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Drowning Ruth: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted
Unavailable
Drowning Ruth: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted
Unavailable
Drowning Ruth: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted
Audiobook9 hours

Drowning Ruth: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted

Written by Christina Schwarz

Narrated by Blair Brown

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.

From the Hardcover edition.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 26, 2000
ISBN9780375417917
Unavailable
Drowning Ruth: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted
Author

Christina Schwarz

Christina Schwarz is the author of five novels, including The Edge of the Earth and the Oprah Book Club selection Drowning Ruth. Born and raised in rural Wisconsin, she lives in southern California.

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Reviews for Drowning Ruth

Rating: 3.5564737669421485 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

1,089 ratings43 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The plot was interesting, but the narrator/author chose to forgive the characters their flaws (and make characters forgive the flaws of one another) beyond the point of realism, just so it would have a nice clean ending.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a REALLY good book. I recommend it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Psychological thriller about two sisters and the child they both love.Big disappointment that felt like a waste of time, ultimately: I was hoping for a twist but the answer to the mystery was exactly what I thought it was. Of course it's an Oprah book.Two stars instead of one because it did have well-written characters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    WOW!! WonDErFuL!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting narrative technique
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Did not like it...very depressing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I didn't like this book much, but I did want to know what had happened. I think my main problem with this book was that I found all of the main characters unlikeable. Up until about 3/4 of the book there wasn't one character that I liked reading about. All selfish people and cowards without any backbone. The first one I kinda liked was Ruth when she got a little older. The story in itself does have some good twists.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Set in WWI, this is the tale of two sisters - one who is married with a young child and a husband who goes off to war, and the other still single, who is nursing the soldiers, until she comes home for a rest. When the hubby comes home from war, he finds that Amanda is raising Ruth, as Mattie has drowned during the winter that the sisters had spent on the lake's island. But why were they there in the winter?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Different - a page-turner.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The. best. book. ever.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The style of writing made this book more interesting but there were times when I had to go back and re-read some bits as they didn't always make sense. I wouldn't call this a historical work though, it didn't feel strongly of any particular period.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not a bad read but I expected more. I enjoyed the characters but the plot was a bit contrived in places. The main character . Mandy, was difficult to like and/or sympathise with and I'd occasionally get her and her niece (Ruth), and the niece's mother, Mathilda, mixed up.this is not so surprising as there were strong similarities between these characters and at times I thought they were supposed to merge together.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Compelling story, good characters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Suspense tale of family loyalty and secrets. Told through narrative of Amanda, Ruth , Carl. What I liked was how the mystery deepens with each chapter moving back and forth in time with no resolution until the very end.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    What a disappointment! This book promised such an extraordinary climax, only to fall flat, cold and wet. Loose ends were not tied up, or tied up in very boring, anti-climactic ways.Almost like the author grew weary of this story, so she finished it as quickly as possible. It could have been so much more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I remember enjoying this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm not sure how i felt about this book. At times, I loved it. At times, i found it tedious. At times i found it endearing. And at times, I found it annoying.

    Many friends loved the book. I didn't love it. I enjoyed the parts of the story told by Ruth the most, I found Aunt Mandy to be tedious and more than a little bit shelfish.

    So I'm not sure if I would ever reccomend it to anyone. But if I saw someone picking it up, I wouldn't say "put it down" either.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's interesting that the title is "Drowning Ruth" not "Ruth Drowned" ... as if this is a continuing process, and in fact, it is.Ruth nearly drowns, literally; her mother does drown. Her aunt Mandy raises Ruth and drowns her in "love." When she finally shares the truth with Ruth, Ruth discovers that Mandy has wormed her way so deep inside her that she can never leave her aunt.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A brief impressionist painting of what it’s about: two sisters on a farm in Wisconsin around the time of WWI. An ominous lake with an island. A mysterious drowning. Matchmaking. Secrets. Madness brought about by despair. The long reach of the past, which sometimes cannot be outrun. A brief review: it’s a very plot-driven book which is always a bit limiting for me personally, but the story is well put together and well told, unfolded through different perspectives and in layers of past and present through to the last page. Quotes:On breaking up:“Clement swam so close that the spray thrown up by his kicking wet my cheeks. Wasn’t this enough, more than enough? Our happiness, after all, had once been real, even if he’d lied to spur it on. Why had I, in insisting that I be the most prized, the only beloved, hidden myself away from such delights?”And:“I dropped my hands to my sides, but I knew why I couldn’t find a rip, although I thought I’d torn free. The simple truth was, she’d wormed her way in so deep, I’d never get her out. If I changed my name and went to the ends of the earth and never came back, still she wouldn’t let go. She was stuck like a burr in my hair. No, it was deeper than that – she was inside me like a bone or an organ. She’d seeped into my blood with the air I sucked into my lungs.”On poo. I laughed over this one; like me Schwarz is from Wisconsin but I don’t ever recall thinking this while driving through farmlands:“It was a morning ripe with the smell of manure, an odor acrid when it first penetrated the nostrils, but compelling and pleasant like a good cheese the longer it clung to the air.”And then later:“By the time she reached the playground the sun had begun to set in crimson streaks and the manure had mellowed in the cool of the evening so that it now just seasoned the air with a hint of organic richness.”
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Better than just the summer read I thought it would be not the overwhelming angst of some of Oprah's picks but plenty of life-altering choices.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'd actually give this book 3.5 stars. I almost gave it a 4, but while this book was well-written and the mystery kept me interested until the end, it took a long time for me to get into this novel. Part of the reason is that the main character, Amanda, is very difficult to like most of the time -- although sympathetic, I also think she is one of those toxic people who hurts the ones she loves.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I wish Schwarz would have cut out about 1/3 of the book, it would have been a lot better. Also that whole island on the ice thing really creeped me out. She should have included ghosts - I think that would have added a nice touch. I know, I know. Go write your own damn book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fabulous novel set in the early twentieth century about familial tragedies and secrets.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this story of the woman who keeps a secret regarding the drowning of her sister. However, I was disappointed with the ending somewhat.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Set in the early 1900’s, Amanda’s life unfolds with the help of flashbacks and the occasional introduction of Ruth’s thoughts. Amanda has no use for self-pity and is forthright about getting what she wants. It is only as we see her life as a whole that we realize how much she missed out on love as a child, and why she clings so tightly to the only one left her, her niece Ruth. Throughout the book we assume, like the neighbors, that there is something not right. Perhaps Amanda had something to do with her sister’s death, as a way to keep from losing her love. There is the tinge of unhealthiness about Amanda’s love. And when Ruth chooses to stay with Amanda, you are left wondering if her life will follow the same pattern or if the truth that has finally come out will heal those old wounds.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really liked this book because not only was it a wonderful mystery novel, but the author also infused a real sense of family drama into the storyline. The story keeps you turning pages, but at the same time, an astute reader can easily deduce the ending before the actual climax of the book - which is why I rated it what it is. Somehow, the ending left me wanting more - but it was undoubtedly an interesting book to read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took me a while to get into, but once I hit page 50, I was hooked. The mysterious drowning of Mattie kept me pushing through each page. The author had a wonderful and unique voice, one that is quite rare. I look forward to reading more of her stories.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I liked this book. it kept me interested until the end when you finaly find out what happened between the two sisters in the story. The ending was bittesweet but at least not devastating.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting story. You know something really bad happened. I had a feeling that I knew what, but I totally guessed wrong! Since I am a voracious reader, and have a lot of mileage on my readometer, I am usually pretty good at picking up clues and references, but I misinterpreted these. And not because they were false clues (Ik hate it when a writer does that, tell you lies so that he can surprise you later on), but just because the human mind is more complicated than that. (than what, than easy, I guess)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really liked this book. It reminds me in some ways of Sue Miller's While I was Gone. There were two sisters Amanda the older and Mathilda the younger, and Mathilda had a young daughter Ruth. One night Mattie drowned in a icy pond and Ruth remembers drowning too, but she's alive. it is part mystery, part suspense, and part psychological thriller. A great book. Schwarz' first, but I can't wait to read her next one!