Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Book of Ruth

The Book of Ruth
The Book of Ruth
Author: Jane Hamilton
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
kbockl avatar reviewed on + 27 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


Well written but depressing. From the back cover:
- "A sly and wistful, if harrowing, human comedy. Hamilton is a new and original voice in fiction and one well worth listening to."
Boston Sunday Globe
- "Ms. Hamilton gives Ruth a humble dignity and allows her hope - but it's not a heavenly hope. It's a common one, caked with mud and held with gritted teeth. And it's probably the only one that's worth reading about." New York Times Book Review
- "Hamilton's story builds to a shocking crescendo. Her small-town characters are as appealingly offbeat and brushed with grace as any found in Alice Hoffman's or Anne Tyler's novels." Glamour
- "Jame Hamilton's novel is authentically Dickensian...The real achivement of this first novel is not so much the blackness as the suggestion of resilience. At the end, Ruth begins to put together her shattered body, pirit and life. Her words are awkward, as they have been all along, but suddenly and unexpectedly they shine." Los Angeles Times
- "A disturbing and beautiful book." Hilma Wolitzer