"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
After Clara drowns, the river is never the same, and Johnnie Mae hovers on the edge of womanhood wondering if she'll be able to get past her guilt and emptiness. In an eloquent passage, Clarke writes, "Losing a loved one, a family member, is like losing a tooth. After a while, those teeth remaining shift and lean and spread out to split the distance between themselves and the other teeth still left, trying to close up spaces."
Bits of wisdom like this are the book's charm. Most remarkable are the church scenes, which Clarke renders almost purely in the give-and-take of voices: the booming preacher's sermon ("The people we love, we only borrowing them"), and the congregation's "Praise Jesus, Amen" exclamations. The author based her novel on stories passed down in Georgetown--tales of that area's first black churches, founded when people decided they wanted their own place of worship, and implicitly their own God. In church the novel takes flight. Elsewhere River, Cross My Heart suffers from clumsy, purple prose, and a plot that moves forward in labored fits and starts. Clarke painstakingly tries to re-create this past world, but sometimes it seems her duty to history is holding her back, bogging her down in period-piece details. In the effortless church scenes, history loses its gravity and is absorbed by grace. --Emily White
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0316899992
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0316899992
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0316899992-2-1
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0316899992-new
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0316899992
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. 1st Edition. Author signed on the title page. White lettering on grey covers in a blue dust jacket. "Autographed Copy" label on the dust jacket. 8vo, 245pp. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 003335
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0316899992
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0316899992
Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.65. Seller Inventory # Q-0316899992