Rating: 
Summary: Thanks for Libraries
Review: I saw DROWNING RUTH in the book store and considered it but did not know anyone who had read it. I saw a woman in an airport and inquired whether or not she liked it but she had not started it. For some reason I was relunctant to buy it - I must have been fore warned. Fortunately (for my wallet), I was at the library and got it out. Most of the reviewers here ... are relunctant to give bad reviews, as I am but this book is one that does not deserve the praise that other have written about it. Usually, Oprah does a good job, but she ... up on this one. The story is a bit hard to follow because of the skipping around with the characters. The plot is somewhat predictable once you get into it. It is a quick read, but depressing is the best way that I can describe it. Maybe I'm too much of a big city person to appreciate life in a small town. Although I have one sister, we are not close. Maybe these factors play in to my decision about DROWNING RUTH, but all in all its not worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Well Written First Book.
Review: Drowning Ruth combine good character development with page turning action. For someone who likes both these characteristics in a book - this is a good choice to read. The only problem for me was that it jumped around too much for my taste.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderfully captivating page-turner.
Review: Drowning Ruth is a mystery of sorts, but also a drama unlike most dramas new to the genre today. The book leaves you guessing until the end, and nothing about it is predictable at all. Ruth is a child whose mother drowns fairly early on in the story, but there are so many veins and arteries extending from that one plot line that you will find yourself immersed in thought and wonder as you read. Ruth is raised by Aunt Mandy, whose character is developed to the point where you would know her if you saw her on the street. It's a beautifully written book, the characters are alive and real, the plot and theme are rich and tasty throughout, and the writer's style is deep and thoughtful. I really enjoyed it from beginning to end, and highly recommend it for any reader.
Rating:
Summary: We are all different and you can read it
Review: This book is a good insight to all the social restriction of small American towns in the early 90s. While reading it you feel intrigued and captured by the story of this young nurse who has found pain in love. Although you start guessing what's behind the whole story already when half way through the book, the writer has been so clever as to maintain the necessary tension to make the reader curious to see if it's right, if he has guessed. The writer goes into the character's mind. It's not just an "external" story, it's the expression of people's inner thoughts, of how every individual sees happenings with different eyes and arrives to different conclusions and opinions about it. Some parts were a bit slow at times, but if you manage to get through them the book in whole will leave you with a sense of satisfaction and wonder for "little Ruth".
Rating:
Summary: Drowning Ruth
Review: This book is about a girl named Amanda and her sister Matilda and her baby girl Ruth. This story is about their lives and the people whom interfere with them. Matilda marries before her older sister. Her husband goes off to war and her sister is off to nursing school. She has a child named Ruth and gets a visit from her sister Amanda. Who later turns out to be pregnant and has her child secretly. The children's lives is what the main part of the book is about. We find out that Amanda gives her child to a family because her sister Mattie dies. Amanda's daughter is about to marry her half brother but her mother stops her from doing that. This story is really great. This book is an awesome book. It is very interesting. I knew that I would love this book as soon as I picked it up. This book has you rapped around It's little finger as soon as you read the first page. You might have to draw a family tree in oreder to keep up with it's characters. This book has many twists and turns but I'm sure that you'll love it.
Rating: 
Summary: Drwon the Reader
Review: While I found it hard to keep reading and even to finish this book, after I did finish it, it seemed to have more worth. Although it is so very depressing, not only because of the time period and place but also because I just cound not identity at all with the characters, when it was over, I wondered what had really happened. Did Amanda kill her sister or was it an accident? And why had she never connected again with the father of her child? There are many unanswered questions in the book, not to mention the confusing change of point of view. The setting also contributes to the bleakness of the plot as it is really hard to warm up to rural Wisconsin winters and scarcely better summers. The drugery of the farm seems far removed from any pleasant aspect of nature or any other realm of the natural world. The island itself seemed almost a symbol of evil despite the feeling that is should have been a place of love and comfort. Perhaps the regional nature of this book just does not feel right to readers from other areas. Also for many, the time after WWI is pretty far removed from consciousness and reality.
Rating:
Summary: Days of Our Lives
Review: There are secrets upon secrets that pervade the Wisconsin landscape of this novel. Why does Ruth maintain that she drowned? What happened to Ruth's mother that November night she disappeared? What does Amanda know about this, and why is her hand scarred? And most importantly, what caused Amanda's nervous breakdown in Milwaukee... was it fatigue, or something more? This novel, recommended to me by a friend, begins with these questions (trust me, I am not giving anything away), and then slowly, the secrets are revealed by multiple narrators. This book kept me up way past my bedtime. It's a quick read, and despite the heavy-handed sounding plot, it's not a depressing read either. As the novel wears on, it falls into a little bit of predictability. Certain events, and chance meetings happen that would only surprise people who aren't familiar with any of the conventions of the daytime serial. Schwarz also makes the mistake of changing the focus of the story from Amanda and her story, to the lighter, sunnier story of Ruth and her friend Imogene. Shwarz also removes a character from the main action of the story, and never brings him back into the fold, even though he seemed to be critical to the story developments at first. Nevertheless, this is a very enjoyable debut novel, and one that will cause you to think about it after you have closed the book.
Rating:
Summary: Good but.............
Review: I thought this was a pretty good book, esoecially since I read it on spring break and I highly enjoyed sitting on the beach reading it. The story was pretty good the only thing I was disappointed with was the ending, kind of left me with a bunch of questions, it just kind of summerized everything and that was it. But I did enjoy it, it was my first Oprah book club selection and made me want to read more of them.
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: A wonderful book. I usually don't buy books that I see in every bookstore on every shelf, but this one I couldn't resist, and I'm glad I didn't.
Rating:
Summary: Drown This Book
Review: There is only one word to describe this book, and that is GRIM! The main character, Amanda, is manipulative, cold, and selfish. I only finished the book because I was hoping that something bad was going to happen to her, and I thought that would at least satisfy me. I never felt any compassion for any of the characters portrayed in the book, with the exception of Mattie, who, in my opinion should have pulled Amanda into the water with her. How this made the bestsellers list amazes me!
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