Blackwater: The Complete Saga

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Bray restò impietrito, con il remo nell’acqua. La barca andò a sbattere contro il muro di mattoni, e i due passeggeri vacillarono, scossi dall’urto. Two of the three lumber mills in Perdido belong to Marie-Love and James so you can imagine the family's status in the small town. Of course, as I mentioned above, McDowell writes family dynamics like no one else and this book proves it. Throughout generations even, McDowell is at the top of his game writing about this family with its rich men and domineering women. Being from Alabama himself, the authenticity of the family's bearing and standing in their community of Perdido is never in doubt. His insights into human behavior are unmatched and beautifully written-without fail. Here's a quote from the first book of this novel,The Flood, (which takes place in the early 1920's): time listening to the audio complete. Everything I've said previously still stands. My original review is below.

Written from a third-person point of view, the story focuses on Elinore and the Caskey family. This view allows readers to experience the depth of each person’s social and familial dynamics in the story. The window into each character’s mindset enables the reader to understand the thoughts and actions, including the presumed antagonist. Every character is unique to themselves. As events unfold, readers may sympathize with certain members of the Caskey family, while others may relate to the emotional turmoil caused by a prominent figure. I'm including an article I wrote for my library's blog about this wonderful author. Please search down his books and read them. You won't be disappointed.

A similarly disturbing tension between dull reality and the supernatural is produced in The Elementals, wherein a host of visitors come to stay at a secluded house occupied by embodiments of elemental forces. If you look to the left of the map, alongside the Perdido River are five houses. The three to the farthest left belong to the richest family of all, The Caskeys, who our story is based around. Questa è la saga famigliare più attesa del 2023. Ho iniziato a leggere primo volume per via della copertina: bellissime! A saga, of course, is a saga and not a short story and I see that this was originally published in several parts. Perhaps, had I listened to the book in parts (an Audible book magnificently narrated by Matt Godfrey) instead of going straight through, I would have found it less daunting.

Overall, there is a slight supernatural twist to this that the author isn't really making a mystery about. The reader is shown early on who the supernatural element is and even what (at least to a degree). This supernatural seed is growing in the Perdido river, triggering a number of events, some of which I did see coming and some of which I didn't expect.The saga begins on a Easter Sunday in South Carolina and the year is 1919. A great flood strikes the small town of Perdido, nearly wiping it off the map. But when the water recedes a strange but beautiful woman is discovered, by James Caskey, stranded in the flooded Osceola hotel. That woman is Elinor Dammert and quite how she survived all this time without food and water doesn't occur to her saviour.

Hush! cried Oscar, annoyed by Bray’s rudeness, and wondering at it, too. Are you all right? he repeated. What did you do when the water was high? This first book is the series is fantastic, but it doesn't hold up to the next three books. This series just keeps getting better and better, and some members of this family are so complex and well written it really baffles me. Elinor is the protagonist of the saga, but other characters move in and out of the story, sometimes taking center stage for a while and then fading, only for a previously minor character to suddenly reappear, marry into the family, and become significant. Elinor's daughters Miriam and Frances shape the next generation of Caskey family dramas. Miriam is given up to Elinor's mother-in-law Mary-Love in a kind of devil's bargain to free Elinor and her husband from Mary-Love's interference; Miriam grows up estranged from her real mother, the spoiled instrument of her grandmother's manipulations to control all her offspring, while Miriam's younger sister Frances is the sweeter, more innocent child, raised by her real mother and in awe of her haughty big sister.

About the Author

Women are at the crux of McDowell’s Southern Gothic horror story. They are the heart of the family structure, and they are the force for change. They are also at war---with men, sometimes, but mainly with each other. It is this dynamic, fueled by the feminine mystique, that drives the novel. It is bolstered by the presence of a cosmic horror with shades of Lovecraft. The result is magically creepy and wonderful. The book captured my attention immediately. What a cast of dysfunctional characters, to be disliked and loved at times. A true Southern Gothic novel about a dysfunctional family who manages to function in their dysfunction. A true co-dependent example of a family that perhaps exemplifies most of us who are in the denial of that fact. But in the end, it is all about LOVE, given, denied and suppressed; typically a given in all families. Sadly, due to certain real-life relatives (mine), I can attest to some people actually being like Marie-Love. Pretending they do what they do because they want best and know best and they'll crush you if you oppose them because it's really only about what they want, no matter who they hurt.