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The Book of Ruth | 
| Author: Jane Hamilton
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy Used: $0.35
You Save: $25.60 (99%)
New (1) Used (18) from $0.35
Avg. Customer Rating:  288 reviews
Sales Rank: 2564262
Format: Large Print
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 525
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0786210516
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780786210510
ASIN: 0786210516
Publication Date: May 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
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.
Product Description
General FictionLarge Print EditionMs. Hamilton gives Ruth a humble dignity and allows her hope but its not a heavenly hope. Its a common one caked with mud and held with gritted teeth . . . probably the only hope worth reading about. New York Times* A New York Times Bestseller* Dec. 96 Selection of Oprahs Book ClubWinner of the Pen/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award and acclaimed by Oprah Winfrey, The Book of Ruth is the story of a young girl who grows up in poverty and in the shadow of her brilliant brother. With few options of her own, Ruth clings to her semi-crazy mother and marries and supports one of Honey Creeks losers. When the precarious household erupts in violence, Ruth is the only one who can piece the story together and she gets at the truth in a manner at once ferocious, hilarious, and heartbreaking.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 283 more reviews...
 The Fine Line Separating Normal September 21, 2008
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 September 15, 2008
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 June 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 October 31, 2007
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.
 Intimate portrayal of small town life June 6, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Book of Ruth does a great job of examining family dynamics and everyday life in a small rural town. The relationships with the characters were realistic and the internal conflict of the heroine was poignant.
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