River Woman. (fiction reviews).River Woman by Donna Hemans Washington Square Press, January 2002 $23.00, ISBN 0-743-41039-4 Newcomer Donna Hemans captures the voices of the people of Standfast, Jamaica, and transports readers to another place and time. In her ambitious debut novel, she skillfully skill·ful adj. 1. Possessing or exercising skill; expert. See Synonyms at proficient. 2. Characterized by, exhibiting, or requiring skill. slips in and out of dialect dialect, variety of a language used by a group of speakers within a particular speech community. Every individual speaks a variety of his language, termed an idiolect. with ease, giving the story an interesting color and character. River Woman begins with the tragic drowning drowning /drown·ing/ (droun´ing) suffocation and death resulting from filling of the lungs with water or other substance. drowning, n asphyxiation because of submersion in a liquid. of a three-year-old boy, Timothy, who wanders into a powerful river called Rio Minho in this forgotten town with unpaved roads, no running water and no electricity. Almost immediately after Timothy's death, a whispering campaign Noun 1. whispering campaign - the organized dissemination of derogatory rumors designed to discredit a candidate campaigning, candidacy, candidature, electioneering, political campaign - the campaign of a candidate to be elected begins among the people of Standfast: "She stan' there and watch the pickney drown drown v. drowned, drown·ing, drowns v.tr. 1. To kill by submerging and suffocating in water or another liquid. 2. To drench thoroughly or cover with or as if with a liquid. 3. like that. This mus' goin' haunt her de res' a her life. I believe she knew that baby was in the water and she watch him drown to get her chance to go a foreign." The "she" in this Jamaican town is Kelithe, a high school dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human and a mother at 15, who is forced to deal with the loss of her son and rumors that dog her about his drowning. While Kelithe's character is vividly detailed throughout, her mother Sonya, by comparison, is a bit of a mystery. At times, the narrative switches from Kelithe's voice to Sonya's, making the story confusing. However, Hemans' ability to entice her readers with lyrical language and an intriguing story line makes River Woman a page-turner. --Sadeqa M. Johnson is currently working on her first novel. |
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