Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez

34 reviews

skipping_violets's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book doesn’t have the strongest plot but dives deep into character. You won’t leave feeling happy but you’ll think. I wish it was longer to more fully explore its themes but it was a good quick read. I put a spoiler in my content warnings if you just want to know what happened to Ruthy

Content Warnings

avisreadsandreads's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

atamano's review

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

just_one_more_paige's review

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emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I was browsing through NetGalley months ago when the cover of this one caught my eye, and the description was intriguing enough that I requested it. So first, thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for granting said request. And then, I actually happened upon a physical ARC that had been sent to the library that was up for grabs, so I had oodles of ways to read this...and it still took me until months after publication to actually get to it. Best laid plans and all that...

Years ago, when she was 13 years old, Ruthy Ramirez disappeared after track practice without a trace. And over a decade later, the rest of the Ramirez women - her older sister Jessica, her younger sister Nina, and her mother Dolores - are all still deeply affected by the mystery of what happened to her, as well as the daily mundanities and trials of their individual lives. When Jessica spots someone she is sure is Ruthy, on a late night reality tv show, she sets into motion an amateur family sleuthing project, tracking down details and making a plan to drive to the show's shooting location and bring maybe-Ruthy back home. Whether or not the woman in the show actually is Ruthy or not, the road trip and subsequent reckoning will force the family to finally face the past and deal with what's next.

Well, in addition to all the other copies of this I had, I waited long enough to read it that I was also able to get the audiobook from my library. So to just really quickly start with that listening experience, Jiménez narrates herself and I really enjoyed it. There was a spoken word quality to her performance that adds great rhythm and expression to the storytelling. I had to listen at a much slower rate than I normally do, as a result, but it was worth it. As for the writing itself, and the narration most definitely deepened this impression, it was incredibly raw. There was so much emotion and personality in it, stylistically. Although I felt like, at times, there was also a choppiness to it, that grew on me as I read/listened, and by the end I could see the way that, too, fit the energy of the book.

I also really liked the way this novel was told from the perspectives of each of the Ramirez women, including a "day of the disappearance" unfolding from Ruthy's perspective. Each of the women had a strong, distinct voice (Dolores' in particular was quite robust, and really reminded me of the live-wire-ness of the MC/narrator in How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, which I loved). And for Ruthy, I loved the look we got at the typical, everyday things she was enjoying and dealing with on that final day. It provides a heartbreaking look at the lost girls - brown and Black girls specifically - that don't make the big headlines that get public attention and support. And that they are complex and real and human in all the same ways and despite the greatness or smallness of whatever their lives are, they deserve the same care and attention and support. Jiménez takes this even further with Jessica and Nina's perspectives, that of those who are left behind and/or who face their own hidden traumas because of cultural norms, shame and stigma of talking about it. The way she is able to portray the ways they too are lost/missing - in the cracks - in their own unique ways, is spectacularly affecting.

Overall, this novel was more about the family and their reactions than it was about the sudden reappearance of Ruthy and tracking her down. And while I'm not against that, it did feel just a bit different than advertised, so I'm just sharing for future reader awareness. And I do want to leave this review with the feeling the novel left me with. The pain of everlasting hope for a "happy" ending, without the closure that would allow one to move one from that, is palpable here. Jiménez presents here a devastating face-on consideration of how the many people who live this as a daily reality move through that pain. This is fiction reflective of, and with commentary on, reality at its finest.

“I strongly believe that we all should be able to choose our own ways to be ashamed.”

"Say something is bigger than you, like much bigger, like a lot; is it really your fault if you cannot stop it?"

“How many girls in the world were there who looked like Ruthy, talked like Ruthy? Laughed like her? How many of us were missing?”