A review by marieeh
The Ruins by Phoebe Wynne

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

2.0

This book was incredibly difficult for me to rate.  The writing was fine, I didn't have any issues with that, and it held my interest enough that I wanted to finish it.  The relationships between the girls actually felt real, especially the aspect of acquaintances being forced together and then becoming friends through shared events/trauma.  That felt so real and was well written.  Even though it was slow paced, it didn't feel like it dragged much and I finished the book relatively quickly.  Still, because of the content and lack of resolution, I almost didn't finish (started feeling this way when I had about 100 pages to go).  I loved Phoebe Wynne's first book, Madam, so I expected to like this one as well.  Other than knowing the author, I didn't know anything about the plot going into it.

However, the content of this book was absolutely horrible.  Like, I felt physically uncomfortable reading it.  I have never been in such a situation as the girls in the book, but I have been in situations where I was surrounded by people who made me uncomfortable and that I just wanted to leave or get away from, so the author did an excellent job with creating that atmosphere.  But the descriptions of abuse the girls went through were horrible to read.  Very, very uncomfortable.  And what made it worse was
the parents literally NEVER doing anything to stop this abuse, even as it was happening right in front of them.  Ruby, a 12 year old girl sitting on a grown man's lap??  Being forced to kiss him??  And her dad is right there and doesn't do a single thing to stop it???  Imogen being manhandled and pulled into the pool by an adult man, while her mother lays on the poolside and doesn't notice what is happening??  Not to mention everything else that happens to them throughout.  It was maddening how poorly these girls were being watched out for.  No one was in their corner, until Liv started to step up near the end but even that felt like too little, too late.


This was categorized as a mystery/suspense at my library, but it really didn't feel like a mystery at all.  Just a dark, slow moving, fiction.  There was one "twist", I guess you could call it, at the end where it was revealed that
Angus, who had been kind to Ruby throughout the book (but, as an adult reading it, in a very creepy and inappropriate way) had been sleeping with 17 year old Ned throughout their visit.  Which also then led to the murders of Angus and Harley being revealed after being hinted at throughout the book.
  But, that didn't feel so much like a twist as much as just another example of the adults being completely awful and abusive to the children.  There was nothing that really redeemed the story. 

The main story takes place in 1985 and alternates between chapters in 2010, when one of the girls has returned to the chateau, but that really didn't lend too much to the story and maybe could have been left out, or condensed into an epilogue, imo.  Some of the other issues
the murders/manslaughter storyline
felt like they were only brought up when it was convenient.  I understand that since the book was from Ruby's perspective we wouldn't hear more than what she was hearing, but it almost felt pointless.  Like the story of these girls' abuse would have been enough without the aspect of the parents also being responsible for someone's death.  I would believe they were awful enough without that.

I was also disappointed with the implications of the ending. 
If the girls are set to end up at Caldonbrae Hall, prior to the events at the end of Madam, then they are just getting sent away to a place where they will continue to be abused.  After everything they went through in this book, that was just a really upsetting little detail.


Overall I just really didn't like it, and it left a very bad taste in my mouth.  I'd give it a generous 3 for writing, but a 1 for content, which averaged out to a 2.  I am not ready to give up on the author, so should she write another book I'd probably give it a try.
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