Ruth Audiobook

" Excellent, excellent, excellent little book by Elizabeth Gaskell! Such a little gem, dealing with human failure and the grace and mercy of God. Wonderful characters, dilemmas, and a ring of reality throughout. "

" I thought I would love this, since i really enjoyed North and South. But it shows me why Gaskell is not in the canon. Yes, it's interesting that she redeems a fallen woman, but the book is disappointingly moralistic and predictable. Hated the ending. Some good subplots here and there, but none developed to satisfaction. "

" Good but very tragic. I wished it had ended differently than it actually had--but still an interesting read. "

" I liked this one. It was an interesting take on the fallen woman story. The characters are pretty realistic and I always understood why Ruth did the things she did. I may have felt like yelling at her at the beginning of the book not to do what I knew would lead to ruin (the same way you want to stop someone in a horror film from walking into the woods alone), but I understood her. I guessed the ending really early in the book, but that is alright. Overall, I enjoyed it. "

" I found this book preachy, long-winded and unrealistic. i get the fact that gaskell was trying to "teach" people to have more empathy fgor unmarried mothers who repent and "bastards" who did nothing to justify their fate, but gosh! She carries on and on about how poor ruth, preggie at 16, becomes a perfect angel after a few weeks of sinning with her cad of a Bellingham. There is no character growth, Ruth is just a pious boring woman whoes life ends when she falls pregnant. the minister and his sister never stop exploring sin. Its just terrible! "

" Ruth is a very moving story of an unwed mother in the Victorian age. A wonderful story of faith, acceptance and forgiveness. Read with a box of tissues. "

" OK. Good in that it raised awareness of single parents, but very moralising tone. "

" You have to read this book a portion of the time. It has moments where it can be a bit too much to take at one time. "

" This book was so marvellous! I love Elizabeth Gaskell. =) "

" This book was absolutely amazing and one of the best stories of redemption, forgiveness, and the atonement that I have ever read. I wept through so many lovely passages. The characters were fascinating, the story touching, and writing masterful. I can't stop thinking about this book. "

" The book was wonderfully written and I loved it. Even though, I suppose, it couldn't have ended any other way, it's only because it was so sad that I didn't give it 5 stars. "

" I cried and cried like a baby it was wonderfull. A story about someone really living to make up for their mistakes. "

" My friend Mary recommended this... By the same author as Cranford. I loved the plot of RUTH, but felt it bogged down in the middle. The characters of Ruth and her illegitimate son tug at your heart strings. As I age, I am having more trouble reading books with the small type and dense text! "

" Not my favorite Gaskell, though I did want to know what happened to the poor MC. She was a bit too sweet, kind, patient, forbearing, quiet, modest, etc., and in that way reminded my of Little Dorrit (also not my favorite Dickens). "

" What more can you say except Victorian melodrama at its full blown height. Fallen women, bounders etc... "

" One of the reasons I love the Victorian Era of literature is because of all the wonderful women novelists that emerged at that time. Gaskell is one of the best writers of the era. "

" I generally enjoy Gaskell's novels, but I found this one to be too Morally Uplifting for my taste. It's as if she needed to compensate for writing the story of an unwed mother by almost constant sermonizing. If you're looking for a good Gaskell, try either _North and South_ or _Mary Barton_. "

" Love love love Elizabeth Gaskell! "

" I really enjoyed this book - it was very thought provoking. It was wonderful and sad and it made me think about the difficulty in truly forgiving yourself for mistakes made in the past. "