RAINWATER by Sandra Brown
Rainwater by Sandra Brown
This is a story about a woman, Ella Barron, who owns and runs a boarding house during the Depression in Texas. The title of the book comes from the last name of one of her boarders, David Rainwater.
Ella's life is not an easy one. Running a boarding house with a seven year old son with special needs, Ella's life is one of hardship and endless chores. Into this world comes David Rainwater who has an affect on everyone who meets him during a volatile and tumultuous time in their small farming community.
Words you may have heard associated with this book like "tear jerker" "different" "not a romance" are all true. This is a slim volume of 245 pages priced at $23.99. Frankly a bold move for Ms. Brown when this book is not a romance and would not necessarily have her normal built in audience of romance readers. OTOH, I bought it, albeit heavily discounted, at Costco, so maybe marketing people know more than I think they do.
Unbelievably moved by this book, I'm writing this within hours of having finished it. Right now it is so fresh I cannot even think of the characters or the story without weeping. Consequently, I'm unable to grade this story right now. I'm trying desperately to decide whether or not I'm glad I read it, which is a little bit of irony because Ella and David have a similar discussion about Hemingway's FAREWELL TO ARMS and voice the same question. Can one be glad they've read a book when one knows in advance the ending might not be happy?
This book was devastating and even though I can't say whether or not I'm glad I read it, it was a compelling read. The second half of RAINWATER I couldn't read fast enough. Am I glad I met these characters? I guess I'd have to say yes. If I had read reviews in advance like this one would I still buy the book? I don't know.
I do know that I will be thinking about this book for a long time and wondering what I was supposed to take away from it. The best I can say to you right now is that if you want to read something different and something powerful, RAINWATER will certainly fill the bill.
Ella's life is not an easy one. Running a boarding house with a seven year old son with special needs, Ella's life is one of hardship and endless chores. Into this world comes David Rainwater who has an affect on everyone who meets him during a volatile and tumultuous time in their small farming community.
Words you may have heard associated with this book like "tear jerker" "different" "not a romance" are all true. This is a slim volume of 245 pages priced at $23.99. Frankly a bold move for Ms. Brown when this book is not a romance and would not necessarily have her normal built in audience of romance readers. OTOH, I bought it, albeit heavily discounted, at Costco, so maybe marketing people know more than I think they do.
Unbelievably moved by this book, I'm writing this within hours of having finished it. Right now it is so fresh I cannot even think of the characters or the story without weeping. Consequently, I'm unable to grade this story right now. I'm trying desperately to decide whether or not I'm glad I read it, which is a little bit of irony because Ella and David have a similar discussion about Hemingway's FAREWELL TO ARMS and voice the same question. Can one be glad they've read a book when one knows in advance the ending might not be happy?
This book was devastating and even though I can't say whether or not I'm glad I read it, it was a compelling read. The second half of RAINWATER I couldn't read fast enough. Am I glad I met these characters? I guess I'd have to say yes. If I had read reviews in advance like this one would I still buy the book? I don't know.
I do know that I will be thinking about this book for a long time and wondering what I was supposed to take away from it. The best I can say to you right now is that if you want to read something different and something powerful, RAINWATER will certainly fill the bill.
Labels: Book Review, Sandra Brown
Posted by Rosie at 12:01 AM
11 Comments:
I must live under a rock. I'd never heard of this book.
For years Sandra Brown was an auto read, but too many books, too many authors sent me in other directions. This sounds very compelling. Maybe Amazon has it for the $9 special.
Very interesting. I don't read Brown, but I was excited to see that this was a historical (I love it when authors "come back" to historicals even if I don't read them).
But huh. Not a romance. Very interesting. I have a backlog of books to read - but maybe I need to see if we got this as an audio book at work......
TM, this crept up on me too. I don't watch or auto-buy SB any more either. When I read this was something different I was curious. Boy was it. I guess I should be perfectly clear that the book itself isn't out of the realm of the norm, but it is exceedingly different from anything Ms. Brown has done before.
SL, it is going to be very interesting to see how this book is received. I'm still waffling between was I manipulated or was it that good? Weird, huh? Let me know if you read/listen to it.
Rosie: I'll probably end up listening. We have the audio on order at work. That being said, our wait lists for audio on CD tend to be astronomical, so I probably won't be listening to it any time soon.....
Hmmm, I'm not sure I'm going to read this unless I'm in a real mood for a tearjerker. However, i find that Ms Brown has lately moved away from romance in my opinion.
So even with her name on the cover, i wouldn't have thought romance actually ^_^;
Wendy, I figured it would be a while. I think this one is going to stay with me for a while so I probably won't have any problem talking about it when you get around to it.
Nathie, this is not a book that will appeal to everyone, that's for sure. Although for some reason I think you might really like it.
A tearjerker that takes place during the Depression with a woman with a special needs child that isn't a romance with the required HEA - I don't think it's one that appeals to me. I have a hard time with tear jerkers even if they do end happily. If they don't, I don't think I could handle it.
So not buying a book barely 250 pages for $24. Library for me. But thanks for the review. It has been so long since I read a Brown novel. I love her old school categories.
Hi Rosie!
I am a HUGE Sandra Brown fan....love her! I've heard so many different opinions on this one, so much so that I can't wait to read it!! :)
Kristie, yup, that's why I mentioned I didn't know whether or not I'd read the book if I'd seen a review like mine prior. I won't know for awhile yet... I'm still digesting.
Kb, uh, yeah. Unbelievable isn't it? Good thing I bought it at Costco for half of that and even then it's still expensive.
Blanche, it's way outside Ms. Brown's usual book. I'd love to discuss it with you once you have a chance to read it.
Pentru cei care cauta aceasta carte in mod special, dar si alte carti din colectia romanelor scrise de Sandra Brown, gasiti o lista completa aici:
Carti de Sandra Brown
Succes!
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