Piajge ' f 2 DTII Omnibus
Thursday September 28, 1989
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Love and
A Virtuous Woman
by Kaye Gibbons
Algonquin Books
$13.95
If anyone out there wants to spend
a day curled up with a book about
love and intense emotions, then
A Vinous Woman, by Kaye Gibbons,
published by the local company Al
gonquin Books (1989), is the book
you need.
This powerful, tightly written book
packs more emotion in 158 pages
than many books accomplish in 500
or more. In this, her second novel,
Gibbons presents a tale of love be
tween Ruby Pitt Woodrow Stokes
and "Blinking" Jack Ernest Stokes.
Ruby comes from a well-to-do
Southern family and has a bright fu
ture ahead of her. However, she turns
away from this luxury and marries a
migrant farmer named John
Woodrow. Gibbons goes on to tell
the unhappy events of Ruby's first
marriage.
Following the death of Ruby's
husband, she meets her next hus
band on the same farm. A tenant
farmer, Jack Stokes is, at least on the
surface, an unlikely match for Ruby.
First, Jack is 20 years older than the
young widow. Second, they meet in
a less-than-romantic situation.
"I was hauling manure to the gar
den the day I came across her sitting
Get Smart.
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FEAJNCTON
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humor fit in small
Glenn O'Neal
under the tree, and I thought how
perfect a picture she'd make if she
had a flower or some sewing, some
thing womany in her hand besides a
cigarette. So I went right up to her,
running on pure gall or what must've
already been love, and I spoke to her -on
her smoking," says Jack.
This first encounter leads to a
marriage "that is marked by undying
love and loyalty.
The strength of the book is that it
focuses on the story of Jack and Ruby
using different viewpoints. The au
thor does not use much detail to de
scribe the harsh lifestyle of tenant
farming. This works to Gibbons'
advantage, as it forces the reader to
pay attention to the story at hand.
Gibbons should be commended on
the way she handles the male view
point on love. She shows much in
sight in treating an otherwise diffi
cult task.
Another strong feature of the book
is its comical tone. The character of
Jack manifests this comedy through
out the book and creates a balance
between the intense emotion and
humor.
Gibbons fails to show the reader
the relationship between Ruby and
her family. A little more interaction
would have given the reader more
insight into Ruby's decision to leave
her comfortable lifestyle and marry
'Devil-possum leads
Brighten the Corner
Where You Are
by Fred Chappell
St Martin's Press
$15.95
000 12
The power of the mind, the skep
ticism of individual perception,
the interplay between fantasy
and reality in everyday situations
These themes are explored by Fred
Chappell in his thought-provoking
new novel Brighten the Comer Where
You Are, a delightfully humorous tale
with an underlying commentary on
what it means to be human.
The book tells the story of Joe
Robert Kirkman, a middle-aged sci
ence teacher in rural North Caro
lina, from the viewpoint of his son,
who gives a colorful, if one-sided,
account of his father's actions. Al
though the novel covers only one
day in Kirkman's life, Chappell never
lets the action lag.
To start the book, Chappell shows
us Joe Robert climbing a tree to catch
Hi
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9
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A VIRTUOUS - WOMAN
her first husband.
This is a minor complaint about
an otherwise excellent work. It may
or may not make the canon of works
Susanne George
the feared "devil-possum." The next
thing we know, he's fallen off a branch
40 feet in the air, but miraculously
survives and makes it home in time
(and in shape) to milk the cows, feed
the pigs, fix an elaborate breakfast,
and get ready for work. If this sounds
a bit unbelievable, wait till you hear
the rest of his day.
On the way to school, Joe Robert
saves a girl from drowning in an over
flowing creek. He finds time to drive
the victim to the general store, to
change into a dry pair of overalls and
hiking boots, and to chat a while
with Virgil, the store's owner.
When he finally breaks away from
the general store, Joe Robert arrives
at school (a few minutes late, no
doubt). During the school day, he
will comfort a grieving mother, get
trapped in a basement, quit his job,
and coax a talking goat off of the
school's roof, among other things.
The son, whose name is never
mentioned, recounts this story just
as his father told it to him. The sec
package
Kaye Gibbons
A novel by the author of
Ellen Foster
read in English classes, but A Virtu
ous Woman will be a favorite among
readers looking for a love story that
goes straight for the heart.
off extraordinary day
ond-hand information from a
schoolboy's point of view contrib
utes to the outrageous plotltne, be
cause the son can'fdistinguish be
tween truth and fiction, and so nei
ther can we.
Joe Robert's son, as would most
young children, accepts his father's
account of the day's extraordinary
events without question. While the
story seems quite unbelievable to us
(a talking goat?), the son finds it
exciting and probable. Through him,
Chappell suggests that knowledge can
sometimes be "the bitter enemy of
wisdom." A case in point is the goat
story our knowledge that goats do
not talk ruins the story's potential to
be funny or just to brighten up an
ordinary day.
But perhaps that's the point. Joe
Robert, although he may be unbe
What The
Ratings Mean
lame
OO just O.K.
OOO workable
CQOO quite good
GOOOO excellent
Best Sellers
Fiction
1 . Clear and Present Danger
Tom Clancy
2. Pillars of the Earth
KenFollett
3. California Gold
John Jakes
4. The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
5. Oldest Living Confederate
Widow Tells All
Allan Gurganus
6. The Russia House
John Le Carre
7. Polar Star
Martin Cruz Smith
8. Joshua and the Children
Joseph F. Girzone
Nonfiction
1. All I Really Need to Know I
Learned in Kindergarten
Robert Fulghum
2. Among Schoolchildren
Tracy Kidder
3. A Brief History of Time
Stephen W. Hawking
4. It's Always Something
Gilda Radner
5. I Was On Fire When I Lay Down
Onlt
Robert Fulghum
6. From Beirut to Jerusalem
Thomas L Friedman
7. A Woman Named Jackie
C. David Heymann
8. The Control of Nature
JohnMcPhee
New York Times
lievable and weird, is infinitely more
exciting than the other "normal"
characters in the book. While the
other teachers stress out about school
board meetings and conventional
worries, Joe Robert takes the laid
back, creative approach. We may not
know how much of his tale is true,
but we know he's having a great time
telling it.
In Brighten the Comer Where You
Are, Chappell champions craziness
and fun in order to make life the best
it can be. Through Joe Robert, Chap
pell proves that living for the day is
the only way for man to make some
thing meaningful of his life. In Joe's
own words, "Man did not come to
this planet merely to mark time." It
is up to each individual to make his
life exciting to add spice to an other
wise tasteless dish.
The books we
review are
provided
courtesy of
the Bull's
Head
Bookshop,
located in the Student Stores