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Summary: Bittersweet romance and coming of age novel
Review: "The Second Bend In The River" is about Rebecca Galloway, an Ohio settler in the late 18th-early 19th century, and her life from ages seven to sixteen. While the book is pitched as a historical romance novel, it's more of an examination of life in the frontier and Indian-White relations in the early days, before the tensions reached the fever pitch released in the War of 1812.When Rebecca is seven, she meets Tecumseh, the fabled Shawnee chief. At first she is afraid of him and suspicious of Indians in general, but her family is relatively open minded and she grows to like him. She teaches him to read better and improve his grammar. While this is happening, the peace achieved in the 1790's is slowly deteriorating and relationships between the Indians and the settlers worsen. Rebecca's good friend, Nancy Maxwell, hates Indians because one of them killed her baby a long time ago. The main characters of "The Second Bend In The River" are mostly Rebecca's family and the other people in the town. Tecumseh is really a supporting character. That's one of the problems ... the book can't decide to be a historical fiction novel about the Indian conflict in the West or a love story. The relationship between Tecumseh and Rebecca isn't very well written- although we can tell when Rebecca starts to fall in love with him, it doesn't seem really genuine. Also, some of the writing is a little sappy and cliched, for example, when Rebecca wishes her name was "Break In Parts", because that's what her heart does around Tecumseh. All those flaws aside, "The Second Bend In The River" is an interesting slice of frontier life in America's younger days. The historical detail, characterizations and good pace keep you interested all the way through. The ending is particularly poignant.
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Summary: Wonderful writing -- wonderful reading
Review: A beautifully told book. Ann Rinaldi does a superb job with interesting and well developed characters. I'd like to see more historical fiction of this calibre.
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Summary: A disturbing thought
Review: Although I liked The Second Bend in the River, there was something that disturbed me. The age diffrence between the girl and the cheif. There was such a huge age diffrence. I calculated it once and don't remember what it was. The chief was old enough to be her father, by far. I have consulted my friend on this book who loves Rinaldi and she was also disturbed with the fact. Although it was disturbing I liked the book, although I don't often speek badly of a book. I hope if you read it that you might enjoy it.
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Summary: great book!
Review: Great book for anyone who likes romance and Historical fiction. One of Rinaldi's best!
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Summary: Encore!
Review: I finished this book in one night, and it was wonderful. I think Rebecca Galloway isn't like the other charaters in Ann Rinaldi's books. She has a lot of character. Rebecca is seven when she first meets "Tecumtha". She is frightened of him. He senses this and gives her a silver bracelet and they begin to become friends. The friendship between Rebecca and "Tecumtha" grows into love. Meanwhile, Rebecca's family is growing apart. Her brothers are getting married; her little sister, Ann, grows priggish. Finally, Rebecca must make a choice between her family and the man that she loves. This book has a lot of descriptive writing. Ann Rinaldi has done it again, and Dear Reader, I encourage you to read this book too. You will not regret it.
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Summary: Ann Rinaldi is Wonderful
Review: I love all her books, but the two I loved the most throughout all my reading were 'Time Enough for Drums', and this one, 'The Second Bend in the River'. I'm not really an historical romance buff, unless the romance is only part of a large web of historical detail and intriguing plot. These two stories, however, are almost all about the romance, and how the characters are affected by their love and the exciting times. In this novel, a young girl Rebecca Galloway is growing up on the frontier. Relationships with the neighboring natives are tense: sometimes good, sometimes bad. She grows up in a household of brothers, learning to be self-sufficient and intelligent as well as attractive and feminine. It is this combination of qualities that draws Tecumseh, the legendary cheif who plans to unite the tribes to fight off the lying, cheating white government. Although he was there throughout her childhood, the age difference seems to be simply material and not worth thinking about.. in short, against all odds, they fall in love. When Rebecca is forced to make a choice between the dangerous and foreign life of Tecemseh's and her own "white" ways, things really start to get good. However, at the end, I couldn't help but want to scream "You made the wrong decision!! Go back!!", even though the story works out so well as to completely make me love Rebecca's character, despite what I think was a poor choice on her part. Oh well, after reading the story, I couldn't help but understand, commiserate, and support Rebecca. I even thought she made the right choice after all. I know I did, picking up this book!
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Summary: Very good and cute. Informative historically in a fun way.
Review: I LOVE IT!! It is such a great book. I feel like I was there on the frontier there with her and Tecumtha!! I highly recommend it!
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Summary: Family Legends
Review: I only looked at the book, THE SECOND BEND IN THE RIVER, because it had an interesting title. When I read the summary on the back cover, and I saw the name Rebbeca Galloway. Rebbeca Galloway is my Sixth Great Aunt, and Andrew Galloway is my Sixth Great Grandfather. After reading this book I learned more about the times she lived in and some of the hardships she may have faced. The fact that she was in love with Tecumpseh has always been a family legend. But in the legend, Rebbeca proposed to Tecumpseh. I thought this book was very beautifully written and I enjoyed it very much.
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Summary: HER BEST BOOK
Review: I think this was Ann's best book so far. I love to read any of her books. The age of Rebecca and Tecumseh did not bother me becaused they loved each other. This is a great book and I think anyone who can should read it!
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Summary: Life and Love in 19ht century Ohio Territory
Review: Rebecca Galloway is growing up in the Ohio territory. Native Americans live not far away. Infact, her family's land was once a Shawneee chief(Tecumseh)'s land. When Tecumseh has supper at the Galloway's home, Rebecca and Tecumseh are instantly friends, even though they have a big age difference. Rebecca has been the only white person to say Tecumseh's name right: Tecumtha. Every year the Galloway's get a visit from Tecumseh. He and Rebecca remain strong friends, despite many things, like prejudice against Tecumseh. Years later from the first time they met, their friendship turns into love. They both must decide if their love means giving up the only life you know, to spend time with the other person, or if it means loving the person in your hearts, but going o with your life. How can they decide? Though this book is not Ann Rinaldi's best book, it is fantastic. Like all her work, it shows life in another time, amidst family, social, love, friendship, trust, and any aspect of life problems. I would reccomend this book to any Rinaldi fan, to any historical fiction lover, or to anyone who wants to sit down with a good book about life.
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