Review: The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a strange novel. It's like Mad Men meets X-Files meets something else entirely. It definitely takes a suspension of reality to read this book, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. This novel has a lot of moving parts and it definitely reads like it was written for a film adaptation. Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character with their own storyline which is artfully woven together with the others.

The characters are a motley crew, each an outcast in their own way, who are struggling to find their place or identity. The love story between Elisa and the amphibious man echoes the epic romances of star-crossed lovers or stories like Beauty and the Beast where one lover has to see beyond the physical to the soul beneath.

I'm curious to see the film adaptation and how the novel translates, especially since the novel had a screenplay-like feel to it. Overall, I like this novel.

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