Drowning Ruth (Essay)

Drowning Ruth was been written by Christina Schwarz, a skillful writer. Schwarz worked as a teacher before becoming a successful writer. Drowning Ruth was her first novel. It was published on 2000, and became best known for her Oprah Book Club. 

The novel Drowning Ruth is a chilling, haunting debut about the relationship that bind families together and the secrets that can tear them apart. It is also a gripping psychological thriller. The main characters, Amanda Starkey and Ruth Neumann were brilliant in their escalating encounters. Experiencing love, hate, life and death; holding on to each other in their own way and determined to keep those whom they love close. 

The novel portrays two sisters. Amanda and Mathilda Starkey, whose lives were drastically changed on a cold winter night of the year 1919. Amanda, (Mandy for short) the elder of the two, worked at Milwaukee hospital as a nurse who wounded soldiers back into proper shape. She considered herself to be a brilliant nurse, until one day, she had been laid off, not permanently, but because of her hallucinations and various accidents that concerned both her and those around her. Amanda later decided to return home to the farm with her family in Nagwaukee, where her sister, Mathilda (Mattie for short), lives with her three-year-old daughter Ruth. Mattie being eight years younger, instead decided to get married, helped her parents on the farm, and raises a family. Both Mandy and Mattie shared a close relationship. So close that they were almost inseparable. But things began to change when Carl, husband of Mattie, stepped on to the scene.

Back 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. Soon after Mathilda's death, Carl returns home from the war with serious injuries, and he was been nursed back to health by Amanda. Ruth, traumatized, is behaving strangely and very leery of her father, whom she barely knows. The three of them live together for a while without incident, but after a while, Carl starts to suspect that there might be more to the story of his wife's death than he has been told. As far as he knows, his wife wandered out into the night all alone and disappeared, later to be found under the ice.

Amanda starts having serious issues again with her nerves and anxiety. She is institutionalized in a mental hospital, and Carl is left to take care of Ruth on his own. Worried that he doesn't know enough about children, he asks his cousin, Hilda, to come to the farm and care for Ruth. Ruth dislikes Hilda almost instantly. She is strict, serious, and humorless. She sees Ruth as a problem child, and seems almost to enjoy punishing her.

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. Schwarz certainly succeeds at keeping the reader engrossed.

As of the theme of Christina Schwarz’s novel Drowning Ruth, it runs throughout jealousy. In some flashbacks, it was been established that Amanda Starkey feel offended in losing her exclusive authority to her mother when Mattie is born. Then Mandy has to take care for the girl who is younger than her, much prettier than her, and more lovable than she. Mandy never let herself in being jealous. But when Mattie’s husband, Carl, went off to war after their baby Ruth was born, Mandy moves back to take care and to help raise the baby. Amanda grows obsessed with Ruth and openly preempts Mathilda's motherhood, making Mathilda jealous and resentful.

For all the things and memories that happened in the content of the book, I just find out that all of us had been experienced being in jealousy and anger. But all of a sudden, we should lessen it and be comfortable and be contented for what we have. Of course, through works, everything can change. Also, anger was been made by some serious mistakes, but all of the problems that made us angry, has all solution.

Moving on to the whole structure of the novel, it is in a proper sequence and orderly well. But at first, I’m getting confused on the flashbacks and the main story of the book. And on the middle part, I found out the reason why I am getting confused. My imagination was been mixed up with another visions, that’s why those visions were some throwbacks or some flashbacks.

As I evaluate the story of the novel, most of the content that I really get perplexed were the characters of the story. I ended it up by finalizing on what and how does the story will end up. On the part of the flashbacks and the other characters, I thought that some of them were important, but it is not.

In the over-all content, I find the story interesting. As what it says that the novel was best known in the Oprah Book Club, people might be interested on the whole plot and get some ideas and learn a lot about relationships, like love in the family, loving your friends, being trusted to someone whom you really love, every life of a person, and also the death.