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Mourning Ruby
About thirty years ago, a mother laid her newborn baby in a shoebox and left it in the backyard of an Italian restaurant. Now the baby, Rebecca, is a mother herself. A child of no one and nowhere, she has created her own unorthodox but tender family. Then this hopeful life is dealt a blow that could shatter even the strongest of ties. Now, Rebecca must face the future by d...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
February 1st 2005
by Berkley Trade
(first published 2003)
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This book describes the agony of a parent losing a child, of grief and not letting go. In Western cultures, we'd grieve and then tell another person "to get on with it" if the grieving is prolonged. An Asian person would be able to understand how the dead continued to live on.
The first section of the book was warm and sorrowful. Dunmore's style is fluid and evocative - her characters are real people. However, the sections of the book in which Joe's writing is included are weak. I kinda understa...more
The first section of the book was warm and sorrowful. Dunmore's style is fluid and evocative - her characters are real people. However, the sections of the book in which Joe's writing is included are weak. I kinda understa...more
This is a rather frustrating book to me. On the one hand, the writing (in the mechanical sense - sentence and imagery, etc.) is lovely and sometimes breathtaking. On the other hand, the actual story is disappointing. I am not one who requires plot-heavy stories to be satisfied with a book, but I do require something that at least connects in meaningful ways. This one, for me, just didn't.
The phrase "the sum of the whole is greater than its parts" comes to mind here, except in the case of "Mourn...more
The phrase "the sum of the whole is greater than its parts" comes to mind here, except in the case of "Mourn...more
This book is both one of the best I’ve read in a long time and quite disappointing. The excellent part has to do with Rebecca and Adam’s loss of their daughter—and the author treats the subject with sensitivity and heart-wrenching realism. The disappointing part is that a considerable portion of the last half of the book is a short story written by a friend of Rebecca’s. I always feel a bit cheated when an author slips a basically unrelated story into a narrative (A.S.Byatt does this as well). I...more
The first part of this book had me so gripped I couldn't sleep, as former abandoned child Rebecca and her husband Adam mourned the loss of their only daughter. But part way through it became a thoroughly weak tale written by Rebecca's friend Joe, from where it descended rapidly into cliche and plot 'twists' heralded from a mile off.
At one point Dunmore so lost interest in telling the rest of Joe's 'plucky prostitute in love with doomed WW1 airman' story she continued it as notes. The best part...more
At one point Dunmore so lost interest in telling the rest of Joe's 'plucky prostitute in love with doomed WW1 airman' story she continued it as notes. The best part...more
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It started well, a very moving narrative illuminated by interesting circumstances and whole characters, describing a grief I sadly know all too well. Then it took a turn I am perhaps too much of a dullard to appreciate and a new and much less engaging tale was told, before an all too brief return to the starting thread. I am sure the diversion was purposeful in both its presence and construction, but I found the lurching difference in style and content too difficult to integrate. Helen Dunmore i...more
I did this as a book on CD, listening as I traveled about town. It was both compelling and dissatisfying in the way that real-life is. I wanted to continue the book as I really wanted to know what was going to happen in their lives. Yet, it was dissatisfying as it seemed to meander on and on with little resolution. As I write this I find myself thinking that, indeed, real-life is just like that, and perhaps the author has captured that well. However, having said that, I also know that we readers...more
I read "The Siege" by her a while ago, so I saw this book for sale at the library and thought I'd give it a go too. Perhaps it was not such a great idea, as it deals with the accidental death of a 5 year old and the effect of this event on her mother, not exactly uplifting, and certainly tear-jerking. I'm sure I'll be a more paranoid mother now thanks to this book. Still, it was well written, if not quite as fascinating as "The Siege", a book which deals with the closing off of Stalingrad during...more
Mourning Ruby
is more or less about a mother who is grieving the tragic loss of her five-year-old daughter. But the "more or less" part cannot be overlooked. If it weren't for the title and the ominous cover picture featuring a little girl skipping in the leaves in a red dress, the reader would have no idea what this book is about for quite some time. It begins with a prologue that is a dream sequence, told in the first person, of the narrator--Ruby's mother Rebecca--and Ruby walking along a roa...more
is more or less about a mother who is grieving the tragic loss of her five-year-old daughter. But the "more or less" part cannot be overlooked. If it weren't for the title and the ominous cover picture featuring a little girl skipping in the leaves in a red dress, the reader would have no idea what this book is about for quite some time. It begins with a prologue that is a dream sequence, told in the first person, of the narrator--Ruby's mother Rebecca--and Ruby walking along a roa...more
Another audio book! I have always liked Helen Dunmore's books. They explore difficult subjects - in this case the death of a child, as well as the hardships and deaths of the first world war - but with believable characters and hopeful endings. This book is also about layers of stories including Stalin's wife and trapeze artists. It has some magical ideas like aeroplanes that give birth to baby planes in the sky. Not all the ends are tied up but that was okay. A good listen!
The books starts off well, with a sad story of how a young girl is abandoned by her mother soon after her birth, in a shoebox behind an italian restaurant. The shoebox and its pricetage are the only pieces of the narrator's mother that she has to this day.
The story is building to a climatic scene as the title suggests that the narrator's daughter Ruby- my owen name too!- will soon be lost in some way, however that has not yet been revealed.
~Enjoying it so far!
The story is building to a climatic scene as the title suggests that the narrator's daughter Ruby- my owen name too!- will soon be lost in some way, however that has not yet been revealed.
~Enjoying it so far!
some excellent writing and ideas, and interesting that the book comes to be about so much more than the loss of the child ruby. BUT there are at least 2 too many strands, and i found it very distracting to be say, 2/3rd of the way in and suddenly to be presented with new characters and to be expected to transfer my interest to them (especially when in one case they are fictional - part of a novel of the 'real' characters is writing). ending severely underwhelming too.
I didn't really enjoy this book. The first section was the better bit, although as the mother of children around Ruby's age I found it very hard to read, and I did cry quite a bit. But then it went into Joe's story that he was writing and it lost its way. I'm sure there was supposed to be a connection but to be honest I got to the stage where I just wanted to get it read and move on, so I didn't spend to long trying to make those connections.
It felt like a muddled book with too many ideas.
It felt like a muddled book with too many ideas.
Sometimes you read a book and realize if you are not mentally "in the right place" to get the message, the words do not come together as they should. I believe this is a very good book, but it didn't speak to me at the time I was trying to read it. After a summer of super-easy reads, this was a little challenging. At the heart of the book is the loss of an only, beloved child, so potential readers beware.
This story about a mother grieving the death of her young daughter didn’t move me, perhaps because I felt no connection with the characters, perhaps because the protagonist’s voice and the dialogue Dunmore uses to advance the various plots isn’t convincing. Flashbacks, epigraphs, poetry, song lyrics and other gimmicks make for an annoyingly complex structure.
I loved the main story and the main character. The tragedy is made just bearable with the love felt and expressed. I did not care as much for the stories within the story, especially the second one. Although thinking about it, maybe it illuminated our understanding of the storyteller more than it was meant to illuminate us in general.
Frustrated by this book because there was some lovely writing and imagery. The story is basically a sad one - the title says it all but I kept losing interest in the characters. The story within a story at the end - I had to stop reading. I didn't understand the point of it. I suspect the book was too deep and clever for me. I didn't enjoy it.
I tend to agree with other reviews. It felt often as though this book would be a five star read with beautifully written, evocative chapters but the interweaving of the different stories didn't work for me. Unlike some other reviewers, I did enjoy the story within the story - Joe's book. Maybe she should work that up into a novel in its own right!
Oct 30, 2009
Nicola Jarvis
added it
im reading this one at the moment. im finding this one a bit puzzling to the extent that i thought i wouldnt bother, i know what the story is meant to be about and i think at the moment its at that stage but will explode, that seems to be helen's style. i have high hopes of this book being as brilliant as the others i have read
Really, really bad. This author was all over the place. I felt like she had about three different ideas for a book and put them all in one. Only problem was they didn't go together at all. Would not read her again. She's written seventeen and received some awards but once again I don't get how. Definitely pass.
Very good. For me, unputdownable - but, for my sins, I am as much [if not more] a proponent of the poem than the novel. I would have liked it to have been longer, although that would have made for a rather long prose-poem ... but that would have been more than fine for this reader.
I found the book dreamy, tragic, and beautifully written. Although I think of it often, it is a book stuck with the Mother, not in grief, but in unresolved stories and memories. Although it doesn't naturally conclude or progress, I though it was a good portrait or lose and lostness.
I thought the first half of this book was excellent, I really liked the characters and found it very moving, however from the start of Part 2 onwards I felt like it had lost its way and I couldn't get into it again, I was left feeling like there were two books stuck together. I think it was the relationship between Rebecca and Joe that didn't really fit with the story of Ruby and Rebecca's relationship with Adam.
I found this a very difficult book to get into. I gave up a couple of times but then decided to persevere. I don't normally like giving up on a book! I couldn't feel any connection with any of the characters, and in a good book I always do. This is possibly just me not liking this but I have no desire to try anything else by this author.Sorry Helen!
At first I really enjoyed this book. Dunmore's writing style is beautiful. However there just seem to be so many storylines packed into quite a short book and I ended up feeling disappointed by the end as none of them seemed to come to any sort of ending. It felt too fragmented for me and I ended up feeling a little confused as the book went from one storyline to another without giving you time to really 'fall in love with' the characters.
Helen Dunmore has some delightful turns of phrase. I was captivated by the novel within a novel which takes up about a quarter of the book. Apart from that it seemed like many other contemporary English novels.
Oct 23, 2011
Judy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Readers who enjoy beautiful prose and character study
Recommended to Judy by:
Chremajora
Shelves:
female-author,
my-2011-books
This is a beautifully written story of love, loss, mourning, and recovery. The few individuals that are focused upon in the story felt unique to me, unlike many other characters in other books or in real life, and yet they did feel real and believable. It was a heart-breaking but beautiful story. I don't think I would say it is at all plot-driven, there's only a little in the way of actual plot, but the prose is lovely and the characters and settings are memorable. I'm very glad to have read thi...more
Helen Dunmore writes books with lots of threads which she is a master of drawing together.I enjoy her books but do find myself often questioning why am I reading this !!
A tale of loss on various levels.
A tale of loss on various levels.
I absolutely loved this book. Beautifully written, touching, sad, yet not without restraint. A perfect observation of love, memory and grief.
May 10, 2011
Hollydays
added it
The book held my interest, but I was somewhat confused and disappointed by the ending.
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I was born in December 1952, in Yorkshire, the second of four children. My father was the eldest of twelve, and this extended family has no doubt had a strong influence on my life, as have my own children. In a large family you hear a great many stories. You also come to understand very early that stories hold quite different meanings for different listeners, and can be recast from many viewpoints...more
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