A Life Without Water
Marci Bolden
After reading Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, a 713 page novel about life in India in the 1970s and 80s, and then Timothy Keller's The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, I was looking for something light to read! Something frivolous and entertaining.
While A Life Without Water was a quick, easy read it wasn't quite what I expected. Instead, it dealt with a number of serious issues including divorce, alcoholism, loss of a child, and terminal illness. It's also a book about forgiveness and about finding peace in the midst of heartbreak.
Carol Denman is a recent widow, still dealing with the loss of her second husband, when the ex-husband that she hasn't seen in more than 20 years barges back into her life. John Bowman is very sick and while he can, he has some amends to make and promises to fulfill. In order to do so, he needs his ex-wife's help. His presence turns her life upside down and forces her to confront long suppressed feelings of anger, resentment, and grief. The fact that she goes along with the request that he makes of her seems rather unrealistic to me, but it does make for a good story. If you're given to tears, you might want to have a few tissues on hand!
While A Life Without Water can be read as a standalone, it is the first in a series of three. A Life Without Flowers and A Life Without Regret continue Carol's story.
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