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    Saving Ruth: A Novel
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    Saving Ruth: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Saving Ruth: A Novel
    Ebook339 pages4 hours

    Saving Ruth: A Novel

    By Zoe Fishman

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A wonderful coming-of-age novel from Zoe Fishman, author of Balancing Acts, Saving Ruth tells the story of a fish-out-of-water young Jewish woman, returning to her Alabama hometown after a semester at a “Yankee college,” only to discover that life—and she, herself—haven’t really changed in the ways she’d hoped. Southern fiction with a pungent twist, Saving Ruth is a wonderfully evocative, delightfully engaging tale that, nonetheless, seriously addresses provocative issues like anorexia, family dynamics, and the racial and ethnic tensions of the Deep South.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 1, 2012
    ISBN9780062059857
    Unavailable
    Saving Ruth: A Novel
    Author

    Zoe Fishman

    Zoe Fishman is the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year. She is the bestselling author of five previous novels and several awards including Booklist’s “Top 10 Books of the Year” and an IndieNext Pick.  She’s been featured on “City Lights” with Lois Reitzes, and in Publisher’s Weekly and The Atlanta Jewish Times among others. Her essays have been published in The New York Times, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and Modern Loss.   Zoe was the Director of The Decatur Writers Studio and a visiting writer at SCAD Atlanta. She lives in Decatur with her two sons.

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    Reviews for Saving Ruth

    3.5/5

    35 ratings12 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Cute, summer read.
    • 4/5
      There is a lot to like about Saving Ruth, and Ruth herself drew me into the story immediately. From the first page, I was interested in who this girl is, what is up with this family dynamic, and how and when is Ruth going to come to grips with her eating disorder and begin to heal from it. For the most part, the book wraps itself up pretty well and I was left in the end satisfied with my questions answered.One thing I liked about Saving Ruth and found unique was the brother-sister relationship that is explored in the book. Not a lot of novels that I’ve seen lately focus so intently on a sibling relationship, especially one that is dysfunctional without it being clear why that is the case. The situation with Ruth and her brother David was just sad – they simply didn’t get along, hadn’t for years, and Ruth both was desperate to be loved by her brother and really didn’t like him as a person at the same time. Fishman did a good job showing how the sibling relationship can be incredibly complex and is shaped by years of a shared family history and experiences. Also she illustrated the fact that even though two children can grow up in the same home with the same two parents, their childhoods can still be different based on how they interpret things that happened, how the parents treat each child differently, and how their personalities can just be different from birth. I liked the exploration of Ruth and David’s relationship a lot and found it to be an interesting element of the novel.Another element of the story I found interesting and well done was Ruth’s anorexia. It was so clear that she was in denial about her eating disorder and how bad it had gotten, but also was desperate for someone to help her with it. And it made me sad how her family and friends didn’t know what to do with her, how to react to her huge weight loss, and how to help her. One thing I don’t think was resolved well was this particular issue – definitely by the end, there was hope for Ruth, but I wasn’t confident that she was going to get better. Although I suppose that is realistic because eating disorders don’t just go away – it can take years of work, therapy, and discipline for a person to recover from an eating disorder and begin to treat her body in a healthy and positive way. So while I didn’t love the way Fishman resolved this particular issue she did treat it realistically.I did enjoy Saving Ruth and would recommend the novel. The characters are well drawn, the writing is good, and the story contains several elements that bring everything together in a comprehensive and unique way. Fishman did a nice job with this novel and I will continue to read her work when the opportunity arises.
    • 5/5
      This coming of age story is a wonderful read, one that will resonate with anyone who survived the tumultuous transition from teenager to adult. Both Ruth and her brother struggle with parental expectations and the desire for control over their lives. They, and their parents, are shaken out of their complacency by a near-tragedy that could have had much worse implications than it did. Ruth is a well-developed and vulnerable character, one battling with an eating disorder and trying desperately to reconnect with the brother who has always eclipsed her.Once I started reading, I didn't put this book down until I was finished. Well-written and well-imagined, this story and the voice rang true from start to finish. I was genuinely engaged with Ruth as she attempted to navigate the treacherous waters of her first summer home from college- balancing friends, family, and food in desperate attempt to keep it all together. There are no big revelations here, no life changing message- just a well-crafted coming of age tale that I would recommend to any reader.
    • 4/5
      So good!! Ruth has been overweight her entire life. Now in college, Ruth has become dangerously thin due to an eating disorder that she is in denial of. When she goes home for the summer to teach swimming lessons at the city pool with her brother, both of them realize that their lives are not nearly as perfect as the other thinks. Saving Ruth is a very funny, yet emotional read. While each character deals with their own personal demons, the family comes together to help each other. I read this book in two sittings, stopping only because I have two children to care for. Otherwise, I would have read it straight through, I was completely sucked in!
    • 3/5
      It's the start of summer in the small Alabama town when siblings, David and Ruth Wasserman, arrive home from college. David, the older of the two, is not quite the same as when he first left town. He's not sociable, talkative or even anxious to play soccer. He's withdrawn, secretive, non-talkative and spends way too much time drinking and smoking weed.Ruth is completely different; she's come home about 35 pounds lighter and feeling good about her self for the first time in her life. She's enjoying all the positive attention she's been getting and blowing off all the negative comments about her not eating and looking like a prison camp survivor.She does have a problem, a big one, but will not admit it out loud. Through Ruth's inner dialogue, the reader gets a glimpse of her true feelings about food and her self esteem. " ..thought about what it would be like to go back to the way I used to be. I couldn't do it. Not now. And it was stupidly easy to fool everyone, including myself, into thinking that this was just dieting. Deep down, I knew damn well that it wasn't. That it was a problem. But I was too scared of the alternative to do anything about it."Even the parents have their own issues. Dad is angry and frustrated most of the time. Mom is a wishy-washy mess. They are feeling the empty nest and middle age creeping up on them resulting in some marital issues. They argue about the kid's seeming lack of responsibility. David and Ruth have typical teen attitudes; they just want to get away from home and their parents. They want idependence and not to be hovered over; all part of growing up, separating from parents and finding their own identity.The siblings are once again lifeguarding at the local pool. One day, their composure is shaken as a little girl nearly drowns. Even though David was in the lifeguarding station, he didn't see what was happening but Ruth did. She jumped in and saved the girl. It took this near tragedy and the ensuing repercussions to get David and Ruth to face their problems. In the author's note at the end, Fishman admits to an eating disorder while in college. This must be what gave her the insight at how a person with anorexia views food and themselves. Although I am sure I am not the target audience for this book, I thought it was reasonably well done but the end ties up a little too neatly for me. 3***Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by William Morrow/LT in exchange for my honest opinion.
    • 3/5
      Ruth comes home to Alabama from her first year of college with an eating disorder, weighing 35 pounds less than when she left. She finds her older brother also changed and troubled. They both work at the town's pool where a girl almost drowns and they are involved. There is so much going on in this novel, Ruth's eating disorder, her parents' unrealistic expectations for her brother, racism, and more, yet in the end, everything is wrapped up neatly. Maybe, too neatly.
    • 4/5
      Racism, eating disorders, parental expectations… coming of age. This book covered a lot of ground. Ruth and David are siblings each returning for a summer home after being away to college. During the summer they deal with their relationship with each other, how to live up to the expectations of parents, friends and neighbors and themselves. I enjoyed the book, it was a quick read but as someone else pointed out it came to a very tidy conclusion.
    • 3/5
      Ruth and David are siblings and reunited for the summer between college semesters if eye opening to say the least. I thought the book was an easy read, but predictable and a little too nicely tied up at the end.
    • 3/5
      Ruth is a college student returning home for the summer. She is working at the pool lifeguarding, along with her brother, David. Ruth loves her brother, but he has always been the perfect one between the two of them. She has struggled with her weight and finding her own path. She has lost a lot of weight while away and has an eating disorder. David is distant and she can't talk to him. Their parents are trying to come to terms with their own relationship and handling being without kids at home anymore.As a junior high school librarian, I thought Ruth's story might be of interest to young girls. For me, personally, I didn't really connect with the story. I guess because the two main characters were much younger. I enjoyed Ruth and was glad to see where her journey took her.
    • 3/5
      This is a story about a young college lady named Ruth who comes home for summer break with a secret issue only to discover that her's is not the only issue she and her family will have to deal with that summer.I found the book easy to read and the issues that the characters had to deal with very relevant. My only problem with this story was that there were just so many darn things the author attempted to address. Had one character, say the main one, been the focus I may have been able to care more deeply but with everyone having a problem I found I couldn't get emotionally involved with anyone. That being said, this really wasn't a bad book. The issues it addresses are serious and were dealt with by the author very nicely. I can see a lot of potential for this to be a good choice of book for a reading group discussion.
    • 3/5
      This is a book about teen angst, racism, family problems, teen friendship, teen sex and several other problems faced by teens. It had the potential to be a great, not just a good, book but lacked in character and in plot development. Ruth is the little sister and has always felt she didn’t matter as much as her big brother. Ruth goes to college, develops an eating disorder, loses thirty-five pounds, and comes home for the summer. People are almost afraid to mention her problem to her, and it takes a chubby preteen to make her see the light.When Ruth saves a little Black girl from drowning in the pool where she works, racism rears its ugly head. Here, the author could have gone into more detail, perhaps adding another chapter or two, outlining the reactions of various people. Instead, she chose to brush it aside by having Ruth briefly call one of her friends on it.David, is Ruth’s big brother. He’s always been the favorite in the family, or so it seems to Ruth. I got that impression, too. But (gasp!) the golden boy has feet of clay. It turns out that he hadn’t gone to school for the whole last semester and was no longer on the soccer team. The soccer scholarship was paying his way through college. Apparently most of the teens in this town smoked a little pot, but David seemed to smoke more than most and had taken a hit right before taking his turn on the lifeguard stand. He was on duty when the little girl fell into the deep end.Mother and Dad put up a united front, but it is discovered by Ruth that Dad has been sleeping in his office. Mother and Dad were suffering from the “empty nest syndrome.” Everything is neatly tied up with a bow at the end. Ruth sees the error of her ways and has agreed to see a counselor on the condition that Mother and Dad also go to a therapist to help them save their marriage, as they do love each other. David is given time off to see a counselor go help him with his depression and will take some art classes locally. Art is his passion, but he was more or less forced into being an athlete.What there is of the book is a good read, and one can read it in an afternoon. It leaves, though, a sense of “is that all there is?”. I would have liked to have seen more about Ruth’s struggle, as well as what happened with her and Chris when she went back to school. The author missed a good chance to elaborate on teen depression, and to explore how most parents feel when their children are no longer living at home full time.As I said it’s a good light read, but don’t expect to have to do any thinking along the way.
    • 3/5
      I would describe this as a coming of age story. The book primarily revolves around nineteen year old Ruth and her slightly older brother, David.The story takes place one hot summer in Alabama, while both siblings are home on college break. They spend their time lifeguarding and coaching at the local summer pool. Ruth, insecure and suffering from low self esteem, finds herself finally acknowledged and popular after a drastic weight loss. David, meanwhile, has always been the popular, smart, soccer star who earned a full scholarship to attend school. However, David returns home that summer, moody and quiet, with some secret he seems to be unable to talk about. Adding to the mix is the fact that they are one of the very few Jewish families in a very southern, Baptist community.One day, while at the pool, a young, black girl nearly drowns on David and Ruth's watch. Ruth and David finally must confront hidden racism in their town, issues with their family and acknowledging flaws within themselves before the summer ends.I enjoyed this book and at approximately 279 pages, it is a pretty quick read. I loved the mix of family dynamics, religion and location. It did focus a lot of Ruth's anorexia. Also, at some points,I found myself reading really quickly through some of the dialogue between Ruth and her friends due to it going on and on with her weight...however, I would say this book was very realistic and takes a good look at some important issues. There is not a lot of action and drama as I originally thought, it focuses more on Ruth moving towards becoming the adult she wants to be. I think adults and older teens would enjoy this book and would have no issues recommending it to others. I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers.