the morning, at noon, at night in bed; memories, sadness, and regret over the loss of Hana's father; joy in the garden on the part of Hana's mother, Cate. But maybe I lack sufficient empathy living with a slow-motion descent toward death.

If you appreciate fine writing, "Dreaming Water" is a good addition to your to-read list. Two other great Tsukiama reads are "The Samurai's Garden" and "Women of the Silk."