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Summary: Startling, brilliant haunting read, don't miss it
Review: Drowning Ruth is the best book I have read this year. The characters are complex and the writing style is truly admirable, and well structured. A fascinting depiction of an era and a relationship between two sisters. I was particularly entranced by the use of setting in this book, Amanda's "island" and the symbolism of "drowning". I read this book in merely two days and can't wait for the next book by this new author.
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Summary: Skipped to the end after 100 pages...............
Review: As soon as the character of Imogene was introduced, the book lost all mystery......I instantly knew who she was and what would inevitably happen in the end. Up until that moment, I'd hoped for more.....I was actually intrigued by the character of Amanda. So.....it was a disappointment. I can't recommend the book.
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Summary: Secrets shape character in this first novel
Review: Chosen for Oprah's Book Club before publication, this first novel opens in 1919 and takes place in a straight-laced Wisconsin farming community where shame is a powerful motivator and secrets can blight lives.Amanda Starkey, suffering a nervous breakdown, leaves her job as a nurse caring for wounded soldiers and returns to her family's farm on Nagawaukee Lake. Her parents dead, Amanda's sister Mathilde lives there with her three-year-old daughter Ruth, waiting for her soldier husband Carl to come home from a French hospital. Over the summer, the sisters move to the house Carl built on the lake island Amanda has always thought of as hers. Then, shortly before Carl's return, Mattie dies, drowns in the lake under mysterious circumstances. The child, Ruth, remembers that she drowned too, a claim Aunt Amanda dismisses as a dream. "But Ruth maintained that she had drowned, insisted on it for years, even after she should have known better." His leg badly wounded, Carl, bewildered and grieved, faces a difficult child who doesn't remember him and a sister-in-law who has everything well in hand and impatiently checks his questions about Mattie's drowning. The story is told through various points of view, primarily Amanda's and Ruth's, but other characters as well, from Ruth's schoofriend to the wife of Amanda's former lover, Clement, a man the reader is unaware of until a chance meeting preceeds Amanda's second breakdown. The details of the devastating affair emerge in bits, remembered very differently by Clement and Amanda, while Carl's memories of his marriage blur and give way to brooding suspicions and little Ruth excersizes a child's power over her world through willful stubborness. Schwarz reveals her characters through flashback memories - Amanda and Mattie's childhood and Carl's fears of inadequacy, and through the guilt and love that shape and drive each of them. She examines the roles of shame and secrecy and the reverberations of these powerful motivators in the lives of innocents. The innocent at the core, Ruth, exerts more control over her life as she grows and seizes a more central role in the novel. Torn between loyalty to Amanda and her own drive for independence, Ruth makes clandestine visits to the lake island where she last lived with her mother, seeking signs of her there. Moody and unsocial, she is ignored at school until one popular girl befriends her. Unwilling to return to her friendless state, Ruth endlessly entertains Imogene, who, she realizes, craves drama. "It took a lot of effort, sometimes, to have Imogene for a friend." Amanda struggles to contain herself, to allow Ruth her own life. But she has kept so much bottled up that a spark of disobedience can blow apart her carefully constructed normalcy - the everyday aspect of a woman without secrets. When Amanda loses control it's scary and dangerous, giving rise to questions: Have the events of her life unbalanced her? Or was she so precariously poised that all she needed was a nudge? And, of course, what role did she play in the death of her beloved sister? Schwarz' writing is deceptively plain, like her stalwart country characters. Her prose flows with easy grace, creating an atmosphere of brittle peace and brooding portents. Danger shimmers around each ordinary event as the secrets wriggle and push their way closer to the surface, moving inexorably to a cataclysmic, ambivalent, poignant climax.
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Summary: Is there more of a twist or is it erratic editing?
Review: This is a captivating and engrossing picture of a place and time filled with complex characters. However, some details in the beginning don't match up to the ending and I'm wondering if it is still a mystery as to how Mattie really drowned? In chapter two, Amanda tells of carrying Ruth to the sheriff's..."Under the quilt she had nothing on....her nightgown was back on the island.." In Amanda's end version, Ruth is in her nightgown.."Why is Ruth in her nightgown? I thought they'd ask...". Also in chapter two, the matter of the bite is drastically different from the end view. Amanda wonders "..Who could have imagined such a little thing would have such strength? Who would have thought she would struggle so fiercely?.." I just wonder if Amanda's end view is her rationalized, sanitized personal version and not the true story after all?
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Summary: A weak woman....
Review: Though this was a good book, (as in entertaining, easy, quick read), I had a hard time "liking" the weak woman Amanda. I could not feel much sympathy for her. I realize she was an example of the times and she responded to her situation how probably most women would in 1919, however I wanted her to be more "likable." Ruth on the other hand was a strong woman, overcoming obstacles placed in her path resulting from the lies and secrets of her Aunt. I did find myself caught up in the "mystery" of the story, and didn't really predict the outcome as early as some other reviewers seem to have. Good book, an entertaining read for a rainy day.
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Summary: Dark Family Skeletons Masterfully Revealed
Review: I picked up this book with some reluctance, however, I am certainly glad that I did choose to read it. To have passed it by would have been missing a unique and touching story. I found the plot and many sub-plots complex, but never confusing. The characters are touching and we can all see shades of ourselves in them. This is a beautiful story that will stay with me for quite awhile.
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Summary: The heavy burden of secrets
Review: I loved this book. It really made me think of all the secrets - big and small, that families have and the family myths of wellness that cover up a morase of guilt and pain. This is a book to get lost in - one you won't put down!
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Summary: I'm from Wisconsin and I ought to know!
Review: The plot is at times confusing, but it works itself out in the end. I especially liked the references to Wisconsin which I remember so well as a girl. I could not figure this one out, unlike so many others before. It will disturb you but you'll enjoy it.
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Summary: "Hypnotic"
Review: I really didn't like this book when I first started reading it, but my thoughts were, I bought it, now I got to read it! When I finished the book, I kept thinking about how keeping secrets effects people. In this book, the life of Amanda was totally different of what it could have been. She has mental problems, mood swings, clings to Ruth way too much. Although i could relate to her as a single mom, I don't think she made many wise decisions in her life. It made my think about my own life and how I do not want to live in bondage from my past mistakes. I found this book hynotizing. I keep thinking about even weeks after I've finshed it. One thing I didn't about it is the way it flashed back and forth from past to present, I could barely keep up. I did think the story was great and thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Summary: An odd Oprah pick, but I liked it!
Review: Drowning Ruth is not your typical Oprah Book Club pick. There is triumph and growth by the characters, but this book has a twist. Amanda and Mathilda (Mattie) are sisters living very different lives. Mattie's husband, Carl, has gone off to fight during World War I, and Mattie is left to take care of her parents and her daughter, Ruth. Amanda is working as a nurse in a nearby state. After this seemingly harmless introduction, things get interesting. Amanda comes home to live with Mattie and Ruth after their parents have both died. Almost a year later, Mattie mysteriously disappears and is found days later, having drowned in the lake near their home. And Amanda takes Mattie's place, raising Ruth and take care of Mattie's husband. As you get closer to Amanda, you'll see that things are not always what they seem, and that the first superficial glance at a family is just an illusion. I highly recommend this novel both to Oprah book readers and mystery fans.
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