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A review by michelle_arnold
The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
4.0
I found this book difficult to rate, because I didn't ENJOY it, but it did hold my interest, and I think I will be thinking of it for a long time.
I was a little uncertain about the book at first because I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be about. I'm not really sure how I came by my copy. It might be something a friend passed off to me some time ago. Regardless, it has one of those frustrating jackets that quote reviews but doesn't tell you what the book is about. I looked on Amazon and Goodreads, and still had no idea what I was getting into. So I just dove in, and the first few chapters seemed to just ramble with no sense of direction. I was pretty worried.
But then, once the characters and their backgrounds were established, the story began to follow a linear plot. It's a relatively slow-paced plot, but it does move along, and you begin to get the sense that it is building towards something, something horrible. It's not until the book is nearly over that we get there, and I can honestly say, even with all the foreshadowing, I was not prepared for how horrible the event was. The ending of the book leaves the reader with hope that the main character's situation may finally be about to improve, but it could go either way.
So, what is the book about? It's about what happens to a girl who grows up isolated from the world and is continually told she is stupid and worthless, from the time she is born, so she never questions the veracity of those statements. Ruth looks like her mother, who has a lot of self-hatred that extends to the person she sees as a younger version of herself. To compound the situation, Ruth has a bright, good-looking brother, whom their mother worships. Ruth hates her brother for getting all of their mother's love, so they never become the allies siblings should be. Instead she's stuck with her mother as her only companion, so when she grows up, she follows her mother's footsteps. She never considers higher education because she believes she's stupid. She thinks she's unlovable, so when a man anyone else can see is bad news begins to woo her, she believes she's experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and marries him. Disaster ensues. It's devastating to read, but there are little pieces of hope sprinkled throughout the story. For one thing, Ruth maintains a kind heart and a sense of curiosity in the world around her in spite of the world trying to stamp these things out of her. Secondly, she does have one lifeline to the outside world: her Aunt Sid, who is estranged from Ruth's mother but exchanges letters with her niece through the years. Sid is an educated, independent woman who lives the kind of life Ruth can hardly even dream of, and she sees Ruth's potential. She encourages her as much as she can from a distance, but is very limited in what she can do to help.
If you grew up with a verbally abusive parent and took too long to realize your own potential, you will identify with Ruth. If you didn't, this book may help you understand why some people continually make poor choices and never do the things they're capable of doing. This is a great book for people who like being given something to think about, and people who are good at reading between the lines. Because the story is told in first-person, you receive all information as Ruth understands it, so you need to be good at picking up on clues if you're going to grasp the things Ruth doesn't quite understand.
If you need books to pick right up in the middle of the action and keep a fast pace, this is not the book for you. If you need to have things spelled out for you, don't read it, it'll go over your head. And if you have a prejudice against poor people, or specifically poor white people, then you're not going to get into this book.
I was a little uncertain about the book at first because I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be about. I'm not really sure how I came by my copy. It might be something a friend passed off to me some time ago. Regardless, it has one of those frustrating jackets that quote reviews but doesn't tell you what the book is about. I looked on Amazon and Goodreads, and still had no idea what I was getting into. So I just dove in, and the first few chapters seemed to just ramble with no sense of direction. I was pretty worried.
But then, once the characters and their backgrounds were established, the story began to follow a linear plot. It's a relatively slow-paced plot, but it does move along, and you begin to get the sense that it is building towards something, something horrible. It's not until the book is nearly over that we get there, and I can honestly say, even with all the foreshadowing, I was not prepared for how horrible the event was. The ending of the book leaves the reader with hope that the main character's situation may finally be about to improve, but it could go either way.
So, what is the book about? It's about what happens to a girl who grows up isolated from the world and is continually told she is stupid and worthless, from the time she is born, so she never questions the veracity of those statements. Ruth looks like her mother, who has a lot of self-hatred that extends to the person she sees as a younger version of herself. To compound the situation, Ruth has a bright, good-looking brother, whom their mother worships. Ruth hates her brother for getting all of their mother's love, so they never become the allies siblings should be. Instead she's stuck with her mother as her only companion, so when she grows up, she follows her mother's footsteps. She never considers higher education because she believes she's stupid. She thinks she's unlovable, so when a man anyone else can see is bad news begins to woo her, she believes she's experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and marries him. Disaster ensues. It's devastating to read, but there are little pieces of hope sprinkled throughout the story. For one thing, Ruth maintains a kind heart and a sense of curiosity in the world around her in spite of the world trying to stamp these things out of her. Secondly, she does have one lifeline to the outside world: her Aunt Sid, who is estranged from Ruth's mother but exchanges letters with her niece through the years. Sid is an educated, independent woman who lives the kind of life Ruth can hardly even dream of, and she sees Ruth's potential. She encourages her as much as she can from a distance, but is very limited in what she can do to help.
If you grew up with a verbally abusive parent and took too long to realize your own potential, you will identify with Ruth. If you didn't, this book may help you understand why some people continually make poor choices and never do the things they're capable of doing. This is a great book for people who like being given something to think about, and people who are good at reading between the lines. Because the story is told in first-person, you receive all information as Ruth understands it, so you need to be good at picking up on clues if you're going to grasp the things Ruth doesn't quite understand.
If you need books to pick right up in the middle of the action and keep a fast pace, this is not the book for you. If you need to have things spelled out for you, don't read it, it'll go over your head. And if you have a prejudice against poor people, or specifically poor white people, then you're not going to get into this book.