TITLE & AUTHOR: Drowning Ruth by Christina SchwarzAUTHOR PAGE: PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE 
WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT This counts towards the Popsugar Reading Challenge 2016. The category is 'A Book From Oprah's Book Club'. The book was chosen by Oprah in September 2000. OPENING WHAT I THOUGHT PUBLISHER: Headline
EDITION: Paperback
PUBLISHED: 6 September 2000
PAGES: 276 Pages
SOURCE: Owned
In the winter of 1919, a young mother named Mathilda Neumann drowns beneath the ice of a rural Wisconsin lake. The shock of her death dramatically changes the lives of her daughter, troubled sister, and husband. . . . Told in the voices of several of the main characters and skipping back and forth in time, the narrative gradually and tantalizingly reveals the dark family secrets and the unsettling discoveries that lead to the truth of what actually happened the night of the drowning.
Ruth remembered drowning.
Drowning Ruth is an okay book but nothing spectacular. I was expecting it to be pretty decent because it was chosen by Oprah. Oprah chose one of my favourite books, We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates. Nothing about Drowning Youth excited me. I also think I read this book years ago. The title is familiar. If I did read it the book obviously didn't impress me at the time. The characters were unimpressive. They bored me a lot of the time. I couldn't care less what happened to them. The whole book is built around the premise of wondering what really happened the night Mattie died. The characters are so insipid I didn't care what happened to them. They could all have died with Mattie and I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. The author failed to engage me on every level. The plot should have been packed with suspense and intrigue but the big 'twists' could be seen from miles away. The characters did nothing for me. I didn't care what happened to them. Drowning Ruth is tedious and lacklustre on every level. The book is short and it took forever to finish.
