I can never quite picture Ruth. She is fearful and brave and hides and speaks out. I think she is a necessary character to give depth to the village. But also to give witness to the reality of the village. Everyone else seems to have found the village as a part of their quest for wholeness. But Ruth was here from childhood and her life has been hard. I always want more of her story even though we know so much already.
(Thank you for the note about Atwood. I had always wondered about where the poetry was coming from and just had never looked into it.)
A newcomer to Penny, I have been thinking about Ruth's role in the stories and the town. After only two books, I cannot conceive of Three Pines without her but the image I've like best ( so far) is Ruth sitting on that bench in the middle of town every night at five o'clock, no matter the temperature or weather. Learning the reason for it grounded me. She's no caricature of the town grouch, she's while and complete.
I, too, am happy to know the source of the poems. Thanks for this, Courtney!
Great thought provoking essay and sorry you didn’t get invited to that party all those years ago - it was obviously their loss and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them still feel bad about excluding you.
ruth is iconic, i absolutely love her. a couple other interesting things about her are that the town essentially practices harm reduction toward her by supporting her despite her alcoholic (right?) life situation; and that she's the town's most well known resident (except maybe clara as time passes?) to outsiders.
As a newbie to Three Pines, I spent a chunk of the first book wondering if Ruth would be the killer, and hoping against hope that she’d just be...Ruth. It was such a relief to find that she was. Complicated women should be seen and integrated into all of our universes.
I can never quite picture Ruth. She is fearful and brave and hides and speaks out. I think she is a necessary character to give depth to the village. But also to give witness to the reality of the village. Everyone else seems to have found the village as a part of their quest for wholeness. But Ruth was here from childhood and her life has been hard. I always want more of her story even though we know so much already.
(Thank you for the note about Atwood. I had always wondered about where the poetry was coming from and just had never looked into it.)
A newcomer to Penny, I have been thinking about Ruth's role in the stories and the town. After only two books, I cannot conceive of Three Pines without her but the image I've like best ( so far) is Ruth sitting on that bench in the middle of town every night at five o'clock, no matter the temperature or weather. Learning the reason for it grounded me. She's no caricature of the town grouch, she's while and complete.
I, too, am happy to know the source of the poems. Thanks for this, Courtney!
Great thought provoking essay and sorry you didn’t get invited to that party all those years ago - it was obviously their loss and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them still feel bad about excluding you.
ruth is iconic, i absolutely love her. a couple other interesting things about her are that the town essentially practices harm reduction toward her by supporting her despite her alcoholic (right?) life situation; and that she's the town's most well known resident (except maybe clara as time passes?) to outsiders.
As a newbie to Three Pines, I spent a chunk of the first book wondering if Ruth would be the killer, and hoping against hope that she’d just be...Ruth. It was such a relief to find that she was. Complicated women should be seen and integrated into all of our universes.