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

Wonderful, mesmerizing story!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Wally Lamb is a mater of character development. This book is an absolutel testament to that. After finishing it, I find myself still thinking about the characters.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Annie Oh. She was so flawed and complex. I felt as though I knew her. Kent was definitely my least favorite, which is not surprising given his flaws, but he was well written nonetheless.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Orion Oh. Partly because I knew that it was Wally Lamb reading it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. I listen to books on my morning commute and found myself sitting in the parking lot at work more than once to finish a chapter.

Gritty as always

There were parts that were hard to listen to, but I expected that from Wally Lamb. Good book tho.

Great story but sometimes gut-wrenching

There were sections that were so so hard to listen to. But it was still an awesome story. The narrators were superb.

Wonderful except for the end

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I am not taking exception to the ending of the book except it reads like an outline of an ending versus an actual one.

It reads like Lamb got tired of the characters or ran up against some deadline or just found something more interesting to do.

However, the book is worthy. Read it.

Love It

Big fan of Wally Lamb, have read or listened to all of his works. Never disappoints. Love how detailed each character is and how he draws you so into this story that you begin to care about them. The audio was great too, having the different actors really brings the story alive. Can't wait for his next book!

Ok...but...

I have so loved Wally Lamb books, but part of this ( don’t want to be a spoiler) is way to disturbing for me and i could not even listen to it.

DONT BOTHER

I kept trying to finish.i loved all of his other novels.this just ...rambled.kind of creepy. mostly just boring.

Best Wally lamb so far

Great narration and a great story line. I loved how every detail tied together. Highly recommended. Great character development and choices

Wally Lamb delivers again

Would you consider the audio edition of We Are Water to be better than the print version?

Maybe, equally as good for certain

Who was your favorite character and why?

Orion Oh was one of my favorite characters, but this story is not one of favorite characters but the whole piece. the story itself won my heart

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

Certainly listening to the narrators helps distinguish the character's voices, and make the interactions between the characters more vivid. Kurt's character was perhaps made more vile as he literally gets into your head when listening to the story.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was surprised by the sense of joy and relief I found at the end of the book. it was both expected, and yet crept up and surprised me. When I listen to an audio book I am not always aware when the end is near (I listen on my ipod). Once iI reached the end (spoiler alert) and Andrew picked up Orion and carried him into the ocean, I knew the story had reached a point of resolution and peace.

Any additional comments?

(spoiler alert)

Wally Lamb is a magnificent story teller. In listening to his interview at the end of the audio book I appreciated and confirmed for myself how he constructs a story. As the characters are developed and the different voices evolve (like Kurt for example) it again became clear to me that his tales have a life of their own. His characters become real individuals placed in these circumstances, and must fight their way to self awareness and release. (Not unlike the way Orion describes the process of writing in the later chapters. A bit of autobiography perhaps?)
We do not have to like his characters. Kurt is repulsive, and I must admit that listening to his voice made him even creepier than reading his voice might have...you cannot escape his nature when listening to "him". Lamb's stories take the reader from point A to point B, and teach us about human nature and how we can evolve as individuals if we open ourselves up to our hidden truths.
This story really begins with Annie Oh's childhood, and ends with each character on the road to healing. It is clear that Orion has grown as a father, a husband, a friend, despite his horrific paraplegia, Andrew has found a true faith, and is ready to pay the consequences of his actions, even though we hope he will be forgiven by the system; Annie Oh is finally facing her horrific childhood, and will hopefully find peace with her children, and her self. Marrisa and Ariane were less developed characters for me, but both essential to the story lines for they connected the various characters to each other in different ways. The multiple story lines branch off, but ultimately we are left with a sense of peace and hope despite the challenging paths each character takes.

Now I'm a Wally Lamb fan

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The characters are like real people and the story is pretty exciting.

What was one of the most memorable moments of We Are Water?

I don't want to put in any spoilers, so I can't say. There are plenty of intriguing surprises.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Very good.

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

Three Rivers.

Any additional comments?

The character narrated by Wally Lamb himself is a little bit unimpeachable. His vulnerabilities should emerge sooner in the narrative--that's my only critique. I love all the other characters.