Book Review – What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez

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Description

A deeply powerful, raw debut novel of a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their long‑missing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and they set out to bring her home.

The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen‑year‑old middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace, it left the family scarred and scrambling. One night, twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister, Nina: This woman’s hair is dyed red, and she calls herself Ruby, but the beauty mark under her left eye is instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time?

The years since Ruthy’s disappearance haven’t been easy on the Ramirez family. It’s 2008, and their mother, Dolores, still struggles with the loss, Jessica juggles a newborn baby with her hospital job, and Nina, after four successful years at college, has returned home to medical school rejections and is forced to work in the mall folding tiny bedazzled thongs at the lingerie store.

After seeing maybe‑Ruthy on their screen, Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to where the show is filmed in search of their long‑lost sister. When Dolores catches wind of their scheme, she insists on joining, along with her pot-stirring holy roller best friend, Irene. What follows is a family road trip and reckoning that will force the Ramirez women to finally face the past and look toward a future—with or without Ruthy in it.

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a vivid family portrait, in all its shattered reality, exploring the familial bonds between women and cycles of generational violence, colonialism, race, and silence, replete with snark, resentment, tenderness, and, of course, love.

***Book Description is from Goodreads***

I’ve been ruminating on my review of ‘What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez’ for a hot minute and was hesitant to review it so soon after completing it. It’s mostly due to me initially being unsure about my rating. Now that some time has passed, I’m confident that my rating is locked in and unsurprisingly hasn’t changed.

As with a majority of my reviews, I must preface that I didn’t have any expectations before reading ‘What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez’. I did not read the synopsis and aside from the ‘missing girl’ trope, I had somehow avoided finding out anything else about this story.

‘What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez’ is a slice of life novel, following the lives of the Ramirez women, Dolores, the mother, and her daughters, Jessica, Ruthy, and Nina. Written in alternating chapters, from the perspective of each Ramirez woman, ‘What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez’ navigates daily life events and explores disjointed familial connections, all while providing an understanding of how each woman has processed their shared grief of their missing or presumed dead family member, Ruthy Ramirez. Ruthy disappeared without a trace when she was thirteen years old. That’s so, until the eldest sister, Jessica, is watching a reality television show and sees a cast member that eerily resembles Ruthy. From there, a laugh-out-loud story ensues.

I appreciated ‘What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez’ for its depiction of a not-so-perfect family chiseling away at longtime, festering issues and slowing down to listen and be aware. For so long, the Ramirez family hadn’t been a cohesive unit and through each character’s chapters, we get a front-row seat to how Ruthy’s disappearance has impacted their lives. Hence, a major takeaway for me was the rebuilding of familial bonds after a significant loss.

From an entertainment standpoint, I recognized the story’s relatability. The television show in the book resembled the reality tv show, The Bad Girls Club. Depicting the tv show in the book to favor The Bad Girls Club helped me to visualize the type of person Ruthy was or has grown to be. This is a plus, as adding that element made me more empathetic to Ruthy’s character. Without it, I think I would have seen her as unlikeable rather than misunderstood.

The comedic banter between characters was a surprising component of the story, expletives included. I mention this because I might be one of the few reviewers that did not have an issue with the expletives sprinkled throughout the book. They were used within the intended context and rarely felt as if they served as filler language. It made for a more realistic dialogue. If cursing is something you are sensitive to, this book may not be for you.

This book is for readers that don’t mind being a fly on the wall for pretty much whatever. Based on my reading experience, the lack of a plot and the open-endedness simply did not work for me. The author’s writing is easy to read and the dialogue between characters is believable, but my aversion to slice of life stories deeply impacted my rating. For all the story elements I did enjoy, there were so many pages that made me question the point of it all, and I finished the book with more questions than answers.

I’ve expressed the type of audience this book is best catered to. If you are one of them, I hope this review and the book finds you well. 😉

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing, Claire Jiménez, and NetGalley for an Advanced Review Copy in exchange for an honest review. My review/reaction is voluntary, all thoughts are mine and unbiased, and receiving the Advanced Review Copy does not influence my rating and/or recommendation.