Book of Ruth - Softcover
Pegged as the loser in a small-town family that doesn't have much going for it in the first place, Ruth grows up (unlovely and unloved) in the shadow of her mean and brilliant brother, Matt, trying to hold her own in a world of poverty and hard edges. The little happiness she finds is in reading the books on tape for old, blind Miss Finch and in the letters she receives from her adored Aunt Sid. Matt's genius for mathematics is his escape from Honey Creek, but Ruth, with no ticket out, cleaves instead to her tough and bitter mother, May, who continues to trickle out the last of her love to Matt even as he leaves them without a backward glance. Eventually Ruth meets and falls for Ruby, the sweet but slightly deranged man she marries and supports. Ruth spots stains at Trim 'N Tidy Dry Cleaners, bowls at the Town Lanes, and tries in vain to keep the peace between May, whose lashing criticisms blow through the cramped house with gale force, and Ruby, who spends his days getting stoned and watching reruns of Bewitched on TV. The arrival of Justy, Ruth and Ruby's newborn son, temporarily suspends everyone in mutual joy, but soon the baby becomes the object of their most heated contention. When the precarious household erupts in violence, Ruth is the only one who can piece their story together - and she gets at the truth in a manner at once ferocious, hilarious, and heartbreaking. In this powerful, incandescent novel, Jane Hamilton has worked a small miracle: She has given voice to a young woman you have passed on the street a thousand times. Perhaps you have never noticed her, but the next time you see her, you will know who she is. Passionate in her commitment to life, Ruth is a stunning testament to the human capacity for mercy, compassion and love. "The Book of Ruth" is Hamilton's magnificent debut.
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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.
From the Publisher:
"An extraordinary story of a family's disintegration... Will be compared to Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres. Astonishingly vivid and moving." -- People.
An enthralling tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying ways our lives" -- Entertainment Weekly.
Unforgettably, beat by beat, Hamilton maps the best and worst of the human heart and all the mysterious, uncharted country in between." -- Kirkus Reviews.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherBlack Swan Books, Limited
- Publication date2011
- ISBN 10 055277782X
- ISBN 13 9780552777827
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages334
- Rating
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