What is the author's style in Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz?

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz blends three separate narrators. Most chapters open with title character Ruth Sapphira Neumann and/or her aunt, Amanda Starkey, reflecting briefly on some past event. An impersonal but generally sympathetic narrator then takes over and deals with related themes and events in the present, while preserving a consistent past-tense narration. The remaining characters speak for themselves only in snippets of dialogue, often filtered through Ruth and Amanda's memories. The main narrator is omniscient, being able to relay to the reader the contents of character's minds. Ruth and Amanda have normal limitations in this regard.

Time often shifts between the narrator's telling of the tale and Ruth and/or Amanda's musings. The opening and closing dates of the novel are explicit: Amanda is asked to leave her hospital job on 27 March, 1919 and Ruth selects 13 April, 1941 as a fitting time to end her story. A few other dates are added in between to keep the story grounded in history. Initially the shifting is confusing, until the reader realizes the pattern. The shifts in time are generally marked by additional spacing but lack verbal warning. When Ruth or Amanda recall events it is contemporaneous to the action rather than a true flashback, but their telling can include flashbacks to still earlier events.

Ruth and Amanda are conscious of narrating their versions of the story, but it is unclear to whom they think they are speaking—and whether it is oral or written narration. At one point it sounds as though Amanda is speaking with a psychiatrist, but this is not consistently carried through. The net effect is enigmatic rather than confusing or distracting.