Drowning Ruth

Dec 16, 2007 Aerin rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I didn't hate it, this book annoyed me to no end. I will say, to its credit, that I read it in a single day, almost a single sitting, which I very rarely do anymore. It was a page-turner. But for all the wrong reasons.

See, the book opens with a young nurse, Amanda, going home to Wisconsin to live with her sister and niece. In the very next chapter, it's a year later, and Amanda is at the sheriff's door with the niece, telling him that her sister fell through the ice on the lake and drowned...more

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Aug 26, 2007 Tory rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stupid Oprah. I quite liked this book, it annoys me to find out that it's an Oprah book. It makes me like it less by default. Why do authors LET her put her name on their books? It's a shame.

"But a sense that there might also exist some entirely different destination, one that he couldn’t yet see but which lay just beyond the obscuring undergrowth of long habit and expectations, troubled him and kept him from moving forward. He had no idea how to hack through the foliage, nor whether whatever he...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Set in rural Wisconsin between the First and Second World Wars, this story of two sisters and their children growing up on the shores of a lake is full of secrets, guilt, misunderstandings and tragedy. There's an intensity about the plot that makes it quite difficult to bear at times - especially the ending when so much is at stake.

As a debut novel, it's quite remarkable and I wasn't surprised to hear that it was an Oprah's Book Club choice; but I think it has its weaknesses. In particular, the...more

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May 02, 2010 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Adults

Shelves: books-i-own

The last thing I do in the world is take advice from celebrities so when I discovered this was on Oprah’s book club list I almost didn’t pick it up. But the book kept calling out to me and I folded. Beautiful story. It reminded me a lot of “The Heretic’s Daughter”, by Kathleen Kent. Though completely different it had the same feel.

‘Drowning Ruth’ is a story of painful secrets, love for a child and a woman’s life sacrifice for this child. This is one of those stories that tugs at your heart and k...more

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Nov 19, 2008 Christina rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone

Recommended to Christina by: No oneee

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. To tell you the truth...This book was the bomb. It was a page-turner and at the end I had gotten teary-eyed. Drowning Ruth just looking at the title captivated my attention. Then the lady has my first name whih made it better. On top of all things it's part of Oprah's book club(which i didn't know she had).... In my review since I'm doing this for school I'm going try mot to make mistakes and talk about each character and the stroy plot. I'm also put my thoughts in parenthesis. This review conta...more To tell you the truth...This book was the bomb. It was a page-turner and at the end I had gotten teary-eyed. Drowning Ruth just looking at the title captivated my attention. Then the lady has my first name whih made it better. On top of all things it's part of Oprah's book club(which i didn't know she had).... In my review since I'm doing this for school I'm going try mot to make mistakes and talk about each character and the stroy plot. I'm also put my thoughts in parenthesis. This review contains spoiler. You could say I'm retelling the book in my own words for 2 hours but not talking about it writing about it. This book is a book that makes you actually think and use your foreshadowing skills. In the Winter of 1919 this mother(Mathilda a.k.a Mattie)(i'm having goosebumps writing this)drowns in a lake in Winsconsin her death changes her sister, daughter and husband lives. It opens up secerts that should've been kept quiet. Amanda Starky is Mahthilda's oldest and only sister who lived on the farm with her family until Mathilda got married to her husband(Carl) so Amanda(a.k.a Mandy) left and went to nurse school. She finally came back after she was in kahoots(if that is even a word) with a fling(btw he was married at the time of the fling)with this guy named Clement Owens. While she was a nurse she met him in the hospital trying to sell the hospital something and they met. She did't know he was married...she thought he was the perfect man( which every lady in that time wanted..even in this time) He bought her roses and took her to the fanciest places but he went on a lot of business trips(i think he went home to be with his wife..but that's my opinion.) But he was perfect in her eyes because he never forced her to do anything..all he did was take her to romantic places and kissed her cheek and touched her neck then he will kiss her lips..it was romantic..but then one night he came to he excited sayin he got a job to work in the military so they could use his inventions..They went to a hotel and she was devirginized(btw she was in her 20's)but back then that was normal because they waited till they were married..anyways later in the book i realized she concieved a little girl that niight..but she told him it was ok they had sex.. they'll just get married(oviously normal thing to do)but he was liike i have a wife and kids and he left. At that time she packed up her stuff and went back to her hometown Winsconsin to live with her sister. Her sister Mathilda was a million times happy that she finally came to visit her and her daughter(Ruth)..(btw Carl is in war at this time)..So I'm guessing after a month when she noticed she wasn't feeling well and her cycle didn't come she noticed she was pregnant.She and her sister ever since little had a lot of land which included their own lake and island and land. She begged her sister( before she told her sister she was pregnant) if all three( Mathilda,Ruth, Amanda) of them could live on the island. They were debating back and forth. So finally they moved to the islandand her pregnancy began. Mathila decided to come up with a story saying that she found this young girl who was having a baby and she couldn't take care of it because she couldn't so Mathilda will raise the baby has her own. Amanda agreed with the story because she didn't want people talking and ban her. During the 9months they lived on the island. The night of the birth I leave for the end because that's the same day Mathilda drowned(my eyes are getting watery). The baby girl is born and named Imogene(you'll be hearing that name again). Later on in the story Ruth grows up and is ready for school...Carl is back from war and goes deeper in the Mathilda drowning story..Now I don't want to tell te whole book because I guarentee you would want to read it yourself. So Ruth is in elementary school and she is a loner doesn't have many friends but is spotted by the most popular girl in the school whose name is Imogene( after Mathilda died Amanda took care of Ruth)... They became the bestest friends but they didn't know they were related. There older now in their 20's 3 yrs apart. They are at business school learning how to type and stuff. They know this boy named Arthur Owens(son of Clement Owens). Ruth and Arthur have a connection because he's the one who found her mom when she drowned when he was younger. But Imeogene gets a job working for Mrs. Owens and falls in love with Arthur Owens. They hang out a lot but little do theyknow that they are brother and sister. He know she's probably a good wife but he's in love with Ruth which is his cousin... I'm goin to stop here because I think you should read it yourself...Bye..(less)

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Jun 12, 2007 Sammy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: c-the-okay

I wasn't as impressed with this book as I thought I was going to be. Something I always tell other people: don't go into a book with expectations. I should have listened to my own advice, then maybe I would have enjoyed the book a little bit more. But this being Schwarz's first novel, I'm not going to complain too much, because it was still pretty good.

It was a little too jumpy, just all around, writing, plot line, characters. While they weren't all over the map, they didn't stay on the same lin...more

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Oct 28, 2008 Elisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fun-novels

I enjoyed the mystery, but thought some actions of the characters were incongruous with their natures. I guess what I mean is, sometimes the characters do things that are deplorable and unacceptable no matter WHAT a person has been through... but the author doesn't seem to cast these actions in that light. Being complicit in manslaughter is kind of passed off as acceptable, you know, just because she is angry and wasn't intentionally leaving anyone to drown. The first time (with her sister--when...more

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Aug 10, 2009 Grace rated it 1 of 5 stars

I swaer, with some of the books being written today I could write a book about mutant kung-fu hamsters and get it published. The story danced around the central question: "What Really Happened the Night Mathilda Died?" After a while I just didn't care. The whole lot of them could have fallen through the ice for all I cared. The characters were stupid to the nth degree and there seemed to be a running theme of "Co-dependency is great!" running through the whole thing. The "big twists" to the sto...more

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Jul 11, 2008 Raven rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 03, 2009 Laurie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel tells the haunting story of two generations of a Wisconsin family brought together and torn apart by the lake adjacent to the family home. Focused on four women, sisters of two generations, the novel develops around the sisters' relationship with the lake, and the tragedy that ensues when it claims one of their lives. Much of the book is spent untangling the secrets which led to the drowning, and working out the complicated problems which arise from the family's attempts to keep these...more This novel tells the haunting story of two generations of a Wisconsin family brought together and torn apart by the lake adjacent to the family home. Focused on four women, sisters of two generations, the novel develops around the sisters' relationship with the lake, and the tragedy that ensues when it claims one of their lives. Much of the book is spent untangling the secrets which led to the drowning, and working out the complicated problems which arise from the family's attempts to keep these secrets.

Scwartz's story jumps back and forth across time, from past to present and back again. This means that the story develops piece by piece, and this is what makes it something of a mystery. I found the plot development to be one of the more satisfying parts of this book, seeing the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. I enjoyed the developments leading up to Scwartz's telling of what actually happened the night of the tragedy. After that point, however, I found the plot to be something of a let-down. The conclusion seemed a bit too neat, and a bit forced.

The most enjoyable part of this book to me was the way in which Scwartz set the scene- the way in which she managed to capture the sense of a time and place. The novel is set in the Wisconsin countryside in the first half of the twentieth century, with most of the action focusing on the last years of WWI, and the 1920s. Scwartz offers a convincing portrait of Wisconsin farm country in the late-1910s and early 1920s. Her descriptions are vivid, without being overstated, and her story intersects with several significant historical events, including WWI and the influenza epidemic. Scwartz gives her readers a strong sense of connection to the seasons, the land, the lake. I really did feel like I was part of the world about which she wrote.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this novel. The development of the plot engaged me, and the scenery captivated me. I was a bit disappointed by the ending, but my reading was by and large time well spent. (less)

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Dec 29, 2008 Antof9 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2006-read, depressing, upsetting, made-me-cry

A totally bizarre book I didn't like at all until the 2nd-to-last page. I mean not at ALL, and the only reason I was reading it was because I was on a trip and it was the only book in my carryon bag.

A bit too much like Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, which I didn't like either; I felt like the world could do without another copy of this book. And then I hit the middle of page 337, and for some reason, I simultaneously got choked up, and decided I kind of liked it.

The moral to this particular...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Trisha rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Short and Sweet of It
The mysterious drowning of Mathilda Neumann drastically alters the lives of her daughter, sister, and husband as they try to cope with their loss...and their secrets.

A Bit of a Ramble
Flitting back and forth in time and between voices, Drowning Ruth's narrative structure is at once intriguing and annoying. The story is designed to slowly and carefully reveal the truth of what happened and the details of what is happening as each character gets a chance to talk only briefl...more The Short and Sweet of It
The mysterious drowning of Mathilda Neumann drastically alters the lives of her daughter, sister, and husband as they try to cope with their loss...and their secrets.

A Bit of a Ramble
Flitting back and forth in time and between voices, Drowning Ruth's narrative structure is at once intriguing and annoying. The story is designed to slowly and carefully reveal the truth of what happened and the details of what is happening as each character gets a chance to talk only briefly, and at least one character is not exactly forthcoming about her life story. Also, the story moves in time with no clear indication of the chronological shift. While I enjoy this teasing method, I was occasionally frustrated, needing a second to determine the when of the events being narrated. I am not entirely sure if this frustration is due to a lack of skill in the writing, or just my overtired brain.

The story itself is rather tantalizing : the mysterious drowning, the unclear tragic events of one character's past, the mistaken ideas characters' have about the past, the possessive-to-the-point-of-obsession nature of the main character. The characters are psychologically interesting, but I was a bit disappointed that they didn't progress; all of them really end up in the same place they started mentally (and some of them really needed to grow).

I will say, however, that the psyche of the characters was more interesting to me than the mystery itself. The (arguable) main character, Amanda, displays an obsession with her niece, Ruth, that is disturbingly fascinating. Raising Ruth as her own after Mathilda's drowning, Amanda spends the next twenty-some-odd years building an umbilical cord between the two of them that not even a chainsaw could break. Carl, Mathilda's husband, and Ruth's quirks were just as fun to me, and these were the parts of the book I found most interesting.

If you are looking for a psychological thriller, it's a good read, but it ends up with only an Accept rating for me due to the overly complicated narrative structure and the lack of character growth.(less)

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Aug 17, 2012 Cat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Cat by: Mom

My mom told me that I should tell my grandmother (named Ruth) that I had it, just to see her reaction (which was comical, to tell you the truth). When I saw it on the shelves, I decided it seemed interesting enough to give it a shot.

Once I started it, I couldn't stop. I read it in less than a week, I think. Every time I thought I knew what the "real story" was, the narrator would reveal one more thing, and it turned out my theory was completely wrong. It's been years since I read it, and the re...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Bookguide rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The excerpts from reviews on the back cover of books are often gushing and raise your expectations too much. Other books are so hyped, that if you read it long after it was published, you may have heard so many friends enthusing about it, that when you finally get to it, you can only be disappointed. Then there are books like this one. I had never heard of this book nor the author, never read any reviews, and had been putting off reading it for a few months, in spite of the rave reviews from res...more The excerpts from reviews on the back cover of books are often gushing and raise your expectations too much. Other books are so hyped, that if you read it long after it was published, you may have heard so many friends enthusing about it, that when you finally get to it, you can only be disappointed. Then there are books like this one. I had never heard of this book nor the author, never read any reviews, and had been putting off reading it for a few months, in spite of the rave reviews from respected sources on the back cover, because I didn’t want to be let down. All I can say is, this book exceeded my expectations. It is well-written, the characters are well-rounded and sympathetic, and the story is interesting and believable, spanning the years from just before America joined WWI to the Depression, and set in rural Wisconsin. If you don’t enjoy books which switch between the perspectives of different characters, or backwards and forward in time, you will not enjoy this book. These devices are both used to great effect in ‘Drowning Ruth’ to build up the mystery surrounding the death of Ruth’s mother Mattie, and the involvement of her sister Amanda. It leads you to wonder throughout the book about who was responsible, whether she really drowned, who was the mysterious baby who Ruth claimed to have heard on the night of her mother’s death. Throughout the book, new twists and turns are hinted at and revealed, and a new and dangerous development arises as Ruth grows older and makes friends with the popular Imogene. There are powerful emotions, family loyalties, secrets, crises of conscience and moral dilemmas galore. The only thing which jarred slightly was that Mattie’s widowed husband Carl, despite a major misunderstanding of what really happened, decides that he can reconcile himself with what he believes to be the truth and leaves to work elsewhere. I’m not sure his presence would have made much difference, but it did seem odd. This was only a minor quibble, however. This was one of those books which makes you want to read more by the author. Superb.

Taken from my BookCrossing review, http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7.... Passed on to a BookCrossing friend, Elizardbreath.(less)

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Apr 11, 2012 CookieDemon rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

(This review also appears on Amazon.co.uk)

Not quite the worst book I've ever read, but it comes close...

Being an Oprah book club recommendation I expected this to be pretty good- she's usually spot-on when it comes to books that are sharp, witty, insightful and thought-provoking... But not this time.

Sorry Oprah, but this was depressing (and this is coming from someone who enjoys `The Road' and other apocalyptic stories). I didn't exactly expect a happy tale from the title, but good grief I coul...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Kay Peers rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Nobody

Recommended to Kay by: Oprah Winfrey

Shelves: never-to-read-again

There will be no spoilers in this review, as I found nothing at all to write about that, in any way, could save this experience for me.

I went in to this book thinking that it would be an interesting read, fraught with period information and excellent description. Unfortunately, as you start off the story, it immediately becomes confusing, the characters are incredibly one dimensional, bland, and uninspired, and the ending left everything to be desired.

It would have been much better had the snip...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Adrianna C added it

Shelves: mp2

The book, "Drowning Ruth" by Christina Schwarz, didn't really capture my attention in the beginning, so it took me a longer time to read. When I started reading it more, it got me more interested. I liked how it had switching points of view in each chapter. In the first part of the chapter it could be in the third person and another part of the chapter it could be in the first person. What I didn't like about the switching point of views is that in the third person, it would be what is happenin...more The book, "Drowning Ruth" by Christina Schwarz, didn't really capture my attention in the beginning, so it took me a longer time to read. When I started reading it more, it got me more interested. I liked how it had switching points of view in each chapter. In the first part of the chapter it could be in the third person and another part of the chapter it could be in the first person. What I didn't like about the switching point of views is that in the third person, it would be what is happening right at that moment and when in the first point of view, usually Amanda's, it was from the past. When Amanda was telling about the past, it sometimes helped me understand what was actually going on and other times it just confused me a little.
Another thing I like about the book is that some characters keep secrets that you might have to figure out on your own, but eventually you will find out what it is. I like how something from Amanda's past that she experience with her sister, Mathilda, who is now dead, ended up somehow effecting her life in the future. Mathilda's husband, Carl, and her daughter, Ruth, don't really know anything that happened in her sister's and hers past.
Also, I don't like how in the book one chapter Ruth would be four and the next she would be around six or seven. The book skips a lot of time between some chapters that might have had something happen. A few of the chapters skip a year in Ruth's life, like from fourteen to sixteen, and things happened that would be explained in the next chapter in Amanda's point of view, Ruth's point of view, and sometimes in Carl's point of view. They would all explain it in a different way.
Amanda reminds me of a worried mother, even though her never had any kids...that we know of. She would always try to protect Ruth since the day her mother died. On the day that Ruth's mother died, another thing happened to Amanda. After Mathilda drowned, Amanda would keep Ruth out of the water so she wouldn't drown too. Ruth's mother died when she was around two and the next time she went swimming was when she was around sixteen. Also, when Ruth was around the age to start school, Amanda did her best to keep her home and to home school her. That reminds me of parents who don't want their child to start the first day of school.
When I finished the book, I was kind of stuck in middle of liking it a lot and liking it a little. I liked it because it had different people's point of view on things, but I didn't like it because sometimes when the point of view changed, it made me confused and a little hard to follow.(less)

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Jan 06, 2012 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

What an amazing book this was. I was drawn in almost immediately and always felt as though I wanted to know what happened next and then after that. There were parts that I thought were unnecessary and could be taken out of the book as I wanted to get back to the main story at hand, and there were also parts that I thought shouldn't have been ommitted - like I would have liked to have heard Carl's part when he found out about Mattie. But overall, it was very well written - with just the right amo...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Corrinne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Amazing! I think I drove my husband insane while reading this because after every page, I would put it down and exclaim, ""This book is crazy, babe!"" The author uses both first and third person to tell her story from multiple perspectives. Some of the negative reviews for this novel sited the use of both first and third person as their main reason for disliking the format of the story. I personally found it quite useful in the character development and that is where this novel truly excelled. T...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Britni rated it 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever seen something that's either so disturbing that you can't help but stare even if you know you shouldn't? Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz was that way for me. So disturbing that I felt like I should stop reading, but I just couldn't without finding out what really happened.

Drowning Ruth is written in modern lit fashion; the story is told from the perspectives of various narratives and in various time frames. You get bits and pieces of life before a young woman named Mattie drowne...more

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May 31, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a phenomenal book for a first time author to publish. The storytelling is amazing, the plot perfectly paced, and the details of the lives of the Starkeys revealed just at the right speed to keep you reading with anticipation. Usually, books that are suspense drama stories frustrate me and I speed through them simply to find out what happens. This novel, however, was so well balanced between the tragedy of the past and the looming tragedies of the present that I was more than satisfied to...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Jeannie Turicik rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was one of the best stories I have read in a long time. So often an avid reader can predict where a story is going by the middle of the book-but Christina Schwarz really does a wonderful job of weaving a web that you just can't put all the pieces together until the last few pages.
The story takes place in Wisconsin and begins with Amanda, who is a nurse in the early 1920's, experiencing difficulties focusing on her patients at the hospital where she works. This is viewed as odd by her co-wo...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Elsje rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2008

Ruth remembered drowning.
'That's impossible,' Aunt Amanda said. 'It must have been a dream.'
But Ruth maintained that she had drowned, insisted on it for years, even after she should have known better.

Zo begint Drowning Ruth, de debuutroman van de Amerikaanse Christina Schwarz. Het boek beslaat de periode tussen beide wereldoorlogen en speelt zich af in een dorpje vlakbij Milwaukee, aan de Great Lakes.

De zussen Amanda en Mathilda wonen daar in het huis dat hen door hun ouders is nagelaten. Amanda...more

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Aug 23, 2010 Gaia rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Oprah

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My mother gave me this book. Someone from her work gave it to her. The good thing: neither of us paid for it. My mom told me it was hard to get through. She wasn't kidding.

The book centers around Amanda, a nurse who travels home to her family homestead in Wisconsin after she suffers several breakdowns while treating wounded soldiers. She had gone home to rest, get well and to help her sister, Matilda, look after the home while Matilda's hubby, Carl, was stationed in France. Sadly, there is a d...more My mother gave me this book. Someone from her work gave it to her. The good thing: neither of us paid for it. My mom told me it was hard to get through. She wasn't kidding.

The book centers around Amanda, a nurse who travels home to her family homestead in Wisconsin after she suffers several breakdowns while treating wounded soldiers. She had gone home to rest, get well and to help her sister, Matilda, look after the home while Matilda's hubby, Carl, was stationed in France. Sadly, there is a drowning. Matilda dies during the drowning. Young Ruth, Matilda's daughter, remembers drowning, but doesn't remember the details. Amanda takes responsibility for Ruth, raising her as her own, and then cares for Carl when he comes home from the war. Throughout the book we learn of the events that lead to the drowning and what truly happened that night. The plot is okay. The story-telling just bombed.

The author goes back and forth between first and third person, between World War I, War War II and the period before World War I and probably the period between both wars, but I don't remember because the jumping around was so mind-numbingly annoying. Some authors truly master the art of going back and forth between characters, narratives and time periods. Christina Schwarz does not.

The characters are unlikable and unmemorable. The only ones that were semi-interesting were Rudy the caretaker and Carl. And both were forgotten. Seriously. Carl plays a major part in the plot for a good majority of the book, there is tension and development there. Carl is desperate to solve the mystery of his wife's death. He searches the houses and asks questions, trying to get a clue. You are lead to believe that he may discover the secret. And then the author suddenly discards him. It was like she couldn't figure out what to do with him so she just ties up his story by saying he went to work on a ship and that's it.

Amanda, the main character, oh, you just want her to drown from the very beginning. Matilda is likable, but predictable. It's all cliché - Amanda is the less-attractive and more straight-laced sister. Matilda is the free-spirited pretty sister. Mommy and Daddy favor Matilda, blah blah blah.

Ruth had promise. First, the author has obviously never encountered a child. The narratives that supposedly come from 3-4-5 year old Ruth are obviously written by someone in their 30's who has maybe seen a small child once or twice and is just guessing at the way children think. Ruth's character seems like she is getting a sort of backbone and is developing into her own person and then her personality just fizzles out. I guess Ruth drowned twice. Once during the night at the lake where she literally almost drowned. And then in her life, drowned by her overbearing Aunt Amanda.

The plot is a little interesting. The characters are blah. The details leave a lot to be desired. No wonder it's an Oprah book club favorite. I can normally finish a book of this size in a day. It took me a month to read it. I forced myself to get to the end...which was predictable.

Was this review jumpy and confusing? Yeah, it's just like the book.(less)

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Feb 12, 2010 Misha rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Hard to say whether I rate this 3 or 4 stars. I did like the book a lot and thought it was cleverly written. The story was gripping, suspenseful and interesting. Amanda, the aunt/sister in the novel was characterized as a mental case. She could become irrational and do things that other people in danger. Normally, I do not put spoilers in my reviews, but with this book, I just can't help it. I didn't like how Carl went on forever believing that Mattie had cheated on him and died in childbirth wi...more

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Dec 31, 2009 Tinasitton Sitton rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book had a very good, interesting story with wonderful characters. However, Schwarz switches from first to third person and with in that third person,keeps the narrative distance moving in and out of limited and omniscience (within the same paragraph too) which is completely false. I don't mind seeing all these different perspectives but the way she presents them seems to be laziness or some sort of insecurity on her part as a writer. The story she creates is really a entertaining one (thou...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Amanda B. added it

Shelves: advisorybooks-2009-10

I picked up this book voluntarily when I forgot to bring in a book for our reading day. I have previously read books in Oprah's book club, and enjoyed them very much. When I saw the cover I had no real expectations for what the story was about but I did not let that stop me. I ended up kind of enjoying the book.

Initially I thought that the title was figurative and there would be nothing literal about it. However, much to my surprise the story had a lot more in store. One of the things I really...more

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Aug 03, 2009 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

I first read this book about 6 years ago and remembered really enjoying it at the time yet could not recall exactly what the story encompassed. I was not disappointed in my second reading. The story centers around Ruth and her Aunt Amanda, who cared for Ruth after her mother's drowning when she was a mere three years old. There is a certain amount of mystery that surrounds this death and the story is given to you in bits and pieces, the past combining with the present.

Upon picking up the book I...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Christie Bane rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had a slow day at work so managed to read this in under 24 hours. It was well-written, but depressing. It demonstrated very well how people get fucked up. They are raised by people who were also fucked up. And those people were raised by people who were also fucked up. And it's a whole self-perpetuating cycle. But this book demonstrates that in a way that is not completely without hope.

Even though I didn't really like any of the main characters, they were all very human. That is one of my fav...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Sheri rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: coming-of-age, male-female-power-sex-attractivenes

So..living in Madison I thought I would like this at least from the local rural flavor aspect. Unfortunately, I didn't really like anything about it. First, I'm was actually kind of annoyed by the setting. This is supposed to be a lake that is close to Milwaukee but also very rural. Amanda goes to nursing school in Madison, but then the hospital in which she works is in Milwaukee. They go on dates to Chicago, Appleton, Fond du Lac and other faraway places (places that would take 2-3 hours drivin...more So..living in Madison I thought I would like this at least from the local rural flavor aspect. Unfortunately, I didn't really like anything about it. First, I'm was actually kind of annoyed by the setting. This is supposed to be a lake that is close to Milwaukee but also very rural. Amanda goes to nursing school in Madison, but then the hospital in which she works is in Milwaukee. They go on dates to Chicago, Appleton, Fond du Lac and other faraway places (places that would take 2-3 hours driving EACH WAY in modern times going 70 mph on highways). Pre 1919, it would take them all day just to get to one of these locations. I was just annoyed with the way that Schwarz randomly peppered place names. Similarly, later we are told that the lake is close to both Janesville and Baraboo...not quite and especially not in the 1930s!

Then, for the story, I don't know what other people are thinking here but THERE IS NO SUSPENSE. We find out on page 1 that Ruth went in the water with Mattie; clearly Mandy got Ruth out and not Mattie. Yes, there is some wonder in our minds as to whether Mandy was mad enough to let Mattie drown, but there isn't any real big mystery here.

Later, Imogene tells us that her mom found her in the garden. Clearly, the whole town knows that Imogene is adopted; why then does Mary Louise beg Carl not to tell her? Why exactly on the night that Mattie disappears doesn't everyone wonder how/why Imogene came to appear? Isn't this a small town full of gossip? Why are they so incurious here (other than the obvious reason which is that Schwarz needed them to just ignore this all for the story line)?

Besides all of this, the characters were not always consistent. Amanda is the goody-two-shoes, prim and proper girl with an anger problem UNTIL she meets Clement and then she is a ditzy love crazed teenager. Matilda is a free spirit, but she is afraid to leave home and has crazy mood swings when Carl is away during the day. Oh yeah, and their strong mother is also mentally unstable. Huh? What is that all about?

There is also several problems with Arthur. First, he is six years older (almost seven) than Imogene and at least 4 years older than Ruth. I get that men married women who were much younger than them back in the day (and even now to some extent), but Arthur would not just be heading off to college (architectural school) the same time that Imogene graduates from high school. He also would most likely not be at a the dance at the pavilion, given that he was so much older than the rest of them. Unless they were all that much older an Imogene was the youngest by far (which of course doesn't make sense either). Further, there is NO WAY that Ruth didn't know that Arthur had found her mother in the lake. Carl reads the newspaper clippings all the time and Ruth is curious about her mom, she probably had them memorized. Why wouldn't she recognize his name?

I also found the whole potential incest thing to be unnecessary and crude. I saw it coming a mile away and (certainly it is the only reason Arthur is even required to be interested in the girls) it made me cringe. Amanda also had no reason to kill Clement. That was just overkill and vengefulness and there is no reason for Ruth to not be completely appalled by that.

Finally in the whole "wrap up" chapter in the end where we see that everyone lives happily ever after Imogene wants to stay out on the island. BUT SHE HAS ONLY EVER BEEN THERE TWICE. AND SHE DOESN'T KNOW THE TRUTH OF HER BIRTH. SHE HAS NO CONNECTION TO IT.

I just felt like Schwarz couldn't always keep her characters straight and she tried to write the story backwards to give it some mystery and really just overall it was a crappy read and unnecessary and annoying and had no real redeeming points.(less)

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