Three daughters, Grace, Lia and Sky, live alone with their mother and their father, whom they call King, and who claims to be the exception to the rule. In The Water Cure, a family has sequestered itself on an island to protect themselves against this spreading poison. To punish Eve, God famously gives her pain in childbirth, but he also says, "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." In other words, it's the straight woman's trap: You love men, but it is men who are most likely to hurt you, subjugate you, even kill you. In a way, Mackintosh is just picking up the thread laid down by the authors of Genesis. But now we talk about toxic masculinity, which instead reminds us of a poison that sickens poisoners and victims alike. We used to talk about patriarchy, rule by men, which carries a sense of top-down power and hierarchy. But after half a century of oil spills, chemical runoff, and nuclear waste, it now carries the sense of seepage and pollution - in our water supply, air, food and, most recently, culture. The word toxic has its origins in the poison arrows Greek archers carried into battle. The Water Cure, a tart, uncanny debut novel by Sophie Mackintosh, is an unlikely thought experiment that asks: What if men were literally as well as figuratively toxic? Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Water Cure Author Sophie Mackintosh
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