Welcome to The River Witch discussion! This post is for those who participated in The River Witch Read-A-Long. We will discuss our thoughts and opinions on Kimberly Brock’s novel.
Note: The discussion topics and questions will contain spoilers, so please read no further if you haven’t read the book yet. Here is some information about the book in case you are interested in picking it up for yourself:
The River Witch by Kimberly Brock
Published by: Bell Bridge Books
Published on: April 6, 2012
Page Count: 235
Summary from the Publisher: Can the river heal her?
Roslyn Byrne is twenty-four years old, broken in body, heart and soul. Her career as a professional ballet dancer ended with a car wreck and a miscarriage, leaving her lost and grieving. She needs a new path, but she doesn’t have the least idea how or where to start. With some shoving from her very Southern mama, she immures herself for the summer on Manny’s Island, Georgia, one of the Sea Isles, to recover.
There Roslyn finds a ten-year-old girl, Damascus, who brings alligators, pumpkins and hoodoo into her sorry life.
Roslyn rents a house from Damascus’s family, the Trezevants, a strange bunch. One of the cousins, Nonnie, who works in the family’s market, sees things Roslyn is pretty sure she shouldn’t, and knows things regular people don’t. Between the Trezevant secrets and Damascus’s blatant snooping and meddling, Roslyn finds herself caught in a mysterious stew of the past and present, the music of the river, the dead and the dying who haunt the riverbank, and a passion for living her new life.
~ Spoilers begin here. Read on at your own risk. ~
Thanks to everyone who has joined me on this Read-A-Long. Reading a book at the same time and discussing it soon after is a treat for me. I don’t often have that luxury, although a friend and I are starting a book club, so I hope that changes.
Here are the questions I came up with based on my reading and the Twitter discussions this week. Please feel free to answer as many or as few as you’d like. If you have questions of your own, be sure to let me know. I’d be happy to add them as soon as I can or you can pose them in the comments.
1) When we first meet Roslyn, she’s in rough shape. What were your first impressions of her as a character? How did it change over time?
2) How did you read the birth scene? What did you think about the crocheting and the yarn?
3) Damascus is equally troubled in her own way. What did you think of her quest with the pumpkin seeds?
4) What did you think about the setting on Manny’s Island? What role did it play in the book?
5) There are some interesting relationships in the book. Did you have a favorite? Were there any that didn’t work as well for you?
6) It was rumored that Roslyn had the ability to call alligators. How did you feel about this aspect of the story? Why do you think people who have spent most if not all of their lives on the island would believe such a thing about someone new?
7) How do you think men were portrayed in The River Witch?
8) What were your thoughts on Damascus and the last pumpkin? How did you feel about what happened in the river?
9) A discussion of The River Witch cannot be complete without discussing the role of Sacred Harp music and the way it impacted Roslyn’s journey. Was this book your first experience with this form of worship? Do you have something similar in your own life?
10) What do you think The River Witch has to say about life and its trials?
11) What were your overall thoughts about the book? Do you have a favorite section? Was there anything that didn’t work well for you?
Thanks again for reading along with me. I’ll be leaving my thoughts in the comments along with you.
TGIF, my friends!
Sorry I was such a slug and didn’t get this read.
You are not a slug! I was happy to even gave my little read-a-long a thought.
Here are my responses to the first several questions. I’ll be back later on this evening to finish them. I’m looking forward to hearing what you thought of the book.
1) I wasn’t really sure what to think about Roslyn at first. That first chapter was disorienting to me. I was much happier as Roslyn arrived on the island and tried to settle in. I could better grasp who she was as a character. I wanted her to get to a better place for herself and I was glad that her time on the island, specifically her time in the nursing home helped her find her future. I am glad that nothing progressed with Urey. He’s one character who never gelled with me. He would have been a disaster for Roslyn. She needed time to herself to heal.
2) I asked this question because even after finishing the novel I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I understood as time went along that the baby was stillborn, but the details with the yarn and crocheting felt very odd. I would be really interested in your thoughts about that.
3) I thought Damascus’ focus on those pumpkins was wonderfully innocent and worked well with her age and her situation in life. She’s got to make sense out of life somehow and with an absent father, she’s got to find or invent something to make sense out of it. Her care and concern over those pumpkins set her character very well for me. Her chapters were my favorite, especially after JB joins the picture. I have an older cousin and I look up to him to this day the way that Damascus did JB. That felt real and true to me.
4) Manny’s Island is so foreign to my own personal experience and I’m glad. The Trezevant family and the people on that island were quirky to say the least. That they lived in an enviroment outside of my experience made sense. That this place is remote and had a darker quality to it made the interesting beliefs they had seem natural.
5) Roslyn’s friendship with Ivy was my favorite relationship in the book, although it’s followed quickly behind by Damascus and JB. I think that more than Damascus needing Roslyn, Roslyn and Ivy needed each other. The only relationship that felt off to me was Urey and Roslyn. I personally couldn’t see her attraction to him. He never came off as more than a landlord to me. Unless Roslyn was attracted to him because he was more broken than she was, I couldn’t understand it.
6) I liked the first scene with Roslyn and the neighbor alligator. I think that set her character and it helped define her place in Damascus and Ivy’s lives. The part about the loud alligator noises and her ability to call them didn’t work as well for me. I don’t know if this is because the very idea is so foreign to me. I’m curious to know how others reacted to that. Although, if you’re from an area where there are alligators and, upon the rival of a stranger, they start acting up, I can see where that would come from. That rumor seemed to have started before she set foot on the island, though.
7) The River Witch was really a woman’s world. The men were really lost without their women. I enjoyed seeing women working together to make their lives better, but I was glad for JB’s character to balance out how damaged Urey was. I like to think that this world is a woman’s world, too (ha!), but a few good men are always nice to have around. LOL!
Jennifer, Thank you so much for hosting the read along! I’m so glad I read the River Witch, and I know I wouldn’t have read it without the read along. So thank you for helping me find another wonderful author to follow.:)
1. My first impressions of Roslyn were that there was a an air of mystery that surrounds her and I figured that we would find out about her past little by little as the book went on. Which I immediately liked, I love trying to figure out characters on my own. Also, when she first entered the book I wondered if I would find her a likable character. At first she seemed like maybe she had a reason to run from her past that might have been unsavory. (I’ll get to that in the next question.)
2. The birth scene was a little confusing for me (which I think was probably the author’s intent). I thought at first that she might have killed the baby. I was very happy this wasn’t the case to say the least. Later in the book I realized the baby was stillborn and it was one of those light bulb moments you get as a reader. I love moments like that when something clicks, but I also felt a sense of overwhelming sadness for Roslyn. The crochet squares in the birthing scene seemed to be a symbol of her expectations for the baby. She didn’t seem to really want the baby but she was doing her best to try to prepare for her arrival in her own way. Also, that the blanket wasn’t finished yet would suggest the baby came early which I didn’t get at the time.
3. I loved Damascus and her determination to see the pumpkins through. I also liked the element of her singing to the pumpkins and Roslyn not realizing it was Damascus singing at first. The author was excellent at suggesting the supernatural throughout the novel and thoroughly spooking me out with a plausible explanation later in the book.
4. I felt like Manny’s Island (like any really good setting) was its own character within the book. The history of the island (especially the shell ring and Delia’s house) gave the book an extra layer of mystery.
5. My favorite relationship was between Roslyn and Otis. I like that they helped each other discover something about themselves. Roslyn helped Otis become stronger and get out of bed, etc. Otis helped Roslyn see that she could have a career after dancing with benevolent ballet.
6. The alligator thing freaked me out! I live on the bay and we have alligators nearby. So to think of them making noise and getting stirred up by one person was scary. I have never heard an alligator make a sound though. So, I’ll keep an ear out and let y’all know if I ever hear one bellowing! lol
In small communities like Manny’s Island it’s plausible that the townsfolk could think someone could possess a skill like calling alligators because it corresponds with the folklore of the island.
7. I agree with Jennifer, The River Witch definitely portrays a woman’s world! I was also very happy that nothing happened between Urey and Roslyn. That’s actually one of my favorite things about the book. The author could have easily had Roslyn and Urey end up together living in the island house. A neat and tidy ending for sure but that’s not how real life works.
8. I was not expecting Damascus to climb in the pumpkin! I knew something would eventually happen with it but I was definitely not expecting that. The description of Damascus in the pumpkin kind of reminded me of a child in the womb. I felt like it represented a rebirth or reawakening of sorts.
9. This was the first time I’ve ever heard of Sacred Harp music. I downloaded some to listen to as I write my review though. I’m excited to hear what it sounds like!
10. I think the message about life’s trials is that dealing with them takes time and everyone must deal with the trials life hands them in his or her own way. Damascus, Roslyn, Ivy, and Urey each dealt with them in a different way with a different time frame.
11. I enjoyed the book overall. I would have liked to have known more about Roslyn’s past. I also would have liked to have had a scene with Otis telling Roslyn about the island’s secrets. Also, the conjure woman element could have been developed more. However, wanting more isn’t really a criticism. It just means I want to read more about the interesting world Brock created.:)
OMG! I never really connected Damascus climbing into the pumpkin and the womb, but it is so obvious! This is why I love discussing books with other people. That has changed my whole perspective on that entire scene. I can now see how she figured out her father gave her the seeds because of that.
I’m so glad that you enjoyed this book. Reading your comments has made me reconsider several things. I loved how you picked Roslyn’s relationship with Otis for your favorite. I like how Roslyn didn’t just throw in the towel after their first meeting. I’m also impressed that he was open minded enough to give her a second chance.
I wish we were talking about this book in person – with drinks. Now be safe tonight and stay away from the alligators! I hope that the time comes when I can visit you in your native habitat and I hope that when that time comes those creatures don’t start raising a racket and invading your kitchen. LOL!!!
I accidently downloaded this to my Kindle. It was quite a good read. My family is from SC and are all into the supernatural animal spirits, haints, etc., so I was familiar with the native American mythical flavor of the water, wind, earth, animal spiritualism, as well as being able to connect some of the Appalachian Sacred Harp tradition to the tradition of prayer meetings and lining hymns in the African American church.
The imagery was strong enough to pull you right into the pages. The characters were developed well enough to get the story told, though I too would have liked to have known more about what Roslyn’s great fall. While losing a baby, a beau and dancing career is enough, it just did not seem to warrant the weight of scandal she took upon herself.
It is purely a woman’e read. The men were a necessary part of the telling of the story, but they were kind the margins of the frame that held the women who, all but Nonnie, felt like they were not enough. They all had pieces to add to the puzzle, but the women (mainly Roslyn and Ivy) had to put the whole thing together and move ahead.
The conclusion was just a littel too neat, but well w
orth the read.