Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Book Review: Ruby by Cynthia Bond

I have a distinct memory of the first time I read Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. The progressive themes, the colorful imagery, the sculpted language. I remember being in love with the characters and understanding their struggles, triumphs, and pain. Cynthia Bond's Ruby, an Oprah's Book Club 2.0 pick and NYT Best Seller, allowed me to have similar feelings and step back into that moment with Hurston that I never thought I'd have again.



Against the backdrop of a poor black town in East Texas, Cynthia Bond weaves together the stories of Ruby Bell and Ephram Jennings, along with their pasts, their traumas, and their fears. Ruby Bell is introduced as a woman who the town believes has lost her wits during the time that she went away to New York City. We learn later that Ruby has undergone many horrific traumas - mostly at the hands of men - and this has built her into the person that she is, as we see her presently in the novel. Ephram is a simple, kind man, who has always been a simple, kind man, and has been supposed by others to always be a simple, kind man. He lives with his older sister, Celia, who is a stand-in as his second (or replacement) mother. The reader finds out slowly that the Jennings family has also experienced much trauma throughout their lives. Bond pulls the reader into an infatuation with the relationship, or lack thereof, between Ruby and Ephram. The reader will quickly find that no character is without virtue, while simultaneously, no character is without imperfection. I truly love how well-rounded each character was throughout the novel. Throughout the story, Bond allows the reader to begin to feel comfortable with her perception of each character just to bring in new information about that character's past, will, and agenda, and shake up the reader-character relationship.

This book did take me longer than normal to read, and I think it was because of the structure of the book. I felt that the book jumped around often from character to character and I wasn't sure where things were going for most of the book. Additionally, the action in the book didn't come early, but the end of the book - when things started to pick up and I started learning deeper secrets about the characters - flew by quickly for me. Also, my favorite unexpected part of the book was at the end, Bond includes a recipe for Celia's famous angel cake.

The themes of the book are prolific and present throughout the entirety of Ruby. Feminism, racism, classism, voodoo, the effects of trauma, and the impact of religion - to name a few. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a deep-seated love for Zora Neale Hurston, or writers similar to her. And, again, Oprah's book club pick was a success.


Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 stars







No comments:

Post a Comment