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: Average book
Summary: 3 Stars
This was an okay book to read. The characters were average and not magnificent. This review reads like the book: struggling to get interesting.Book Review: A beautifully written story,
Summary: 3 Stars
As I cross another Oprah book Club book off my list, I am now realizing why I did not read this book so quickly. It was a beautifully written story, but it lacked at times something.Johnnie Mae and her younger sister Clara are growing up Georgetown in the 1920's. At the time, the young girls cannot do many things. So they spend time hanging out at the river.
When tragedy strikes the family, they must pull together to be a family again. They rely on there strong family bonds and go from there. Johnnie Mae struggles with Clara's death. She hides herself to people and does not show her true emotion.
Until a young girl comes along that reminds Johnnie Mae of her sister Clara. She swears the young girl Pearl is the ghost of Clara who is there to watch over Johnnie Mae. As time goes on Johnnie Mae helps Pearl talk more and become more social.
The two girl's friendship was beautiful. How Johnnie Mae found such a good friend in the times after Clara's death. I also loved how they showed the mother and her struggles with losing a child and keeping herself calm and under control.
Overall, this was a good book, not one of my favorite books, but still something, I enjoyed reading.
Book Review: Beatifully written, but absolutely no plot
Summary: 2 Stars
This book was beatifully written. Breena Clark beatifully describes the lives of the Bynums, an African American family living in Georgetown during the 1920s. The main problem with this book is that it has no plot. The first quarter of the book is filled with striking events and interesting bits of characterization: Johnnie Mae Bynum's younger sister drowns in the Potomac, Johnnie Mae is experiencing growing pains as she approaches adolescence, the family is facing numerous trials and tribulations, and we meet several different potentially interesting characters. But where does all of this lead? No where, really. As these people keep going about their day-to-day business, the reader keeps waiting for a plot to surface, but it never does.Another problem with this book is that the characters remain more or less undeveloped. We learn about their daily lives and we can imagine what they're feeling in certain situations, but the author never really gives us a direct look inside their hearts and minds.
Breena Clark is clearly a talented writer, but it seems she was too bogged down in expounding on the superficial aspects of her characters' lives to give them depth or to create an engaging storyline. On the bright side, this book did leave me with some fascinating images of Black life in 1920s Georgetown.
Book Review: pretty good
Summary: 3 Stars
I usually avoid any book that was an Oprah pick but River Cross My Heart was really pretty good. This coming of age story will touch you. Johnnie Mae's baby sister was drowned in the Potomac. Johnnie Mae and her family live in segregated Georgetown. Racism is alive and dangerous. Johnnie is afraid that her parents blame her for Clara's death. Each of these situations is enough to make a book but Breena Clarke manages to blend the deep hardships facing her young heroine and brings it all to a satisfying conclusion. It will be interesting to see what kind of book Ms. Clarke writes next. Kimberley Lindsay Wilson, author of Eleven Things Mama Should Have Told You About Men
Book Review: A First Novel shows promise
Summary: 4 Stars
Although it would probably seem an insult to say that this book is "Good, for a first novel," it is nonetheless appropriate. Clarke's omniscient narration is intriguing, but unbalanced. The reader is much absorbed by Johnnie Mae's growing pains and attachment to her dead sister, but the other characters are only pseudo-developed. There are interesting splashes of color with Ina and Ella Bromsen, but the reader is left unfulfilled with the "haint" of Pearl.The novel is elegant in its portrayal of the hardships and struggles of African-Americans in Georgetown, balanced with characters who connect through plights other than just race.
The end of the novel was too abrupt, but this is symptomatic of many a first novel. This is an enjoyable read, well-balanced in smiles and tears. Along the lines of James Agee's classic "A Death in the Family."