<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Innocent Until Proven Guilty
Review: "The people saying she watch the baby drown to get the chance to go a foreign." In Donna Hemans' debut novel RIVER WOMAN, the townspeople of Standfast, Jamaica cry in outrage as 20 year-old mother Kelithe Williams remains free after she allegedly observed her three-year old son, Timothy, drown in the Rio Minho River. Set in a rural community of Jamaica, the citizens of Standfast (stand fast) mourn, riot, protest and in some instances attempt to stone the main character Kelithe, in order to receive justice for a crime they feel has been committed. Kelithe's mother, Sonya receives news in Brooklyn, NY of her
grandson's tragic demise and her daughter's rumored
incrimination. It has been fifteen years since she last laid eyes on her daughter with a promise of "soon-soon I come for you." Three weeks before Timothy's death, Sonya sends for Kelithe, but with one exception; Timothy must stay behind. With searing questions, Sonya returns to her homeland-to bury a grandchild she never knew and face a daughter she abandoned
long, long ago. We read Kelithe's painful story as she sorrowfully retreats within herself, never fully mourning the loss of her beloved son, and Sonya's quest for answers as the "country women" relate the purported crime. What really happened that day at the Rio Minho River? Could a mother be guilty of such an act? Could Sonya be partly to blame? RIVER WOMAN is a mesmerizing narrative, filled with heartrending emotion of a child's endless quest for her mother's love and
acceptance, and a community's cry for justice . Donna Hemans
expertly intertwines Jamaica's patois with folklore adding credence to this fascinating tale. At times, I found myself laying the book aside as I shed tears of sorrow for the main character, and outrage at a mother's lack of solace. Donna Hemans has placed her mark in literary fiction with this lyrical debut novel! Reviewed by Nicki Lancaster
APOOO BookClub
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting!!! Could not put it down.
Review: I think Donna Hemans did a masterful job with this novel. I picked it up and was unable to put it down until I finished it. The storytelling is wonderful and the character portrayal was first-rate. I would recommend this book whole-heartedly. I am looking forward to Donna's next book.
Rating:
Summary: Forced Into Action
Review: River Woman is a haunting account at one woman's pain of lost love and an entire town's pain of justice denied. Kelithe is a nineteen year old woman whose son, Timothy, drowns in the Rio Minho River as his mother washed laundry. The other women at the river say that Kelithe stood by and let her son drown so that she could go "foreign" with her mother; a mother that left her in Standfast, Jamaica fifteen years prior. Enter Sonya, Kelithe's mother, who arrives back in Standfast for the wake. Kelithe denies her role in her son's drowning, while Sonya contemplates her daughter's role by shifting back and forth between blaming and not blaming her and listening to the natives' account of the drowning. The uniqueness of this story comes in the form of Kelithe and Sonya's contemplation through the reader only. Never do they deny or blame each other verbally for the drowning, the love denied, the false promises or the betrayal. The river and river women are symbolic as they represent all that Standfast has endured since Sonya was a young girl in Standfast and before. This incident forces the town into action and produces emotions that the island of Jamaica has never seen by the residents of Standfast. Written in a very lyrical tone, River Woman is a novel that will have you contemplating the ramifications of Sonya's actions fifteen years prior and her actions in the present. This is a sad account that leaves you wondering what exactly happened at the river that day and why.
Reviewed by Dawn R. Reeves, Apooo BookClub
<< 1 >>
| 
