We Are Water

Annie Oh, a middle-aged wife, mother, and outsider artist, has completely upended her household. After 27 years of marriage and three kids, Annie has developed feelings for Viveca—a affluent, sophisticated, self-assured art dealer in Manhattan who helped her achieve success in her career.

Annie and Viveca want to tie the knot in Three Rivers, Connecticut, the Oh family's hometown, where homosexual marriage has just been become legal. However, the approaching nuptials cause a lot of conflicting emotions and unlock a Pandora's box of poisonous secrets—painful and unpleasant realities that have festered under the surface of the Ohs' existence.

We Are Water is a complex and multi-layered portrait of marriage, family, and the unquenchable need for understanding and connection. It is told in alternating voices by the Oh family, which includes the rebellious only son Andrew, the do-gooder daughter Ariane, and her nonconformist sister Annie. The youngest Oh, Marissa, is free-spirited. In addition to being a depiction of contemporary America, it is set in New England and New York during the early years of the Obama administration and explores topics such as class, evolving social mores, the legacy of racial violence, and the nature of creativity and art.

Wally Lamb masterfully portrays the core of the human experience in vivid and compelling people who are striving to find hope and redemption in the wake of grief and loss. He does this with humour and astounding compassion. We Are Water is classic Wally Lamb; an engrossingly accessible, magnanimous, and inspiring work of art that delves deeply into the intricacies of the human heart to examine the many ways in which we look for purpose and love in our lives.