Song of the Water Saints: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

A debut novel chronicling the lives of three generations of remarkable Dominican women ranges from the early 1900s to the present day as it follows Graciela, who flees the strictures of her poverty-stricken rural life; her daughter Mercedes, who builds a new life in New York City; and Leila, a restl

Reviews

"Nelly Rosario's debut novel stands out . . . for its joyously profane wit and plainspoken, unforced poetry."--San Francisco Chronicle

[A] transporting tale . . . vigorous, evocative prose... The Miami Herald

Written in spare, penetrating language...exuberantly paced, sexy... The Village Voice

"Like Julia Alvarez's [first] novel, Song of the Water Saints explores what families pass down, and what they toss aside." The Denver Post

"Rosario's writing is lively and rich with emotion throughout .... it is impossible not to be moved."The Washington Post Book World

An electrifying debut. Powerfully written, meticulously imagined, and arresting to its core, Nelly Rosarios novel is a flame for the mind and heart, the sort you are endlessly grateful for. Junot Daz, author of Drown

Effortlessly intermingles three generations of women, dropping unadorned dialogue amid spare and lovely prose. Entertainment Weekly

Rosario does an excellent job conjuring the colorful, vibrant scenes of Caribbean life. Los Angeles Times

Every small scene that Nelly Rosario writes reaches toward a larger truth out in the world, and also a smaller, more intimate truth. . . . There is a physicality in the language that speaks of an angry, human spirituality and the struggle to be alive. The Oregonian

Lush and assured . . . each brief chapter reads like a snapshot of a soul. Time Out New York

Like a Caribbean Scheherazade, Rosario casts a spell on her readers with this saga of three generations of Dominican women whose yearning becomes our own. What they want and what we get reading Song of the Water Saints is a sense of luminous world, complex and layered, full of passion and adventure. Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies

Rosarios dialogue deftly approximates the rhythm of Dominican Spanish. . . . The effect are, by turns, bawdy and hilarious, a kind of verbal jousting. Minneapolis Star Tribune

A gorgeous first novel, epic and poetic. Edwidge Danticat, author of Breath, Eyes, Memory

Poetic without being flowery and overstated . . . raw realism and strong character portrayal. Mosaic

A richly textured novel, in which gleaming, perfectly sketched images are vividly juxtaposed with gritty reality. Dominican Times

Author Bio

Nelly Rosario was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Brooklyn, where she now lives. She received a B.A. in engineering from MIT and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from Columbia University. She was named a Writer on the Verge by the Village Voice Literary Supplement in 2001. Song of the Water Saints won the 2002 Pen Open Book Award.