Review: The Clock in the Water by Crissi McDonald

The Clock in the Water by Crissi McDonald is a startlingly original take on magic realism – a mixture of mythic fantasy and romance. Set in the present day on an island in the Pacific Northwest, the novel uses the ocean in all its depth and mystery as a backdrop for a story about love, family, trust, and friendship.

The characters in this story have a profound connection with the ocean where they live – a connection that transfers to the reader, drawing you into their mystical connection with the sea. The Keykwin, an ancient people who are both men and orcas, are bound to the water by the passage of time and generations who have lived in deep communion with the ocean depths. Nolee, a woman in her fifties who has a gift for understanding people and animals, and whose love for the sea is inspired by her relationship with the Keykwin people, especially Keet.

In the first book in the series, North to Home, Keet had been captured by OceanMagic to become a callous form of entertainment as an orca. Nolee did not know this at the time – she only knew that he had left their deepening relationship without explanation. Now that he’s back, Nolee feels a real sense of abandonment and confusion – especially as Keet chose to stay with his orca family in the depths of the sea – which makes it difficult for her to match Keet’s enthusiasm for their renewed love.

As they once again relax once into their passionate, trusting, and exciting relationship, they need to keep alert – a strange, solitary orca is roaming the waters in Osprey Bay. One day, they see a naked woman on the beach, and Nolee knows at once that she is the solitary orca they’ve been monitoring. Full of dark memories about his mother, a Keykwin who could never fully accept her dual nature as orca and human, Keet doesn’t want to admit that the young woman’s appearance might have something to do with his family history, as Nolee clearly perceives – lending an air of mystery to what is already an impressively multilayered read. Who is she? And why has she been keeping as close as possible to them?

Though the premise of shape-shifting people might lend itself to pure fantasy, McDonald approaches the story with a sense of pure realism, beyond the confines of both paranormal fantasy and magic realism, giving the story a sense of tactile immediacy. McDonald’s delicate and insightful writing on mental health, loss, and grief is at the core of Keet’s family dynamics, which are realistic and surprisingly relatable to the machinations of life.

That said, there is great poetry in McDonald’s writing as well. Within the realism are evocative descriptions of the sea and communing with nature. The Keykwin’s marine metamorphosis, and their dual lives in the ocean, are not only a plot device, but a poetic and metaphorical tool that heightens the relationship between Keet and Nolee, as the bond of love can be a metamorphosis of its own, and McDonald handles these heady themes subtly and organically.

Thrilling, romantic, and funny, but also dark and emotional, The Clock in the Water is a novel that feels equal parts intimate and epic, expertly melding genres into a fantastic whole, which will enchant readers of both fantasy and literary fiction.