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" A Virtuous Woman", a Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
 
 
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" A Virtuous Woman", a Novel (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)

by Kaye Gibbons (Author) "She hasn't been dead four months and I've already eaten to the bottom of the deep freeze ..." (more)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Books (1 Jan 1920)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0375703063
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375703065
  • Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13 x 1.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,501,064 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #14 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > G > Gibbons, Kaye

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Review

" Kaye Gibbons shows us the secret core of a love that easily outlasts death. It's invisible mastery-- but mastery all the same." -- Reynolds Price
" So true and so vital I would swear that there were moments when A Virtuous Woman actually vibrated in my hands." -- "Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
" Complex, compact . . . onen thinks of a Lillian Hellman play. . . . The architecture of this novel is remarkable." -- Padgett Powell, "The New York Times Book Review"


Synopsis

In alternating chapters, two ill-matched people--Jack Ernest Stokes and his wife, Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes--describe their lives together and apart.
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Country Death Song, 12 Feb 2004
By Dr. Kenneth W. Douglas "drkennydouglas" (Glasgow) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: A Virtuous Woman (Virago modern classics) (Paperback)
This short, spare book concerns the unlikely marriage between Ruby Pitt and tenant farmer "Blinking" Jack Stokes, old enough to be her father and physically unprepossessing. The title is from the famous Old Testament passage about the price of a virtuous woman being "far above rubies": hence Ruby Pitt. Except for the last chapter, the novel is made up of alternating first-person narratives from Jack Stokes (after Ruby's death at only forty-five from lung cancer) and from Ruby herself, in the months before her death.

Both characters are beautifully drawn. Ruby is the youngest child of well-off, adoring parents who are still cutting up the meat on her plate for her when she is old enough to have a family of her own. She makes her escape by elopement with John Woodrow, a violent low-life who leaves her high and dry when he is fatally stabbed in a bar-room scuffle. When Jack Stokes comes to her rescue, she sees in him what no-one else has seen: a kind and capable man who will allow her space to be herself.

Jack Stokes is given a wonderfully earthy voice: the action takes place in the southern U.S.A., and he combines gritty country sayings with a disarming honesty. He is a man who never had much in life before Ruby; and after her death, he is again left empty-handed.

Ultimately, then, this is a fairly bleak little book. All the same, it would be worth the admission price for Jack Stokes' country sayings alone; and I'd certainly be interested in reading more of Gibbons' work.

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4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful language, strong characterisation., 11 Jun 2001
This review is from: A Virtuous Woman (Virago modern classics) (Paperback)
The book is written from the point of view of Jack and Ruby, each taking a turn in narrating a chapter.

The language is typical of Kaye Gibbons, as are the strong characterisations of the protagonists.

Ultimately, it is the story of two people who, despite their differences, have a fantastic marriage and a very strong bond.

The ending is very emotional, as are the majority of the events within the novel.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful language, strong characterisation., 11 Jun 2001
This review is from: A Virtuous Woman (Virago modern classics) (Paperback)
The book is written from the point of view of Jack and Ruby, each taking a turn in narrating a chapter.

The language is typical of Kaye Gibbons, as are the strong characterisations of the protagonists.

Ultimately, it is the story of two people who, despite their differences, have a fantastic marriage and a very strong bond.

The ending is very emotional, as are the majority of the events within the novel.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


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