The Fiery Cross, Outlander book 5

The Fiery Cross, Diana Gabaldon

It didn't take me quite this long to read book 5, but sometimes it felt like forever. Still, I've found a moment to write about this one.

If you don't know about Outlander, it's hard to describe. It is a mix of historical fiction, war, romance, fantasy/sci-fi, and ladyporn. Each novel is really long. There is a LOT going on in this story, and Gabaldon does a fine job of weaving a very intricate tale.

Back when I read A Book That Scares Me, I mentioned an incident with my friend. I'd been reading the first three installments of the Outlander series and I told her that, frankly, I was tired of all the rape. So I was going to take a break and pick up a new series. Unfortunately, it was the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, so *spoiler alert* more rape.

Well, when I came back to book 5, really the books are good but you can't just plow through the whole series, I told the same friend that I was starting it. I said something about how the title sounded like something about the Klan not clans (in fact there is a book about the history of the KKK with the same title) but wasn't. Well ... there aren't any white sheets involved, but it does lay the historical groundwork for what would become the white supremacy group we all love to hate.

The story- how many ways can colonists barely escape death? That could be the subtitle of this one. Fortunately for pre-Revolutionary mountaineers, Claire has brought her modern medical expertise back and is brewing some form of penicillin, making luxurious soap, and birthin' babies all over the Carolinas. At least no one kills a bear with a knife in this one.

I don't want to give it all away, but just as I was about to shelf Cross and turn to something else, BOOM! She tries to kill one of the main characters! You know when Jamie and Claire are going to die (or do we?), but there are children and grandchildren and tenants that are still a mystery. And let me say, it isn't an accidental misfire. Dude is hung as a prisoner of war. Well, that got my attention and I dove right back in.

This is not the kind of series where you can pick up any. You need to start at the beginning (a very good place to start). If you're like me, you'll start googling historical events you never learned in school, like the Jacobite rebellion. And, honestly, one thing I enjoy about the series now that they are in the Carolinas is that I'm familiar with the places and the names. If that's your thing, too, then keep at the series. If not, I can probably summarize seven bazillion pages for you over a cup of coffee.

The Fiery Cross runs along my other Outlander recommendations of four Marias.

A Piece of Fanfiction

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two

Where, oh, where do I begin? Since my thoughts on this book are so scattered, I'm going to try to put them down in an orderly, start-to-finish fashion. Let's hope I don't get sidetracked.

Ok, first. THIS BOOK IS NOT WRITTEN BY JOANNE NO-MIDDLE-NAME-BUT-THE- EDITORS-DIDN'T-THINK-BOYS-WOULD-READ-A-WOMAN'S-WRITING ROWLING. That's not entirely true. The people who wrote this lifted entire scenes from the real Harry Potter series, so that dialogue is consistent with the characters we know and love. The rest of the story- not even close. It's like they took the original stereotypes we had about them all, added 20 years, and never bothered to let them grow beyond Year One. Except Harry, who has turned into The Man, not the one you buy shots for- the one who keeps you down.

Back to that middle name thing- how in the world, did someone at a publisher, probably several someones, read The Philosopher's Stone, realize that it had great potential and not realize that it had Universal Appeal? I realize that boys are not encouraged to read about girls while girls are expected to read about boys and girls, but really? The first is filled with female characters that girls should get closer to- Macgonagall, Molly, HERMIONE. The whole idea that Rowling was forced to cloak her identity to protect poor little boys who might accidentally enjoy fiction by a woman just sets my feminism bone a-buzzin'.

Parts One and Two- this is not only unnecessary, it's false. I hate to be the Dwight Shrute here, but one could not read just Part One and have a complete story. They are dependent on each other to tell a whole story arc. There's a semicolon at the end of Part One, not a full stop. Also, none of the children are actually cursed, so the title is inconsistent with the rest of the stories.

Now into the actual pages. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how this is a stage production. The scenes are so short and shift setting so often, you'd have to have the best set people in the world, possibly a rotating stage or a huge one. The huge one is probably how it happened because the characters don't move around while they are together or talking. So one huge background, lit the right, very focused way, could bounce around all over the magical world. I imagine it a very complicated production. In addition to the logistical nightmare, most of the scenes are so short there would have to be a lot of scrambling about on stage. One scene is a single page and doesn't contain a word of dialogue. And don't get me started on the actual magic that would have to occur. On stage. There's polyjuice, people.

The characters- what have they done to the characters we know? Macgonagall has lost her soft spot for Harry and the Gang. Headmistress must be a tough job if it crushes her spirit. Remember, she was a strict teacher, but she had a quiet, impish fire inside her. How did the woman who gave Harry his Nimbus 2000 come to merely tolerate him now that he's Head of Magical Law Enforcement? Was Ron lobotomized? Why doesn't Neville ever show up on stage? What has become of Teddy? WHERE IS HAGRID?

One of my favorite things to ponder is how the original stories would be different if Harry had accepted Draco's offer of friendship on the Hogwart's Express. Would Harry have become a Slytherin? (oh my goodness! it looks like this might be about that. Oh, wait, no.) What different path would he have taken to defeat Voldemort? Would the prophecy been about Neville instead? Would Ron and Hermione gotten together? Oh, the possibilities are endless! I got excited at the beginning of this book thinking that someone else had put pen to paper and drawn up one possible scenario, just one generation off. It starts with that premise a little bit- Albus is a Slytherin and friends with Scorpius, son of Draco- but that's about as far as that goes.

The story is unbelievable even when you suspend disbelief enough to accept magic. There are gaping holes. Is The Augury a bird, a child, or a place where they roast muggles? It is never referenced in the original novels, just in video games and later companion books. Now that Draco is out from under his father's thumb, why is he still a dickweed? Did he and Harry really not figure a way to be friendly in the twenty years since The Battle of Hogwarts? I could've sworn that a major theme of the series was redemption and forgiveness, I expect the hero to apply that to others, too. Why was Cedric's death so much more influential than any other person who died for The Cause? Did the writers fancy RPatz and wish him to not be sparkly?  And why hasn't Harry's scar been bothering him this whole time Voldemort's Child has been alive? Because it hurt him from the moment Moldy Voldy started sucking on unicorn blood in the first one. It wasn't that he was taking power and making efforts to destroy anyone, his mere existence was enough.

So despite all these complaints, I still liked the book. I was, once again, whisked away to a fantastic world where anything is possible, where good will triumph over evil, where people drink butterbeer. I think the writers, publishers, and producers were banking on that nostalgia to sell a truckload of books. We Potterheads will buy anything remotely related to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. We're still talking about the stories nine years after the last one was published. They are enchanting and magical themselves. After all these years? Always.

Being connected to the originals is enough to earn this one three Marias. I know many will argue I'm being sentimental, and I'm ok with that.

Reading Aloud

I recently attended a webinar by Andrew Pudewa, founder of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, also known as "the funny man with the wonderful words." Mr. Pudewa is indeed a funny man who presents an engaging approach to teaching language arts at home and in the classroom. We are about to start our second year of IEW, but I'm not here to talk about homeschooling exactly.

The webinar was about how to develop a broad vocabulary in children, and one of the best ways to do this is to read aloud. Now, as a busy mom, I had kind of gotten to the point where reading aloud was losing priority because our oldest can read- he finished the Harry Potter series in a matter of days. Surely that is improving his vocabulary, right? Well, it turns out, just reading is not as magical as I would have thought. So, after about an hour with Mr. Pudewa (or just Pudewa as he is known around our house), I realized I needed to be reading aloud to all my children. And not just Go, Dog, Go for the zillionth time.

Next I was faced with the task of picking the best titles to read to three children, ranging from 3 to 8 years old, with a variety of interests. The oldest loves magical adventure stories, while the middle is easily frightened. The younger two don't flinch at death, while the oldest is compassionate. I wanted to include strong female characters, too. So from the bookshelf, I selected our first (even though we've done this before) Read Aloud:

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis

Before I started reading, I explained to my daughter that this is one of my favorite childhood books. I told her that sometimes she reminds me of Lucy. I left out the part about pretending to be Lucy when I was a child, but it's true.

The story is not overly complicated. Four children stumble upon a magical kingdom where the White Witch has cast a spell that makes it always winter and never Christmas. The children meet talking animals and magical creatures on an adventure that lasts a lifetime or only a few seconds.

Girl-child is the only one who sat through the entire reading, but something I caught Oldest-boy standing in the hall listening in. Everyone followed the story well enough, even the 3-year-old. There were plenty of new words to absorb; I was occasionally stopped to define one. But overall, it was understood enough to make a story. There are, of course, subtleties in the writing (Spare Oom, for example) that the children will not appreciate until they read this one on their own. But we had fun reading it together- summarizing, making predictions, and imagining how we might find our way to Narnia.

As I mentioned before, this is one of my favorite childhood books, so it earns a permanent place on the bookshelf with (surprise) five Marias. But in addition to the rating, I want to encourage parents and teachers to read aloud, even to children who can read. It has made a subtle, positive impact on our days and is now one of the things I look forward to the most.

Chapter 40: A Play

A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare
No Fear Shakespeare Edition

I have never used Cliff Notes, Spark Notes, etc. Ever. Because when I was in school, they were seen as an excuse to know enough to pass a test without reading a book instead of as a study guide. But this was the only version of MSND that was available at my library, so I checked it out.

We've been doing this thing in our homeschool where we spend some time in the mornings doing something with the arts. We've memorized Jabberwocky and watched OK Go videos. Soon we will begin reading some Shakespeare. Before I try to teach my kids something, I probably should have a grasp for it. So this kills two birds with one stone.

I'm not going to go much into the actual play. It's Shakespeare. He's great. It's great. Blah, blah, blah. But I would like to talk about this side-by-side edition. I think it's a great way to make complicated language accessible to more people. I still read the original text, but it was easy to find a modern translation if I was unsure of my own. For the most part, I got it. But there were times that a minor change affected the story. Now, I'm not going to pretend that I caught all the subtleties of the Bard's writing- far from it. But having the translation *right there* gave me more confidence as I read the lines. It took a lot of the intimidation out- which is just awesome. If I worry and struggle- and we all know how much I love to read- then imagine someone who doesn't. Imagine a student whose family speaks another language at home. Imagine a person who thinks very logically and has difficulty understanding flowery or figurative language. This little book could make a world of difference for them. How cool is that?!?

When I was in high school, I had an English teacher who loved to teach Shakespeare. She was a very prim and proper woman, one might even accuse her of being dour. But she got a sparkle in her eye when talking about ol' Bill. She led a field trip to Canada every year so students could see multiple plays in a weekend. She had a gift for making Shakespeare relatable to many teenagers, including explaining the dirty jokes. This edition was like having Mrs. Burns reading beside me and telling me the secrets. I like to think she would approve of a study guide.

I'm not really sure how to rate this one. It's a different kind of review. I'll definitely use this series of guides to help my kids and myself with literature, but I wouldn't just recommend it to anyone looking for something to read. I'll leave Maria out of this one lest I sound like an advertisement.

Chapter 32: A Book Set at Christmas (Thanksgiving)

A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeline L'Engle

I'm fudging this one a little. The challenge says Christmas, but I read one that takes place Thanksgiving Day instead. Sue me.

Planet is the third in L'Engle's Time Trilogy, which became a Quartet then Quintet. But the central characters of the first three are the same, those of the following two are not.

It's been years since we last met Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace. Meg and Calvin are now married and Charles Wallace, a teenager, is constructing models of a tesseract. The whole Murray family has convened for a traditional holiday dinner together, when father gets a disturbing call from the president.

Thus begins Charles Wallace's journey through time to see if it is possible to change one moment to affect change in the future. Unlike butterfly effect theories, Charles Wallace, with the help of Meg via kything, seek to pinpoint and alter one tiny moment to save the future without changing everything else.

Through their mental and spiritual connection, Meg watches as Charles Wallace travels through the genealogy of Mad Dog Branzillo, looking for the right moment to rescue the future. For now I will ignore the moral and ethical criticisms of the novel and just focus on what I specifically liked and disliked.

Well, of course, there is Meg. She's not the same kickass teenager that I love. She's become pretty and content and lacks all the angsty fire I used to love. She's no longer blazing, just some glowing embers. Which, you know, is actually a fine way for a woman to grow. I just don't find much to cheer her for now that she's all mature.

I like that L'Engle blends science and religion without putting them at odds. In this episode, she adds some Paganism to the mix, which is like seasoning an already delicious dish. So many times, I think we get caught in a fallacy of mutual exclusivity, that we miss the duality in nature of the world around us. (There will be more discussion of this at a later date because it ties in to another theme of a different novel.)

I like the family histories. Even when the oft repeated names became confusing. The mystery of which branch the final antagonist will come from is an interesting exercise in word play.

As someone with vertigo, I love the title. It perfectly describes those moments.

It's not my favorite in the series, but I'm sure I'll read it again (and again). Meg's transformation and weak role don't help this one earn any extra Marias. Planet ties up this trilogy with just 3 Marias.

Chapter 31: A Book With a Love Triangle

Drums of Autumn, Diana Gabaldon

I have a love-hate relationship with the Outlander series. Years ago, I was at a Mommies Network event and someone handed me a copy of Outlander that she had won. She had a whole box of them and knew I like to read. It sat on the shelf until a night of insomnia and no new books. I'm still not sure whether I should be thanking that woman or sticking pins in a voodoo doll. For now, I'm going with thanks.

Drums is the fourth installment of the preposterous tale of Claire Randall-Fraser, a war-time nurse who stepped through a gap in stones and ended up in the middle of the Jacobite Rebellion. After cheating death time and again, she goes back through the stones to spend time with her modern-day husband, Frank. When he dies, she goes back to her historical husband, Jamie. So two of the points of the triangle don't even exist in the same century. Confused yet?

In this episode, Jamie and Claire have been blown to the Colonies by a hurricane and are looking to start a homestead in North Carolina, where Jamie is technically not allowed to own land because of his involvement with the Rebellion. But rules of physics and man really just don't apply to these people. It's funny, I can suspend disbelief about time travel and many of their narrow escapes, but I found Jamie surviving a bear attack and killing it with his hands utterly ridiculous.

The first three books ended with a big cliffhanger. I quickly picked up the next to find out what was going to happen. I'm quite happy that I could stop at Drums, even though there is more story to be told. It was very satisfying to feel that I can pick up the next one when the mood strikes me, instead of needing to know right away.

So. What I loved about this book- North Carolina. I lived in this state longer than anywhere else in my life. It's beautiful, interesting, and home to some of the best people I have ever known. I loved reading about people for whom many places in the Tarheel State are named. (But go Devils! because I'm no UNC fan.) Imagining the colony from the point of view of the Scots who settled in the mountains, where there are still annual Highland Games, was fascinating and believable. There also isn't a whitewashing of relations with the Native Americans in the region. There's no kum-ba-yah scene where they share a meal in peace and decide to remain loyal friends. There's just a tenuous understanding between the lone settlers and the travelers through the lands.

What I don't love about this book/series. I've mentioned this before, but seriously everybody gets raped. Or almost gets raped. It's exhausting. It happens, yet again, in this one. Though not as graphic and repeated as earlier stories, I find myself wishing that Gabaldon would come up with some other type of danger for her characters.

With that warning, I do recommend the series to people. It's engrossing, entertaining, and a little bit of several genres- historical fiction, fantasy, romance. Plus, Starz produced it as a series and the theme song, a variation of The Skye Boat Song, is beautiful. My friend just bought a Mitsubishi Outlander, and every time I see it, I start singing.

I'll probably keep these books so I can lend them out to friends, but I doubt I'll read them again. Maybe. Drums is probably my second favorite of the four I have read, but this isn't the kind of series you can hop around. I'll give it three and half Marias.

Chapter 30: A Book You Own But Have Never Read

A Wind In the Door, Madeline L'Engle

This is one of those books that I can't believe I never read before. I mean, I've read Wrinkle so many times that I forget other people have not. But for some reason, I've never finished the trilogy/quartet until now.

A Wind In the Door brings us back to Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin together in the backyard trying to solve another major dilemma that no one outside their sphere knows about or understands. Charles Wallace is sick and having trouble adapting to school. This time, Meg's love alone will not save her brother. She'll have to control her temper and ask from help from the one man she believes incapable of caring.

The dragons in the twins' garden are a new fantastical creature that will pair up with Meg and the others to solve, not only the mystery of Charles Wallace's health, but provide proof of the hypothetical farandolae- if only to those who already believe.

L'Engle is a masterful storyteller. Unlike many series, she does not get bogged down in repetition. Each journey is completely new, yet related to earlier adventures. They build on one another in a way that makes theoretical science accessible and entertaining. At the same time, she leaves you believing in a little bit of magic with a dash of generic religion. The three co-exist seamlessly in her skillful hands.

Meg continues to be one of my all-time favorite heroes. She's a real adolescent girl- confused, emotional, unsure. And when she's done saving the planet from doom, she keeps the secret to herself and goes about a normal life with cocoa and tomato sandwiches. I will definitely come back and reads these books again when my own daughter is in this stage.

On its own, Wind would earn a solid four Marias. It's not my favorite in this series, but as part of the series and because it stars Meg, A Wind In the Door earns five Marias.

Chapter 26: A Book From Your Childhood

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle

First, sorry for the crappy image, but this is the cover of my copy and nothing else will do.

I seriously cannot believe this novel only gets 4.04 stars on Goodreads. It is one of my all-time favoritest books of forever. I'm not even exaggerating. Let me tell you why.

Meg is, like, the best girl hero every imagined. (Yes, I went Valley Girl on that.) She is the quintessential awkward tween girl without the pack of friends to make those years bearable. And let's face it, those years suck, even when they don't. She doesn't go through some physical transformation that turns her ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. What she does is realize, on her own, that her character alone is what is going to get her family back together after an intergalactic error. And when I say that, I don't mean that Meg alone is what is going to do it, I mean a vital and unchangeable portion of the very essence of Meg is what does. (This would be a lot easier to talk about if I was ok giving spoilers, but I really want you to read this book. And if you already have, I want you to read it again.)

That's pretty much it. Meg rules. There are other good things about the story, including the moment when Meg declares, "Like and equal are not the same thing at all." But her grrrl power just overshadows everything else I could say. Every time I read this one, I pick up on something new or something I have forgotten. And I'm sad to say that I have not read the whole series. I promise myself I will rectify that error as soon as this challenge is over. I'm really looking forward to A Swiftly Tilting Planet because it is beloved by a friend whose judgement in these things I really value.

One interesting thing that I did not pick up on in the past, perhaps because I didn't think about the subject often, is that it's possible that L'Engle was writing about a family with Autism in the early 1960's. Let that sink in a minute. Now consider- both parents are brilliant, as is Charles Wallace. But they aren't just smart. They think in such unusual ways that they are able to understand the inexplicable. I could be way off on this one. Maybe she was elevating them to more enlightened creatures and I misinterpreted. It could happen. But maybe these two things are not mutually exclusive and she tapped into something that didn't enter common conversation for four more decades. I can't wait to see what else she has in store for me.

Wrinkle joins Mockingbird on my forever bookshelf to which I will return again and again. Meg alone earns 4.75 of its 5 Marias. Seriously, I love this girl.

Chapter 21: A Book With Nonhuman Characters

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman

You might have picked up that I don't read reviews or even dust jackets when selecting books. This was one of those. I had a few hours to spend at a bookstore, so I selected a large stack of interesting looking titles and began on page one. If, by page three I was still interested, I bought it. I spent a lot of money that day. Ocean, written by the same man who gave us Coraline, the creepiest kid movie ever, was definitely a good choice. Had I realized it was the same guy, I might not have picked it up. Teri Hatcher's voice still gives me the heebie-jeebies, and every time I see a LaLaLoopsy doll with button eyes I shiver. So I'm glad I didn't read the flap.

It's hard to describe this short novel without either giving away too much or relegating the fantasy to normal, boring, earthbound language. It reminded me of A Wrinkle In Time, one of my all-time favorite stories but is still very different. Gaiman crafted a fast-paced, character driven novel with immense creativity and enough magic to believe it might all be true. It's gross and engrossing, terribly tragic, and somehow still a children's story on some level. I would not let my seven year old read it just yet, but I will probably introduce him to it after her reads Wrinkle.

There is nothing here for me to critique. When you pull off an entire novel in 178 pages, without leaving a bunch of unresolved threads, you've managed a bit of magic for real. It's neither a short story with fluff padding it, nor a novel with chunks missing. It is, instead, a perfectly satisfactory piece of writing that I am pleased to give four Marias.

Chapter 13: A Book With Magic

Queen of the Tearling, Erika Johansen

This book has a lot to like- strong female lead, mystery and intrigue, political philosophy, and a healthy dose of profanity. Now, I'm not going to pretend that it comes close to competing with The Books With Magic. Kelsea is no Boy Who Lived. But this is a good book.

My biggest gripe with this book is that it is difficult to find a place to stop. Not because the action is so compelling, but because of 434 pages, there are only 14 chapters. Let me do the math for you, that averages out to some longass chapters, and they are not broken down into pieces. That's it. That's my big complaint. That and I can't decide whether it's pronounced Teerling, rhymes with peer, or Tairling, rhymes with pair.

I also got tired of reading Kelsea hiss when she was hurt. And I really didn't need reminders that Thomas is fat. Or that Kelsea is. But ... meh.

I did like that not all my questions were answered. This is a good opening to a series that has potential. I think some of the more shocking events were supposed to take me by surprise, but there was enough foreshadowing, that they just confirmed what I already suspected. So, either Ms. Johansen and I think alike, or she did an artful job of crafting peaks without then telling us

 *** HEY, HERE'S A RISE IN CONFLICT! ***







What? You don't like that, either? I might still be a little mad at Zusak.

I also really like the setup for the hero. She is naïve yet educated. Her sheltered childhood gives her an interesting position from which to examine her kingdom in a way unlike many royals. Of course she is inheriting a decimated kingdom from her gluttonous uncle, but she sweeps in to rule with a new attitude. It's interesting to watch her develop as a leader and discover more about herself along the way.

I can't talk about liking this book without also mentioning her captain, Mace. He's your standard, world-weary tough guy that no one wants to take on. He's brusque when he's not silent, but he's also lovable and admirable. His name is also Lazarus, so I expect to see something done with that in future installments.

So, this is a good one. I might even read it again if I really get into the series (a new one is out this summer). It won't be in my permanent library. And I don't daydream about all the homeschool activities we can do when the kids read it (Seriously, think about how the Harry Potter series would differ if he accepted Draco's friendship in book one. Think about it.). I give it four Marias.

Chapter 2: A Book By a Female Author

Ruby: A Novel, Cynthia Bond

This book should come with a trigger warning in bold letters on the cover. Spoiler alert: everyone in it is abused in some way. Everyone.

It's unlikely that the Texas tourism board will add Ruby to any of its recommended reading lists. Set in the tiny, all-black town of Liberty, the novel is overstuffed with tragic tales of human and supernatural depravity. It is difficult to read just for the sheer volume of violence. There is a weight of authenticity that makes it all the harder to bear.

Focusing on the main characters, here's the basic story. A little girl is sold into prostitution and survives decades of torment at the hands of men, women, whites, and blacks. She is hardened yet vulnerable and either driven insane or possessed or both. She returns to her childhood home and falls down a rabbit hole of filth, sorrow, and torment.

Enter the hero. A slow and steady man. The town fool. Emasculated in his youth and raised by his socially powerful sister. In love with the title character from their only meeting in adolescence, he makes a plodding and blundering path to save her with the power of love and patience. And cleaning supplies.

Their histories wind through the pages as he carefully courts the woman deemed unworthy by the rest of the town. With each rising conflict, we flash back to some revelation about the handful of families that form Liberty.

It's difficult to say that I do or don't recommend this book. To recommend it would be to inflict a form of abuse on the reader- the pain etched on each page. But to not, would be to ignore the real plight of people who are abused. Her own story and those of survivors she has worked with are threaded through the chapters.

I have pretty strong feelings about ownership of stories (if you haven't heard my thoughts on The Help, stay tuned for another episode). Ms. Bond definitely owns enough of these tales to be an authentic storyteller. Even those she borrowed from friends and family are close enough to her own. She is probably compared to Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou for superficial reasons when more genuine ones exist. Her debut shows potential for adding her to their ranks in time.

There are a few points of criticism to note. A well crafted description tarnishes with use. What begins as poetic becomes tired by the end of the novel. There are a few phrases that are used a few too many times for my taste. Rephrasing or omission would polish it.

Paradoxically, the authenticity noted above, is also a weakness to the overall story. The descriptions of abuse and murder are all painfully realistic, but there are so many that it becomes difficult to suspend disbelief. In this town of a half-dozen families, there are hundreds of murders, mostly unsolved. And, while Ms. Bond is credible as a voice of the abused, her characterization of poor blacks in the rural South falls short. If it were funny, it would be satire. Instead, the townsfolk are so one-dimensional that I sometimes wondered if they had been drawn by an ambitious and overstepping white woman. In a word, they are simple. That lack of detail works to dehumanize in some ways.

Despite the difficult subject matter and my fairly minor technical critique, this is a well written story. Some twists come as expected and some are surprises. There is beauty in words depicting hideous acts. The structure and pace seem to conjure a spell over the reader, making it move nicely. If you can stomach what my friend politely calls "soul crushing fiction," Ruby is worth the effort.