The book of Ruth

Gosh, I have plenty of book reviews pending. Will try to find time to post it. Promise. So here's one I've finished read a month ago. This particular book took me more than two weeks to read it because at times I find the writer a bit overzealous.

The book is called The Book of Ruth and rightly so since it was supposedly written by the protagonist Ruth Grey who in my opinion is a bit mental in the head. She lives in a small town in Illinois with her verbally-abusive mother (May) and had a genious for a brother (Matt). The book basically tells the story of how Ruth survives with all the misfortunes that betide her family.

Matt is like the polar opposite of Ruth. He is a math prodigy and since he was a kid, May has been preoccupied with him and neglected Ruth. But Matt always felt suffocates with May's attention and he never gets along with Ruth. When he finally leaves for college, he cuts off communication with his family.

For Ruth to counter-balance the negativities that she received from May, she conjured up an angelic icon of Aunt Sid (May's younger sister). She found friends with the oddest personalities and fell in love with the worst.

Ruth married Ruby who in my opinion is more disfunction than Ruth. They has no other choice but to stay with May. Ruby and May did not get along at all. The tension is always there and it gets worse when her baby came along.

The ending of this book is twisted and unexpected. You expect something big to happen but then it hits you without warning. The last couple of chapters of this book were the only thing that kept me engaged and wanting to know more, which of course means I have to finish reading it eventhough it is 2.50am!

What astounding about this book is you can see Ruth narrates her families and the people around her with amazing astuteness and yet she remain clueless with the string of bad decisions and dreadful choices she made.

This is not the most upbeat book I've read but I'll tell you this: It sure is thought provoking.

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