Drowning Ruth
by Christina Schwarz
Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2002, Oprah Book Club 2000
Date Read: September 2, 2023
Drowning Ruth centers on a tragedy: the drowning of Mathilda in her early 20s. As a newlywed and new mother, Mathilda’s life was just getting started when she fell through the ice of a lake in winter. But why was she out on the lake at night? What was she doing on the island house at the center of the family’s property? How did her daughter Ruth survive?
While these mystery’s unfold slowly through the pages, we watch these characters age, grow and make mistake after mistake. I always get so frustrated when the truth could set everything right but no one is brave enough to utter it. Instead, elaborate schemes are deployed to cover up inconvenient or shameful truths, burying the schemers even deeper into lies and further than they want from the light.
Amanda embodies this 100%. She fell for the wrong man; a man who was obviously married but naive Amanda never put two and two together. Only after she had slept with him (scandalous for back then), did he admit he was married and was not intending to leave his wife. Amanda was heartbroken and angry with herself for letting her emotions get the better of her. She is so distraught and distracted that her job as a nurse is in jeopardy.
And as is often the case back then with limited to no access to birth control, Amanda finds herself pregnant with nowhere to run to. The only place she can think to go is back to the family farm where her sister Mathilda is living with her daughter Ruth. Their parents have long-since passed and Mathilda’s husband, Craig, is serving in the war. But how would she keep her pregnancy a secret and avoid scandal?
She convinces Mathilda and Ruth to move out to the island house where no one would be able to see her. They arrange for groceries to be delivered and spend an idyllic summer playing in the lake, reading, cooking, sleeping. On one blistering morning as Amanda is playing with Ruth in the shallows does Mathilda catch full-sight of Amanda’s belly and realize what’s going on.
They are successful in keeping the pregnancy a secret and when Imogene is born, their intention is to pretend as if a farm-hand’s wife died in childbirth and asked Mathilda to raise her daughter alongside Ruth. But when Amanda finally has her daughter, she realizes she can’t give her up. Through multiple tragedies of circumstances, Mathilda dies and Amanda gives Imogene to an old friend who is struggling with fertility issues.
As much as I believe Amanda had been trying to make good decision in bad circumstances, to protect herself and her family. But her behavior is atrocious at times. Her method of teaching Ruth to swim is brutal. So is leaving her baby daddy to swim back to shore, resulting in his heart attack and another drowning. She mentally manipulates Ruth so she doesn’t leave her. She casts aside Craig as if his marriage to Mathilda never really happened. Amanda is like a bulldozer, flattening anyone that stands in her way.
Comments
Post a Comment