Customer Reviews

Second Bend in the River

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love all her books, but the two I loved the most throughout all my reading were 'Time Enough for Drums', and this one, 'The Second Bend in the River'. I'm not really an historical romance buff, unless the romance is only part of a large web of historical detail and intriguing plot. These two stories, however, are almost all about the romance, and how the characters are affected by their love and the exciting times.

In this novel, a young girl Rebecca Galloway is growing up on the frontier. Relationships with the neighboring natives are tense: sometimes good, sometimes bad. She grows up in a household of brothers, learning to be self-sufficient and intelligent as well as attractive and feminine. It is this combination of qualities that draws Tecumseh, the legendary cheif who plans to unite the tribes to fight off the lying, cheating white government. Although he was there throughout her childhood, the age difference seems to be simply material and not worth thinking about.. in short, against all odds, they fall in love. When Rebecca is forced to make a choice between the dangerous and foreign life of Tecemseh's and her own "white" ways, things really start to get good.

However, at the end, I couldn't help but want to scream "You made the wrong decision!! Go back!!", even though the story works out so well as to completely make me love Rebecca's character, despite what I think was a poor choice on her part. Oh well, after reading the story, I couldn't help but understand, commiserate, and support Rebecca. I even thought she made the right choice after all.

I know I did, picking up this book!

"The Second Bend In The River" is about Rebecca Galloway, an Ohio settler in the late 18th-early 19th century, and her life from ages seven to sixteen. While the book is pitched as a historical romance novel, it's more of an examination of life in the frontier and Indian-White relations in the early days, before the tensions reached the fever pitch released in the War of 1812.

When Rebecca is seven, she meets Tecumseh, the fabled Shawnee chief. At first she is afraid of him and suspicious of Indians in general, but her family is relatively open minded and she grows to like him. She teaches him to read better and improve his grammar. While this is happening, the peace achieved in the 1790's is slowly deteriorating and relationships between the Indians and the settlers worsen. Rebecca's good friend, Nancy Maxwell, hates Indians because one of them killed her baby a long time ago.

The main characters of "The Second Bend In The River" are mostly Rebecca's family and the other people in the town. Tecumseh is really a supporting character. That's one of the problems ... the book can't decide to be a historical fiction novel about the Indian conflict in the West or a love story. The relationship between Tecumseh and Rebecca isn't very well written- although we can tell when Rebecca starts to fall in love with him, it doesn't seem really genuine. Also, some of the writing is a little sappy and cliched, for example, when Rebecca wishes her name was "Break In Parts", because that's what her heart does around Tecumseh.

All those flaws aside, "The Second Bend In The River" is an interesting slice of frontier life in America's younger days. The historical detail, characterizations and good pace keep you interested all the way through. The ending is particularly poignant.

The Second Bend in the River describes a young girl named Rebecca Galloway who falls in love with the great Indian leader, Tecumseh. Her family had moved to the Ohio territory to escape slavery in the newly formed United States of America. Beginning in the summer of 1798, the book traces Rebecca's life to 1813, during the War of 1812 with Great Britain.

When Rebecca first meets Tecumseh, she is only about seven years old, and their first conversation is really cute ("Tecumtha"). From that point on, Tecumseh and Rebecca develop a riveting friendship that eventually warms into deep love. Rebecca teaches Tecumseh some English while he teaches her how to canoe and some aspects of his heritage. The book goes on to cover Rebecca's growing up, the Galloway family (her many brothers and one sister), the town events and people, the hardships of life in the woods, and the people's distrust of Indians. All this gave me an insight of what life was like in the early 1800s, but oftentimes, I wondered when the book was going to get back to Tecumseh and Rebecca. Plus, the action could have been more in depth, for some parts were a little dry, and I suppose more description could have been used, although I thought the love between Tecumseh and Rebecca was depicted very sweetly. By the end, only the most stoic of readers will not utter a cry of empathy.

As she matures, her love for the Indian chief grows deeper, and in the end, she has to make a crucial decision that will affect the "fate of thousands." A bittersweet ending, but a good one nonetheless.

This was the first Ann Rinaldi book I'd ever read, and I loved it. It was the factually-based story of Rebecca Galloway, a pioneer girl who actually lived. Amid the love story of her and Tecumseh are woven details about the Galloway family and pioneer life in Ohio. At the age of seven, she met Tecumseh, an Indian chief and family friend. He was quickly charmed by the "little straw hair girl". He visits the Galloways many times over the years. As a preteen, she falls in love with him. Her feelings grow with her, although he's old enough to be her father. When she's 16, he asks for her hand in marriage. Her dream has come true. But can Rebecca abandon her pioneer life to live in an Indian village? Read the book

I loved the book and couldn't put it down. I liked the author's style and word choice. Rebecca's growing passion for Tecumseh was described especially well. (we teenage girls know the feeling, don't we?) In a way, I felt as if I were falling in love with him too. One of my favorite scenes was when he gave her a canoe he'd made for her birthday and taught her to use it. He told her not to row to the second bend in the river without him there. This second bend was a good symbol for their progression to the romantic stage in their relationship. He didn't want her to fall in love with him until he was there again to show her his own love.

Overall, this book was enthralling and I'd reccomend it to any historical romance buff.

This is a beautifully written book about Tecumseh's love for Rebecca Galloway. As a middle school teacher, this is a book I will recommend to students who are interested in American history, Native Americans, Pioneers/Frontier life etc. I believe it portrays an accurate picture of life in the 19th century. Ann Rinaldi did a super job filling in unknown information and keeping it historically accurate while blending it so well with the facts. She brought the Galloway family, their struggles, and Rebecca's feelings for Tecumseh alive. Kudos.

I only looked at the book, THE SECOND BEND IN THE RIVER, because it had an interesting title. When I read the summary on the back cover, and I saw the name Rebbeca Galloway. Rebbeca Galloway is my Sixth Great Aunt, and Andrew Galloway is my Sixth Great Grandfather. After reading this book I learned more about the times she lived in and some of the hardships she may have faced. The fact that she was in love with Tecumpseh has always been a family legend. But in the legend, Rebbeca proposed to Tecumpseh. I thought this book was very beautifully written and I enjoyed it very much.

I was on vacation, and I promised my mother not to read, but I bought this book and stayed up all night in the hotel reading it because it's wonderful. It was exactly the right length- it didn't get boring.

The differences in the cultures of the Native Americans and the settlers has never been so heart-breakingly apparent as it is in this story. Also, the portrayal of the bounds which love can and cannot overcome.

I loved the protagonist, Rebecca, and I loved Tecumseh. There was something very intriguing about their strange relationship, and Rinaldi is the only author who could tell this tale with such grace and feeling. I have read some of her books that I wasn't too crazy about, but this is my favorite. Well worth a read, it made me cry, but whether it was happy tears or sad tears im not telling!

I think this was Ann's best book so far. I love to read any of her books. The age of Rebecca and Tecumseh did not bother me becaused they loved each other. This is a great book and I think anyone who can should read it!

This book was mainly about a character named Rebecca falling in love with an Indian cheif, Tucemseh, or Tucemtha. I agree with the others that it bothered them with the age difference. But I think it was just that because Tucumseh has been in other books in different times.

Although I liked The Second Bend in the River, there was something that disturbed me. The age diffrence between the girl and the cheif. There was such a huge age diffrence. I calculated it once and don't remember what it was. The chief was old enough to be her father, by far. I have consulted my friend on this book who loves Rinaldi and she was also disturbed with the fact. Although it was disturbing I liked the book, although I don't often speek badly of a book. I hope if you read it that you might enjoy it.