Rating: 
Summary: Hey! I 've read this one before
Review: I haven't even purchased the book, yet when reading the overly detailed editorial review realized, "Hey! I read this before." Only the author was John Lanchester and the title was "The Debt to Pleasure". Only the Lanchester book was filled with recipes. (Something useful). I suppose I won't give the Schwartz rendition my time.
Rating: 
Summary: DRAB READ
Review: At the start of the novel you get a sense of impending doom, family secrets and interesting characters. The novel doesn't follow through. The story gets bogged down, spanning decades, with the too careful doses of subtly retelling the long ago "secret". With such a promising beginning it was a disappointing novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Historical novel with a theme woman today can identify with
Review: Suspenseful portions of this novel keep the reader on the road through the thickets following World War I to the unexpected conclusions several decades later. The reader is forced to consider her own views on family and responsibility throughout the enveloping story. This debut novelist will definitely be heard from again and again because she is a skilled story-teller and not solely because her book was among the lucky few to be selected by Oprah. Her word choice is at times almost like reading prose. The only negative is that the author jumps from voice to voice in the narrative and this requires the reader to work harder than is necessary.
Rating:
Summary: Jaded
Review: If there was one word I could use to describe my feelings as I finished this book, it would be jaded. I'm not sure whether we, as readers, are supposed to feel happy for Ruth and Amanda, content with their lives, or hate and despise them for the things they have done. Christina Swartz has created a romance novel with none of the love, an action movie with none of the action. It is unique to read, and still there seems to be something missing. Perhaps it is empathy that we lack for the novel's characters. Amanda is surely one of the most complex characters I have ever read. She is simultaneously good and evil, love and hate, peace and anger. She is difficult to grasp, impossible to curl your fingers around. How many people have died because of her? And yet none of these deaths seem to be her fault. It is her character that makes the novel so intriguing, and the book worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical and entrancing--Fab First Novel
Review: So many first novels, even the great ones, seem all but autobiographical. It is hard to imagine that this story falls anywhere near the author's life experience. One hopes not and then finds oneself utterly taken in by the deftness of Schwarz's character development and unraveling plot. Notions of family, society, and feminism are tested beautifully as background to an enveloping story. A must read for those who don't mind being reminded of disarmingly well-crafted plot lines for weeks after putting the book down.
Rating:
Summary: Sisters From Another Time
Review: This title brought tears to my eyes. Yes, a lot of what they have to deal with is so different than where we are today but yet underneath it all lies the love and tension that speaks to present day. A good read to settle into winter with!
Rating:
Summary: Plan to stay up all night reading 'Drowning Ruth'.
Review: What a great story! There are so many levels to this book. At the most basic; it's a powerfully engaging mystery that keeps you turning the pages way past midnight. But beyond that it's a totally engaging story about family relationships, love, and the power of secrets. Watch out for how the author peels back the layers of secrecy with simply placed statements that one by one reveal the truth as you learn more and more about the complex characters that populate this great first novel.
Rating:
Summary: Annoying
Review: The first chapter of this book was great, but then it was quickly downhill. Complaints: the weirdness and dysfunction far outweighed the "crime" as *finally* revealed at the end; there is a familiarity in this book in tone, setting, and dysfunction to other books I've read lately -- the turn-of-the century, crazy sister who is made crazy because everyone ignores her because she is weird, ugly, plain, or too smart genre -- give it a rest; long stretches of this book are very clunky and suffer too much from first-novelitis; it just takes too long both in literal reading time and novel-time for the final "truths" to be made apparent to everyone; the unrelenting grimness of this book is a success on one level (in the ability to maintain tone) but doesn't make for an uplifting, insightful or entertaining read. I was most disappointed in this book. Parts of it are superb, but not nearly enough to carry its weight.
Rating:
Summary: Drowning Ruth
Review: This book is a wonderful read. It is extremely well-written and the story is extraordinarily compelling. I couldn't put it down and was sorry to see it come to an end.
Rating:
Summary: North Shore "Nagawaukee" resident
Review: I found Christina's attention to detail in her descriptions fascinating. i.e. the white house with the pillars. It's a real place! I couldn't put the book down. I am looking forward to her future work. HG
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