We Are Water

A Novel

By: Wally Lamb

Narrated by: Wally Lamb, George Guidall, Maggi-Meg Reed, Tavia Gilbert, Richard Ferrone, Edoardo Ballerini, Cynthia Darlow, Therese Plummer, Sandy Rustin

Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

We Are Water is a disquieting and ultimately uplifting audiobook about a marriage, a family, and human resilience in the face of tragedy, from Wally Lamb, the New York Times best-selling author of The Hour I First Believed and I Know This Much is True.

After 27 years of marriage and three children, Anna Oh - wife, mother, outsider artist - has fallen in love with Viveca, the wealthy Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her success. They plan to wed in the Oh family's hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut. But the wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora's Box of toxic secrets - dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs' lives.

We Are Water is a layered portrait of marriage, family, and the inexorable need for understanding and connection, told in the alternating voices of the Ohs: nonconformist, Anna; her ex-husband, Orion, a psychologist; Ariane, the do-gooder daughter, and her twin, Andrew, the rebellious only son; and free-spirited Marissa, the youngest. It is also a portrait of modern America, exploring issues of class, changing social mores, the legacy of racial violence, and the nature of creativity and art.

With humor and compassion, Wally Lamb brilliantly captures the essence of human experience and the ways in which we search for love and meaning in our lives.

The complete list of narrators includes Robin Miles and Sandy Rustin.

©2013 Wally Lamb (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

A Wonderful Listen. Liked but not Loved It

Any additional comments?

The story of the characters had me very interested. I was never bored, especially with the audible book as it was narrated by several different people. I found myself rolling my eyes a few times with the degree of personal flaws of every single character. It was a bit much and that is my only major complaint. This was read by my book group and liked

Totally disagree with negative reviews

Where does We Are Water rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the best book I've listened to in years! I believe narrators were spot on. I think this is Wally Lamb's best. His bold portrayal of Kent, the pedophile, while disturbing, was inciteful without being sympathetic.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Annie. She's a great study of what can happen when one fails to deal with emotional trauma by bottling up her past.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The various narrators enhanced my ability identify with all of the characters. I was surprised that the author's narration was so good. Too many times authors are not good narrators, especially fiction writers.

If you could rename We Are Water, what would you call it?

Harmful Secrets

Any additional comments?

As a long time (15+ yrs) audible listener, I rank this in the top 5 novels.

Great story but Annie’s performance was too big

I enjoyed the book but consistently felt like the narrator who performed Annie’s character was trying too hard and making the character too dramatic. Otherwise, I’m a big fan of Wally Lamb books.

Enough already

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Tone down the political commentary

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

In general, the story was interesting.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrators really influence how I picture the characters.

Could you see We Are Water being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No

Any additional comments?

I understand political viewpoints are a fact of our lives. However, the constant use of them in this book was a real turn-off. I do not remember Mr. Lamb using them to this extent in his other books, which I loved. Eventually I stopped listening to this book because the political commentaries were just too much and I stopped enjoying the story.

ONE OF THE BEST LISTENS EVER...

Many listeners before me have review this book in detail, So, just let me express my delight in a story so true to human nature in all its aspects. A story that is engaging, gripping, heartbreaking, and uplifting at the same time. A story where the characters are very real.
Maybe not the best but certainly one of the most enjoyable things for an audiobook lover is a good narration. And believe me the narration is GREAT.
As they say "DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LISTEN TO THIS BOOK"

Time passed like water

Would you listen to We Are Water again? Why?

Yes, later. I'm sure that I will get more from it when I do. The character development was excellent and the 23+ listening hours that I hoped would last me a month were devoured in less than a fortnight.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Though told from the viewpoint of several characters, Orion was the storyteller. A flawed character like all of them (and us) his narrative was the strongest, his growth the most believable and his emotional responses the ones that spoke to me most successfully.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I was dubious about multiple narrators, expecting it to be a bit 'forced' but truly it was quite the opposite. They all did an excellent job and the variety of spoken voices enhanced the multi-viewpoints of the story.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended.

Wow! What a story!

I have not enjoyed a book as much as this one in a few years. I loved the way the author told the story from various character perspectives. The story had so many threads... connecting people from various places. There is a disturbing part of this story which was quite difficult to listen to... but, I believe it was a necessary part of the story and needed to be told in the blunt manner the author chose to tell it. I've never listened to a better-narrated story on Audible... simply masterful storytelling and performances. I hated for it to end.

Enjoyed this book from start to finish

Great story & great job from each performer. Especially enjoyed Wally Lamb’s performance as Orion. Well worth the money & time invested in this Audible book.

A beautiful, honest and heartbreaking story

It started off a little slow, but turned into one of those books that I want to tell everyone to read. heartbreaking how one event can change the direction of a life so drastically, and honest about how trauma is shared from one generation to the next.

Reality is difficult

It was too difficult to listen to the molestation part. I had to fast forward through it other than that it was a good book.