Drowning Ruth: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) by Christina Schwarz Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Drowning Ruth: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Now featured on my personal Top Ten list . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
I rarely send in reviews of books, but "Drowning Ruth" moved me to add my voice to the crowd. This is by far the most interesting and engrossing novel i have read in a very long time. I love it when I find myself sinking into the story, into the characters, and that is exactly the feeling I got when reading this novel. The writing is so good that it carried me away, to another place altogether, to a cold Wisconsin lake in the winter. Christina Schwarz paints such a compelling picture of the sisters' relationship that I felt almost a part of the scene. In fact, all of her characters are so vivid that i feel as though I would recognize them walking down the street. And the story itself is a page-turner. Anyway, BUY IT!! READ IT!!Book Review: Now featured on my personal Top Ten list . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
I rarely write in reviews of books, but "Drowning Ruth" moved me to add my voice to the crowd. This is by far the most interesting and engrossing novel i have read in a very long time. I love it when I find myself sinking into the story, into the characters, and that is exactly the feeling I got when reading this novel. The writing is so good that it carried me away, to another place altogether, to a cold Wisconsin lake in the winter. Christina Schwarz paints such a compelling picture of the sisters' relationship that I felt almost a part of the scene. In fact, all of her characters are so vivid that i feel as though I would recognize them walking down the street. And the story itself is a page-turner. Anyway, BUY IT!! READ IT!!Book Review: A Terrific Book
Summary: 5 Stars
In this remarkable first novel, Christina Schwarz brings to life a woman on the verge - of a mental breakdown that might destroy her family; of a new economy that might free her from the confining social mores of the day; and of the impending fall of the house of cards she has created by a lifetime of selfish and secret choices. This novel grabs not through surprising plot twists and tricks, although plot aplenty there is, but by creating engaging, complex characters whose fate the reader simply must know. Mandy, the protagonist, is sympathetic yet scary, a victim of social constraints but so intensely narcissistic that she just may be capable of evil. She can taste the liberation of the post-WWI boom, with its demand for women's labor and its promise of mobility, but she is stuck, physically and emotionally, in her rural small town. The suspense is unraveled slowly, and Schwarz offers abundant clues along the way. The mystery will not be solved until the last page, of course, but Schwarz shuns red herrings for the more satisfying confusion of abundant evidence, which like in real life often points in different directions. Subtle, intelligent, and evocative, this novel is the best I've read in some time.Book Review: Ice Ice Baby
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm no writer, so I'll just spew the kinds of cliches that you won't find in Christina Schwarz' fabulous book. You can't put it down. You never know what's coming. It's gorgeous and creepy and scary. It's complex. The characters are finely crafted. The sense of period and place is spot on. And oh yeah - the writing is great. Of course I'll never go ice skating again, but that's a small price to pay.Book Review: Just on the safe side of melodrama
Summary: 4 Stars
Wisconsin. 1919. A small town. A terrible secret. In most hands, these ingredients would blow any novel off the tracks in the first few pages, quickly degenerating into melodrama. Christine Schwarz, with impressive skill and beautiful writing, keeps her plot under control--but just barely. The mystery about the drowning threatens to overwhelm the rest of the novel whenever it comes to the foreground, but Schwarz's portraits of her characters and of the period lives they live is so persuasive, and so compelling, that you are willing to grant her enough leeway to get away with this story. A thoroughly enjoyable book, and I can't wait for her next novel.