Rating: 
Summary: No, it isn't action packed
Review: The action is in the emotion and the imagery. The author does an outstanding of job of painting a picture with her words. You can picture Johnnie May's dad standing on the riverbank...in one spot...refusing to move until they find his little girl's body. You can picture and even feel the cool blue of the swimming pool on Volta Place. You can smell the herbs in Ella's home. You can move in and stay while you become a part of the book. I enjoyed it immensely.
I will recommend to my book-lover friends but I will tell my friends that only occasionally pick up a book to try something else...this probably won't satisfy.
Rating: 
Summary: Enticing novel
Review: This is an enchanting novel about growing up in Georgetown in the 1920s. It is also an insight to life in the African-American culture back then. It is about a young girl finding her way in the times and finding her future and finding her voice. It is a thoroughly enjoyable novel ~~ beautifully written too. Johnnie Mae loves to swim. She longs to swim at the all-white swimming pool instead of the Potomac River. She would stare at the swimmers at the pool which is across the street from her Aunt Ina's house. Always working and always watching out for her youngest sister, Johnnie Mae longs for more. Then when Clara, her sister drowned one afternoon when all the kids were swimming at the river, Johnnie Mae tries to deal with her guilt and memories. She befriends a new girl who reminded her of Rat ~~ the nickname she has bestowed on her sister ~~ and they grow up. It is a neat insight to life back in the 1920s. It is beautifully written ~~ you see the world from Johnnie Mae's eyes as well as from her mother's eyes. It is a journey that lingers long after you've turned the last page. It's a book I highly recommend for everyone to read this summer! Perfect book for the poolside reading! 6-8-04
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best book to read.
Review: The book starts out slow, and it weaves its way through the past and present, which gets a little annoying. While it does have some feeling to it, and it does give a good insight to what life for african americans was like back then, I was for the most part dreadfully bored with the book. Not something I'd really recommend to people to read.
Rating:
Summary: A READING IMBUED WITH UNDERSTANDING
Review: This was Oprah's pick and it'll be yours too. Debut novelist Clarke presents an affecting story of a young girl's death by drowning and the impact this has on those still living in a 1925 Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Ten-year-old Johnnie Mae Bynum feels the loss deeply as she was instructed to care for her younger sister. Guilt and confusion reign within her. Thus, we have a remarkable coming of age tale, we experience the family tensions that are the aftermath of such a tragedy, and witness racist feelings in a small community. The author imbues the reading of her work with richness and understanding
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