I must admit that after this second reading of A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons my thoughts have changed and improved my rating from 2 to 4 stars. The reason I will surmise, having not written a review back then, is that I was younger and unable to connect on any level with the characters and I wasn’t reading this type of literature as I am now. I must have felt harshly with such a low rating but at least at this reading, I can understand why this worked this time around.This is Kaye Gibbon's se...

3,5* well deserved...the story is very simple, the love between a husband and his wife told until the tragic epilogue with the death of the woman for cancer. A tale with no particolar plot.... made of simple events, maybe even banal ( this is the reason for 3,5 stars), but reported in words as very few writers manage to do.I love Gibbons, her writing is clear, straight and direct... It reminds me a lot of Eudora Welty, but the Gibbons also masterfully manages to use a continuous irony here and t...

I should have been wary of this book since Oprah picked it for her book club, and I rarely appreciate her picks. But I had liked Charms for the Easy Life by this same author. I think my problem this time was simply my expectations. It's not a bad book, but not what I hoped for after reading the back cover. I expected a good love story. The main characters did love each other, but the book was mostly descriptions of all the unpleasant things that happened in their lives, culminating with him tryi...

Have you ever read a book and felt so distant from it shocked you when you realized you were actually in tears? This novel, such a quick read that a devoted reader will finish it in one sitting, seems so benign and irrelevant, yet works its way into your heart. By the end I found myself shockingly gulping for air. This may be an Oprah pick, but it's a smart book that I'd recommend to anyone who can appreciate a simple story line and a solid tale.

Beautifully written, A Virtuous Women, is the quiet love story of Ruby Pitt Woodrow, daughter of a rich farmer, and Jack Stokes, a tenant farmer. At first they seem an unlikely match, Ruby, although 20 years younger than Jack, is already widowed, Jack, unattractive and unsuccessful, has never been married. But both have had tough lives. Ruby is alienated from her parents due to her brief marriage which was a disaster. She is working as a maid when she meets Jack. Jack has never had much, althoug...

RATING: 4 STARS I enjoy Gibbons writing style and find that her stories are quite emotional. While this novel is quite short, the story is a powerful punch. I enjoyed this novel and am ready for more Kaye Gibbons.

One of the reviews on this book was from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper. Their review states, "So true and so vital I would swear there were moments when A VIRTUOUS WOMAN actually vibrated in my hands." When I read that review, I just knew that this book would be a 'good read.' I was so disappointed with this book. The only vibrating that I experienced while reading this book was when I experienced convulsions from a boredom seizure. I didn't like the characters-- except for Mavis, a...

The setting is Carolina in what seems to be the 1940's. These people are poor and their language shows their poor education.Blinking Jack Stokes met Ruby Pitt Woodrow when he was 40 and she was 20. When he meets her she was married but soon becomes a widow. Her first husband taught her to smoke and lung cancer is what kills her at 45. Jack and Ruby do marry. The story itself alternates between the thoughts of Jack and the thoughts of Ruby. This is the story of a love that transcends death.What w...

Harsh dialect and intense characterizations. I really truly wanted to give it 3 stars for the carved and at times intrepid voices but the entire life pictures drawn were too bleak and against any logical love or spousal core affections and common sense protections of each other. So I just cannot. I loved her "Charms" novel and a few others of her prose materials, even the shorty ones I have read previous to this one- but now I am finding the ignorance and abuse factors just dominant. And not in

After reading Ellen Foster, I thought I simply had to read more by this author. I made a special trip to the library to obtain another.I was disappointed. While I realize it is difficult to follow one superb book with another, this one fell flat, was choppy, was boring and I'm very glad I read Ellen Foster first or I would not have continued to read more.Ruby Trip is privileged by southern, small-town farm standards. She has loving parents who dote on her and who can afford food on the table and...

I loved this simple, oft-told story of two down-and-out people who find each under and get pleasure in the duty of caring for one another. The story and setting are not unique, but the voice of both characters, and the collage the story is laid out in, and the insights resonate with me still. OK, and I cried at the end. Not many books can make me do that anymore.

Gosh, for such a small book, it took me forever to read it. While I enjoyed Gibbon's writing style, she really does a good job making her characters lifelike, it just never took off for me. It was very slow paced. Nothing exciting happened that made me anxious to pick it back up after I put it down. Lesser characters Tiny Fran and Roland were painted as stereo-typical small-minded and selfish archetypes, creating the brunt of the conflicts in the story. The main characters, Jack and Ruby initial...

I read this book in 1997 and wrote a letter to the Oprah Book Club hoping to be invited to be on the show to have dinner with the author. I'm serious. I thought I could get chosen.I was at my monthly pedicure appointment with my feet in water when my cell phone rang. It was my son who said I should probably come home because the Oprah Show had just called and was going to call back. I jumped out of the water and went running home in time to get the second call.The producer asked me questions abo...

This was a very spare novel about a husband and wife, Ruby and Jack. The author alternates the POV between the two. I found the vernacular a little confusing at first, and the switching between narrators had me flipping back and forth to see who was speaking. The last two or three chapters were told by other narrators, and that was interesting. The book gives a very intimate look into their lives. You find out early on that Ruby is dying of lung cancer. It reminded me of some of Annie Proulx's b...

Meh. Started strong and drew me in, but then slowly fell apart.

This book has been collecting dust on my shelf for many years so it was a long overdue read. I assumed it would be enjoyable because it was a pick for Oprah Winfrey’s book club. Wrong assumption. I was disappointed and bored after the first few chapters, forcing myself to finish it. The reasons why? (A)few characters—most were not interesting (b)no plot (c)the writing style (d)mostly negative experiences described (e)left me with nothing—no food for thought. Thankfully, this was a quick read.

I started this book twice. The first time I thought it odd, rather strange yet in the back of my head I knew I have loved all of Kaye Gibbons books, so decided to start again. This book ripped at my heartstrings. It is so honest, told one chapter from the husband and one from the wife. It was short, an easy read. I don't often run across the word virtuous - it's definition is: having or showing high moral standards. Ruby was truly that.

I really did not like this book. I made myself finish it simply because it was not very long. But I struggled with it and even skimmed over 3/4 of the pages. I didn't like the way it was written, I didn't like how it kept skipping back and forth between the past and future with no indication of which part you were, and I didn't like the wording in which the entire book was written. I'm glad I finished it.

I didnt really care for this book. It wasn't bad, it just didnt captivate me, it was something to do, more than a book I couldn't put down... I actually read up to the last 10 pages and didnt bother to finish, I just wasnt that interested....

A quiet little book told from alternating perspectives of a husband and wife. The book starts off with telling you that the wife dies of cancer, and as it goes on each one is reflecting on their life and life together. They're speaking from the future - her, right before she passes away, him, after she passes away. It goes through the trials and hardships they had as individuals and as a couple, and ends in a slightly different tone which helps to reveal the depth of emotions. I enjoyed Gibbons'...

My interest in this story was initially poked during one of my husband’s daily devotion. That day’s lesson was entitled Greatness written by Brian K. Bauknight and the Bible reference was from Proverbs 31:10-31. That day was my birthday.A virtuous woman, Ruby was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. Instead of worrying on her dying state, she busied herself preparing food for her husband for the months ahead… when she’s already gone. She was more worried about how Jack will get by without her. Being or

I don't really know why I decided to read this book. I found it at a bookstore, and it was basically free. It was probably because it was short. It was pretty good. A simple story of a small community's life with its sorrows and loves that easily strikes a chord with its reader's lives.

59th book read in 2016.Number 503 out of 552 on my all time book list.Review Pending:

When the final page in a book leaves you with a lump in your throat, it's an automatic 5 star.

Full disclaimer so you can appreciate the sincerity behind my review- I didn't expect to like A Virtuous Woman as much as I ended up liking it! This title has been on my TBR shelf for ages and has a low page count, so I picked it up in a last-ditch attempt to finish my Mount TBR challenge for 2020. The title seemed very 'literary' and 'old-fashioned' and I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep focus long enough for me to finish it. When I ended up near tears toward the end, I was pleasantly surprised....

This is a compact story of a marriage between two souls who stumbled into each other, one who sees the potential to fill a missing gap in his life and the other who is recovering from a loveless marriage and isn't really looking for anything. The tale is skillfully and poetically told with alternating points of view from chapter to chapter. The story is bittersweet since Ruby has terminal cancer, and some of it is painful to read. "His frustration and anger had rooted in and taken hold well belo...

A Virtuous Woman is a Southern novella told in the split perspective of a husband who has lost his wife and the wife, now dead, looking back on her life. It was written in the '80s and there were some problematic racial depictions but it was a overall tender story about love and attachment and survival. I absolutely adored Gibbons book Charms for the Easy Life, a 20th century tale of three generations of women and their no-nonsense approach to female empowerment. Virtuous Woman did not grab me n...

I just looked again at the stars in the rating system: two stars is for "it was ok." OK. I vacillate between liking aspects of A Virtuous Woman and feeling "meh" about this short novel (only 165 pages so good for a fast read).What I appreciate: the two narrators, Blinking Jack Ernest Stokes, a 40 yo tenant farmer who falls in love with and remains in love with Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes, the 20 yo widow he marries. As different as can be, they enjoy a comfortable, companionable marriage until Ruby...

I like this and I like the style Gibbons has in general. Vivid, something you can sink your fingers into while reading. It's warm as well, tender at the right places. I wish these characters were perhaps a little more individual than their concept types, but it's still a good book even with that. I enjoyed reading.

Ruby Pitt Woodrow is the daughter of a comfortably off Virginia farming family who has run off and married a migrant worker, and very swiftly regretted it. Jack Stokes is an older worker on one of the farms she ends up at, who helps her through tough times. This is their unlikely but sweet and convincing love story.This is a very slow, restrained book. Some may not like it, but I did.