The Book of Ruth

Hamilton, Jane

ISBN 10: 0899197442 / ISBN 13: 9780899197449

Published by Ticknor & Fields, New York, 1988

About this Item

First printing. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR ("For Jim - whose letter cheered me no end!") on the half title page. The first book and winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, by the author of "A Map of the World" and "Disobedience.".

Seller Inventory # 11118

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Book of Ruth
• Publisher: Ticknor & Fields, New York
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0899197442
• ISBN 13: 9780899197449
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First edition.
• Condition: Very Good +
• Dust Jacket Condition: very good +
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

The black sheep of her troubled family, Ruth struggles to keep the peace between her mother, her young son, and her slightly off-the-wall husband and to put the pieces back together when a heated situation boils over

Review

Oprah Book ClubŪ 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.