Drowning Ruth (2000) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 5 stars

“Compelling book. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“"Drowning Ruth," by Christina Schwarz, might have been titled "Water and Ice," for this captivating mystery flows like dark water under deep ice, each clue to the past running like a fissure through the ice to give us glimpses of the water dark, and peopled, below.

At the outset, all we know is that when she was a small child, Ruth almost drowned with her mother and that she is being raised by her aunt. How Ruth's mother drowned and why she drowned, apparently with Ruth in her arms, is the essential mystery. Secrets are being kept, and as Ms. Schwarz takes us deeper into the unknowns surrounding the death of Ruth's mother, we discover that the mystery is layered, that the people and relationships we think we understand are more complex than we had supposed.

Ms. Schwarz shows her characters to us from different angles, different points of view; the effect is not unlike wandering about a house of mirrors reflecting faces whose features keep changing. In pursuit of answers, we encounter more questions; in pursuit of facts, we chase illusions.

Equal to Ms. Schwarz's story-telling genius is her descriptive power. The prose is rich, awakening all the reader's physical senses.
If you like wonderfully descriptive prose and narratives that explore the complexities of the human mind and heart, you must read "Drowning Ruth", a New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection.”

• Rated 5 stars

“This was a beautiful, sad recount of a woman where nothing seems to go right. I adore the twist and the lies that are never resolved. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“The author tells the story like a mystery so you keep turning the pages to find out what happens. I am a little disappointed at the ending. I feel like if you are going to be strung along the entire book, then you deserve a bigger pay-off in the end. Nothing is really resolved. ”

• Rated 2 stars

“This book was extremely difficult to follow....it skipped all over the place in timelines and also had different names for the same characters so it wasn't my favorite”

• Rated 2 stars

“took me a while to get into this but I am glad I persevered.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Interesting, has twists”

• Rated 4 stars

“Interesting book about how each person's mistakes affect each others lives. I like the way it was told through differing view points. You never quite knew what was really going on. I almost stopped reading at first, because it was confusing, but it was worth the read. It was thought provoking, for sure.”

• Rated 4 stars

“It wasn't a can't-put-it-down kind of book, but a good solid read. Love the anachronistic timeline and how the mystery unfolded. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“Review: Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz.

This was an interesting and fascinating read. I enjoyed and was moved by the concepts the author used by entwining the methods of family sticking together to form a bond. It’s a novel of one caring family member protecting one family member after another.

It’s a fiction story about secrets and the love formed within a family that gives the strength they need to do anything to make sure they stay safe. The story relates how coincidences and a lack of communication could achieve different responses from people to form conclusions of their own that occasionally misunderstanding the true secret that it was trying to protect. This description is how people get the wrong idea even in today’s time.

The novel exhibited the love between family members and how our hearts lead us to protect and keep secrets within a family over years. It was a quick and easy read that kept me turning the pages to the surprising conclusion.
”