My name is Ruby.
This book is about me.
It tells the deeply hideous story
of what happens when my mother dies
and I'm dragged three thousand miles away
from my gorgeous boyfriend, Ray,
to live in L.A. with my father,
who I've never even met
because he's such a scumbag that he
divorced my mom before I was born.
The only way I've ever even seen him
is in the movies,
since he's this mega-famous actor
who's been way too busy
trying to win Oscars
to even visit me once in fifteen years.
Everyone loves my father.
Everyone but me.
I did it. I broke my New Years resolution. I bought my first book. Not only did I buy a book, but it was one that I have not only read many times, but even owned it already.
Let me explain. Four years ago, I bought a book called One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. I loved it. I read it many times, and loaned it to many people, and just all around loved it. Two and a half years ago, I loaned it to a friend. She kept telling me she was going to read it, never did, and never gave it back no matter how many times I asked. Over the years, I have considered rebuying it, but I never gave up hope that she would eventually return it. Also, they redesigned the cover, and the new one was hideous, but that was an entirely different issue. Well, two weeks ago, I had a major falling out with that friend. I have given up hope of the friendship being resolved any time soon, instead deciding to look fondly back on the memories we had, while letting go at the same time.
I was at the bookstore on Sunday, and was looking around the young adult section, and I saw the book. Not only did I see the book, but it was the old cover. I decided it was fate, and I must buy it. And so I did. I had really fond memories of this book, and I really wanted to read it again. It was hysterically funny, and made fun of all of the Lurlene McDaniel books I read so many of when I was in middle school.
Well, for those of you who know me well and have done the math, you'll realize I had not read it since my mother passed away, and I wondered if it would mean something different to me if I read it now.
It did.
The book is about Ruby Milliken, a 15 year old girl, whose mother has just recently passed away. It starts on a plane, which Ruby is on, on her way to live with her father, who she has never met, and really does not want to live with. It sounds like every other book written about a teenage girl whose mother dies. Except that her father turns out to be an Oscar winning actor in Hollywood. The book follows her life as she adjusts to living with a man who is acting like he wants to be the perfect father, yet ignored her the first fifteen years. She misses her best friend, her aunt, her boyfriend, and, more than anything else, her mom. Her only ally in this new strange land (she's originally from Boston), is her dad's gay assistant, Max, who does his best to mediate between her and her father.
The book is beautifully written, set up as a book of poems that make up Ruby's diary. The poems either deal with her mother's death, or her relationship with her father, rarely both. I can't speak for what it is like to move in with your movie star father, but as someone who lost her mother, I feel that the feelings are nailed perfectly. It tugged at my heart, and stirred up memories, but not in a bad way.
I reccomend this book to anyone who wants a quick, entertaining, enjoyable read. It will take no longer than a few hours, and it is completely worth it.
