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| The River Wife: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Jonis Agee
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $2.98
You Save: $11.02 (79%)
New (37) Used (36) from $2.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 20421
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 081297719X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780812977196
ASIN: 081297719X
Publication Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Thoroughly enjoyed this read. December 21, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this to be a wonderfully deep and enjoyable book. The characters were fascinating and well developed. The plots and themes twisted around seamlessly and I never felt lost between generations. I found the descriptions of the places and events to be accurate and of a place and time (early 19th century, Bootheel Missouri)that we don't often read about. I would recommend it highly to friends and to my book club. I would read it again and that doesn't happen very often.
 The River Wife September 13, 2007
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
On February 7, 1812 the New Madrid earthquake - the largest quake ever recorded in the United States - hit Annie Lark's Missouri house, trapping her beneath a roof beam. Unable to move the massive timber and terrified by the aftershocks, her family decides to leave the sixteen year old girl to her fate, but death is slow coming and she lingers until a French fur trapper named, Jacques Ducharme, rescues her days later. What follows is the story of Annie's life as Jacques' "river wife," which Jacques' descendant Hedie Ducharme discovers among the family papers along with the histories of three other Ducharme women. Together these stories take the reader from 1812 Missouri, through the Civil War and up to the bootlegging days of the 1930's. I was riveted by Annie's story. Her legs never fully recover from their earthquake trauma and her fearless determination to adapt to both this setback and the rough, sometimes violent, life she leads with Jacques is captivating. Agee's skill as a storyteller is evident throughout the novel, yet, try as I might, once the novel shifted away from Annie I wasn't able to maintain my initial interest. I enjoyed the tales of Omah, Laura and Maddie, but Hedie's story is lukewarm at best. While the other women are strong willed and clever in their own ways, Hedie is timid and willfully ignorant of her husband's true nature. There were more than a few moments when I couldn't help but think, "Come on Hedie, you haven't figured it all out yet? Gimme a break." Hedie's story is interspersed between chapters, so naturally her character influences the entire novel - especially the ending, which uses her life to conclude the Ducharme tale.
 The River Wife Won't Float September 7, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
As a longtime fan of Jonis Agee, I couldn't wait to begin her latest novel. I was sorely disappointed within the first 50 pages. "River Wife" reads like a formulaic historical romance. For the first time, the author fails to develop believable characters with which the reader can identify. After all, who can relate to people with such stilted names as Annie Lark, Jacques and Clement Ducharme, and Hedie Rails? Unfortunately, the author spends her time developing a by-the-numbers plotline instead of her characters. The setting is interesting and unique, but the story is both tiresome and thoroughly depressing. Descendents finding and reading the journals and diaries of their ancestors went out with "The Bridges of Madison County." Within the first hundred pages, Agee describes an incident so reprehensible and sadistic that I lost my stomach for "River Wife." How in the world could the 20th century Hedie Rails find comfort in reading Annie's gloomy journals?
Southern Gothic meets Rich Man, Poor Man September 4, 2007
Thoughts: 1. too long in the middle; 2. too short ending; 3. would like a sequel to bring it up to date.; 4. Continuity problems-found the jumping from character to character, age to age difficult. I keep thumbing back to see if maybe I had missed something. Then several chapters/decades later it would be explained how someone died.
However, I did enjoy the book. Days later I was still thinking it over.
Finally I came to the conclusion it is not a saga of a family or of the river. Instead it is the history of one piece of property. How different individuals are changed by their desire to keep the propery. Each character's loss is tied to this desire.
There is a turning point in each of their lives when they could walk away. They each make the choice to stay and suffer the consequences.
Dealie is changed from a world wise, wealthy, fashionable woman to a hag. Hedie is changed from a naive girl to a murderer. Even Jacque a happy go lucky trapper becomes a mysoginistic, demented, scrooge.
River Wife is worth reading, very thought provoking.
I wish there were ten stars! August 26, 2007
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I wont tell you what the book's about because both the editorial and private reviews have done that very well. I needed to write this review because this is the most powerful book I've read in over 15 years. I am listening to the audio version and am about halfway through it. This book touched me and for a while had me bawling my eyes out. For quite a while...and I don't cry easily. I can only guess that the bad reviews are by people who haven't experienced some of these things. I will definitely read the other books by this treasured author.
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