Helpful Score: 5
This is a novel about a close-knit African American community, living in Georgetown in 1925. The author paints a wonderful picture of the culture and what life was like for the people who were not too far descended from slavery. The story is centered around a young girl who has to deal with the aftermath of her younger sisters accidental death.
This is a feel good story and I would highly recommend it, especially to teenage girls and their mothers.
This is a feel good story and I would highly recommend it, especially to teenage girls and their mothers.
Helpful Score: 3
This is a story of a black family in 1925 Washington DC. They must deal with the drowning of one of the children. It was a bit slow and I felt the author strayed away sometimes so I would loose track of which character was being addressed at the time. I didn't really enjoy the book but finished just to see what happened.
Helpful Score: 2
This remarkable novel brings to life an entire community---the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., circa 1925---as it weighs the effect of a young girl's tragic death on the people she has left behind.
Helpful Score: 1
Very good read. I loved every minute of it. It painted a great picture of the DC area in the 1920's reguarding race.
Helpful Score: 1
Tried it cause it was part of Oprah's Book Club, but I couldn't get into it. Maybe it's just too deep for the kinds of books I like to read.
Helpful Score: 1
One of Oprah's Book Club selections, and for good reason. Such a moving story about one little girl's life, tragedies and more. Keeps your attention riveted all the way through.
Loved this book - fast vacation read with haunting and moving themes
Touching book about the loss of the main character's younger sister.
I have yet to be disappointed by an Oprah's Book Club selection - this book was no exception.
A story of how a family copes after the death of a child. Very interesting, though sad.
Interesting story
Like this. Oprah picks good books.
The drowning death of a child in the Potomac River brings change and challenge to a black Georgetown family in the 1930s. Detailed and evocative portrait of that society.
A little slower than I had expected and not much plot
Couldn't put it down, and the imprint stayed with me and I read it years ago.
GOOD STORY - Kept my interest from page one!
A beautiful, emotionally engaging story. It brings to life an entire community -- the Georgetown neighborhood of Wash DC in the mid 1920s about the effect of the tragic death of a young girl and its effect on those she left behind.
Unabridged. Story of a young black girl & the obstacles she faces.
emotional characters.
The effect of a young girl's tragic death on the people she has left behind. Very good reading.
Couldnt get with this one
Coming of age story circa 1925 in Washington DC. Beautifully cadenced prose. Oprah's Book Club choice.
I truly enjoyed this book. The description of Washington, D.C. in the 1920's was historically interresting. Communities coming together in tragetic situations and individuals rising above adversity make up the basis of this story. A good read!
Excellent book. Tells a great story about survivor guilt.
I love the descriptions of life in the Georgetown D.C. area at this historical time from the point of view of a black family. The setting is the most interesting part and the writing is good but the story left me cold and seemed to me like a typical Oprah's book club book choice.
Story of a young girl's tragic drowning, in 1925 era Georgetown, Washington DC neighborhood, and how her death affects the people left behind, especially her sister.
Oprah's book club selection
FROM THE PUBLISHER
A remarkable new writer makes her debut - with a novel of tragedy and triumph in the life of an African American family in Georgetown, circa 1925. Six-year-old Clara Bynum is dead, drowned in the Potomoc River in the shadow of an apparently haunted rock outcropping known locally as the Three Sisters. In scenes alive with emotional truth, River, Cross My Heart weighs the effect of Clara's absence on the people she has left behind: her parents, Alice and Willie Bynum, torn between the old world of their rural North Carolina home and the new world of the city, to which they have moved in search of a better life for themselves and their children; the friends and relatives of the Bynum family in the Georgetown neighborhood they now call home; and, most especially, Clara's sister, twelve-year-old Johnnie Mae, who must come to terms with the powerful and confused emotions sparked by her sister's death as she struggles to decide and discover the kind of woman she will become.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
A remarkable new writer makes her debut - with a novel of tragedy and triumph in the life of an African American family in Georgetown, circa 1925. Six-year-old Clara Bynum is dead, drowned in the Potomoc River in the shadow of an apparently haunted rock outcropping known locally as the Three Sisters. In scenes alive with emotional truth, River, Cross My Heart weighs the effect of Clara's absence on the people she has left behind: her parents, Alice and Willie Bynum, torn between the old world of their rural North Carolina home and the new world of the city, to which they have moved in search of a better life for themselves and their children; the friends and relatives of the Bynum family in the Georgetown neighborhood they now call home; and, most especially, Clara's sister, twelve-year-old Johnnie Mae, who must come to terms with the powerful and confused emotions sparked by her sister's death as she struggles to decide and discover the kind of woman she will become.
This book is sad and riveting. The characters are so richly written, it is as if they are in the room with you. Johnnie Mae is an original heroine and the book moved me to tears many times. A great book for rainy days and a fast read. I loved it!
I never finished the book...
An excellent, heart-warming novel.
Very lovely book. Sweet and I feel I learned some history as well.
A good book--------
Good heart tugging read.
A girls tragic young death and how it effects the people left behind...
haunting story...but warm also...
haunting story...but warm also...
Oprah's Book Club always had great books!
In scenes alive with emotional truth, this remarkable novel brings to life an entire community--the Georgetown neighborhood of washington, d.c., circa 1925- as it weighs the effect of a young girl's tragic death on the people she has left behind.
In scenes alive with emotional truth,this remarkable novel brings to life an entire community- the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington DC crica 1925-As it weighs the effect of a young girl's tragic death on the people she has left behind.
Very good book about the death of a child.
Very sad.
Very sad.
This is an Oprah Book Club book. I have become a real fan of her book club in that her selections for the most part are engaging and I almost always feel touched in some way by the stories. This one is no exception- it is a sad, touching story of a family and the older sister who has to learn to cope with the death of her little sister after she drown. Very good.
"A sweet read...sweet like homemade ice cream from a hand-cranked machine, and just as rich." - Holly Bass, Washington Post Book World
Oprah Book club selection. A portrait of the black community in the 1920s as seen by a 12 year old girl.
I liked this book.
Remarkable first book by Ms Clarke. She obviously had a personal story to tell from those who lived through the era of the 1920's in Washington, D.C. Although the younger sister's drowning is pivotal to the story, it happens early on and the action revolves around the older sister, as she "comes of age". Well-drawn characters and evocative images of everyday life. If you like to read and reflect, you will enjoy "River, Cross my Heart".
In scenes alive with emotional truth, this remarkable novel brings to life an entire community-the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, circa 1925-as it weighs the effect of a young girl's tragic death on the people she has left behind.
Lovely and heart wrenching story. THIS IS A PAPER BACK not hardcover. Was one of Oprah's Book Club selections.
Oprah's Book Club
