River, Cross My Heart: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) by Breena Clarke Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of River, Cross My Heart: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Enticing novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an enchanting novel about growing up in Georgetown in the 1920s. It is also an insight to life in the African-American culture back then. It is about a young girl finding her way in the times and finding her future and finding her voice. It is a thoroughly enjoyable novel ~~ beautifully written too. Johnnie Mae loves to swim. She longs to swim at the all-white swimming pool instead of the Potomac River. She would stare at the swimmers at the pool which is across the street from her Aunt Ina's house. Always working and always watching out for her youngest sister, Johnnie Mae longs for more. Then when Clara, her sister drowned one afternoon when all the kids were swimming at the river, Johnnie Mae tries to deal with her guilt and memories. She befriends a new girl who reminded her of Rat ~~ the nickname she has bestowed on her sister ~~ and they grow up.
It is a neat insight to life back in the 1920s. It is beautifully written ~~ you see the world from Johnnie Mae's eyes as well as from her mother's eyes. It is a journey that lingers long after you've turned the last page. It's a book I highly recommend for everyone to read this summer! Perfect book for the poolside reading!
6-8-04
Book Review: Not the best book to read.
Summary: 1 Stars
The book starts out slow, and it weaves its way through the past and present, which gets a little annoying. While it does have some feeling to it, and it does give a good insight to what life for african americans was like back then, I was for the most part dreadfully bored with the book. Not something I'd really recommend to people to read.Book Review: A READING IMBUED WITH UNDERSTANDING
Summary: 5 Stars
This was Oprah's pick and it'll be yours too. Debut novelist Clarke presents an affecting story of a young girl's death by drowning and the impact this has on those still living in a 1925 Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.Ten-year-old Johnnie Mae Bynum feels the loss deeply as she was instructed to care for her younger sister. Guilt and confusion reign within her. Thus, we have a remarkable coming of age tale, we experience the family tensions that are the aftermath of such a tragedy, and witness racist feelings in a small community.
The author imbues the reading of her work with richness and understanding
Book Review: Ok book, nothing more
Summary: 2 Stars
This book wasn't exciting. Not at all. I had to read it for my school and would've abandoned it a while ago if I didn't have to read it. The ending kind of saved the book, since the last 50 pages were actually interesting and fun to read. That is no excuse however, for the first boring 200 pages.I think the problem here is that Clarke tried to go for too many messages in one book. I'm not a great writer, but when I write, I tend to pick out one message to go through in my whole book. Clarke tried to go for too much and the result was 200 pages of nothingness. I must say, once in a while, when there is a plot twist, it gets interesting for a little while. But then it gets boring again.
Talk about Clara's death seems to go on forever. I think it ends at about 60 pages after she drowns which is awful. I understand it's a great sadness, but I don't need 60 pages to do it. The way Alice acts at the trainstation also seems out of line. She was just not expected to do it. It's another message that shouldn't be there. And finally, Johnie Mae's tresspass on the white pool seems out of line also. It's an attempt of Clarke to throw in the little segregation motive which should've been left out.
CONCLUSION: Don't read this unless you have to. You're not missing anything. There are far better books that this one out there.
Book Review: Rich with great character develoment
Summary: 3 Stars
If you want excitement and non-stop action, go read "Die Another Day". But if you enjoy great characters that seem so real they leap out of the page, try Breena Clarke's new novel, a great attempt at a new novel. It's slow, but gives us white folks an interesting glimpse into black culture during 1925 in a supposedly liberated city (Washington DC). The underlying tragedy of a little child's drowning pervades the book like ripples in a pool. Try it!