Dessen, Sarah - Lock and Key

[oyceter]

Ruby's been living alone with her alcoholic mother ever since her older sister went to college; the two have been going from place to place for as long as she can remember. One day, her mother disappears, the social workers are called in, and suddenly, Ruby's living the older sister she hasn't seen for nearly a decade and her new brother-in-law. She's now in a good private school, and nothing is familiar.

I liked this, but not as much as some of Dessen's other books. I was glad to see that there were actually black characters, though sadly they were confined to being the sassy best friend, and a little talk of class. On the other hand, It didn't go as much into class as I wanted, as Ruby ends up adapting to her new life fairly easily and without much fuss on other people's part.

I love Ruby herself, who's one of Dessen's closed-off, scared-to-be-wounded girls, and I found her reconciliation with Cora to be particularly touching (by "touching," I mean, "I bawled"). On the other hand, the addition of Nate, the guy next door, and his issues made the focus of the book feel a little off. Ruby does finally come to her own by confronting Nate's issues, but I couldn't help feel that the latter part of the book was overtaken by Nate's angst, when I really wanted more about Ruby reconciling her old life with her new one, and especially more about Ruby and Cora.

The descriptions of Jamie, Cora's husband, and his family's over-the-top-ness with regard to communicating and holidays reminds me a lot of my own culture shock when I came here, and I wanted more of an examination of Cora and Ruby's family experience versus Jamie's, without having Jamie's seem too good to be true.

Good, and still recommended, but not one of my favorite Dessens.

Links:
- gwyneira's review

Comments

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I couldn't say I was exactly disappointed, because still Dessen, but yeah, not a favorite. The Nate plotline did sort of hijack Ruby's, and I thought the whole key was kind of cliched and overused, too, not as subtle as she usually is.

[oyceter]

Yeah, and so many shout-outs! The first few amused me, and then I started wondering if she was going to put in everyone she had written about ever.