one of those hideous books where the mother dies

one of those hideous books where the mother dies

by Sonya Sones

 

Bibliography

Sones, Sonya. one of those hideous books where the mother dies. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. ISBN: 9781416907886

Plot Summary and Critical Analysis

Sonya Sones one of those hideous books where the mother dies is a novel for young readers that is written in verse.  I have read plays, short stories, and even restaurant menus written using verse, but this is the first time that I have encountered a novel written almost entirely using poetry.   I found it to be a very effective way to tell this somewhat simple, yet fantastic tale.

Written almost entirely in free, or blank, verse, the story takes us along with Ruby as she leaves her home and the only family she has ever known, her Aunt Duffy to live with her father in Los Angeles after the death of her mother.  Ruby’s quick wit and insecurity is apparent from the beginning and becomes very clear in the poem I love to Read which takes place as she’s on the plane to California

But my life better not turn out

To be like one of those hideous books

Where the mother dies

And so the girl has to

Go live with her absentee father

And he turns to be

An alcoholic heroin addict

Who brutally beats her

And sexually molests her

Thereby causing her to become

A bulimic ax murderer

Ruby, in the sarcastic way that she handles the stress of unfamiliar and frightening situations, shows a crackerjack sense of humor and the insecurity, fear and doubt that it hides.

The plot of novel is somewhat fantastic.  Though simple in concept, the fact that Ruby goes from living with her mother to live with her father, whom she doesn’t remember ever meeting, who happens to be a very famous movie star is the stuff of which fantasies are made.  It is to Ms Sone’s credit that she keeps the story grounded in the feelings and emotions of her characters.

Ruby’s been told by her mother nothing more than that her father left her before Ruby was born, but Ruby knows, through her Aunt Duffy’s actions who her father really is and every year Aunt Ruby would surreptitiously take Ruby to one of her father’s movies.  On the first such trip as young child, Ruby believes that she is actually going to meet her father and when she sees that he is only on the screen she runs out of the theater in tears.  Comforted by her beloved Aunt Duffy she returns to the theater and watched the movie and her father becomes, to her, the characters that he plays.

Also troubling Ruby’s emotions is the fact that she has to leave her best friend and her first real boyfriend behind as she moves to California.  Her emails to these two, and to her deceased mother, are some of the few non-verse parts of the book give the reader a glimpse into the Ruby that often times seems to hide behind the poems.  In the poems, though she seems to strive for honesty, the character of Ruby can hide behind wordplay, metaphor, and structure, where the real Ruby doesn’t have those things.  She is most real in these passages, which is not to say that the poems don’t reveal a great deal about her.

The story bounces back and forth between her old home and her new, as Ruby continues to hold onto the past, onto her old boyfriend and her best friend, and continues to resent the fact that she has to live with the father she never knew.  It is in the middle to late passages that we start to see the real Ruby emerge as she meets one disappointment after another, and equally ignores one opportunity after another.  In these poems, Ruby loses her best friend and boyfriend when they “betray” Ruby and become a couple, moving on in a way which Ruby is still unable.

It is only through this event that Ruby is able to begin, reluctantly, to accept that the life she is now living is her new life.  The poems are quite effective at conveying the changing of emotions and acceptance of life.  Although the betrayal, causes her to lash out at her father, who has been trying so hard to bond with her, she soon begins to realize that he does love her, but still her animosity doesn’t go away.  Bit by bit and poem by poem in this late section of the book we can see Ruby’s façade start to crack.

By bonding first with Max, her father’s assistant, she is able to grow somewhat closer to her father.  But it takes a dream, followed by an earthquake for the real truth about her father to be revealed.  In the aftermath of her breakup, and her growing fondness of her father, Ruby dreams that her mother calls her and they just chat about little things until her dream mother tells her to get out of the house.  Half-dreaming, half-awake Ruby does walk out of the house and finds herself standing in front the a tree where a young boy and recently been killed in an accident.  Soon her father follows her out and finds her there and holds as, for the first time in a long time, Ruby’s tears begin to flow and she feels tremor run through them.  Now, Ruby fully awake realized that an earthquake is occurring and she and her father hold fast to one another.  Soon, Max come out, see that they are safe and dissolves into tears and hugs them both as they all begin to cry.

The closeness of the moment, beautifully portrayed in the poetry allows her father to tell her the whole truth about himself and his relationship with her mother.  The secret is not really a surprise to the reader who will have figured it out about halfway through the book, but it’s a revelation to Ruby who has been too wrapped up in her own feelings to see what was in front of her.

Ms Sones closes the novel with a lovely poem of resolution for Ruby:

I’m lying in the grass,

In the middle Dad’s palm forest,

With my arms cradling my head,

Staring up at the graceful trees

The fronds are fringed with fiery red,

Bobbing and dancing in the soft breeze,

Swishing and swaying

Like headless hula girls.

It’s funny.

I can remember hating palm trees.

I can even remember hating Coolifornia.

I just can’t remember

 

Why.

Ms Sones takes Ruby and the reader on a journey of self-discovery and self-realization that is both moving and affective.  A lot of reality, a little fantasy, and a realization that things aren’t always what they seem are the rewards for taking the journey.  The use of verse to tell the story, at first, added a sense of unreality to the story during my reading.  As the book progressed and the poetry became more complicated and intimate, the poems had the opposite effect.  I felt, by the end as if I were in Ruby’s mind, rather than just an observer. 

Review Excerpts

Amazon.com Editorial Review: Ruby has turned her grief into anger at her father: because he divorced her mother before she was born, because she has had to leave her best friend Lizzie and her boyfriend Ray to come to Los Angeles to live with him, and because he is Whip Logan, a very famous and rich movie star. She turns a cold shoulder to all his gentle and persistent attempts to relate to her, sneers at the glamour of his Beverly Hills mansion and famous friends, and spends most of her time writing desperate emails to Lizzie and Ray, and her dead mother, from her Dream Bedroom. The friendship of Max, Whip's live-in assistant/personal trainer, is some comfort, and Ruby has a harder and harder time keeping her sneer as Whip ups the ante, from rides in his classic vintage cars, to shopping trips for anything she wants, to weekends in Las Vegas and Catalina and a party where Eminem is the guest of honor. But an earthquake leads to a surprising revelation that changes everything for Ruby, in an enormously satisfying ending.

School Library Journal:  In one- to two-page breezy poetic prose-style entries, 15-year-old Ruby Milliken describes her flight from Boston to California and her gradual adjustment to life with her estranged movie-star father following her mother's death. E-mails to her best friend, her boyfriend, and her mother ("in heaven") and outpourings of her innermost thoughts display her overwhelming unhappiness and feelings of isolation, loss, and grief ("…most days,/I wander around Lakewood feeling invisible./Like I'm just a speck of dust/floating in the air/that can only be seen/when a shaft of light hits it"). Ruby's affable personality is evident in her humorous quips and clever wordplays. Her depth of character is revealed through her honest admissions, poignant revelations, and sensitive insights. This is not just another one of those gimmicky novels written in poetry. It's solid and well written, and Sones has a lot to say about the importance of carefully assessing people and situations and about opening the door to one's own happiness. Despite several predictable particulars of plot, Ruby's story is gripping, enjoyable, and memorable.

Connections

Use this book to discuss types of literature written in verse, such as the plays of Shakespeare.

Ask readers how they would feel if they had to move across the country and leave all of their friends behind

Use the book to discuss deeper issues of parental loss.  Since this book if for children 12 and up, I believe a discussion about death and its meaning would be appropriate.

As with all poetry or verse, have students read some of their favorite passages aloud.

Ask the readers what they think of Ruby.  Do they indentify with her or do they think she’s spoiled and whiny.

Use the story as part of a larger discussion of poetry and its different forms and uses.