Gaia's Reviews > Drowning Ruth

** spoiler alert ** 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.