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Drowning Ruth  By  cover art

Drowning Ruth

By: Christina Schwarz
Narrated by: Blair Brown
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Publisher's summary

Deftly written and emotionally powerful, Drowning Ruth is a stunning portrait of the ties that bind sisters together and the forces that tear them apart, of the dangers of keeping secrets and the explosive repercussions when they are exposed. A mesmerizing and achingly beautiful debut.

Winter, 1919. Amanda Starkey spends her days nursing soldiers wounded in the Great War. Finding herself suddenly overwhelmed, she flees Milwaukee and retreats to her family's farm on Nagawaukee Lake, seeking comfort with her younger sister, Mathilda, and three-year-old niece, Ruth. But very soon, Amanda comes to see that her old home is no refuge—she has carried her troubles with her. On one terrible night almost a year later, Amanda loses nearly everything that is dearest to her when her sister mysteriously disappears and is later found drowned beneath the ice that covers the lake. When Mathilda's husband comes home from the war, wounded and troubled himself, he finds that Amanda has taken charge of Ruth and the farm, assuming her responsibility with a frightening intensity. Wry and guarded, Amanda tells the story of her family in careful doses, as anxious to hide from herself as from us the secrets of her own past and of that night.

Ruth, haunted by her own memory of that fateful night, grows up under the watchful eye of her prickly and possessive aunt and gradually becomes aware of the odd events of her childhood. As she tells her own story with increasing clarity, she reveals the mounting toll that her aunt's secrets exact from her family and everyone around her, until the heartrending truth is uncovered.

Guiding us through the lives of the Starkey women, Christina Schwarz's first novel shows her compassion and a unique understanding of the American landscape and the people who live on it.

©2000 Christina Schwarz
(P)2000 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A remarkable debut: surprising, unsettling and sure." --The New York Times Book Review

"A strong sense of portent and unusually vivid characters distinguish this mesmerizing first novel about horrifying family secrets and nearly annihilating guilt. Drowning Ruth is a complex and rewarding debut." --Anita Shreve, author of Fortune's Rocks and The Pilot's Wife

What listeners say about Drowning Ruth

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A book worth keeping

I listened to this book some time ago, burned it to cd, and filed it away. A few days ago, during a search for something to listen to on a long drive, I pulled it out and loaded it into the cd player of the car. I loved it as much the second time as I did the first, and was able to pay more attention and actually got more out of it. It is a marvelous story, and well worth burning, keeping and reading over and over again. I know I will.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Listen!

I really did enjoy this story! At first, I wasn't sure where it was going. But the author ended up revealing all the pieces of the puzzle in a fascinating progression. This way was much more interesting than a "straight timeline" from most novels. Definitely a woman's story and not surprising that it was an Oprahs pick.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

It wasn't so bad that I didn't get through it...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The plot is a "supermarket mystery," but the author's style is trying too hard to be artistic and literary...pick one and stick with it.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

the end was good. the beginning was very tedious.

What three words best describe Blair Brown’s voice?

raspy, lacks tone, lacks inflection

Do you think Drowning Ruth needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

no

Any additional comments?

Christina Schwarz is not a bad writer. She has a knack for vivid description, but I feel as if she's been wronged by a few too many men, and likes to vilify them in a way that is predictable and stereotypical.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Depressing

Ms. Schwarz told the story from the viewpoint of several characters at different times during their lives. She jumped around too quickly from character-to-character. I found it difficult to concentrate and follow. The story itself was fairly ordinary and predictable. However, I think her portrayal of farm life, a farm community and morals during and after WWI are fairly accurate. Ms. Schwarz makes a couple of points in her book: 'you are only as sick as the secrets you keep' and 'oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to conceive'. She made the points early in the book and just kept grinding it into the reader/listener. Ms. Brown's narration was extremely irritating. I listened to the entire book and find this is not a book worth re-visiting.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

Sometimes a little difficult to follow quickly with sudden changes from first person to third person, but brilliantly read. The narrator is gifted and her tone and inflection leads you to feel love, hate, and disgust for the complex characters the author has created. Read it!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful!!

I really enjoyed this book and couldnt stop listening.I loved the suspense leading to the conclusion.the author was masterful at unfolding the plot. I would highly recommend this book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Confusing

I found the story a little confusing because I had a hard time following the jumps back and forth in time. The “scenes” themselves were interesting, but I felt like I needed a minute to mentally process how they all related to each other when the time line would shift again.

The recording quality was poor, like listening to a story told over the phone.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Couldn't stop listening!

This book kept me intriqued all the way through. At first I thought it was slow, but then found myself thinking about the characters after I turned it off. It is a little bit of a mystery but more than that it is a story about real people - people you could touch and feel and understand. I highly recommend it. Parts dragged a little, but I found later that even those parts added to the overall story and made the book complete.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Wonderful!

I really enjoyed this book - so much so that I bought the paperback as a gift. I can honestly say the book has been thoroughly enjoyed by all who have since read it. An unexpected pleasure and certainly worth a listen!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A well-written historical novel

Slow to begin but excellent character development and the narration is exceptionally elegant and distinctive. Ideal for this style of book. A very well written historical novel

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1 person found this helpful