Wetlands – Will Ferrall

Book Review >>> Will Ferrall Wetlands

Roche, Charlotte. New York: Grove Press, 2009. 208 pp.

Horvath

“As far back as I can remember, I’ve had hemorrhoids.” (1) So begins the novel Wetlands, the first work from German literary newcomer and MTV VJ Charlotte Roche. And as the quote above makes clear, this is not your average work of sanitary fictional prose. Wetlands details a brief period in the life of abnormal, sex-crazed, and anti-hygienic teenager Helen Memel. In basic terms, Helen is spending time in a hospital, where she awaits surgery, undergoes an operation, and waits yet again for recovery. This is just the setting, however. During her time in the hospital, Helen spends much time reflecting on her life, which leads to many startling, and often disgusting, revelations for the reader. These revelations center on three main issues: sexuality, hygiene/Helen’s body, and the divorce of Helen’s parents (which is more than likely a heavy influence on the former two). Helen, to put it mildly, is comfortable with sex. A significant portion of the novel deals with her sexual exploits and fantasies, which probably should not be described here. Wetlands also deals with feminine hygiene and the female body, or at least how Helen feels about the two. Essentially, Helen likes to explore her body, and she feels that all levels of hygiene are mere superstitions (she hasn’t gotten an infection, after all). Much of this content is somewhat shocking, and would probably bother the average American reader. I certainly won’t look at avocado pits the same way again. The theme that ties this tale together is Helen’s fractured relationship with her parents. This relationship divides itself between Helen’s individual feelings about her parents and her somewhat naïve thoughts about their divorce. In terms of individual feelings, Helen has many problems with her mother. She rejects the things her mother holds dear (hygiene, an unrealistic view of the female body, religion), and also takes issue with the more troubling aspects of her behavior, which range from eyelash jealousy to an apparent suicide attempt. The divorce also is important; as Helen believes, wrongly, that her hospital trip can bring her parents back together. This plan fails, however, and Helen runs away with her male nurse. This is the essence of Wetlands, and it really doesn’t include the kind of subject matter that makes the book particularly noteworthy, in terms of its shock value. This reviewer feels that the potential reader should discover such things on his or her own. Wetlands has many obvious influences, most of which relate directly to the author, Charlotte Roche. The greatest of these influences is, undoubtedly, feminism. Roche spends much time discussing each part of the female body, and she includes more words devoted to female hygiene than I’ve ever read. These discussions of the body and hygiene fit into Roche’s broader feminist goal of changing how the reader views the female body. Both Roche and her character Helen seem to feel that things like hygiene are just examples of how mod

ern society influences the way women behave. Roche herself is a committed feminist, and was the first, and perhaps last, female MTV VJ to appear on air unshaven (in Germany). Unfortunately, in her effort to reveal the importance of the female body in its true form, Roche also succeeds in making this form appear rather disgusting. One would think this wasn’t her initial goal, and it can detract significantly from her feminist message. I doubt that feminist theory would approve of the female body being representative of something gross, although I’m not very familiar with such theory. Perhaps there’s a subfield that supports such a view. A second defining influence is the previously mentioned issue of divorce. Helen spends much time and trouble (think purposeful injury) devising a way to bring her parents back together. Although her attempts are rather juvenile, and generally fail, they do help to reveal why Helen chooses to act so strangely. Divorce can have quite an effect on the children involved, and Helen certainly has the psychological scars to show for it. Like the issue of feminism, Helen’s dealings with divorce were influenced by the life of the author. Roche’s parents were divorced, and she even told them not to read this novel, most likely for the reason that it is rather close to being autobiographical. It might be difficult to discern the ideal reader for Wetlands, based on the description above. The work itself veers between being potentially classic feminist literature and low level erotic/pornographic fiction. Despite the stigma (for some) of feminism and erotica, Wetlands does have literary value. Although it is often shocking and explicit, the novel features ideas and subject matter that might not be familiar to American readers, and, albeit somewhat abnormally, it questions the way in which modern society views and treats the female form. For these reasons, the general reading population might want to pick up Wetlands (and many have, as it was a worldwide bestseller last year). Although it does have the aforementioned literary merits, Roche’s work will most likely appeal to a more narrow audience. Those interested in feminist literature especially should consider finding the time to read the shocking work that is Charlotte Roche’s Wetlands.

Horvath