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Wetlands

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Wetlands

By: Charlotte Roche
Narrated by: Emilia Fox
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About this listen

With her jaunty dissection of the sex life and the private grooming habits of the novel's 18-year-old narrator, Helen Memel, Charlotte Roche has turned the previously unspeakable into the national conversation in Germany.

The book is a headlong dash through every crevice and byproduct, physical and psychological, of its narrator's body and mind. It is difficult to overstate the raunchiness of the novel. Wetlands opens in a hospital room after an intimate shaving accident. It gives a detailed topography of Helen's hemorrhoids, continues into the subject of anal intercourse and only gains momentum from there, eventually reaching avocado pits as objects of female sexual satisfaction and – here is where the debate kicks in – just possibly female empowerment. Clearly the novel has struck a nerve, catching a wave of popular interest in renewing the debate over women's roles and image in society.

©2009 HarperCollins Publishers (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers Absurdist Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological

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Critic reviews

‘Literary news this week suggests that when it comes to women writing about sex, reviewers are still reacting in the same way as Dr Johnson to his walking dog, surprised that it’s being done at all. So hats off to Charlotte Roche, who has managed to give both the “Sunday Times” and the “Guardian” the willies by cheerfully confessing to consuming pornography with her husband and starting her book “Wetlands” with a graphic discussion of hemorrhoids’ Lisa Hilton, Spectator

‘Maeve Binchy is famous for her unique humour and insight; Cecelia Ahern is popular for her unlikely twists and touches of magic; Charlotte Roche has a different formula for success – haemorrhoids, hairy armpits and halitosis, mixed together into an unlikely erotic pot-pourri’ Irish Independent
All stars
Most relevant  
An extended account of bottom surgery in a young woman. Comprehensive anal introspection with local diversions. Not for the squeamish

Bottom Surgery

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Something is fascinating about this book that had me coming back to it. I must confess I had to listen to it in stages, it is a difficult book to digest in one go but I think that is the point. This story is extremely visceral and full of detail which in some contexts can be a double-edged sword. From my perspective, the main character is very childlike and curious, despite being 18 (legally an adult), exposed to the adult world on the cusp of child and adult, even if they are an adult on paper. Sex and exploration of the body is an exciting concept and the book has an incredibly talented author that can convey exactly what the characters inner dialogue is. However, the repetition and obsession around the word "pussy" makes me never want to hear the word again, some more varied language would have been appreciated when handling this subject. I think this is a book that needs to be read and understood to appreciate it but is not a book you can feel comfortable reading more than once.

Childlike view of the world...

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I seriously have no idea what the point of this story is.
It is utterly grotesque, but weirdly compelling - I didnt dislike it as such, but at the end I was left thinking 'Why did I listen to that?!'.

What The .......?!

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I stopped half way... Not unenjoyable but less story and more descriptive smut. I like a good storyline to accompany smut.

Slight disappointment

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I like Marmite, but cannot recommend this book. It is well written and narrated but is just crude. I cannot understand the motivation for writing such a book other than just to shock, but in the end the shock turns to boredom. Certainly should not be in the erotic section, perhaps the neurotic would be more apt.

Not Erotic!

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A thoroughly mixed up heroine (gets herself sterilised at 18)who could hardly be more sexually driven. The anatomical explorations rather dampen the erotic effect and the book meanders through the later stages to a quite memorable ending.

Sex and Surgery

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Feel like there is no actual story, just a book full of the random thoughts of a horny teenage girl - very bizarre!

story doesn’t go anywhere

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It’s difficult to listen not because of the grotesque and abrupt descriptions of mature content, but because of the book’s POV. It’s told in the first person from an 18yr old grubby teen with questionable hygiene habits. There is no real story, just ridiculous content used for shock value. Poorly written and irritatingly immature outlook from the narrator (in the book, not OF the book. Person reading it does a great job).

Difficult to read, but not for the reason you think

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Would you listen to Wetlands again? Why?

I am already on my third time with Wetlands. Charlotte Roche's chaotically promiscuous narrator teeters delightfully between tragic and hilarious - and always finds something to say which is as poignant as it is disturbing.

What other book might you compare Wetlands to, and why?

The only other novel I know like Wetlands is Melissa Panarello's 'One hundred strokes of the brush' (another novel about a teenage girl trying out sex for the first time). Charlotte Roche is funnier, more outrageous, and hugely more believable than '100 strokes'.

Have you listened to any of Emilia Fox’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Emila Fox has one of the great voices for audiobooks (clear, measured, informed). But Ms. Fox also has a vocal presence precisely poised between kittenish and comedic which perfectly fits Charlotte Roche's troubled, friendly, challenging narrator.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

There is too much going on in this novel to listen to more than an hour or two at a single sitting. The novel demands repeated listening, but in relatively small bursts. In many ways it is more like poetry than a 'story'.

Any additional comments?

The novel won't be for everybody. There is a lot of sex (some of it rather sad, though none of it is deliberately nasty). There is a lot of physicality, and rather more fluids than many readers will find easy to stomach. 'Wetlands' isn't pornographic - if anything, it is anti-pornographic; but if pornography upsets you, you will make heavy weather of this novel.

One of the great combos

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Unbelievably powerful piece of literature. Very well constructed, taking the reader on a journey into and out of the breakdown of self worth. Recommended, and not just for the entertainment woven in to the narrative.

Well it is very good isn't it!

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