Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez

This was a good read. It’s the story of Ruthy Ramirez a 13-year-old Puerto Rican girl who never makes it home after track practice and the impact her disappearance has on her family. Many years later one of her sisters is watching tv and thinks she sees Ruthy on a trashy reality tv show called ‘Catfight’. This leads Ruthy’s mom and sisters to embark on a journey to bring Ruthy home.
A very much character driven story told from multiple POV’s. The POV’s of Ruthy’s mother, her two sisters and Ruthy herself. This story is heartbreaking yet has perfectly timed humor. A powerful exploration of family, death, grief, childhood, and generational trauma. It also highlights the way that missing Brown and Black girls and women are often ignored. I have seen some comments about their being too much profanity, but I didn’t notice. I guess I took it as how actual people would talk. The characters, the plot all came across as real and authentic to me.
The story also touches on childhood sexual abuse, racism, discrimination, and death.
#RuthyRamirez #NetGalley #ClaireJimenez

Content Warnings

kwurtzel3's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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myinfinitetbr's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

I spent the weekend binging this book. It drew me in immediately and it was hard to put down.

Thirteen year old Ruthy Ramirez goes missing one day, leaving her family with nothing but questions.

More than a decade later, the Ramirez sisters discover Ruthy may be alive after all this time when they see her on a reality TV show.

Wow! What a debut. I was fully invested in what happened to Ruthy, and I love that it was told in the alternating perspectives of sisters Nina, Jessica, mother Dolores, and Ruthy herself. Each woman reeling in the wake of Ruthy's disappearance, and in her potential return.

I loved each of the Ramirez women. Each had a unique voice, but their family dynamic was so authentic. They spent most of their time bickering but the love and loyalty was palpable. I could read about these women just in their everyday lives forever.

Thanks to Grand Central Pub and NetGalley for my gifted copy

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oldandnewbooksmell's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Trigger Warnings: Discussion of rape and molestation, missing child(ren)

13-year-old Ruthie Ramirez disappeared without a trace from a bus stop after track practice in 1996. Her disappearance rocked the Ramirez family and they were never able to fully recover. Then, one night, twelve years later, older sister Jessica spots a splitting image of their sister on a reality TV show called Catfight, she even has the beauty mark under the left eye that is instantly recognizable.

In 2008, Ruthy’s mother, Dolores, still struggles with the loss, older sister Jessica now has a newborn baby and works at the hospital, and younger sister Nina, after four years away at college, is now back and living with their mom and is forced to work a job at the lingerie store at the mall.

After the sisters see the could-be-Ruthy, they hatch a plan to go down to where the show is filming to see if they can confirm who they think she is. When Dolores also sees the could-be-Ruthy herself, she insists on joining, and dragging along her best friend, Irene. The Ramirez women then set on a road trip that forces them to face their past and look towards the future, with or without the could-be-Ruthy.

This is both a heartwarming and a heartbreaking novel. The chapters jump around between the Ramirez women, including Ruthy back in 1996 on the day of her disappearance. By doing this, Jiménez is able to show you each of their thoughts and feelings, which really humanizes the whole thing and makes it feel authentic.

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez was also a pretty quick read for me as well, the only reason it took me two days was because I started it later in the evening on the 19th. The writing style and language of this novel are smooth and easy flowing, regardless of whose POV the chapter was written in. This style also keeps the mystery of what really happened to Ruthy up until the very end - did she get taken or did she simply run away and refuse to talk to her family again?

I can easily see this book becoming a Book Club favorite in libraries as well as highly talked about once it’s released in a few weeks. Anyone who likes to read about a complicated family dynamic, especially based around women, will greatly enjoy this book.

*Thank you Grand Central Publishing for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

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definitelynotreading's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.0

This is not the type of book that would usually peak my interest, but it was offered to me by the publisher and who am I to turn down free books? It was an interesting look at a culture that is very unfamiliar to me in multiple ways - first of all being focused geographically in a very different area than where I grew up and secondly being focused on characters from a minority group with which I am generally unfamiliar. In that sense, I enjoyed this book. I can't speak to it's accuracy, but based on the author's own background, I'm inclined to believe it's an accurate depiction of the culture it represents.

What fell flat for me was the actual plot of the story. It seemed to be a slice of several weeks out of the characters lives and the events of the novel had little impact on their lives after the fact. Their lives seem to continue as they always had previously. I can definitely understand the choices the author made that caused their lives to be minimally changed. I think the other outcome would've been too easy in a lot of ways, however, I hoped for a bit of character development through the process. The reader discovered aspects of the characters lives, but the characters didn't display growth themselves through the events of the novel.

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alliereadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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spinesinaline's review against another edition

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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.

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