Scan barcode
stephanielee's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, and Grief
Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, and Vomit
lsm's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This was really good. It offers a very real but unique telling of the aftermath of what happens to a family after a child goes missing. It’s told through multi pov, several years later when hope makes a surprise appearance. I can
recommend this one.
recommend this one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Cursing, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Medical content, Child death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Bullying, and Pregnancy
tashtasher's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Child death, Kidnapping, Death, Cursing, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Sexual assault, and Bullying
Minor: Cancer, Toxic friendship, Deportation, and Alcohol
mmccombs's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I really enjoyed this one! The multiple POVs really worked with each other and had engaging, unique voices. The story was a mystery, the gap of Ruthie sitting at the heart of the book, but it was also about sisterhood, motherhood, community, the immigrant experience, and girlhood. And that ending! My only complaint about this book was the audiobook experience, personally I found that the narration did not do the story justice and flattened each POV into a monotone string of words. But otherwise I thought this was a well crafted and enjoyable to read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
atamano's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Cursing
Moderate: Racism, Violence, Death, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Alcohol
Minor: Chronic illness and Vomit
cassielaj's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This story was not what I expected, but in a good way. The Ramirez women and their relationships are complicated, and they’ve all been impacted differently in the decade since Ruthy, the middle child, disappeared after school one day. The dynamics between the women and the chapters’ told from their perspectives are really what make this story. It’s a story of loss and grief and hope and family, as well as an interrogation of reality tv and a society that lets women of color slip through the cracks. All of this supported by pointed, sparing prose makes for a thought-provoking read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Sexual assault and Pedophilia
Minor: Murder
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
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?”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Grief
Moderate: Death, Violence, Bullying, and Child death
Minor: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Religious bigotry
eggplantia5's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I wish there was a little more fleshing out of all the characters. They all felt very realized and I wanted to know more about them. I found the ending to be a big letdown, what a disappointing end. You follow in this journey of grief and then the ending is wrapped up in a couple of paragraphs?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Grief
naluju's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Grief
kcarney86's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Murder, Misogyny, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, and Death