Product Description: Winner of the 1989 PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award for best first novel, this exquisite book confronts real-life issues of alienation and violence from which the author creates a stunning testament to the human capacity for mercy, compassion and love.
Amazon.com Review: Oprah Book Club® Selection, November 1996: The Book of Ruth is a virtuoso performance and that's precisely why it can be excruciating to read. Author Jane Hamilton leads us through the arid life of Ruth Grey, who extracts what small pleasures and graces she can from a tiny Illinois town and the broken people who inhabit it. Ruth's prime tormentor is her mother May, whose husband died in World War II and took her future with him. More poor familial luck has given Ruth a brother who is a math prodigy; Matt sucks up any stray attention like a black hole. Ruth is left to survive on her own resources, which are meager. She struggles along, subsisting on crumbs of affection meted out by her Aunt Sid and, later, her screwed-up husband Ruby. Hamilton has perfect pitch. So perfect that you wince with pain for confused but fundamentally good Ruth as she walks a dead-end path. The book ends with the prospect of redemption, thank goodness--but the tale is nevertheless much more bitter than sweet.
Poetic, but slo-o-o-w This book is very well-written. Hamilton's writing is quirky and poetic. But there is very, very little plot to the end. I grew impatient for *something* significant to happen, but not much did till the last 75 pages, when the book becomes a real page turner.
That being said, this is an interesting and accurate portrayal of a segment of our population that many of us never see--or choose to ignore. If you've ever wondered how people can be so ignorant and short-sighted as to keep themselves trapped in a cycle of desperate unhappiness and poverty, this book offers some explanation.
Not everyone rises above their circumstances. Despite what we read, that is the rare exception, not the rule. Ruth is a protagonist, yes--not the heroine we hope she will become. Few people manage to rise above such unfortunate circumstances, and her story (up till the last 75 pages) is sadly common for persons reared with almost every card stacked against them. I admire Hamilton's realistic portrayal of Ruth, and her unwaveringly and heartbreakingly realistic portrayal of her.
The Fine Line Separating Normal I found The Story of Ruth intriguing, depressingly sad, and so real. I was caught up in the inherent goodness that exixts in all people (Ruth, Aunt Sid, Rudy, Daisy, even May...) only to be caught off guard by the insanity in the inherent badness that also exists near the end of the book. The resilency of humankind is also an important theme in the book. I'll admit, I needed a good ending. It didn't happen, but it was one that leaves you pondering for a long time.
Ruth This book was enjoyable to read and the end was quite a shock. I would recommend this book to anyone. It was wonderfully written.
A faint gleam of hope in a bleak landscape What ever happened to that odd, quiet girl in your high school class? Ruth is that invisible girl, poor and proud, but curious, solid, and worth knowing all the same. She has a talent for bowling, a talent for loving, a gift for friendship, and a longing for understanding and truth. Her narrative looks at her bleak life unsparingly, tries to make sense of her suffering, and doesn't dodge her own culpability. We listen as she tries to make sense of tragedy, tries to understand the glib promises of faith, and tries to learn to be the mother her child needs. We count our blessings in comparison, but with a shudder, realize that "there but for grace, go I."
Soul riveting A sad story about a girl woman who suffers low self esteem derived from a long suffering childhood of verbal sometimes physical abuse at the hand of her well meaning mother. She is the strong one (only she doesn't know it) who shows unconditional love for a pathetic man whom she only sees the good in when no one else can. Sometimes we all get trapped in these type situations.
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