by
3.21 of 5 stars
"From now on," Ruby says to her friend, the narrator, "We’re going on the Stone Age diet. It means we only eat the sort of healthy things our ances... read full description

reviews

Feb 23, 2011
Mariel rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I was so depressed after finishing this book that I could not sleep. I feel sorry for whoever wrote the book blurb for the new edition. A great tale of beautiful saving powers of friendship it is definitely not. It'd be great if one could reach into a story and make things less sad. I felt abandoned. That blurb is brutalizing and misleading. Although, if I could make things better and save a fictional character, it probably wouldn't be this one. The narrator wasn't dear to my heart. He lets thin More...
10 comments like (12 people liked it)
May 13, 2011
Leticia rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Okay, so this story didn't put a smile on face like "The Good Fairies of New York" or like the fabulous "Lux the Poet". This story was published like way way way back when, and has only recently been republished or at least in the US republished now in light of Martin Millar's popularity. That being said, I don't regret buying the book or reading it.

This story didn't have the level of humor or sophistication that his later works have. But then again, I think t More...
Oct 22, 2010
Zoë rated it: 1 of 5 stars
"Some people do easy jobs and earn huge amounts of money. I do dreadful jobs and am always poorly paid. I am not quite sure why this is. Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention at school."

So when I was picking up Serendipity Market at the library based on its cover, I also picked up Ruby and the Stone Age Diet by Martin Millar without reading the back cover- it mostly was covered with a barcode anyway. And I mean- doesn't it look cool? Unfortunately the book doesn't live up t More...
Jan 23, 2012
Tempest rated it: 3 of 5 stars
While it turned out to be an interesting read, I think I went into this book the wrong way. I was expecting a linear story, with rising and falling action. While this book does have some semblance of a plot, it is more the drifting experiences of the main character. It is a story both surreal and mundane, where fantasy sometimes bleeds into reality, and is not always noticed by the characters. There are stories within stories. A good read if one is looking for a drifty book full of occurren More...
Feb 07, 2010
Sean rated it: 3 of 5 stars
This is perhaps the characteristic Martin Millar tale: it stars (and is narrated by) a young man with a tenuous grasp on reality and chronology who has just lost his girlfriend, and whose friend—and squatting buddy—Ruby occasionally likes to slip LSD in his tea, regale him with stories of a lonely werewolf girl, and swear off food for weeks at a time. In Ruby and the Stone-age Diet, Millar has assembled a fractured mosaic of fact, near-fact, fancy and myth that confuses and delights in equal me More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Sep 15, 2011
Dawn rated it: 1 of 5 stars
I barely made it to the halfway point in this book before I had to put it down and walk away. I'm all for weird books and writing techniques, but this one was just too over the top for me. I'm not sure if there is ever a coherent plot, because the lack of a coherent plot by halfway through was what finally convinced me to put the book down.

I loved Good Fairies of New York, and I'm looking forward to finally reading Lonely Werewolf Girl, but I just couldn't get into this particular Mi More...
Jun 01, 2010
Tiffani rated it: 2 of 5 stars
I've generally really enjoyed Martin Millar as an author, my favorites of his being The Good Fairies of New York and Lonely Werewolf Girl. This one, was not my favorite. It was a super short read but it took me awhile to get through. I had difficulty accepting the characters in the book as actual people and not figments of some untold character's imagination. There were other parts that were vile without any real need for them to be. Still planning on reading more from him but this was not my fa More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Apr 27, 2010
Heather rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Almost put this book down after the first page annoyed me mightily, but it's a short book so I kept going and am glad I did. Our narrator's style is odd and choppy, and he immediately seems a bit off, a bit unable to fend for himself, and not in a way that made me particularly excited to find out more about him, but he and his fecklessness grew on me, as did Ruby's lonely-werewolf-girl stories.
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jan 01, 2010
Ryan rated it: 2 of 5 stars
The simple sentences of a young, broke man's stream of consciousness as he hovers about London or a similar dreary city of the eighties, living in squats or cheap flats, working temp jobs, and hanging out with his friend Ruby.
His girlfriend leaves him, but gives him a cactus. He's abducted by aliens, he says. Ruby produces excerpts from her story about the werewolf girl. They see a friend, get another job, try to get a band going.
Craziness, really, as the unreliable nar More...
Jun 09, 2011
Meg rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I enjoyed Ruby and the Stone Age Diet but other Millar books I have enjoyed much more. Similar themes as Lonely Werewolf Girl and indeed, includes a mini werewolf story written by one of the characters about Cynthia the Werewolf. A novel of growing up, life, disappointment in love, and strange hallucinations.
Mar 16, 2010
Victor rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Not my favorite of Millar's work -- that would be "Good Fairies of New York" or "Lonely Werewolf Girl" -- but I have to admit, Millar always has a unique turn of phrase and a reading style you can't help but get immersed in.
Jul 08, 2010
Kyle rated it: 1 of 5 stars
The first book of Millar's work that I've dabbled in and felt the characters lacked enough development to ultimately render them inconsequential, the story without much flow. Millar does a fine job of capturing the voice of the narrator, however. I would still give some of this other work a chance, though.
Oct 17, 2010
Audrey rated it: 1 of 5 stars
I've found that Millar's books are really very hit-or-miss with me. Sometimes I really love the punky quirkiness, but other times it results in nothing but a big mess. This was one of the messy ones.
Jan 01, 2012
Alana rated it: 5 of 5 stars
The characters are both over the top and unbelievable and completely true in their self-absorption and ability to miss the point.

May 22, 2011
Spencer rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book. The many stories within the story were my favorite. I especially loved the prototype lonely werewolf girl.
Apr 06, 2010
Jennifer rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Not my favorite, but worth reading for the story of the lonely werewolf girl (get it? get it? yeah, I got it), which contains some gems about country music and howling at the moon.
Apr 09, 2010
Dianna rated it: 3 of 5 stars
what an odd little book. entertaining, though.
Aug 14, 2011
Malcolm rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Millar's grasp of the foibles of urban youth alt-punk-like existences is fabulous, and stories just silly enough for us to pretend that we haven't been these people. Entertaining, and just a wee bit poignant.
Jan 01, 2010
Zack rated it: 5 of 5 stars
The greatest book I've read in years: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-8359-...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jun 29, 2010
Haley rated it: 1 of 5 stars
I am sorry Martin Millar, I love you but I just could not get through this book and I have been trying to finish it for months...
Feb 12, 2012
Ciaran marked it as to-read
Feb 12, 2012
Dougie rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Feb 09, 2012
Cat rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Feb 08, 2012
Aneurin marked it as to-read
Feb 05, 2012
Janadoll rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Jan 30, 2012
Orion added it
Jan 26, 2012
Kourtney rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Jan 05, 2012
Carolyn rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Jan 05, 2012
Kate rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Dec 24, 2011
Lesley rated it: 3 of 5 stars