The Shape of Water Review

Happy Friday!!!

So I will admit I was skeptical about the movie The Shape of Water when I first heard about it, however I decided to give it a chance. I absolutely loved the movie, and when I found out they did a book too, I knew I had to have the book, which I loved as well. The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus, has been hailed as a dark telling of a Beauty and the Beast story.

The book description was taken from the Goodreads website:

“It is 1962, and Elisa Esposito—mute her whole life, orphaned as a child—is struggling with her humdrum existence as a janitor working the graveyard shift at Baltimore’s Occam Aerospace Research Center. Were it not for Zelda, a protective coworker, and Giles, her loving neighbor, she doesn’t know how she’d make it through the day.

Then, one fateful night, she sees something she was never meant to see, the Center’s most sensitive asset ever: an amphibious man, captured in the Amazon, to be studied for Cold War advancements. The creature is terrifying but also magnificent, capable of language and of understanding emotions…and Elisa can’t keep away. Using sign language, the two learn to communicate. Soon, affection turns into love, and the creature becomes Elisa’s sole reason to live.

But outside forces are pressing in. Richard Strickland, the obsessed soldier who tracked the asset through the Amazon, wants nothing more than to dissect it before the Russians get a chance to steal it. Elisa has no choice but to risk everything to save her beloved. With the help of Zelda and Giles, Elisa hatches a plan to break out the creature. But Strickland is on to them. And the Russians are, indeed, coming.”

I found that the book followed along with the movie perfectly, but also gave you a little more detail. There are also pictures drawn throughout the story to help the reader get a visual on what’s going on. I will admit that some people don’t like The Shape of Water, but you have to go in with an open mind, and know that it is a beautiful work of art. It’s kind of like the creature from the black lagoon finds love, but lord when I tell you I absolutely fell in love with this story, I honestly mean it. You will fall in love with the story and be reminded that it’s what is on the inside of a person that counts.

Go on a romantic adventure with a creature that will pull at your heart strings and nestle into your heart!