The Heiress of Water

“Can he change the world? Deliver justice? Can he save what’s precious? Can he bring exceptional beauty to the world, or at the very least, relief of pain? If the answer is no, then move on.”
The Heiress of Water,
- Sandra Rodriguez Barron

In this moving, first-novel Sandra Barron delights us with her fluid prose and captivating cross-cultural tale. Barron sets the story with two little-used backgrounds: El Salvador and seashells. It is refreshing to read about a topic and locale that is not the subject of every other mass-market book published. The seashell obsession, though a little academic for the casual reader, acts as an introduction to the enigma of both the ocean and Monica’s mother, Alma.
Like any good mother/daughter journey, Monica is searching her past for answers to explain Alma’s carefree behavior, unnerving disappearance and most importantly, to assuage Monica’s guilt at betraying her mother. This journey parallels that of Will and Sylvia’s search for a treatment for Yvette’s coma. While the whole Yvette sub-plot is a little cheesy, it gives the seashell fascination a purpose and connects the characters to each other permanently.
The one major disappointment within the text is Barron’s explanation for Yvette’s car crash. Who uses their left foot to help pump the breaks when a cars slides, and then accidentally hits the accelerator? All of this with the left foot! Not only is it a long reach for the left foot, Barron was really stretching when she came up with that extreme sequence.
Will’s character is also a little wishy-washy. He likes Monica, doesn’t really want Yvette to come out of the coma, but falters at the end of the novel and sort of evaporates into oblivion. Realistic? Maybe. Satisfying? Not so much. The reader never really gets to know Will or Yvette. So, it makes feeling compassion for them very difficult. The same goes for Monica’s dad, Bruce. It’s hard to believe that he is the same person who fell in love with Alma years before. I guess that’s what love does to a person?
Again, it Barron’s writing style that really gives the text its originality and appeal. Her writing is pretty and descriptive and peacefully carries the reader from page to page. Overall, there is a lot to like about this novel. Unfortunately, the majority of the characters are not as well developed as they should be. I don’t know that this selection will be one for the best novel of the century list, but I would give her another try on her sophomore attempt.

-- Heidi