The Book of Ruth
گزارش تخلف
فرمت کتاب
audiobook
تاریخ انتشار
1997
Lexile Score
950
Reading Level
5-6
نویسنده
Mare Winninghamشابک
9780743542135
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
November 3, 1988
In her first novel, Hamilton takes on a challenge too large for her talents. Ruth, the heroine, tells her story in the first person, but her limited point of view cannot do it full justice. Born and raised in small-town Illinois by a mother whose life keeps splintering, Ruth blames herself for her troubles, from the cold-blooded brother who always outsmarts her to the ne'er-do-well husband who nearly destroys her. Considered slow-witted, she has a cussed strength. Like the biblical Ruth, the Midwesterner is loyal to her wounded family, and has a talent for "stepping into other people's skin" while ignoring her own needs. Ruth's gradual self-discovery is often moving; her sharp-tongued vulnerability and whole-hearted hell-raising win our sympathy and admiration. But her transformation from victim to heroine is less convincing: Ruth's intelligence soars when she sneers, not when she mourns her errors. Another problem is uncertain plotting, with static stretches marked by obvious foreshadowings of events to come. The final violence that erupts seems exotic, not an inevitable product of clashing characters. Hamilton evokes Ruth's character marvelously, but others as seen by her are incompletely rendered.
Rogers's reading of Jane Hamilton's tragedy takes some getting used to. Her voice cracks, and she affects the accent of the uneducated. But after a chapter or so, it becomes impossible to imagine Ruth, the courageous and bereft protagonist of Hamilton's moving novel, sounding like anyone other than Rogers. Her reading captures the wonder, innocence and compassion of Hamilton's heroine, who finds herself wedged between her perennially resentful mother and her chronically irresponsible husband. The listener cannot help but ache for Ruth because of her suffering and her earnestness--and even misses Rogers's voice after the last tape has ended. M.O. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
دیدگاه کاربران