ahinks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
sjj169's review against another edition
5.0
How do I give this book five stars? It rips your soul out of your body with it's strong, dark presence. You beg to be released from the grips of this story. This one ain't farting rainbow unicorns, boys and girls.
Ephram Jennings met young Ruby when she and her cousin happen upon him fishing in the local pond. They take him with them to meet with the local voodoo woman Ma Tante. This sets the tone for the book and the author brings alive the scene and scared the crap outta me. She sees that Ruby has "haints" attached to her and lost souls are following her around.
Ma Tante reached out and grabbed Ruby's right hand. She turned over her palm and pointed. "You got the mystic star. There." She took her other hand. "There, too. Lord child you ain't nothing but a doorway. How many haints you count at your heels?"
Ruby ends up going to New York with the deep buried want of finding her mother. Who left Ruby as an infant. Ruby's life. I don't even know where to begin. You would think escaping the small town life of Liberty would have changed things for her. Those haints that follow her never let up.
Ruby carried the quarter close to her, then opened her palm. The word "Liberty" hung like a banner over the White man's head, which made it easy for Ruby to know whom it was promised to. Both word and coin. With God's trust and blessing.
Ruby does return to Liberty after receiving news from a family member that they need her. Once there she is used by the men in town and shunned by the so called religious women. Then Ephram remembers that girl he fell in love with when they were children and sets out to take her some of his sister Celia's cake.
Celia is up for "Church Mother" and once Ephram takes up with the devil woman she sees it as her righteous duty to help him see the error of his ways. Along with the townspeople.
It wasn't just the exhibition of sin that Celia Jennings had painted so beautifully during testimony that morning, it was the pure, unadulterated, juicy, unholy spectacle of the thing. The scarecrow crazy whore of Liberty had taken up with the township's mule of a deacon. It was the best piece of gossip the town had had to chew on in twenty-three years.
There's a line in the book that Ephram says to Ruby: If you can bear to have lived it, I can at least bear to listen. that thought stayed with me as I read this book.
It's not going to be a book that everyone loves. It features inhuman cruelty, rape, incest, false religion and just pure evil. Through it all though the author's voice rings true.
Five standing ovation stars.
I received a copy of this book from blogging for books in exchange for an honest review.
Ephram Jennings met young Ruby when she and her cousin happen upon him fishing in the local pond. They take him with them to meet with the local voodoo woman Ma Tante. This sets the tone for the book and the author brings alive the scene and scared the crap outta me. She sees that Ruby has "haints" attached to her and lost souls are following her around.
Ma Tante reached out and grabbed Ruby's right hand. She turned over her palm and pointed. "You got the mystic star. There." She took her other hand. "There, too. Lord child you ain't nothing but a doorway. How many haints you count at your heels?"
Ruby ends up going to New York with the deep buried want of finding her mother. Who left Ruby as an infant. Ruby's life. I don't even know where to begin. You would think escaping the small town life of Liberty would have changed things for her. Those haints that follow her never let up.
Ruby carried the quarter close to her, then opened her palm. The word "Liberty" hung like a banner over the White man's head, which made it easy for Ruby to know whom it was promised to. Both word and coin. With God's trust and blessing.
Ruby does return to Liberty after receiving news from a family member that they need her. Once there she is used by the men in town and shunned by the so called religious women. Then Ephram remembers that girl he fell in love with when they were children and sets out to take her some of his sister Celia's cake.
Celia is up for "Church Mother" and once Ephram takes up with the devil woman she sees it as her righteous duty to help him see the error of his ways. Along with the townspeople.
It wasn't just the exhibition of sin that Celia Jennings had painted so beautifully during testimony that morning, it was the pure, unadulterated, juicy, unholy spectacle of the thing. The scarecrow crazy whore of Liberty had taken up with the township's mule of a deacon. It was the best piece of gossip the town had had to chew on in twenty-three years.
There's a line in the book that Ephram says to Ruby: If you can bear to have lived it, I can at least bear to listen. that thought stayed with me as I read this book.
It's not going to be a book that everyone loves. It features inhuman cruelty, rape, incest, false religion and just pure evil. Through it all though the author's voice rings true.
Five standing ovation stars.
I received a copy of this book from blogging for books in exchange for an honest review.
iamericat22's review against another edition
5.0
Abandon all hope, all ye who enter this 330 page gut-punch, magical unfurling, literary analysis in waiting that is known simply as Ruby. And yet, for as bleak as the atmosphere of Ruby gets, hope is its strongest weapon in the story and on the reader.
Ruby is a "Oprah's Book Club 2.0" selection, and like most of her selections, there is a running theme of the strength in womanhood. But Ruby is a whole lot more than a story about African-American history and angst. Ruby is real, visceral and beautifully tragic...and also (definitely) not for the faint of heart.
Ruby tells the story of the 1950's town of Liberty, Texas, where our title character is a beautiful girl who is pushed by violence and fear to New York. With the death of a childhood friend, Ruby is pulled back into the small town weave that wants to annihilate everything she is and stands for. Her only ally to pull her up from rock bottom is a simple man, Ephram, who is dominated by his Bible-thumping sister and ghosts of his past. These characters push and pull on each other in a heart-wrenching dance, sending sparks as they meet and impacting those around them like dominoes.
Cynthia Bond's Ruby is ripe with material for literary analysis. It will be no great shock when this book makes it to the course list for college English classes. For a first novel, this work is stunning. The comparison of Bond's writing in Ruby to those of Toni Morrison's Sula and The Bluest Eye are well founded. Morrison's use of magical realism to create a compelling story are in Ruby, and with the volume turned past ten so that they sure do resonate. This book makes you feel. It's a book you want to have discussion about.
I get a little SPOILER-Y from this point on, so feel free to stop here and grab Ruby before you go further.
I loved the symbolism of this book. Using supernatural means to express things that otherwise wouldn't be as powerful is Bond's forte. We come to find that the villain of the work is a Reverend (oh the symbolism!), and religion is definitely up for scrutiny as the characters encounter it time and time again in their lives. The exploration of the loss of black innocence in the black man's quest for equality/power over white privilege/black women/self deserves so much more discussion than mere mention in this review. The line between "good men" and the bad ones that Bond calls "wolves" is a blurry one. It's all relevant for not only this reading, but for practical knowledge. As the reader, I felt that I was learning so much by reading this work.
For me, Ruby didn't become a five-star read until the last two emotional and intense chapters. After reading these, there was no question that it's a keeper to literary contribution. I think that having the comparison to Toni Morrison's work was helpful in making sense of Ruby, but with this prior schema in tow, it's one I would recommend to everyone.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
Ruby is a "Oprah's Book Club 2.0" selection, and like most of her selections, there is a running theme of the strength in womanhood. But Ruby is a whole lot more than a story about African-American history and angst. Ruby is real, visceral and beautifully tragic...and also (definitely) not for the faint of heart.
Ruby tells the story of the 1950's town of Liberty, Texas, where our title character is a beautiful girl who is pushed by violence and fear to New York. With the death of a childhood friend, Ruby is pulled back into the small town weave that wants to annihilate everything she is and stands for. Her only ally to pull her up from rock bottom is a simple man, Ephram, who is dominated by his Bible-thumping sister and ghosts of his past. These characters push and pull on each other in a heart-wrenching dance, sending sparks as they meet and impacting those around them like dominoes.
Cynthia Bond's Ruby is ripe with material for literary analysis. It will be no great shock when this book makes it to the course list for college English classes. For a first novel, this work is stunning. The comparison of Bond's writing in Ruby to those of Toni Morrison's Sula and The Bluest Eye are well founded. Morrison's use of magical realism to create a compelling story are in Ruby, and with the volume turned past ten so that they sure do resonate. This book makes you feel. It's a book you want to have discussion about.
I get a little SPOILER-Y from this point on, so feel free to stop here and grab Ruby before you go further.
I loved the symbolism of this book. Using supernatural means to express things that otherwise wouldn't be as powerful is Bond's forte. We come to find that the villain of the work is a Reverend (oh the symbolism!), and religion is definitely up for scrutiny as the characters encounter it time and time again in their lives. The exploration of the loss of black innocence in the black man's quest for equality/power over white privilege/black women/self deserves so much more discussion than mere mention in this review. The line between "good men" and the bad ones that Bond calls "wolves" is a blurry one. It's all relevant for not only this reading, but for practical knowledge. As the reader, I felt that I was learning so much by reading this work.
For me, Ruby didn't become a five-star read until the last two emotional and intense chapters. After reading these, there was no question that it's a keeper to literary contribution. I think that having the comparison to Toni Morrison's work was helpful in making sense of Ruby, but with this prior schema in tow, it's one I would recommend to everyone.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
missamandamae's review against another edition
5.0
I received an ARC copy from Random House.
Oh my. This book may take a bit to fully digest. Comparisons to Toni Morrison are very apt. But be warned, this book is full of disturbing occurrences. They were uncomfortable to read about, but explained the complex character of Ruby and how this poor woman almost never had a chance in this world. There were some beautiful passages in this book that really struck me. (The hair dressing passage in the middle of the book was one.)
I'll be interested in seeing how this book is received because of Oprah!
Oh my. This book may take a bit to fully digest. Comparisons to Toni Morrison are very apt. But be warned, this book is full of disturbing occurrences. They were uncomfortable to read about, but explained the complex character of Ruby and how this poor woman almost never had a chance in this world. There were some beautiful passages in this book that really struck me. (The hair dressing passage in the middle of the book was one.)
I'll be interested in seeing how this book is received because of Oprah!
almond327's review against another edition
5.0
Breathtakingly beautiful, provocatively sad sprinkled with themes of love, hope and devotion. The human spirit is easily broken but painstakingly hard to put back together. Hard but not impossible and Ruby lived the impossible.
amyhardaway's review
4.0
This one is hard to rate. I found it beautifully written but the subject matter was so hard to read. It was a good book but I will not reread it and would not recommend it just because the ugliness is so heartbreaking to look at.
roaming_rachael's review against another edition
3.0
This book is haunting. Listening to the audiobook was hard at times because of how disturbing some of the content is. What happens to the small children in Liberty really stays with you. It is incredibly descriptive and I was able to picture myself right there next to the characters. The author did a phenomenal job, however, it is not for the faint of heart.
amberoooo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
This book was devastatingly beautiful. It was hard to read but very good. I put it down multiple times because the content was so heavy. I do recommend it but be warned it is not for the faint of heart.
cjdawn236's review against another edition
3.0
I was a little disappointed with this book. It sounded so interesting, and there were some things I did love about it (mostly the author's writing style) but I didn't love it as much as I was expecting to and I can't even put my finger on exactly why.