Scan barcode
aileen_macalister's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The whole book happens in one day and you follow two people's lives on the brink of life changing decisions that come with a looooot of baggage. It's about love and loss and fitting into a world that wants everyone to be the same while you don't quite qualify for the status quo.
Pen is on the autistic spectrum and Ruth is dealing with infertility so there are a lot of trigger warnings associated with this one. It is so beautifully human and I just couldn't put it down!
ââââ - 4 stars because I think it is clear that the author is not autistic and sometimes the way she writes Pen is a bit clumsy but over all I loved the book
Graphic: Bullying and Miscarriage
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual content
scarjs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Self harm
schorlett's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Self harm and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Infidelity
ksbiz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Moderate: Bullying
jose_fineh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Bullying, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
remuslibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment
sapphotoni's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Abortion
Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual harassment
logopolis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Infertility, Mental illness, and Miscarriage
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
josefinessen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Infertility and Miscarriage
Moderate: Bullying and Infidelity
Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
saestrah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Ruth & Pen is set over the course of a single day, swapping between the narratives of Pen, an autistic teenage girl going to an Extinction Rebellion protest with plans to take the girl she likes on a surprise date that evening, and Ruth, a woman dealing with infertility and a failing marriage. Despite the two very different narrators, the narrative explores both characters' lives fluidly as they both struggle with love and loss and figuring out their places in the world.
Reading this book, I was especially glad to see autism in women represented, especially when Emilie Pine writes it so well. Pen was incredibly realistic and relatable for me, and her storyline grabbed me from the start. Ruth's storyline didn't capture me quite as quickly, likely due to her lack of relatability for me as a reader (though I imagine many other readers would connect with her narrative much faster than I did), but she grew on me a lot as a narrator. This book is also the one of the few I've read with a main relationship involving an asexual character and I was glad to see that exploredâespecially since this relationship didn't fall into the trope of 'autistic people don't have/want sex'. This relationship managed to tug and my heartstrings, despite only covering a single day's events. Reading both Pen and Ruth's heartbreaks and reflections upon them was incredibly cathartic to read, and their triumphs were equally emotional. This was a particularly tender story that I enjoyed right from the start, and I'm looking forward to buying a hardcopy of this book (and not only so I can look at the gorgeously designed cover again and again and again).
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Infertility, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Self harm