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keepreadingbooks's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Somebody Loves You is the epitome of a character-driven and virtually plotless novel, and it’s exactly how I like it. It essentially consists of little vignettes or memories from the main character, Ruby’s, childhood and adolescence, together giving the reader a delicate, lyrical, heartbreaking and even wryly humorous account of a young mute-by-choice girl coming of age in a family with a mentally ill mother, a loving but otherwise passive father, and a protective but rebellious older sister.
It’s easy to see that Arshi is first and foremost a poet, not only in the fragmented prose-poetry style of the book, but also in the sparse yet lyrical writing. Not a single word seems superfluous. The story itself may not seem very impactful at first, but it sneaks up on you and becomes gradually heavier with each “chapter” while managing to maintain its wry humour through Ruby’s observations of the people in her life, both friends, neighbours and family members. And while heavy, above all the novel still seems gentle, like Ruby herself, a soft cushion for the world’s harsh blows.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape and Racism
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