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 books. The prose is very spartan. These characters say what they need to in few words. It's intimate, but not overly introspective, which is nice.

I lost track of how many times I smiled or cried while reading this record of a marriage between a young woman and an older man. She grew up as the spoiled daughter of a wealthy Southern farmer who became the misused wife of a bum. He was the ornery and long-time bachelor who worshipped her from the first moment he saw her. Each chapter flip-flops between their own narratives as they tell the reader how they met and how they lived and then how one of them died and one of them survived. The Southern dialect is authentic and the reader can hear each character as if they are in a room visiting an old friend. One of the best things about this story are all the little sayings about love and marriage and regrets and their messages are grand and glorious, just like this unique love story.
Here are some of my favorites:
Sometimes we could all use a lesson in keeping quiet.
If you want to see a man afraid just put him in a room with a sick woman who was once strong.
And half the job of finding peace is finding understanding.

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' Ellen Foster a few years ago, but found this one a bit less memorable. That being said, I also couldn't tell you anything about Ellen Foster right now either, though.

I'm sure it was true to the life and slang and diction of poor whites in the South in (what seemed like) the 1950s...and it kept me turning pages with mild interest. But my bias against these people, who very much still exist, 21st century style -- and who represent the most ignorant of all the ignorant that the U.S. has to offer, kept me from feeling the down-home charm and emotion, and even empathy, that I'm sure many readers of it have felt.

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.

This book reminded me of another book that I read with a similar story. This story takes place in a different time period. The story is told about a woman that has cancer and her relationship with her husband. The author does a good job conveying his loss and love for his wife. It wasn't love at first sight, but they grew to love one another. This is a quick read.

Love her writing. Sweet novella.

59th book read in 2016.

Number 503 out of 552 on my all time book list.


Review Pending:

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.

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.

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.

Short, hard and full of the grinding grittiness of working lives lived at the sharp end, hand to mouth ‘A Virtuous Woman’ follows a path of much grief from start to ending. Despite this Kay Gibbons exceptionally gifted writing manages to keep the novel from sinking into a morass of sheer misery. Instead, it is something quite fine – a memorable work that defies the conventions. The language and idioms delight, the flashes of humour lift the spirits and Ruby’s strong homespun philosophy which rejects the deep-seated religion of the south marks its individuality. It celebrates the love between Ruby and Jack against all the odds and delivers a powerful dose of ordinary life celebrating the kinds of folk that are seldom celebrated. And who can fail to be delighted by the larger-than-life character of Mavis Washington who comes to help sort out Jack. My first Kaye Gibbons but not my last by a long chalk.