Ephram Jennings has never forgotten the beautiful girl with the long braids running through the piney woods of Liberty, their small East Texas town. Young Ruby Bell, “the kind of pretty it hurt to look at,” has suffered beyond imagining, so as soon as she can, she flees suffocating Liberty for the bright pull of 1950s New York. Ruby quickly winds her way into the ripe center of the city--the darkened piano bars and hidden alleyways of the Village--all the while hoping for a glimpse of the red hair and green eyes of her mother. When a telegram from her cousin forces her to return home, thirty-year-old Ruby finds herself reliving the devastating violence of her girlhood. With the terrifying realization that she might not be strong enough to fight her way back out again, Ruby struggles to survive her memories of the town’s dark past. Meanwhile, Ephram must choose between loyalty to the sister who raised him and the chance for a life with the woman he has loved since he was a boy.
My Review:
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
2 platypires for Ruby by Cynthia Bond.
Ruby was one of my recent book club books and we read it based on the recommendation by Oprah. I've read other Oprah's Book Club books so I knew it wasn't going to be a light read. I guess I just wasn't expecting it to be filled with so much dark material. Personally, even when reading a book with a dark subject matter I still have to have a small bit of hope. There just wasn't much hope in Ruby. Also for the most part none of the characters had any redeeming qualities. The town of Liberty was just filled with just awful people. The amount of abuse suffered by Ruby defies belief. It was just non-stop rape, and violence.
Cynthia Bond has a beautiful writing style that is in likes of many literally greats like Zora Neale Hurston. She does have an amazing talent but the subject matter was too much for me. I felt she just did not know where to stop with the abuse.
Ruby is suppose to be read as a stand alone book but it will be apart of a trilogy. I can't say I will continue with this series. I might just wait for the movies to see where the story goes.
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