Books and Cooks Ithaca -- January 2001

The Book of Ruth

Our rating as a stand-alone book:3.55 cups of tea!

Our rating as a discussion book: +

PEOPLE
Books and Cooks participants, email addresses and homepages where available.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS and RATING SYSTEM
Check out some of the books we've discussed in the past, as well as our rating system and ratings for those books.

RECIPROCITY
There are lots of other book groups out there. On this page find some links to bookgroups we've had e-contact with.

BOOK LINKS
Check out this pile of book-related links.

Discussion date: Monday, January 25, 2001

Discussion place: Katia and Ric's Place

Menu: Midwestern

From Amazon Editorial Review, 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.

The Books and Cooks The Book of Ruth Informal Reading Guide
(member-generated questions in no particular order)

• Did Ruth learn anything by the end of the book that would suggest she might avoid future catastrophes?

  Why didn't Aunt Sid or Matt do anything when they had misgivings about Ruth's marriage?

  Were Ruby's actions at the endo of the book a surprise to you or do you feel that they were foreshadowed from the beginning?

  Was Ruth mentally imparied (as in a specific condition)?

  Ruby was always described indirectly - through Ruth's eyes, through May's comments, Sidney's comments..., do we know enough to say what he was 'really' like?

  Why does Ruth refer to her mother as May?

  Did you see the crisis coming? Was it believable given the characters previous development?

  Is there any connection between this "Book of Ruth" and the one in the Bible?

  Do you think Ruth's preceptions of Ruby right before he killed May were accurate?

  Does it ever work for a married woman to live with her mother or mother-in-law? What is the woman's role in that situation? Can people change how they think about eachother (especially parent's thinking about their children?)

  Do you think that the aunt should have done more?

  Did the fact that Ruth was pregnant contribute to Ruby's 'snap' or did it, on the other hand, temper it instead?

  Did you have sympathy for Matt or was he a bad brother? Did the letter from him to Sid change your preception of him?

This Page Last Revised: February 18, 2001.