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Jane Hamilton The Book of Ruth (Oprah's Book Club)
Anchor Books 0385265700 / 9780385265706 PAPERBACK Very Good
0385265700 Amazon Review nOprah 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. n nFrom Publishers Weekly nIn her first novel, Hamilton takes on a challenge too large for her talents, said PW of this tale about a Midwestern woman who is loyal to her wounded and wounding family. Hamilton evokes Ruth's character marvelously, but others as seen by her are incompletely rendered. nCopyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Price:
2.00 EUR
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