Drowning Ruth

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the money
Review: I thought this book sounded interesting judging by the back cover.However,it disappointd me.I thought it to be dull and hard to follow.The author jumps back and forth in terms of time and narrator.The story is divided into two parts.After reading the first part I had absolutely no desire to finish the second part.I could care less what happens in this story.

Rating:
Summary: Modern Jane Austin?
Review: The story reminds me of Jane Austin novels but less interesting. Perhaps that is because the story setting is more modern and closer to home. Regardless of why, the story of affairs, unwed mothers and [illegitimate] children from a woman's point of view is trite. The story of mysterious murder was interesting however. I cant recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: A story of love and obsession
Review: Drowning Ruth - by Christina Schwarz

Drowning Ruth opens with the words - "Ruth remembered drowning". The book centers on Amanda and her niece Ruth, and a mystery behind the death of Amanda's sister and Ruth's mother, Mathilda. The story is told in bits and pieces, at times told by Ruth at various ages and other times by Amanda, also at various ages. The reader learns from each character what really happened that cold winter night, as Ruth tries to remember her past and Amanda tries to forget it. For Ruth, it is a struggle to remember what happened when her mother died, because she was only a toddler. Her memories are of water, a baby crying, and drowning with her mother. But with Amanda's narration, we learn that there is a secret buried with the past, and only Amanda knows the true story. For Amanda, this secret is so horrible that she tells no one.

Carl, Mathilda's husband, comes home from the War to find his wife has died, but he doesn't know how she died except for the lies that Amanda tells him. He struggles to fit in, finding that Ruth is more attached to her Aunt than to him. Amanda does her best to bond with Ruth, but as time passes, she settles in with the role that Carl plays in this little family, as if Mathilda never existed.

We watch Ruth grow from a very insecure child to a young adult ready to be independent and free. She befriends Imogene, a girl that helps Ruth become accepted by their peers. But as their friendship blossoms, Amanda becomes nervous, afraid of a truth that may come out, but also afraid that she is losing Ruth to another. Amanda's possessiveness alienates her from Ruth, and soon the secrets come out.

I highly recommend Drowning Ruth. Not only did Christina Schwarz do a good job painting images of life in rural Wisconsin during the early 1900's, but she wrote a story in such a way that keeps the reader on edge till the very end. I found the ending rather anticlimactic, because it was certainly not what I had anticipated. Still, I was very pleased with the ending, and am looking forward to reading more by Ms Schwarz.

Rating:
Summary: A disturbing tale that keeps you on the edge
Review: When I read this my first impression was that Amanda was a nut case. At the beginning of the novel, it had me thinking that I was about to read a disturbing tale that can only get more depressing. By the fourth chapter however, I was completely taken by the novel and its creative style. Told by different character's each chapter, you will find yourself aching to read on to reach the same one again. Not a nail bitter, but certainly a great summer read.

Rating:
Summary: A bit disappointing
Review: I bought the book because of the back cover description as a suspenseful story of how a woman drowned. While the author did manage to keep me on my toes and interested in what really happened that night, the suspense wasn't worth the revelation that came towards the end of the book. Schwartz is a good story teller but didn't have too much of a story to tell here. Without going into details on the plot and ruining it for people that haven't read it yet, the big family secret turns out to be the most typical type of family secret in existence. There are better books out there to spend your time and money on.

Rating:
Summary: A Family Spider Web
Review: This story was excellent, although not riveting and not a 'keep you on the edge of your seat' type. However, it's pace rang true with which the time in history in which it took place... the 1920's ish... where no one 'talked' and everything was 'hush hush'.

Ruth is an only child whose Mother died when she was three from drowing in the lake where their family home was located. She was raised thereafter by her Aunt Mandy, her Mother's sister, and a woman who is both loving, controlling, disturbed and hiding a deep secret.

The beginning of the book made me think, "why am I reading this"?
So the Mom died and the daughter is left to be raised by her aunt... but the story continues and reveals a situation that is probably more common-place than we all realize... that life comes full circle, and that all things are intertwined in an earie sort of way.

Well worth reading!

Rating:
Summary: What Can I Say? I Was Impressed!
Review: Now I know you've heard me before when I said I would never purchase a book featured in Oprah's bookclub. I also know when I am being silly for no particular reason, thanks to Christina Schwarz.

Drowning Ruth is one of the few books I've read set in this particular time frame (late 1800s-mid 1900s) that I can actually say I've enjoyed. It's an astounding work of melancholy, suspense and drama. It strikes a chord with anyone who cares about their family and who tries to keep the peace.

Amanda was the eldest child and her parents always favored the younger daughter, Mathilda. Amanda's rough mannerisms held her back for years and a hate and jealousy was shrouded beneath the formal fascade of love for her family.

Amanda doesn't find love until long after Mathilda, but has full faith in her lover, Clement. But it isn't until too late she realizing a shocking secret and worse-- literally carries his burden for the rest of her life.

It's romanticly detailed and you will find yourself immersed in the lush scenery details, each character's well-plotted and thoroughly fitting mannerism. Every asset of this novel builds suspense and sadness, showing the shallow and empty life that both Mandy and Ruth are forced to live without guidance from the light-hearted Mathilda.

Intrigue.

Repentence.

Starting over as best you can.

It's an outstanding book in a world where literature mostly seems to be mediocre.

I will be ticking days off my calendar for Christina's next novel.

Rating:
Summary: An intriguing story.
Review: "Drowning Ruth" is the sort of book that will keep you thinking after you've finished it. The characters are very complex, but not too complex so that you don't feel for them. At some parts I wanted to just scream at the characters what really happened in a situation -- that's how much you can get caught up in this novel. I think the back-flashes and switching of characters keep the book fresh. I did wish Schwarz put in an Epilogue, or perhaps she'll make a sequel. Whether or not you read this book for a book club, answer the book club questions -- it'll get you thinking even more. I look forward to Christina Schwarz's next book. I recommend.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Debut for a First-Time Novelist
Review: When I finished this book, I read all the reviews on the back and didn't realize until then that the this was the author's first work. It is an extremely well-thought out plot and the main character, Amanda, is so complex. Not only is the writing fluid and sophisticated but it also keeps the book moving at a fast pace so that you want to keep turning each page to find out what happens next. It's like a well choregraphed dance that eventually ends with all questions answered.

I read a lot of books and this one was definitely a completely enjoyable experience.

Rating:
Summary: It Really Fizzled
Review: Christina Schwartz writes a very clear, evocative prose that keeps the reader oriented at all times, despite her jumps back and forth in time. And three of her characters, Amanda, Ruth, and Mattie, seem fully-realized and well-developed. She begins her story quite well, with a mystery to be solved, and there is a touch of the Gothic about her writing that only serves to intrigue. The problem is, the story really doesn't go anywhere. Schwartz never takes us to any of those fascinating mysteries we hope to have solved. Instead, her story gradually loses steam as it moves along until it finally fizzles into a very predictable and ho-hum ending.

"Drowning Ruth" opens at the end of World War I and takes place in rural Wisconsin where Amanda Starkey, over-stressed from her duties as a nurse, retreats to her younger sister's farm for rest and recuperation. Mattie (the younger sister) is alone at the farm with her young daughter, Ruth, since her husband, Carl, has yet to return from the war. Mattie is by far the prettier and more outgoing sister, although Amanda may be the more practical. In any case, the sisters do love each other and both care deeply for Ruth.

Right from the beginning, Schwartz makes it clear that Amanda's sanity is in question. We don't doubt this for a second, yet Amanda's narrative is one we feel we can trust, no doubt because Amanda, herself, is aware of her own shortcomings regarding her emotional stability. One would think this would make Amanda a fascinating character but it doesn't. She is simply too rigid in her outlook and too given to secrecy to let us really get to know her.

Amanda's narrative is broken by narrative from Ruth, who is quite annoying with her own particular brand of baby talk. I was glad her passages were relatively short as they really grated on my nerves. Running through Amanda's and Ruth's first-person narrative is an omniscient, third-person narrative, far better than Ruth, but not nearly as good as Amanda could have been.

From the very beginning of the book we know that the central mystery entails what really happened when Mattie slipped through the ice and drowned in the family's pond one cold, winter night. Here Schwartz leads her readers on a merry chase only to let them down terribly at the book's end, for what happened that night is exactly what we think happened on page one. There's no mystery. All that Gothic buildup was for nothing unless Schwartz simply likes to see her readers land with a resounding "thud."

There's very little plot in "Drowning Ruth" and that would be okay if Schwartz hadn't led us to believe otherwise. Had she let us know she was going to write a story that concentrated on the relationships among the characters, we wouldn't have been expecting something she failed to deliver.

Even Schwartz, herself, doesn't seem to know exactly what she wants to write about. If she wants to write about the night Mattie died, she needed to give us more plot and not make the end so predictable and boring. If she wanted to concentrate on the relationships among the characters, then she needed to flesh out the characters of Carl (Mattie's husband), and Imogene more. Much more. And she needed to let us get to know them. Really know them. And what about poor Clement Owens? His storyline could simply be discarded without making a bit of difference in the book.

Schwartz is very good at evoking rural Wisconsin life. Her descriptions of Amanda cutting brilliant red stalks of rhubarb for a pie outshine anything that goes on among her characters. It is in describing the day-to-day happenings of country life that Schwartz really shines and at those times her prose becomes almost brilliant.

Ultimately, however, Schwartz has to write herself out of the plot corner she's created and unfortunately, she resorts to dreaded coincidence to do so. Several characters prove to be no more than stage dressing and are summarily dispatched for no other reason than Schwartz's convenience. This might have been forgivable had the ending contained something worth waiting for, but sadly, it didn't.

If Christina Schwartz chooses to write another book, I doubt that I will read it, but I do hope she polishes her own budding talent and decides to discard the cheap tricks and glitzy gimmicks. No story worth the telling needs them.