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61st out of 917 books
—
286 voters
The River Wife
by
Jonis Agee
From acclaimed novelist Jonis Agee, whom The New York Times Book Review called “a gifted poet of that dark lushness in the heart of the American landscape,” The River Wife is a sweeping, panoramic story that ranges from the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 through the Civil War to the bootlegging days of the 1930s.
When the earthquake brings Annie Lark’s Missouri house down on...more
When the earthquake brings Annie Lark’s Missouri house down on...more
Hardcover, 432 pages
Published
July 17th 2007
by Random House
(first published 2007)
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An actual line from this novel reads, "He pulled her down on top of him and surprised her with his ferocious lovemaking, the monster out of its cave once again." If that kind of writing isn't enough to deter you, perhaps the ludicrous melodrama will. Someone dies, is born, maimed or murdered on every page, except for ten extra-excruciating pages near the beginning of the book when Annie Lark lies trapped for five days under wooden beams during the New Madrid Shaking. (Yet, miraculously, she is s...more
On February 7, 1812 the New Madrid earthquake – the largest quake ever recorded in the United States – hit Annie Lark’s Missouri house, trapping her beneath a roof beam. Unable to move the massive timber and terrified by the aftershocks, her family decides to leave the sixteen year old girl to her fate, but death is slow coming and she lingers until a French fur trapper named, Jacques Ducharme, rescues her days later. What follows is the story of Annie’s life as Jacques’ “river wife,” which Jacq...more
This is a great, multi-level story with quite a bit of history that was new to me. The only reason why I did't give it 5 stars is because many of the plot lines remained mysteries at the end and the pace really dropped to a slow plod. There's a epilogue with all the characters speaking, which I felt should have been the story, not a separate appendix. Well written, lots of details.
(copied review) The River Wife is a sweeping, panoramic story that ranges from the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 th...more
(copied review) The River Wife is a sweeping, panoramic story that ranges from the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 th...more
I am struggling with words to describe why this book grabbed my attention so strongly. While I was still in the early pages I told my daughter that other reviewers either loved it or hated it and so far I loved it. Then I said, "I suspect it will be like 'Edgar Sawtelle'" Now I know how prophetic my words were.
This is a family saga of love, longing, joy and sadness. I would rename it "The River Man" because it is about Jacques Ducharme as seen by those around him and his influence on a future ge...more
This is a family saga of love, longing, joy and sadness. I would rename it "The River Man" because it is about Jacques Ducharme as seen by those around him and his influence on a future ge...more
This was a good book that started really strong and finished somewhat weaker. Even with the slow finish, the story was fascinating and I liked the multiple generation storyline. It didn't answer all of my questions, but I think ultimately I like that as well because it's nice to not have everything laid out for you.
I have really enjoyed the fiction of Jonis Agee in the past, and while I loved this book in the beginning, I got bogged down with it at times, and felt there were many unresolved plot lines in the end. I like the structure of this kind of historical fiction, with one character reading a journal and delving into the life of someone in the past, while also living out their own drama. The first story line is that of Annie Lark Ducharme, who survives the 1811 Earthquake in New Madrid Missouri after...more
I like the idea of this book as pitched on the back cover.. however, it was very slow moving and I found myself not wanting to pick it up again once I put it down. That said, however, I rarely leave a book unfinished once I start it, so finish it I did (with a lot of skimming). I was about 100 pages into it and had the thought "I think I've read this before" I'm not sure exactly what went wrong because I don't see how you can mess up a book with a river pirate, a ghost, and a search for hidden t...more
I heart Jonis Agee. Yes, she is a Nebraska native who teaches at my alma mater the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. But she could be from Timbuktu and I'd still love her poetical prose, and the passion and heartbreak of her characters. This story is about five generations of women who get the shaft from their men. I am a total sucker for stories that imply you cannot escape family destiny, as to a certain degree, we are bound to repeat the lives of our antecedents. We are family after all, and th...more
Jonis Agee has a very smooth writing style that kept me hooked from start to finish. I really enjoyed the "Roundtable" discussion at the end too. It provided a lot of insight into each person's mind. I wish every book had a roundtable discussion. The real love story was in the beginning with Jacques and Annie - before they started acquiring all the land, money, and things. Jacques was a real gentleman and loyal friend. I think in order to protect his heart he made a "deal" to keep him from suffe...more
eh. i didn't totally dislike this book, but it was one of those situations where i wasn't quite sure why i kept going ("falling angels" by tracy chevalier, anyone?)... my main complaint is that i found it to be kind of contrived. as in, i could literally feel the author trying so hard to get to a certain point that she decided the best way to do that was to hit the reader over the head with big flashing arrows that all but shouted "see? do you see? A is why B happened!! did you see how i gave yo...more
More and more, it seems that authors feel they have to tell multiple stories in one book. They also feel that jumping back and forth in time, telling a historical tale along with a contemporary one will help acheive their end.Well, guess what? It rarely works. In The River Wife, we jump from the story of a teen-aged bride back to a tale of her husband's grandfather and back again. The (historical) story of Jacques Ducharme, and the town he founded was interesting, fun fiction. That of Hedie was...more
I really enjoyed this book. The pace was exciting. The hardships of earlier times are rarely described with such detail. Made you feel like you were there.
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I enjoyed The River Wife quite a bit--enough to read voraciously while on vacation! I'd give it another star if it didn't spook me so much. While I wouldn't characterize it as a ghost story, it does contain some gritty tales of murder and spirits haunting the living. Others reviewing the book have said that the initial heroine Annie Lark was the most interesting character in the book's multigenerational story arc. I completely agree and was a bit disappointed when that character's story was over...more
I like books that span generations and have some sort of supernatural element. This one has both; therefore, I like it. Well, I like it because of more than that. The author really puts you in the place--mostly, along the Mississippi River. There are several heroines, but they are all tied to one man, Jacques. While he seems a hero in the first chapters, it soon becomes clear that he's not all good. In fact, it's not evident whether he's good at all. He links multiple generations of women togeth...more
Arkansas history (and I'm not sure how much of it actually adheres to historical truth or is just good storytelling) and 5 generations of the Ducharme family. It is a great love story of Annie Lark and Jacques Ducharme and their descendants, the development of their land, piracy on the river, slaves or not, the Civil War, betrayals and loyalties of all kinds, farming, trapping, dogs and men, women and children. And through it all Jacques Ducharme and Annie Lark. Jacques is a character to love an...more
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I enjoyed much of this book. But there was a lot that was just so so. The Annie Lark story was great, but the other sections were not as well done or interesting. The take on the story from a more modern narrator was good in some ways, but it just didn't seem to work well after the Annie Lark section was done. The writing style was quite lyrical without being too heavy-handed, which I liked. The book held my attention, but sometimes I felt like I was missing things and wonder if the author left...more
This was an unusual book about an unusual location -- along the Mississippi River in Missouri -- near the site of the 1811 New Madrid earthquake -- the largest ever recorded in the US. The story begins the day of the earthquake and goes forward into the bootlegging time of the 1930s. With people overlapping from one set of characters to another, and with some repetition of names it was a bit confusing at times. Fun to read about the French fur traders, and the river innkeepers and other very dif...more
The story as a whole is taken from the accounts of the women in the life of Jacques Ducharme namely Annie Lark Ducharme, Omah Ducharme, Laura Burke Shut Ducharme and Little Maddie Ducharme which also intertwines with that of Hedie Rails Ducharme, wife of Jacques' descendant Clement Ducharme.
The story I found incredibly fascinating and terribly heartbreaking. Reviewing it in detail without spoilers is impossible and I do not intend to hide this review for that matter.
The main flashback story star...more
The story I found incredibly fascinating and terribly heartbreaking. Reviewing it in detail without spoilers is impossible and I do not intend to hide this review for that matter.
The main flashback story star...more
May 08, 2013
Vivian LeMay
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Historical and Family Saga readers
THE RIVER WIFE
BY
JONIS AGEE
I love a book with history and settings that I never knew existed before. This book met both requirements in its first pages. One of the best opening chapters I've ever read.
The River Wife begins with the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 in Missouri. Annie Lark becomes trapped, her legs pinned beneath a fallen beam in her parents log cabin. In the chaos and fear of the quake, unable to lift the heavy beam, her family leaves her for dead. After days of suffering she is resc...more
BY
JONIS AGEE
I love a book with history and settings that I never knew existed before. This book met both requirements in its first pages. One of the best opening chapters I've ever read.
The River Wife begins with the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 in Missouri. Annie Lark becomes trapped, her legs pinned beneath a fallen beam in her parents log cabin. In the chaos and fear of the quake, unable to lift the heavy beam, her family leaves her for dead. After days of suffering she is resc...more
This was an interesting story spanning several generations. At first, I thought it was the story of 2 women, Annie Lark Ducharme and Hedie Rails Ducharme. Annie lived during the Civil War era and Hedie was from the Prohibition era. When a 17 year old pregnant Hedie married the much older Clement Ducharme and came to live in the Ducharme house, she discovered Annie's journals and began reading them. At that point, the reader is introduced to Annie.
Annie's story begins with her as a teenager, left...more
Annie's story begins with her as a teenager, left...more
This is a story of women whose lives have been woven together over a number of generations. We find this out because one of the women finds some journals and begins reading over a history that leads to her present situation. The history begins in 1811 Missouri during an earthquake. Annie (one of the main characters) is a child and is trapped in her home under a beam that falls from the roof. Her family leaves her there to die because they believed that she is being punished. Along comes a French...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Oct 26, 2007
Jia
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those who like historical romance with a modern kick
Shelves:
literary-fiction
Only a master storyteller can spin a tale so intricate that you willingly succumb to its sticky web, and Jonis Agee has accomplished this feat with her first foray into historical fiction – The River Wife. The Nebraska native is the Adele Hall Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and it was her childhood memories of summering near the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri that inspired her to create a vivid three-dimensional world of brazen, complicated, cursed and beautiful wome...more
I would describe this book as a saga of generations of strong young women. It starts out with a young woman getting captured under the fallen crossbeam of her family's cabin during a flood and the family leave her there to die, in an effort to save themselves. She is rescued by a man that turns into a 'river pirate' and tells her story in a journal that is found by another young woman, generations down the family tree. It is a long book. Sometimes I skim over descriptive parts in books, but I re...more
I had a hard time putting this book down. River Pirates, Earthquakes, intense love, mysterious treasures. It was so haunting and intriguing that I wanted to keep reading. Jonis Agee weaves a tantalizing portrait of life in the 1800s. I wished that there were more details explained about certain characters, it felt as if there were missing pieces on purpose. It made me wish the book was longer and that I could have kept reading about the Ducharme family.
Depicts life in the fly over state of Missouri, starting with the New Madrid earthquake, ending in the bootlegging years of the 1930's with a bit of the fantastical and a cursed family legacy. Hard to deal with the dog fighting aspect and the fatal consquences to the family but an engrossing and engaging book. It has stayed with me over a year, some scenes of the frontier are vividly realized.
This reminded me of The Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick. I actually really liked that messed-up book, but I have four goodreads friends who have also read it, and every one of them gave it one star. The River Wife felt pretty similar--ridiculous, deeply twisted plot, characters who don't act like any real people acually act, full of overheated melodrama with a lurid, Southern gothic feel. I, apparently, just really like this sort of thing, because I found it totally spellbinding, in all its tr...more
A beautifully written novel about several generations of an eccentric family that lives along the Mississippi River in Missouri. It begins during the New Madrid earthquakes in 1812 (at the very epicenter of the quakes) & ends during the Great Depression. It reminds me somewhat of Jeffrey Lent's Lost Nation, with similar characters--a sympathetic rogue & strong women--and a strong current of violence mostly just under the surface but which bursts vividly to the surface occasionally.
This is a historical novel that starts with the earthquake of New Madrid, Missouri, in 1811. Its story of Jacques Durcharme and his legacy. It follows five generations of women who were either involved with or descendants of Jacques'. The women were strong, smart, and capable. They were the ones who kept Jacques' legacy. The novel has it all, mystery, romance, heartache, thrills, and the supernatural. I couldn't put it down even though some of the characters aren't nice people.
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Nov 04, 2008 12:00pm