Gardens of Water

Gary Williams, Special to the Rocky

Friday, February 22, 2008

* Fiction. By Alan Drew. Random House, $24.95. Grade: B

Plot in a nutshell: This is the sad tale of the dissolution of a family in Turkey in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. Sinan and his family are left homeless after the disaster and forced to take refuge in a tent city run by Marcus, an American missionary, to whom Sinan already owes a great debt. His favored child, Ismail, takes to the surroundings, while his teenage daughter, Irem, falls in love with Dylan, Marcus' son.

As the story unfolds, Drew succeeds in making Gardens of Water more than a common rendering of forbidden love. Through Sinan and his children, the author explores some timeless conflicts between Sinan's devotion to Muslim faith in an increasingly secular world; his pride in his Kurdish heritage that insists he distrust all things American; and, most damaging to his family, his adherence to a cultural tradition that elevates the status of a son and eliminates any aspirations of the daughter.

Sample of prose: When Ismail is initially not found after the quake, Irem muses on the reactions of those around her. "She wanted someone to hold her and tell her it would be okay, but now she knew the limits of her parents' strength, and she was terrified to realize that her strength surpassed theirs."

Pros: Drew spent several years teaching in Turkey, and his love of the country and its people is evident here. His even hand in expressing the plights of Sinan and Irem shows restraint that makes for a stronger story.

Cons: It's difficult for me to see the patriarch Sinan in the sympathetic light that it seems was intended. While Drew portrays the complicated struggles that Sinan faces regarding his most core beliefs on religion, culture and family, an image of an angry, embittered man emerges far more powerfully than that of a noble man guided by ancient principles.

Final word: This is an impressive debut, a novel that, while wide in scope, retains a feeling of intimacy and depth. Gardens of Water presents many age-old dilemmas and doesn't force- feed readers any easy modern solutions.