Customer Reviews

Ruby

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Olivia and Ruby meet under very unusual circumstances. Olivia is staying at a beach house that she and her husband planned to live in together. He was tragically killed and she is trying to come to terms with her grief. She finds Ruby in her kitchen drinking a glass of water. Ruby is 15, pregnant, and has no place to go. Although suspicious of her, Olivia lets her stay in her house and gradually they form a bond.

Olivia decides that the best thing for everyone is for her to adopt Ruby's baby. But will Ruby keep her word? Even tho she's only 15, there are times when she seems to think that it will be possible for her to keep her baby.

Their relationship goes through many stages from the distrust in the beginning to true friendship at the end. It is a marvelous book.

I've read all of Ann Hood's books and I must say this is my favorite one. She captures the grief a newly married widow would be feeling and experiencing perfectly. Her portrayal of Ruby as a messed-up, needy teenager is also right on the money. I thought the characters seemed real and they stayed in my mind long after I finished the book. The only thing I really didn't think belonged was Oliva's relationship with Jake. She just suddenly went to his house (he was her lawyer)and began a sexual relationship? What about his "girlfriend?" I think he just represented her need to feel loved again. Anyway, beyond all that I give this two thumbs up.

Olivia, after a whirlwind romance and marriage, finds herself widowed. While she goes through the motions of living at the cottage she and David loved, into her life breaks Ruby. Literally. Ruby is as unexpected by Olivia as Ruby's pregnancy was to Ruby. The two form an unusual bond that is dysfunctional and supportive at the same time. Through out the whole book you continue to see how immature Ruby is and how foolish her choices have been and will no doubt continue to be. Though you hope she will get her life together, even at the conclusion of the book you sense she never will. At least Olivia is able to move forward throughout the story and become stronger. It is a compelling story to read as you try to figure out what Ruby will do with her baby, but it is not a particularly happy book.

Hood is another Judy Blume. Ruby is the best developed of the characters; I especially enjoyed her monologues and creative diaglogue. Olivia, the main character, is the weak link. She goes off to her beach house for months, leaving her NYC hat business and means of livelihood. Also, I really wasn't sure she loved her husband until after he died. Then the grief is mostly expressed in self-pity. Teenage girls will fly through this book though, plenty of titilating sex and mockery of society's rules.

Ann Hood's novel about a pregnant teenager and a mourning widow was full of shallow characters and a jumbled plot. The conversations were simple and provided little insight into what each character was feeling. I forced myself to finish this book and was not surprised when the end was exactly what I had expected.

In the book Ruby by Ann Hood, the main character Olivia is the one person who goes through many hardships, and overcomes them one at a time. First her husband dies when he is hit by a car. Then she returns to her house one day only to discover a pregnant fifteen year old, Ruby, sitting at her kitchen table. She takes this girl in, and the story goes on from there. This novel is sensational! Towards the end of the novel, suspense starts building, and you can't put the book down. Olivia is determined to get custody of Ruby's baby, but will she? Will Ruby and the father, Ben, let her do so? Due to some of the graphic content and adult language, this novel is more recommended for the adult reader. I give this book five stars, and will definitely read more of Ann Hood's books.

Ann Hood has a clear voice and tells believable stories about modern women in real-life situations. I knew I'd be in for a good read. I wasn't disappointed.

Ruby is the story of a young widow, still grieving for her husband, who takes in a young pregnant teenager. They're conflict of course as they each have different needs. And the conclusion is satisfying, if not perfect.

The book does have some faults. I would have liked to see just a few less scenes about the past marriage because the story was really very much in the present.

But it is an easy book to read -- a mere 225 pages, and it moves quickly. The characters are real and they drive the plot. And I was drawn into the story and held there for the well-crafted story.

Ann Hood alternately captures the heartache and the comedy of a unwed, pregnant teen and a middle-aged widow thrown together while trying to cope with their own individual life lessons.

The characters are funny, warm and believable. You can actually smell the salt air of the Rhode Island shore! This is one of those books you want to read curled up in front of the fire with a good cup of tea! It is highly enjoyable......one of Hood's best! Bravo!

Ann Hood should be declared a saint by all married men (along with Dr. Laura since she published The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands last year). The main character in Ruby is not Ruby, is Olivia. She had been married for only a few months when her husband is killed while jogging. That very morning, when he tried to get intimate, Olivia shunned him away, and suggested that he go for a run. After his death, this is a regret that Olivia cannot shake away. Many a woman (including me) will heed her implied advice after reading this book.

So Olivia is devastated and goes to their summer house on the coast in Rhode Island to prepare it for sale. While there, she meets Ruby. Ruby is 15 going on 40, and very pregnant. Olivia starts fantasizing about keeping Ruby's baby, as it had been hers and David's dream to have a child. But Ruby is a bit of a con-artist, and the process is not going to be smooth sailing.

The beauty about the story is not so much about Olivia getting the baby as it is about Olivia getting a family. It was heartwarming to see the evolution of Olivia and Ruby's relationship, from distrust, to antagonism, to acceptance, to full support. I loved the ending.

I wasn't too happy about a few unsatisfying details in the story:

* David falling in love at first sight with Olivia, the milliner who sold him the hat he was supposed to give to his girlfriend on Valentine's Day. He gave her the hat and proceeded to break up with her. How shallow! I never warmed up to him.

* Olivia's unrealistic retreat to the beach house in RI. She has a business to run and an apartment in NYC, yet she has the means to close them up without subletting. Was she so independently wealthy?

* There is a three-year-old in the story that says things like: "We've never eaten in here. [...] Honest to God, we never eat in here. Not in a million years". OK, how many three-year-olds do you know that say "we've never eaten"? I know many an adult that says "we've never ate".

* Olivia and Ruby's fight in the parking lot at the A&W. No matter how stoned those kids were, no one came to Ruby's defense?

* Rex's visit to the beach house in the middle of the night. Hmmm...

* The cassette tape. I will not into details so as not to spoil this part.

In any event, this was a pretty good novel, that read like a breeze. I don't think it is stellar, but I enjoyed the pace. The style reminded me a bit of Laurie Colwin's fabulous novels, maybe because of the New England setting, maybe because the simple, fresh dialog, maybe because of the strong women friendships.

What a waste of time it was listening to this book.

The plot outline makes sense, but the novel's progress is ruined by unlikeable characters and a poor grasp of realistic dialog.

Who the hell makes or sells fancy hats anymore in today's world?

Why was Olivia so blase about David's jog that morning--if she was that head-over-heels about him she'd automatically hug and kiss him goodbye, perhaps say I Love You each time they parted.

How on earth could Olivia afford to just up and leave her one job and hang around the summerhouse all year, meanwhile theoretically paying 2 mortgages? The author doesn't mention the provisions of David's estate.

Why was there virtually no details of the trial or conviction of Amanda for manslaughter? Would such a girl actually take a fruitloaf to a grieving widow in that situation? How gauche.

Where were this woman's loving friends and family during Olivia's mourning? They seemed to either be telling her to buck up, flaunting their own marriages and pregnancies, or callously fixing her up with some nobody when she's lost her soulmate.

Are we really supposed to believe Olivia (educated, relatively privilaged) is that naive? Trusting a street kid to behave and refrain from theft, drugs and fornication, and to also give up her own baby to Olivia? She doesn't even catch on when Ruby steals her most valuable, personal possessions from her.

The whole adoption plotline bothered me. These open-adoption plans seem rather risky. In my time pregnant teens in the Northeast actually had 3 options: abortion, adoption, or keeping the child and going on public assistance. In Ruby, both Olivia and Ruby seem to want the best of both options: keeping the baby with Olivia but giving the birth mother visitation rights. This is too messy a stipulation--it requires extreme maturity on both parties. Neither Olivia nor Ruby seemed very mature, let alone responsible, to me.

I know the character grieved over her husband, "in her own way",
yet I was shocked and horrified when she killed a cat, a poor sweet neighbor's pet, yet didn't bother to shed one tear of regret that she'd been a mini-Amanda herself.

I don't think real teens talk like Ruby,and the supporting character's dialog sounded like they were from a made-for-cable TV movie.

Not much in this book rang true, and I simply could not sympathize with anyone in it, or their actions. Could have been handled so much better, too bad--the premise was great.