Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez

I was ready to move this book but it didn’t happen. The premise is promising but the delivery is bumbled. The narration by Ruthy’s family is colorful and entertaining but often not pulled together to follow the storyline. It felt like a short story with unnecessary filler and the afterword by the author revealed that to be the case exactly. This was almost a DNF for me and in hindsight, I think I would have preferred that, leaving the promise of the story unfinished rather than unsatisfactory.

Content Warnings

johannawithbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This has been one of my most surprising reads of the year, it was nothing like what I expected it to be. The debut novel is unique, captivating, and an ode for all the girls of color who go missing.

The story follows a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island still grappling after the disappearance of Ruthy Ramirez twelve years ago. One day Ruthy, the middle sister, doesn’t return home after track practice and a family is left to grief without answers, move forward with no direction, and live. Claire Jimenez gives us a microscope into the lives of those impacted when one of our girls is taken and we exist in a system to designed to fail them.

One night, sisters Jessica and Nina see a woman on a messy reality tv show that they believe could be Ruthy. When their mother, Dolores finds out about their suspicions, she insists on going with them on a road trip to find this possible Ruthy. From the outside, it must look like the Ramirez women should be okay and have been able to move in. Oldest sister Jessica has her own family, but is holding on to secrets that haunt her. Nina, the youngest graduates college, but grew up in the shadow of a missing sister. Their mother, Dolores, has found a community in church, but no real place to hold her grief.

In the juxtaposing stories of the women in the book, from the Ramirez family to friends to reality tv stars, we see how women are judged for their survival but not the system that puts them in danger every day. This is a call for the resources and support to respond to childhood survivors of abuse, to take the missing lives of black and brown girls seriously, and to remember that survival is complex and can many times look messy.

What Happened To Ruthy Ramírez is a character driven story on the themes of sisterhood, generational trauma, survival, guilt, resentment, and family love.

Content Warnings

saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I received a digital ARC of this through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own. The book will be released on 3/7/2023.

A more accurate title for What Happened To Ruthy Ramirez would be Who's Ruthy Ramirez as the book is less focused on the mystery and more on Ruthy and the women in her family as characters. This focus helped with the main theme of how often Black and brown girls go missing. Despite the dark subject matter, the book goes down easy thanks to the snarky humor throughout. However, the characters felt too distant and unremarkable, the prose and plot got boring because of the use of minute details and mundane scenes, and the story needed more narrative tension (the sisters were oddly unmotivated to figure out what was going on with Ruthy/Ruby until towards the end).

Content Warnings

spinesinaline's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Such a compelling read, many CWs for sexual assault, pedophilia, physical abuse. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for an ARC!

This is not only the story of the Ramirez’s search for their missing sister but of the violence and harassment that each woman in the family has faced and beyond that, of the wider societal issue of violence against women, especially women of colour. It’s a sad and upsetting read, but also one of the incredible love of this family, their fights and making up, and their hilarious humour.

There was some questionable fatphobic portrayal so a heads up for that. The comments that focused on one character’s weight and diets in relation to their grief felt unnecessary to the story.

I really enjoyed this story while also feeling the visceral grief of this family and other women who’ve been in this position. A great read to start off my year.

Content Warnings

More...