At The Water’s Edge is my local library’s pick for book club this month. If I’m honest, I likely wouldn’t have picked it up if it wasn’t for this. Set during World War II, it follows young naïve Maddie who travels to Scotland with her husband Ellis and his best friend Hank to prove that the Loch Ness monster is real. Ellis is desperate to prove that the Lock Ness monster is real in order to get back into his father’s good graces and reenter the wealthy world which he is accustomed to.
The whole premise of three wealthy young Americans sailing off to Scotland during WWII did feel a little silly to me at first but, after getting to know the characters better I realized that it fits Ellis and Hank perfectly. Both men were turned away from serving their country and are desperate for society to stop looking at them as if they are wounded. Both men are also completely full of themselves! It didn’t take me long at all to despise Ellis especially with the way he treated his “beloved” wife.
While in Scotland, Maddie starts seeing things from a different perspective. She begins learning what it is like to be self efficient and to actually help others. She also begins to question her relationship with Ellis and how he views the world. He has no problem looking down on others and expecting them to take care of him. He is very superficial and Hank isn’t much better. My skin started to crawl whenever the two of them were on the page. They were two characters that I hoped nothing good would happen to.
As for Maddie, her character growth and her interactions with the townspeople is what kept me engaged in the story. Otherwise, there was a good chance that I would have decided to DNF this one. There were a few times that I still wanted to even because she could still be so naïve and superficial. Plus, I think I was expecting more in regards to the Scottish countryside. We get a brief glimpse of it when Ellis and Hank are searching for the monster…or should I say just getting drunk and making fools of themselves. Like I said, nothing good should have ever come to those characters. Especially Ellis who was not only narcissistic but also abusive to the so-called “love of his life”.
I think At The Water’s Edge should lead to some interesting discussions tomorrow night at book club. For me, I’m curious to see what the others thought of Ellis, Hank, and Maddie and their adventure in Scotland. I mean, if you can call it an adventure and not just two drunks making fools of themselves and a naïve woman who was way in over her head. Although Maddie wasn’t as naïve as she seemed to be at first, she was just sheltered…very very sheltered and accustomed to living a certain type of life. A life that would be forever changed because of the events that take place in Scotland.
Rating: 3 Stars
welcome to the zoo! 