Sarah Dessen
When 17-year-old Ruby's mom didn't come, she tried to make it on her own until one day, her landlords found out she's been living alone. She thought she was doing just fine, winging things out perfectly so there's no need to really put her in social services custody or worse, under her sister Cora's care.
Ruby felt Cora abandoned them- took off to college and never been heard from ever again. So when Cora and Jamie took her under their wing, she didn't feel welcome at all. She just wanted to get out of their ginormous house and that's what she has planned to do on her very first night. Ruby's escape failed but as they say, all things happen for a reason because the night of Ruby's escape, she met Nate- the boy who made her give things a chance.
If you come to think about it, Ruby was surrounded by good people- Cora, Jamie & Nate. She has been pushing these people away, shutting them out but they still try anyway. She wanted to go back to her old life, thinking she doesn't belong to this fancy schmancy neighborhood, in this fancy schmancy school. She calls her friends back at home but they seem to be always unavailable. So when Ruby felt that these people weren't really noticing her absence, she gave her new home a try.
Teen Book with the Most Real Teen Problem
Out of all YA books I've read, I feel Ruby has the most legit reason to feel all depressed and rebellious. I mean, her issues were understandable. She was abandoned by her mother and she thought her sister abandoned her, too. And now that she's at Perkins Day, she tries to reconnect with her friends from back home, Peyton and Marshall, but they too have betrayed her. Her so-called friends clearly abandoned her during a time she needed them the most. I guess the only glue holding them together was pot. Harhar. So here's a lesson for us- Never expect real friendships from potheads.I am not dissing other teenage problems but in this book, things are happening to her and she's only reacting to them. She's not overthinking things like Will this boy like me? (as Edie in French Kiss) or Gahd, who are these people? I'm so above skateboarding (or something like that. I forget) (as Auden in Along for the Ride). But ya, I get it that everyone's dealing with their own problems and we can't tell that theirs don't matter. It's just that, in my opinion, Ruby's problems are valid.
Dessen Could Have Used Prettier Names
Ruby. Cora. No offense to all the Ruby's and Cora's but I'm not a fan of these names. They sound so ordinary. Or maybe because I know this person named Cora and I don't really like her so I associate my dislike for the person with the name. But this is fiction... you could name your characters pretty names so why go with Ruby and Cora? Just sayin'Jamie (Zuckerberg)
Jamie reminds me of a nice Mark Zuckerberg. I'm not saying that Zuckerberg is not nice because my opinion of him is only based on The Social Network. Haha. Jamie's my favorite character in the book. He's nice. Actually, too nice that you'd think what's the catch? I guess the catch is that when he tries to help you, you don't reciprocate it by lying and doing pot.Close to Home
In the book, there's this character I can relate to the most- Harriet. When she said, "I'm a one-woman operation. To my detriment, at times," and the fact that December is her busiest month- THAT'S SO ME. I SO CAN RELATE. Well, minus the nerves. I guess a little of the nerves and a little bit of the paranoia but not that extreme :PSo yes, I liked this book. Better than Along for the Ride, imho. I'm just not a fan of brooding boys. I like 'em like Nate, always up and at 'em. So even if Nate doesn't have his own Minor Heading, I like this fictional boy. Too good to be true (hmm, actually, he IS a fictional character). Anyhoo, going back to the book- I liked it. It's teenybopper and a little serious but not too pa-cute and not too serious. I hope you get what I mean, haha. Sorry I'm naturally incoherent and bad at making reviews (that is why I call them non-reviews).
It's never something huge that changes everything, but insteadthe tiniest of details, irrevocably tweaking the balanceof the universe while you're busy focusing on thebig picture.
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