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The Book of Ruth (Abridged) Audiobook, by Jane Hamilton Play Audiobook Sample

The Book of Ruth (Abridged) Audiobook

The Book of Ruth (Abridged) Audiobook, by Jane Hamilton Play Audiobook Sample
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Read By: Mare Winningham Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Listen Time: at 1.0x Speed 2.83 hours at 1.5x Speed 2.13 hours at 2.0x Speed Release Date: February 1997 Format: Abridged Audiobook ISBN: 9780743542135

Quick Stats About this Audiobook

Total Audiobook Chapters:

8

Longest Chapter Length:

37:19 minutes

Shortest Chapter Length:

26:57 minutes

Average Chapter Length:

31:30 minutes

Audiobooks by this Author:

7

Other Audiobooks Written by Jane Hamilton: > View All...

Publisher Description

"I learned slowly, that if you don't look at the world with perfect vision, you 're bound to get yourself cooked."

Having come within an inch of her life, Ruth Dahl is determined to take a good look at it -- to figure out whether, in fact, she's to blame for the mess.

Pegged the loser in a small-town family that doesn't have much going for it in the first place, Ruth grows up in the shadow of her brilliant brother, trying to hold her own in a world of poverty and hard edges. Matt's brain is his ticket out of Honey Creek. Ruth, without options, cleaves instead to her tough, half-crazy mother, May, and eventually to Ruby, the sweet but slightly deranged young man she loves, marries, and supports. When the precarious household erupts in violence, Ruth is the only one who can piece their story together -- and she gets at the truth in a manner at once ferocious, hilarious, and heartbreaking.

In this powerful, incandescent novel, Jane Hamilton has worked a miracle: she has given voice to a young woman you have passed on the street a thousand times. Perhaps you have never noticed her, hut the next time you see her, you will know who she is.

Passionate in her commitment to life, Ruth is a stunning testament to the human capacity for mercy, compassion, and love. The Book of Ruth is a magnificent audio experience.

Download and start listening now!

“Jane Hamilton’s novel is authentically Dickensian…The real achievement 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, spirit, and life. Her words are awkward, as they have been all along, but suddenly and unexpectedly they shine.”

— Los Angeles Times

Quotes

  • “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 kind that’s worth reading about.”

    — New York Times Book Review
  • “An extraordinary story of a family’s disintegration…Will be compared to Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres. Astonishingly vivid and moving.”

    — People
  • “An enthralling tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying ways of our lives.”

    — Entertainment Weekly
  • “An American beauty this book…The narrator of Jane Hamilton’s sensational first novel is a holy lusty innocent.”

    — Vogue
  • “Hamilton’s story builds to a shocking crescendo. Her small-town characters are a appealingly offbeat and brushed with grace as any found in Alice Hoffman’s or Anne Tyler’s novels.”

    — Glamour
  • “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

Awards

  • A #1 New York Times bestseller
  • An Oprah’s Book Club Selection
  • Winner of the 1989 PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award

The Book of Ruth Listener Reviews

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About Jane Hamilton

Jane Hamilton lives, works, and writes in an orchard farmhouse in Wisconsin. Her novels have won numerous awards, including the PEN Faulkner Award for Fiction, and The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World were both chosen as Oprah Book Club picks and made into movies. Her short stories have appeared in Harper’s Magazine. Hamilton lives in Rochester, Wisconsin.