I was looking forward to reading this one. Sadly, it was just ok for me. It took me longer than usual to read this book.

I liked this book. It had elements of a thriller including a reveal at the end, but it was really just a story of a complicated family who experienced great tragedy and loss.

Not bad for a first novel. Kind of fun to read about how things were many years ago, and there are some big secrets to be revealed, so it definitely keeps your interest, although not "gripping."

I am not an Oprah's Book Club hater. And I live in (and love) Wisconsin.
I should have liked this more.

This is a perfectly ok book. The writing is quite good. The story is quite good. The characters are interesting but...

Here is where I'm floundering. All the characters fell just thismuch short for me. They were so close to being beautifully flushed out characters but each one was just missing something that would have gotten me there. That something is the thing that makes me weep if the character is hurt or sad or dies. That something is crucial for a book as character heavy as this one. I couldn't get a firm grasp on the characters or decide if I really liked (or hated) any of them, which made me feel very "meh."

I didn't hate it and it kept me interested all the way through, but I also wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it. I likely won't remember it very well a year from now.

3 Stars

This novel tells the haunting story of two generations of a Wisconsin family brought together and torn apart by the lake adjacent to the family home. Focused on four women, sisters of two generations, the novel develops around the sisters' relationship with the lake, and the tragedy that ensues when it claims one of their lives. Much of the book is spent untangling the secrets which led to the drowning, and working out the complicated problems which arise from the family's attempts to keep these secrets.

Scwartz's story jumps back and forth across time, from past to present and back again. This means that the story develops piece by piece, and this is what makes it something of a mystery. I found the plot development to be one of the more satisfying parts of this book, seeing the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. I enjoyed the developments leading up to Scwartz's telling of what actually happened the night of the tragedy. After that point, however, I found the plot to be something of a let-down. The conclusion seemed a bit too neat, and a bit forced.

The most enjoyable part of this book to me was the way in which Scwartz set the scene- the way in which she managed to capture the sense of a time and place. The novel is set in the Wisconsin countryside in the first half of the twentieth century, with most of the action focusing on the last years of WWI, and the 1920s. Scwartz offers a convincing portrait of Wisconsin farm country in the late-1910s and early 1920s. Her descriptions are vivid, without being overstated, and her story intersects with several significant historical events, including WWI and the influenza epidemic. Scwartz gives her readers a strong sense of connection to the seasons, the land, the lake. I really did feel like I was part of the world about which she wrote.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this novel. The development of the plot engaged me, and the scenery captivated me. I was a bit disappointed by the ending, but my reading was by and large time well spent.

Maybe if I had read this book when it was first published, I would have liked it better. Too many reviews sometimes jades a person. I didn't always like all the characters including Ruth, and especially Amanda. The story is quite depressing, but I did get a lift at the end.

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.

Nope. Got this for one of my book club reads. Returned it to Audible without bothering to finish… and I almost always will fusing once I’ve invested. Quit about half-way through. Seems like a potentially intriguing story, but it just wasn’t well written or we’ll narrated.

Fascinating story about the secrets that we carry and how they don't stay hidden forever. A sad story of how one woman carries so many secrets during her life and how they affect all of those around her. I found myself unable to put the book down because this story was one that could actually have happened. Quick read for a rainy day.

First paragraph: Ruth remembered drowning. “That’s impossible,” Aunt Amanda said. “It must have been a dream.” But Ruth maintained that she had drowned, insisted on it for years, even after she should have known better.

This book had my attention with the first three words, and I never wavered on my interest even after I closed the back cover. This story rotates around two sisters, Mathilda and Amanda, with a connection that kept them together and eventually pulled them apart. We can build a life on fact or fiction. Some are even lucky enough to make bits of both sides work. But the cold hard reality is that the truth will eventually find its way to the surface and when it shows its face, it will be impossible to deny.

It is the Winter of 1919 – the war rages on and Amanda’s body and mind is exhausted from nursing the wounded and dying. She escapes to her old home and her sister to seek refuge. Her sister, Mathilda, is minding a home and her daughter, Ruth, while her husband is away in the thick of the fighting. The two women soon fall into a comfortable routine until love, jealousy and deceit paint a falsehood over their lives and it becomes hard to tell where the truth ends and the falsehoods begin. They say in life that we are free to choose, but that we are not free from the consequences of our choices. Both women have made choices that will affect their lives for eternity. Right or wrong, they must live and, if necessary, die with the consequence of their choices.

This story drifts from current to past to in between periods. There were times I had to stop to wrap my head around which time box I was in, but I eventually fell into the rhythm of the words. This was a poignant and heart rendering story of family love and devotion that proves you don’t always have to always need water to feel like your drowning, do you?

Here are some of the words used to describe this book off the back cover blurbs: “suspenseful” “chilling” “gripping psychological thriller” and “riveting”
Here are some of the words I would use to describe this book instead “dry” “monotonous” “uninspired” “flat characters plodding towards an anticlimactic ending”
Thanks for nothing Oprah…

I found this book to be weird rather than thought provoking and it had no thriller aspect. Just a generic story about the danger of secrets and lies and the difficulties women faced in 1919 and thereafter. Being an Oprahs Book Club book I had high hopes, which were dashed. Not recommended.