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

Great characters

I really needed this book as I felt like I was listening by rote to mysteries.. needed a great piece of fiction!!
Love the way he writes and builds characters.
Very good narration too!

Another hit!

Wally Lamb has delivered again! Like always, the characters are deeply and richly developed and I enjoyed hearing their stories in the alternating chapters. I enjoyed the different narrators but truthfully thought the author's narration was only mediocre. He did not display enough emotion and I personally just don't care for his voice. On the other hand, Annie's voice initially was so hostile, angry, and sarcastic that it was a bit of a turn off. But as I listened to more of her life story, it all made sense and her narration also softened. They picked an excellent narrator for Kent the pedophile. For those with a history of sexual abuse, parts of his story may too too difficult to hear and be re-traumatizing. The plot near the end with Orion was surprising, while a couple other plot pieces were almost too predictable. Overall it was a great book but not quite as good as some of his others.

Great work by a great author

As always Wally Lamb never disappoints. Great story, well developed characters. Great production as well.

Trigger warning!

Vivid descriptions of violent sexual activity—much of the book had been moderately successful and interesting .

Wally Lamb at his Finest.. Again

I've always loved Wally Lamb. Ever since 'She's Come Undone' and the story of Delores and her struggle with her family and weight, and then the amazing store 'I Know This Much is True,' I've been hooked on his writing/story telling style. While I sort of thought 'The Hour I First Believed' was a little discombobulated, I pre-ordered 'We Are Water' and looked very much forward to the day of it's release. I listened to the novel, told by several points of view, in a day and a half. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next, and I absolutely loved it and especially loved the narration by Lamb himself.

Voraciously, I ate up 'We Are Water,' and now I am disappointed that it's over and I have to wait years for Lamb to write another book! The story tells the tale of the Oh family. Patriarch Orien Oh and his wife Anna have raised three children, a set of twins and a younger daughter. After over twenty-five years of marriage Anna decides to leave Orien and marry Viveca, her female lover, and very rich art dealer who has made Anna a success. The book centres around the reactions of the Oh family to Anna making such a shocking decision.

As with any family, there are a lot of 'Oh' skeletons in their closet. Orien's father really never had anything to do with him. The twins are in a state of constant disarray, one wanting to be artificially inseminated at a young age, and the other turning to God and Jesus to reinforce his feelings about his mother's sexuality. The youngest is struggling to become an actress and Anna herself has had a tortured past. Anna tells her deepest secrets to the listener, like we are her best friend. We are horrified, empathetic, disgusted and at some points, pleasantly entertained.

All of the characters are due to get together for Anna's wedding however, of course, things go far from the way they are planned. The novel is dramatic, suspenseful, at times laugh-out-loud funny, and it ties together like the perfect bow on a gift. A gift from Wally Lamb.

5 starts, loved every minute of it. Can't wait for his next book.

The readers drove me crazy

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I kept listening because I have loved authors other books. It was really hard because I could not stand the people reading this book!

It was ok

Would you try another book from Wally Lamb and/or the narrators?

Yes. I've read "I Know This Much is True" and "She's Come Undone" and they remain among the list of my all-time favorites.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The story was anticlimactic and just sort-of ended.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Wally Lamb's narration was bland and monotonous.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Another Wally Lamb Masterpiece

The subject line says it all.
Love that the author read for Orion Oh. He did a great job.
Thank you for the interview at the end!

great book

loved being able to hear Wally Lamb read part of this book!!!! It was really hard to get through certain parts though, too real. love all of Wally's books

Beautiful Story Telling!

Best book I have read in a few years. Hold on because this book will challenge you; however, if you can get through the emotionally rough content you will enjoy the rich story telling. I adore Wally Lamb.