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A review by khornstein1
Ruby by Cynthia Bond
3.0
Spoiler Alert!
Oprah said she brought back her Book Club for this one book because it was “like no other book she’s ever read.” Hmmm…that was enough for me. I went out and bought it, thinking about other books that could be like that: “Ulysses,” “Slaughterhouse Five,” “Invisible Man,” Faulkner anything, Virginia Woolf anything.
And then I get it, this book is unlike anything she’s ever read because it is a book that involves child prostitution/snuffing combined with witchcraft. Oh my, I made it through, just barely. And I have deep respect for the author who says she is a victim of human trafficking as a child and has worked with runaways. It’s a brave book that hits you over the head with graphic imagery and a grim worldview.
But for Oprah to say it’s “unlike anything she’s read” seems odd. It reminded me at times of “Ode to Billie Joe,” the movie, “Angel Heart,” and yes, “The Color Purple.” In fact, that’s the problem with this book--it tries to be too many things at once: a book about racism, a book about child abuse, a book about voodoo, and New York, and Texas, and the woods, etc.
And then there’s the nature imagery (the crows, the pine forest, the flowers) that seem to be thrown in with everything to make things more “literary.” I felt myself becoming extremely bored whenever the crows came along.
Cynthia Bond, you are a good writer; I would say--an excellent writer. The passages about Ruby in New York and Celia and her church would have been enough: well-written, great character studies. Or just the child prostitution piece. This is such a big, ambitious book that I am now anxious to read whatever comes next because I believe it is going to be better: less will be more and may be all you need. Rather than one story, you have a hundred.
Oprah said she brought back her Book Club for this one book because it was “like no other book she’s ever read.” Hmmm…that was enough for me. I went out and bought it, thinking about other books that could be like that: “Ulysses,” “Slaughterhouse Five,” “Invisible Man,” Faulkner anything, Virginia Woolf anything.
And then I get it, this book is unlike anything she’s ever read because it is a book that involves child prostitution/snuffing combined with witchcraft. Oh my, I made it through, just barely. And I have deep respect for the author who says she is a victim of human trafficking as a child and has worked with runaways. It’s a brave book that hits you over the head with graphic imagery and a grim worldview.
But for Oprah to say it’s “unlike anything she’s read” seems odd. It reminded me at times of “Ode to Billie Joe,” the movie, “Angel Heart,” and yes, “The Color Purple.” In fact, that’s the problem with this book--it tries to be too many things at once: a book about racism, a book about child abuse, a book about voodoo, and New York, and Texas, and the woods, etc.
And then there’s the nature imagery (the crows, the pine forest, the flowers) that seem to be thrown in with everything to make things more “literary.” I felt myself becoming extremely bored whenever the crows came along.
Cynthia Bond, you are a good writer; I would say--an excellent writer. The passages about Ruby in New York and Celia and her church would have been enough: well-written, great character studies. Or just the child prostitution piece. This is such a big, ambitious book that I am now anxious to read whatever comes next because I believe it is going to be better: less will be more and may be all you need. Rather than one story, you have a hundred.