'At the Water's Edge': A look at 'Water for Elephants' writer Sara Gruen's upcoming work
鈥�Water for Elephants鈥� author Sara Gruen will release a new novel later this month with the book 鈥淎t the Water鈥檚 Edge.鈥�
鈥淓dge,鈥� which will be released on March 31, centers on Maddie Hyde, an American whose husband and his friend decide to go looking for the Loch Ness monster as World War II rages. Maddie finds herself changed forever by her encounters with the villagers living in the Scottish town where they end up.听
鈥淚 wanted to juxtapose how the war affected ordinary people, for whom it was inescapable, with how it affected the privileged, who could choose to watch from a distance,鈥� Gruen told . 鈥淓dge鈥� includes a love triangle, as did 鈥淓lephants,鈥� and she said of the plot device, 鈥淟ove triangles are a mainstay of storytelling in all its forms鈥攏ovels, movies, fairy tales, legends, folklore, even religious texts鈥攂ecause conflicting passions are ubiquitous to human nature. Whether that excuses acting upon such impulses is an age-old and oft-revisited question, as is whether there are any circumstances under which it鈥檚 acceptable to break with what is a basic tenet of most human societies. This is certainly one of the reasons we explore it so often in fiction, along with consequences and whether they鈥檙e always deserved.鈥澛�
Gruen is also the author of such titles as 鈥淭he Ape Kingdom鈥� and 鈥淩iding Lessons.鈥� Her novel 鈥淓lephants鈥� was turned into a movie starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Christoph Waltz.听
writer Jocelyn McClurg included 鈥淓dge鈥� on her list of 鈥�10 notable new titles to watch for.鈥� However, while reviews so far are scarce because the book has not yet been released, one publication was not impressed with 鈥淓dge.鈥� called the book 鈥渟illy.鈥澛�
The publication described the plot as 鈥渢hree spoiled brats from Philadelphia go to Scotland鈥� 鈥業 pointed out, as gently as I could, what I'd hoped was obvious: that it made no sense whatsoever to throw ourselves into the middle of an ocean crawling with U-boats on a quest to find a monster that probably didn't even exist,鈥� explains Maddie Hyde鈥� If only she could have gotten this across to Gruen鈥� Gruen's handling of air raids, food rations, sad telegrams and reports from the front makes the thinness of the story's premise all the more awkward. At heart, this is an unlikely romance novel. A little too unlikely.鈥�
