This book was exhausting. There have been so many "feminist" dystopian novels centred around the sufferings of women but sadly this is one that finishes with a whimper rather than a battle cry. The prose is languid, the three central 'heroines' (somewhat lacking) are pallid and lacking personality and things never get better. The three sisters have been brought up outside of civilisation but now things are about to change. Their father, the unsubtly named 'King' has vanished while out getting supplies. This is not a story about three women taking control of their destiny though. It's another instance of torture-porn masquerading as somehow educational. The 'King' and the girls' mother has been torturing them for years, they are all deeply damaged and now there are more men arrived to cause trouble. I am fed up of this trend where women are mistreated and we are supposed to see it as art. We should have progressed further from the days of Samuel Richardson and Pamela.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

I wanted to enjoy this more than I did. The writing is beautiful but in terms of books on similar themes this was less compelling. I would still pick up another book by the author though.

This was a unique and memorable novel, where the sense of place is mystical. A dark fever dream of a novel

Unfortunately I just could not get into this book. It may be one for other readers, but I was unable to finish it.

The plot centres on a family living in isolation on a coast protected by forest in a world affected by a largely unspecified environmental catastrophe. The three teenaged sisters are Grace, Lia and Sky, the first two of whom narrate the story. Their father, known simply as King, leaves them on what seems to be a regular trip to the outside community at the start of the book and fails to return. In the first part some details of the girls' lives are established, that they are isolated for their own protection and that women on the mainland suffer at the hands of men and used to come to the family's house to be cured. This cure is a mixture of quasi-religious ceremony and cruel tests of endurance which are also inflicted on the girls, who live in a weird nightmarish mixture of innocence and fear.

Things change in the second section, which is mostly narrated by Lia. Two men and a boy appear, the mother disappears shortly afterwards, and Lia falls in love with one of them. To say more about the plot would spoil it, but in the bloody denouement none of the main characters emerges with much credit..

TW: emotional and physical abuse, self-harm.

As other reviewers have mentioned there is a great sense of unease and suspense as you try to work out what has happened to the 3 girls in the centre of this book and watch the drama unfold. The sisters are isolated on an island, which became a cult-ish location for women from the mainland being 'cured'. Their father is no longer present (presumed dead). but they remain sheltered whilst starting to go through puberty. Introduce outsider men to the situation and of course there are dangerous consequences.

Written in the first person from the perspective of the sisters, there is lots left unsaid. Mackintosh writes with eloquence and mystery, but you have to be comfortable with the gaps in the story.

This book is incredible! The marketing compares it to The Handmaid's Tale, but it gave me much more Lord of the Flies vibes! It's so different and intriguing with such an unusual voice. I was completely sucked in and on edge the whole time. I was 100% rooting for the sisters from pretty early on and I was so proud of them by the end! My review could never do it justice. A real feat in compelling writing!

Long-listed for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, this is the first novel by writer Sophie Mackintosh, and what a debut!

The Water Cure tells the tale of three sisters and their parents living on an isolated island in an old mansion, surrounded by woods, mountain and sea. Barbed wire has been constructed in the woods to denote the boundaries: Do not enter. Do not leave. Things are not quite right. There's a vagueness about how the all came to be on the island, and about whether the stories their parents tell them of the rest of the world are actually true or invention. The family unit is clearly patriarchal (their father is called 'King'). There are many rituals, ceremonies and therapies that the mother and daughters perform on themselves and each other to reduce their feelings, which are described as personal energies dangerous to women. In the past, other women have found their way to the island, damaged and broken, fleeing the unspecified toxicity. They eventually leave, strengthened after undergoing the therapies devised by King and the mother. But those women have not visited the island in some time, leaving the little family further isolated and alone.

One day, King unexpectedly leaves and does not return. The mother and daughters perform their odd rituals to cleanse themselves of their grief. Water. Salt. Muslin. Iron. They snipe at each other and get through the long, lonely days until one day a storm washes up some unexpected flotsam from the sea. Two men and a young boy appear on their beach. Aside from King, these are the only men the sisters have ever seen. “Men have come to us,” says mother.

The story is narrated in turn by the daughters: by Lia (middle daughter) and Grace (eldest daughter). Sky is the youngest. Lia is the primary narrator – deeply lonely and starved for love, she develops a fascination with one of the men. Her eagerness for love compromises her family and leads to startling revelations and consequences. The story is enigmatic and takes some time to unwind, but it’s worth the wait for it to unfold completely.
Sophie Mackintosh’s prose is rich and evocative; her sentences are breathtakingly beautiful and she spins her metaphors in such a brilliant way. Imagery of water is threaded through the whole book..I cannot wait to see what Sophie Mackintosh does next, because I will definitely reading it. It is however one of those books I wouldn't dare recommend to everyone, but if you like different and unique books which are 'on the wonk' and appreciate beautiful writing, you may enjoy this.

King has tenderly staked out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. He has laid the barbed wire; he has anchored the buoys in the water; he has marked out a clear message: Do not enter. Or viewed from another angle: Not safe to leave. Here women are protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world.

But when their father, the only man they’ve ever seen, disappears, they retreat further inward until the day three strange men wash ashore. Over the span of one blistering hot week, a psychological cat-and-mouse game plays out. Sexual tensions and sibling rivalries flare as the sisters confront the amorphous threat the strangers represent. Can they survive the men?

A haunting, riveting debut about the capacity for violence and the potency of female desire, The Water Cure both devastates and astonishes as it reflects our own world back at us.

Oddly hard to place. I'm not sure how this is comparable to The Handmaid's Tail particularly. There is a dream like haziness to the writing in places but I can't figure how this made the Booker longlist.

This was an interesting and compelling story about three sisters who live on an island in a polluted world. This book explores feminist themes in a fascinating way and I would recommend to anyone who enjoys speculative fiction with feminist themes.

A captivating, haunting book, reminiscent of Margaret Atwood. Beautifully written, it feels claustrophobic but strangely compelling. Have recommended to all my friends.

A very unusual haunting story that I found very difficult to get into. It reminded me of A Handmaid's Tale with it's spooky undertones and I struggled to finish it.

I heard a lot about this book and was desperate to read. However I personally really struggled with it and unfortunately did not enjoy!

Sorry!

Quite unsettling as book, I found it hard to place where and when this was set but it didn’t take away from how much I enjoyed it. I liked the characters of the girls and the relationships they had with each other - reading how they interacted with each other Was fascinating and the best bit of the book for me. I liked the balance of plot and character, and enjoyed the pace of the events unfolding. Not the usual kind of thing I would read but I did enjoy it.

From the start I struggled to scope out the world, both what could be on the mainland and also the establishments set on the small land the girls called home. This struggle didn't get any easier for me as the story developed. I could already see cult like manifestos developing but even then with what I could only describe as off putting writing style, at the start, I was left in a confused haze. Again, this is something that didn't change all that much thought the duration of this novel.

Needless to say, this was a very peculiar book. I didn't truly get a feel for the world and the characters confused me for the most part.
Some parts kind of reminded me of the 2016 film A Cure for Wellness. Those are the times I tried to latch on to.
I was repelled by the passing cruelty to each other and animals, like its nothing. Self harm was very unsettling of course, particularly due to the fact that it was in some sort of repentance. These are all factors caused by the mentality that was brainwashed into our main characters head, so it's understandable that these acts were easy for them to do, because it was normalised, but it didn't make it easier to read, of course.

The writing style sort of grew on me and was kind of enchanting and hypnotic, but not enough for me to see through my confusion. I really didn't understand this world and what was going on, just that men are the cause for women's pain, but I couldn't fully grasp it as it felt like things were metaphorical and literal and I struggled to really piece things together.

I struggled further because I couldnt latch onto a likeable character. I felt for how the sisters were brought up due to the circumstances and the way the parents made them live, but I still couldn't find any factors to make them likeable. I also couldn't always distinguish who's perspective I was reading from, being esepcially confused during the times when the chapter was headed by all three; it just added to my layer of confused discomfort. Llew got really manipulative and to be honest all the characters were in some way. It's that cult mentality, the sisters know nothing else.

Some of the final scenes were told by two different perspectives, but I'll be honest, I was confused that that was what this was, that that was what was happening during the other scene and so it didn't make much sense to me until the final moments of the scene I recognised from the prior perspective. There were often moments like this for me, where I couldn't piece together time placement and who was talking. I just felt continuously confused but at the same time, as I already mentioned, oddly enchanted and so I kept on reading until the end.

However, unfortunately due to the difficulty I had in my reading experience I had to give this a lower rating. I was hoping for a story telling to the likes of Emma Cline's The Girls, but perhaps that was my fault for expecting that. Sadly, this wasn't for me.

This novel is an incredible insight into the body, mind and spirit of womanhood. It is about loyalty to one another and trusting yourself. Nominated for a man booker prize, I am surprised this did wasn’t the winner, perhaps its writing was to lyrical, to real compared to the eventual winner in Milkman. Its finest moments come in the finite observations, about the body, or touch.

The story is about three sisters, who are kept apart from the real world, quite where they are is unknown. They are shielded from reality and brutally taught the realities of being a woman in this world. Three strangers soon appear, washed up at sea, three men. They soon cause their own destructions in every possible way.

This novel poses questions, about being a man and woman, what it means and what emotions string out of us. It examines so much and is incredible rewarding. A soulful novel that leaves the reader pondering so much and leaves a devastating trail in its wake that will leave an imprint on all who finish the book.

Like nothing I've ever read before. I loved the send of dread and mystery. Can't wait to see what she does next.

The Water Cure is a shock therapy to help individual women recover from the toxicity of men. In a strange, slightly futuristic, settlement consisting of KIng, Mother and their three daughters, The daughters learn of the dangers posed by men in the outside world where it can be fatal to have any contact. King is their connection point with that world.

Prior to the main action of the book, women used to come for the water cure, basically waterboarding. A whole series of cures and punishments and strength-building exercises has been built up. Though no women come any more, the rites continue.

In the context of such an architecture, with its hints of that dangerous other world which can only be accessed by boat, the reader cannot help but construct overall theories and look for symbolism and links to foundational myths.

However, as the plot develops and King vanishes and two men and a boy invade the settlement and are accepted, the "size" of the concept shrinks.. While the initial inclination might be to see King as perhaps a toxic genius who has passive control and carnal benefits, the axis shifts as the daughters recall their past.

Grace, one of the daughters, becomes a conduit for revealing the the nature of Mother, whose least fault is self-delusion: "Even if its is a failed utopia, at least we tried.." But Grace comes to understand the real Mother: "She had been behind the more sadistic therapies" and had killed some of the women seeking help. She allows slight wriggle room regarding Mother's attitude to the daughters: "Whether she truly believed in being cruel to be kind or whether she just secretly hated us...I cannot decide." It even seems that the daughters had been misled into thinking the settlement is an island rather than part of the mainland.

As the expectation of an overarching exploration of a society of explicit masculine toxicity, and responses such as trauma therapy, shrinks down to the level of a handful of individuals, some sadistic, some gullible, some abused, disappointment is inevitable. But the erosion of the larger concerns leaves space in the final quarter of the book for character development and quite exciting developments.

The writing is top class, coping easily with the often complex situations to be explored. I look forward to her next book..