One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

by Sonya Sones
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies
published
October 25th 2005 by Simon Pulse
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binding
Paperback, 272 pages

isbn
1416907882   (isbn13: 9781416907886)

description
The sassy title tells readers right away that this book is NOT like one of those hideous books where the mother dies, even if fifteen-year-old Ruby's ...more





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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 622)



Valerie
bookshelves: young-adult
Read in February, 2008
recommended to Valerie by: Kim
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies is Sonya Sones' third book written in verse. I actually read What My Mother Doesn't Know and What My Boyfriend Doesn't Know before this one, and I loved those two so much that it's hard to judge this one fairly on its own merits.

Although I really liked this book - four stars worth - I found its premise to be a little unbelievable: After Ruby's mom dies she has to go live with her dad, who she's never met, and who (by the way) also happens to b...more
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Shelbi
Shelbi rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
10/05/08

bookshelves: book-club
Read in September, 2008
recommended to Shelbi by: Ms. Cranford
recommends it for: everyone!
This book is amzing! I absolutley loved it, and would read it a million times! I loved thid book because it was realistic and imaginative at the same time. one of those hideous books where the mother dies is enjoyable and I liked being able to realate to Ruby being a teen just like me. I don't know how she handled her mother dying so well, I give her credit for being able to do that considering I wouldn't ne able to. I recommend this books to any girls interested in reading about a 15 yea...more
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Jessica
Jessica rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
09/30/08

bookshelves: book-club
Read in September, 2008
recommended to Jessica by: Shelbi Chase
recommends it for: everyone!!
This is a really good book! I loved it! It was so like how I felt when I moved except for the hole dad-being-famouse and the mom dieing part.
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Laura Anne
Laura Anne rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/26/07

bookshelves: youngadult
Read in June, 2007
Really liked this book and the way the verse form sucked me in... I couldn't put it down.
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Kirstine
Kirstine rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/02/08

Kirstine Daniels
Oct.31.2008


The book I choose to read this quarter was One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones. This book is about a teenage girl named Ruby who’s mother's death causes her life to change drastically. When her mom dies, Ruby is forced to move from her hometown in Boston to Los Angeles to live with her father, who she’s never meet before. Her mother and her father got divorced before she was born, so she never got a chance to see him since he'...more
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Sandi
Sandi rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
07/26/08

Read in July, 2008
recommends it for: grade 8 and up
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

Great story, told in verse, but it never feels short or limited, or rushed. Ruby has never known her father, but when her mother dies she goes to live with him in LA. As if it isn’t so bad that LA is a million miles away from Boston, it gets worse: her father is a famous actor. For a few months Ruby resents her dad who has never been a part of her life. She thinks everything he says is phony and for a show to impress people. He doesn’...more
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Katrina
Katrina rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
07/04/08

bookshelves: read-in-2008, young-adult
This book was a very quick and easy to read; I finished it in a couple hours last night. I didn't really like how this story was told in verse. I just didn't feel like the author did a great job of doing it. It's not as if the verse style added any new depth or dimensions to the story. If it had been told in prose, the reader would have ended up feeling the same and getting the same effect. I feel like if you are going to write a book in this format, it should be done for a reason, and I di...more
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Jennifer
Jennifer rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/10/08

bookshelves: trt-reviews
Reviewed by Mark Frye, author and reviewer for TeensReadToo.com

With perhaps one of the catchiest titles in young adult fiction history, Sonya Sones has created a novel-in-verse that readers will breeze through and find thoroughly satisfying. With an economy of words, Sones creates an enthralling story of loss and recovery that is a wonderful edition to the genre of teen "chick-lit."

The narrator, Ruby, is sent to live with the father she's never met in person when her mother lo...more
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Amber
Amber rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
04/16/08

Read in April, 2008
recommended to Amber by: My english teacher Mrs. Trice showed me this book.
recommends it for: Young women who are having trouble with moving and making new friends.
This book is about a young girl who is deeply depressed, because her mother has just died and she is forced to go live with her father. The catch is that she's never met her father in person, all she knows about him is he is a famous movie star that left her mom when she was pregnant with her. So she doesn't have a really good perspective on him. She's leaving behind her friends, family, and school. When she gets there the first thing she does is automatically start to hate her father. She think...more
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Shauna
Shauna rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/29/08

Read in March, 2008
recommends it for: 13 and over
I chose to read this book based on the title. Being a mother battling cancer myself, I was very interested in reading about how 14 year old Ruby deals with the aftermath of losing her mother. YOu can really feel her anger and sense of abandonment. Her alienation. Her grief and lonliness. The story is told from Ruby's perspective. She narrates the story in first person, using prose form and letters/emails to her deceased mother, best friend and boyfriend. It's almost as if you are reading her dia...more
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ClareBear
ClareBear rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/03/08

recommended to ClareBear by: sister
recommends it for: anyone whos in 6th grade and older
This novel is sad and happy at the same time. It is written in poetry form and is regular paced. It is by Sonya Sones. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to people ages 13 and up.
Ruby's mother is dead, and her Aunt Duffy has a tiny apartment that couldn't fit two people. Ruby has no other choice. She has to leave her boyfriend and her best friend back home and fly to LA to live with her movie star dad, who divorced her mom before Ruby was born. Even living next door to Cameron Diaz, hav...more
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Jennifer
Jennifer rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
01/25/08

bookshelves: read-young-adult
Read in January, 2008
recommended to Jennifer by: Powell's Daily Dose
recommends it for: anyone who wants to be sucked into a complex melodrama
The book jacket description gives you the basics, "My name is Ruby. This book is about me. It tells the deeply hideous story of what happens when my mother dies and I'm dragged three thousand miles away from my gorgeous boyfriend, Ray, to live in L.A. with my father, who I've never even met because he's such a scumbag that he divorced my mom before I was born." Sonya Sones gets inside Ruby's head, using wonderfully moving prose poetry and a smattering of e-mail correspondence, and ...more
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  3 comments

Debbie
09/14/07

bookshelves: poetry, young-adult-lit
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for: teens, esp. girls
Ruby's mother dies (presumably of cancer) and she is sent to live with the father she has never met. She is heartbroken to be separated not only from her mother, but also from her best friend, Liz, and her boyfriend, Ray.

Ruby's dad is a famous actor who lives in a mansion in Los Angeles. She can't help but be impressed by its size and opulence, but she feels lost. Her new school is no better; everyone else has been raised by their rich, famous parents. They have perfect skin, perfect bod...more
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Erin
07/03/07

Read in November, 2006
"I'm not that depressed...
considering I've been kidnapped
by this monstrous steel pterodactyl
and it's flying me all the way to L.A.
to live with my father
who I've never met
because he's such a scumbag
that he divorced my mother
before I was even born."


Thus begins the story of Ruby, a teenager whose mother passes away. She is whisked off to L.A. to live with her father, a famous actor whom she doesn't think she's ever met. The story is told through poetic prose, an...more
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Suebee
Suebee rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
10/18/07

After her mother dies, 15-year-old Ruby moves to live with her famous movie star father, Whip Logan, in his LA mansion. The book is written as a series of chapters, poems, and emails (that Ruby sends to her boyfriend Ray and best friend Lizzie). Ruby adjusts to life without Ray (she expresses her "sexual frustration,") close friends, being neighbors with Cameron Diaz, and being famous. Lizzie and Ray end up getting together, devastating Ruby. Ruby finds that her father really did lo...more
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lucem
lucem rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
04/24/08

bookshelves: award, poetry
Read in April, 2008
recommends it for: pre-teen to teen (10-15ish)
CIP: Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother’s grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.

This quick read is mentioned on ALA's reluctant reader list and would grab the attention of any pre-teen or teen girl interested in popular culture. There is mention of paparrazi, famous movie stars, life as a celebrity and a few serious themes. E...more
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Mayazaleya
Read in January, 2006
recommends it for: people who like screaming monkies and nice pacing
I bought and read this book not expecting very much of it. It was a good read and a solid ending but I don't think I really appreciated it until I read it a second time. The pacing of Ruby's inner monolouge is excellent. This author's ability to create tone immediatly impresses me . I am also impressed when books about grief are as funny as this one. Ruby is spoiled but likeable, and her unhappyness and dry sarcasm floods the page nicely. And despite it all, there is a happy ending that is ...more
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Corine
Corine rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/17/08

If you liked the book "What my mother doesn't know," you would without a doubt like this book also. It takes place (as you can tell by the title) after Ruby's mother dies. She is forced to go live with her dad in L.A, whom which she doesn't know, since her parents got divorced before she was born. At first she is really upset, because she doesn't want to leave her boyfriend, Ray, behind. But then realizes it acutally isn't bad after all. Throughout the book she gets to know her dad, an...more
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Sara
Sara rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/29/08

bookshelves: ya-fiction--girly
Read in January, 2007
Both my students and I love this book. It's easy to read because it's a poetic novel, and it fulfills both of its callings: it is both poetic and a novel. The story - a girl who goes to live with a movie-star father after her mother dies of cancer - is by turns funny and sad. Cameron Diaz is a recurring walk-on character in the most hilarious way. The voice of the main character might annoy some: sarcasm and sadness, but the character deserves her emotions, so it's not out of place. Everyone in ...more
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Jan
Jan rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
03/16/08

bookshelves: teenbooks
Read in January, 2005
Ruby’s mother has just died of cancer and Ruby has no option but to move to Hollywood to live with her famous actor father, Whip. Ruby doesn’t want to leave her best friend Lizzie, or her boyfriend Ray, but she has no choice. Plus, she thinks Whip is a creep for deserting her mother. Whip tries to be a good father and lavishes attention on Ruby, but Ruby isn’t buying it. She relies upon her relationship with Lizzie and Ray to keep her going, but she is in for some surprises about both ...more
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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 4.08 (451 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.09 (426 ratings)
number of reviews: 97







other editions

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies (Hardcover)
Salah Satu Buku Mengerikan yang Tokoh Ibunya Mati (One of Those Hideous Books Where The Mother Dies)