Product Description
With more than one million copies sold in Germany and rights snapped up in twenty-seven countries, Wetlands is the sexually and anatomically explicit novel that is changing the conversation about female identity and sexuality around the world.Helen Memel is an outspoken eighteen-year-old, whose childlike stubbornness is offset by a precocious sexual confidence. She begins her story from a hospital bed, where she’s slowly recovering from an operation and lamenting her parents’ divorce. To distract herself, Helen ruminates on her past sexual adventures in increasingly uncomfortable detail, taking the reader on a sensational journey through Helen’s body and mind. Punky alienated teenager, young woman reclaiming her body from the tyranny of repressive hygiene (women mustn’t smell, excrete, desire), bratty smartass, vulnerable, lonely daughter, shock merchant, and pleasure seeker—Helen is all of these things and more, and her frequent attempts to assert her maturity ultimately prove just how fragile, confused, and young she truly is. As Helen constantly blurs the line between celebration, provocation, and dysfunction in her relationship with her body, Roche exposes the double bind of female sexuality, delivering a compulsively readable and fearlessly intimate manifesto on sex, hygiene, and the repercussions of family trauma.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 2.5 based on 25 reviews)

Words fail me. by Twocatsintheyard

1 Stars
October 10, 2009
This book is so bad, I don't even want to waste time reviewing it. I'll just say that it is juvenile beyond belief. Think fart jokes that make teenagers giggle. Give it a pass. If you're that curious about it, I'll give you my copy. Take it, please.

Yuck! Don't waste your money or time! by Jessa Cloud (CA, USA)

1 Stars
September 14, 2009
I should have heeded the reviews of others who were grossed out and appalled by this book, but sadly I did not (I was convinced that since I am not a prude I would be able to read it objectively and it would be interesting). Instead, I was left with a book that had to go into the recyle bin (I wanted to throw it in the garbage, where it belongs, but felt bad about the trees that were wasted in its printing). Ugh! There is absolutely nothing about this book that was of any interest to me and I discovered that within the first chapter. What a waste! Do not buy this book; you'll regret it if you do!

Very disappointing.......... by Jungle Jim (Pompano Beach FL USA)

1 Stars
August 13, 2009
I expected Wetlands to offer new insight into the world of women. What I found was contrived nonsense. It was as if the author went with an idea and then proceeded to see how gross she could make it rather then telling what she was feeling. Yea - most of us have been in the hospital wearing the silly gowns undergoing probing of our most intimate places but so - what! I learned absolutely nothing about women from this book and did not finish reading it. That is something rare for me.

Shocking...yes but not in a good way by A. Baginski

1 Stars
August 05, 2009
I am all for shocking but if this is considered "the new feminism", leave me out. Just disgusting to be disgusting. I forced myself to finish it but found no pleasure at all in reading it. I think the author needs to seek out professional help.

Thought provoking and intimately insightful by colorfulpens

4 Stars
July 30, 2009
"Wetlands" is a funny and interesting read. Helen is a unique character. At first glance she may seem just a typical sexualized teenager, of the modern era, but after peeling back the scabs one can see how vulnerable she is. The book manages to be interesting, funny, sad and somewhat enlightening. When Helen questions herself about her own body and asks the reader if they have had her experiences, that is when the book really transcends its gross out graphic language and reaches for the minds and hearts of the readers. It's a must read for any young adult, and maybe it can help the reader be more open about their own body.

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