The River Wife chapters 15 - ?

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The River Wife chapters 15 - ?

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1jfetting
Mrz. 25, 2009, 3:07 pm

I've finished the book, and I see that others have as well. Should this thread be for the second half of the book?

2sjmccreary
Mrz. 25, 2009, 3:33 pm

Yes, that sounds good to me. I'm not finished yet, but I'm struggling so much with it that if I stop before the end, I'll never get back to it. I think I'm about chapter 24, so hopefully not much longer. Don't wait for me, though.

3beckylynn
Mrz. 25, 2009, 8:30 pm

Yes, please let's just go to the finish so we can answer a few of each others questions! That is if I haven't erased this book from my mind for all of eternity already ;)

4sjmccreary
Mrz. 26, 2009, 5:37 pm

I finally finished late last night. I'm ready whenever everyone else is.

5jfetting
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 27, 2009, 1:43 pm

This book had so much potential, but didn't quite manage it. I feel like I've said this about every book I read recently, but she should have ended it a third of the way through. If she had just done the Annie and Hedie thing, and then ended the book with Annie's death (and I'd have killed off Jacques then, too), it would have been a much better story.

I loved Omah - a freed slave and river pirate, and I thought that the little bit of love story between her and St. Clair was very well done. It would've made a great short story, but why tack it on to Annie's story? My main problem with the book is that the different generations seemed too disconnected for me. I can see what she was trying to do, but again it didn't work for me.

The blurber on the back, comparing this to Absalom, Absalom! or Go Down, Moses or whatever is so very wrong. No, no, no. Whoever said it (can you tell I don't have my book with me?) needs to apologize to Faulkner immediately.

edited for clarification

6beckylynn
Mrz. 27, 2009, 2:48 pm

Okay, so did Jacques have some kind of special powers as to why he could survive all the things he did and for so long?
What ever happened to the slave girl that gave him all these powers- was it Omah perhaps?
What was the point of the daughter having a half brother? That never really played into the plot except for the occasional 'threat'.
The thing that bugged me most about this book, as I've already said, is the fact that the women seemed so weak and didn't really mind if their husbands were messing around on them- give me a break, even if it was the beginning of the century they would have had something to say about it.

7Donna828
Mrz. 27, 2009, 6:05 pm

You know, I feel so let down about this book. Even the LT "like-o-meter" said I should "love" it. I really think I was traumatized by the dog fighting and the heartbreaking scene with the baby. I probably got really picky about the author's style, the loose ends in the plot, etc. I don't regret reading it -- just wish it had left some better memories.

Jacques was just a little too reprehensible and, agreeing with Becky, the women of the story were such weak "stand-by-my-scumbag-man" characters that I wanted to reach in and give them a good shaking. Oh yeah, Sikeston, MO was called Sisketon over and over. Whether it was intentional or an editing error, it got annoying. Like I said, I am just looking for things to pick apart. Time to move on. :-)

8sjmccreary
Mrz. 27, 2009, 6:38 pm

I'm so glad we read this as a group, or else I'd never have finished it. The first part - about Annie and Jacques - I enjoyed and thought was well-written. After that, I thought it started falling apart. There wasn't one single thing that was a deal breaker for me, just an accumulation of small things. The magic of Jacques' agelessness, without any explanation anywhere about the cause or purpose or reason for it. Just about everything to do with Omah, who is arguably the most interesting character in the book, but was too heavily shrouded in mystery - without any clues or explanation. Maddie's half-brother should have been edited out. Then after Maddie discovered Jacques' body and cache of treasure, I thought there should have been some closure to that, either by allowing Hedie to also find it, or by explaning why it needed to stay hidden forever. Plus I wanted an explanation about why Jacques chose to die when he did. Finally, most of what happened to Hedie was superfluous. The bit about her acquiring a horse that was decended from a Jacques Landing horse was interesting, but didn't make much sense at the time and was never really connected to anything later. And I totally missed what was significant about Jesse and Vishti (except that she had some New Orleans connection - to Omah? I can't remember) and their daughter, whose downfall was such an ordeal, but really happened before she was introduced and so I never cared about her. In the end, I thought the most interesting part of the whole book was the cover illustration.

9beckylynn
Apr. 6, 2009, 6:32 pm

sjmccreary- you summed it up for me. You have the exact same questions/complaints about the book that I do. I couldn't have put my thoughts any better.

10tloeffler
Bearbeitet: Apr. 9, 2009, 10:41 pm

I feel like I'm weighing in very late, but it's been a busy week. I think I agree with all the above. I wanted to like this book, and I really did like her style of writing. But there were too many stories, too many unanswered questions (I never did figure out why all of a sudden, he was One-Armed Jacques), too many superfluous characters. The stand-by-your-man parts were irritating, but I've met too many women like that in real life. I don't like it but I know it's out there. A LOT. I can't say I didn't find it interesting, just frustrating, because I'd be interested, and then *poof* we were someplace else. Kind of like watching television with a man...

11jfetting
Apr. 10, 2009, 9:50 am

tloeffler, you made me laugh!

12sjmccreary
Apr. 10, 2009, 10:57 am

me too! right out loud!

13Donna828
Apr. 10, 2009, 2:35 pm

>10 tloeffler:: "Kind of like watching television with a man..."

Well said, Terri, and so true! Count me in on the laughter. :-)

14tloeffler
Apr. 16, 2009, 9:19 pm

I'm glad I can keep you all amused!

So what's the next book?

15sjmccreary
Bearbeitet: Apr. 17, 2009, 6:55 pm

Winter's Bone has been mentioned several times. Are we ready for it yet?

16jfetting
Apr. 17, 2009, 8:17 pm

I am. I even have a copy already! It's not too long, either.

17tloeffler
Apr. 17, 2009, 10:05 pm

I've ordered my copy. When shall we start it?

18sjmccreary
Apr. 18, 2009, 4:42 pm

My library owns tons of copies, and there are 20 available right now, so I can get it in about 2 days. May 1?

19jfetting
Apr. 18, 2009, 4:43 pm

that works for me!