Certainly not terrible, but I am at a loss why Oprah picked this for her book club. Never cared too much for characters, annoying dialogue and narration, just a forgetable novel for me.

The writing in this book is so good that I've read it twice. (Something I NEVER do. Nev. Er.) A Virtuous Woman tells the story of a married couple, Ruby and Jack, who meet each other, fall in love, and marry. Ruby later contracts lung cancer. Facing her death, she ruminates on her adventures and tries her best to prepare Jack to live without her. Jack savors the memories of the two of them, even as he knows he must move beyond them to continue his life. Chapters of the novel are alternately narrated by each of the two primary characters, a style which is effective because it lets us see the inner thoughts of both.

I enjoyed how this novel dealt with the definition of love. It is a subject worth considering, and one that can easily become maudlin. However, Gibbons' characters look at it with a steady, nearly objective eye. The characters know who they are and what they need from a mate. And when they find one another, there is a quiet cherishing that they do of one another. The love Gibbons writes of is a wise love, not young and foolish, not headstrong and impassioned, but matter-of-fact and solid as bedrock. I can appreciate such a story.

This was a quick and fabulous read! I felt as if I knew each of the characters.

So, let's see. A virtuous woman is one who'll marry anyone who asks her to, one who'll leave considerate parents without a backward wave because a man with an attractive face suggests doing so, one who decides to take up a distasteful habit to prove she's capable of vice. Each of the characters in this one-dimensional book is either exclusively good or exclusively bad. That choice of character template is lazy and insulting to readers who're aware that humanity can't be sorted so effortlessly. This review is based on the first ten chapters of the book. I wish I'd had the good sense to quit reading beyond chapter one. This is the last book I'll select based on its inclusion in Oprah's "list."

The story was fine and it was a quick read with some interesting moments but overall I would not recommend this book unless you just need something to read on a quick flight. I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. I believe if you go into this book thinking it's some amazing novel you will be disappointed. But if you are looking for something light to read without becoming engrossed you will be fine. I certainly wouldn't call this a page turner and have a whole list of books I would recommend before this one.

If the theme and heart-felt stories of Souhern souls resonate within your own soul, this is a wonderful read for you. It dares to probe the inner worlds of people in ways you will never forget. Another excellent read from a Southern voice about love, faith and the struggle to become whole can be found in Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Cherokee and Alabama author Jerry Ellis. The book was nominated for a Pulitzer and was featured in Readers Digest.

"A Virtuous Woman" is a short novel about an unlikely married couple who really make it work and come to depend on each other. The woman, Ruby, is 20 years younger than her husband, Jack. Ruby is dying of lung cancer, and the story is told by both Jack and Ruby in alternating chapters.

The writing style is similar to that we loved about "Ellen Foster." It's a fast read. But be careful. Don't read the ending on a bus or in a carpool, and have plenty of tissues on hand.

Highly recommended.

I am an avid reader and love all kinds of books. I thought that since this one was listed in the "Oprah Book Club" that surely it must be good. I got to the third chapter and was bored. I put it down and have not been tempted to pick it back up. When they tell you on the first page that the woman you are reading about has died, it kinda puts the light out on wanting to read the book. You already know she is going to die.

I really did not care for this book very much at all. I found it to be pointless. It is a quick read but at the end of the day what was the point? I am not sure. I did not connect with the characters and when it it all said and done felt like who cares???

She packed a lot of wallop in this short book. I felt like I'd had a cold punch to the ribs when I finished. It was a bitter sweet feeling though, I knew there was hope. She used the device of switching point of view between the two main characters, man and wife, chapter by chapter until the end when she increased the technique to a fever pitch. She chronicled the last few weeks before the wife dies of cancer, and the first few weeks for him after she dies. Her focus is not on the disease so much as an exploration of their love and reliance on one another. Profoundly moving, sad, sweet, and really well told.

I'd heard good things about this book. This was a quick read. I was irritated by the main character's low expectations in life. When I was done with this book I was like, "what was the point of that?" Enough said!

I just love beautiful love stories. A lot of the reviews say that this is "unsentimental," and I think what they mean is that it isn't maudlin. It's a book full of sentiment and emotion. It's also a nice read, and I enjoy books that have a great love story in them.

My book club enjoyed this one but, while we found some things to talk about, we all just kind of agreed on it and nodded a lot. Certainly nothing controversial that will keep your book club up at night.

This novel is a beautiful and breathtaking masterpiece. It is a light novel, but will leave a major impact on you when you are finished with it. I would consider it a General Fiction, set in the South and in the Country, with down-home people. I think this is Kaye's best novel.

I liked this book because it was a very simple story, but one that kept me hoping for the best for these people. It was sweet and sad at times but kept my interest until the very last page.
A good story, simply stated.

I purchased this books ages ago. I keep going back to read it from time to time. It is one of my favourite books and so well written. I do recommend it. It is sad but there are lessons to learn from "A Virtuous Woman".

I was confused at times with how the author just switched characters. Sometimes it seemed that it was in the middle of a paragraph. I liked the book and the idea behind it though.

This is a love story about Ruby and Jack, two simple people who appreciate the kindness that the other has to offer. There is no great passion between Ruby and Jack, and their lives are quite ordinary and middle (if not "lower middle") class. Ruby is a heavy smoker, a habit that she picked up from her abusive first husband. Jack is a quiet and uneducated man who likes Ruby's bad cooking. When Ruby is diagnosed with lung cancer, Jack's whole world falls apart. Perhaps a psychologist would label the two as "co-dependent." In fact, Ruby and Jack have discovered the key ingredient that makes every good marriage work: Ruby takes care of Jack's needs, and Jack takes care of Ruby's needs. They give eachother comfort and strength, and it is a heartbreak when Ruby dies and leaves her aging husband to fend for himself. The alternating first person perspective works quite well, and the book is enjoyable. Why 4 stars and not 5? Like one reader, I must admit that there was a certain spark missing from this book.

the only reason I got this book is because it was in the Oprah's book club. I was sorely dissapointed. The story felt slow and disjointed to me. And my prevailing feeling at the end was "so what". That it was supposed to be a love story did not interest me. The sentiments expressed did not move me at all, it seemed very ordinary, almost everyday. But who knows, probably an everyday, ordinary sort of life story is what some people want to read so they can identify with- god forbid!

A Virtuous Woman is a book by Kaye Gibbons and is about a woman named Ruby Pitt who meets a guy named Jack Stokes one day when he spots her sitting at a picnic table. She was much younger than he was and was raised much differently than he was.Ruby was a widow but ends up married to jack.Jack was so in love with his wife through everything they went through even when she was diagnosed with cancer.They were opposites and when Ruby dies Jack is lost without her.They seemed to have an unusual relationship in my opinion. It was actually really hard for me to keep reading each page as i went on.It just wasnt a story that kept me wanting more!and that is why i gave it only 2 stars. i didnt even want to finish the book and that is why i think it took me so long to read it.It really dissapointed me seeing as how i loved Kaye Gibbons first novel, ELLEN FOSTER.i think that another reason i didnt enjoy the book is that there were too many characters to keep track of and it made the book a bit confusing.i really didnt like the transition of chapters either. it was a bit unorganized.There was no action in this novel and i'm sad to say that i dont reccommend it to anyone really.

Peer Review of Ellen Foster

The book which I am going to talk about is Ellen Foster what this about is. How a girl grows up in her life and has to be able to live trough them with them with whatever it takes. In her life growing up she had a lot of problems for example she had her mom died and her dad was like for her an embarrassment. The reason I say this is that there was this one time when she was at school and her dad came in drunk and he made a big scene that made get laughed at. The author of this text is Kaye Gibbons. This is a very good book if you want to make a change of life in whatever you are living trough and help others. Through the book there is a lot of times that if I would have being Ellen I would try to kill my self for the simple fact that she had a lot of problems and she did not know how to handle them.
This would a good book for someone that is a color blue the reason is. That a person who is color blue would have a lot of feelings towards it in whatever sense it is in. I think even tough this book was short it was a pretty difficult book I say this because. The book is short but you had to look a lot of the time while you are reading you have to do a lot of re reading and looking up the words that I don't understand that is why it is a pretty hard text to be reading by yourself. That is why her had these problems that she had that is why I got this to say of this text. You should read this book in your time that is all.

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, although his dream is to own a piece of land. Together they find, if not what they were looking for, a sense of completeness.

The book is written in first person narration with both Jack and Ruby narrating alternate chapters (except the last chapter which is written in the third person). This technique helps make both characters seem real. For me, personally, Jack was the character I most cared about, mostly because we know from the very beginning that Ruby dies and we see that Jack is lost without her.

This is one of those simple, quiet kind of books where there is little action or plot, just the story of two people who come to love and care for each other. Yet, it's the kind of story that will stay with you long after you've read it.

"The Virtuous Woman" written by Kaye Gibbons, is a novel about an unlikely couple. Ruby Pitt Woodrow, the daughter of prosperous farmers and Jack Stokes, an unattractive and unsuccessful tenant farmer. They share the details of their life in alternating chapters. At first the unusual narration appears confusing, but it clarifies what Jack or Ruby is trying to express. In the first chapter Jack is describing his life without Ruby. Knowing that she dies of lung cancer from the beginning of the story weakens the plot. However, it allows you to focus more on the characters and their interaction with each other. The author's reason for revealing Ruby's death becomes more obvious when Ruby starts narrating the second chapter. She begins preparing frozen food for Jack so he can have nourighing meals after she is gone. Her love and concern for his well-being was showing through her selfless acts, therefore strengthening the weak story line. Expecting a religious based book from the title of the novel, the reviewer was hindered by that assumption. It could have been enjoyed more if it was read with an open mind. In the book of Proverbs, chapter thirty-one, verse ten reads, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." To Jack, Ruby is worth far more than any precious stone. Even though this was not the type of religious story the reader was looking for, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The fact that two people can see past their differences to find a love that is pure, unselfish, and stong is powerful. As a romance nvel it stands out above the rest.

This book just seemed incomplete and not put together too well.

It starts out with Ruby, Jack's late wife dying of lung cancer, and how he is grieving for her. Then it goes into the real story before this happened, Ruby having overprotective parents, and yet she goes off and marries an abusive husband. Jack is lonely and loves Ruby the first time he sets eyes on her. So when Ruby's unfaithful/abusive husband John dies from an accident, the two get together and marry. They share a few happy years together until Ruby comes down with lung cancer, and dies. Jack is so grief-stricken, he cannot move on with his life, and the book continues that way at the end more or less.

I wouldn't waste my time reading this book when there is much better reading material.

This is an amazing book on so many levels. I particlarly like the way the story was told from two different points of view--from that of the two main characters. The swing back and forth was most effective and Gibbons knows how to get us wrapped up in a story. The writing is good--on the same level as McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood" or Conroy's "Prince of Tides" and the pacing and character development is excellent. I could have wished for a slightly different ending, but then, it's Gibbon's book and not mine. Overall, highly recommended.

Also recommended: ON THE OCCASION OF MY LAST AFTERNOON and Jackson McCrae's THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD. Both are great reads.

A Virtuous Woman by Kaye Gibbons. Not recommended.

In A Virtuous Woman, Kaye Gibbons tells the story of the daughter of Southern gentry, Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes; her tenant farmer second husband, Jack Stokes; and those who affect their lives most�Burr, his wife Tiny Fran, her delinquent son Roland, and their daughter June.

Gibbons uses a technique of alternating chapters, with the first written by Jack, the next by Ruby, and so on, until the last chapter. Chapter sixteen is written in the third person omniscient, with characters' thoughts sprinkled throughout in italics. This method is effective in the beginning, where Jack talks about his reaction to the news that Ruby has been diagnosed with lung cancer and her silent, selfish request for a cigarette, while next she talks about her response to his reaction and her own motivation. Further into the plot, however, this method loses its impact as the reminiscences become more random and less structured.

Although the idea of alternating chapters, most flashbacks except Jack's chapters toward the end, lends itself to a more dynamic approach to time, Gibbons keeps it virtually linear, from Ruby's youth and disastrous first marriage to a drunken, controlling migrant worker named John Woodrow and his death to her marriage to Jack, the notable events of their lives, Ruby's death, and Jack's life after Ruby.

Although A Virtuous Woman is well written and in a few instances somewhat insightful. The characters often seem to lack interest or depth; some, like Woodrow, Tiny Fran, and Roland, are little more than stock rural characters (no-good man, no-good teenaged girl, no-good bastard). They appear primarily to fulfill a standard a role and have little interest�they exist only to explain such things as Ruby's path toward Jack and the Stokes's unusual interest in Burr and Tiny Fran's daughter June. When Woodrow is critically injured in a drunken brawl, the wives of the other migrant workers feel Ruby should "stand by her man" no matter what, which also seems to perpetuate a type rather than offer any real insight.

Above all, A Virtuous Woman feels forced and unnatural. It is out of character for a barely literate man like Jack Stokes to document his memories, including quoted conversations, in such detail and with such care. This would have been a stronger story if presented as an oral history rather than a written one.

The unlikely love story and marriage of Jack Stokes and Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes has potential, as do the characters. Unfortunately, Gibbons does not have the depth as an author to uncover it.

Diane L. Schirf, 19 August 2003.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love how it was narrated by both of the main characters. The way it went back and forth between them made you understand how they felt about each other. Kaye Gibbons beautifully depicted a rare kind of love between a husband and wife. I cannot understand some of the low ratings I have been reading, but everyone has their opinion. I loved the characters and I highly recommend this book.