“The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
This is the story of Ruth Grey, a young girl who became an adult in the early 70's, in a small town full of quirky characters in the state of Illinois.
Ruth grows up poor, with a mother who is unhappy with her own life, after losing her first husband, the love of her life, in World War 2. After about 10 years of living with her parents, May marries another man, who becomes Ruth's father, but it is a loveless marraige, and he leaves the family quietly early one morning and ends up in Arizona, never to be heard from again. Ruth's brother Matt, gets all the attention from May, almost smothering in her love. Matt is smart and considered a prodigy, and as soon as he graduates from high school, leaves for college in Boston and does not come home except for a few rare visits.
Ruth stays behind with May, feeling not very smart and not very pretty, and humbly takes May's verbal abuse and accepts it for what it is, knowing that life is not happy for May. She goes to work at the dry cleaners with her mother, her mother still basically treating her as a child; even taking her paycheck for "expenses" making Ruth ask for money when she needs it.
Ruth becomes friends with Daisy, the daughter of her mother's best friend, a girl considered to be "fast", but with good heart. While hanging out with Daisy, she meet Reuben, nicknamed Ruby; a man she becomes attracted too, who also feels like an outsider and has trouble holding on to a job. He seemingly has a gentle spirit about him at the beginning, but when Ruth marries him, and circumstances have them both living with May, resentment grows quickly between Ruby and May. May is controlling and opinionated, and Ruby is not very ambitious and his feelings are easily hurt.
They soon have a child together, Justin, or Justy as he is called. Ruth gradually begins to tire of living with May, and Ruby's laziness, but she feels trapped.
Finally, the tension of all them living together is just too much, and an event happens that will change Ruth's life. It is a tragic event, but Ruth finds a way to try to make sense of it all, and prepares to take her life in a new direction that will be better for her family. It is not really a happy ending, but I got the sense that by the end of the book, Ruth found the confidence to take charge of her life, and make it work for her.
It was a good book, and while in many ways a tragic story, it was lightened by moments of humor and the various small town quirky characters who were part of Ruth's life.”