This is more of a 4.5. I'm getting a little stingy with my five star ratings but this book really came close. The only thing holding it back was the slow beginning that dragged a little bit. BUT I am so glad I stuck with it. I think it would be easier if I did this in list format (because I love lists and they're easy and I'm lazy). Things I loved about this book (in no particular order):
1. The way it's told. I don't know why but I just adore books that read like diary entries. Maybe it's the whole thrill of feeling like you're spying on someone's personal life. But I think it's moreso the fact that I feel more connected and understanding of the main character when they narrate their own stories. And that connection helps me feel more involved and invested than I would if I was being told everything through a third person perspective. It's just a personal preference. ALSO, I think letting Ruby tell her own story was an integral part of the actual plot of the book. This is because you know that Ruby screws up something on the first page and when you read the actual "Boyfriend List" at the very beginning of the book, it's very easy to judge her. I think it was necessary to let Ruby SHOW you her side of the story and in doing that, she had me rooting for her, sympathizing with her, and understanding her. I think otherwise I would have become very impatient with her character if there was no insight into the inner workings of her mind. Also, the story is told in a very non-linear way. It goes from the past to the future, skipping juicy tidbits in between that makes you want to keep turning the pages not to see what happens but to see what HAPPENED already. It really keeps a reader on her toes.
2. The feminist undertones. This book is far from being preachy. It's not really a "GIRL POWER" kind of book like her other novel is (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks). But it does provide interesting social commentary on the way women (young girls, in particular) treat each other. And it does showcase a sort of imbalance in romantic relationships between men and women that begins early on in teen years and is present in many adult relationships as well. I like that these references to feminism (like how there isn't really a male equivalent of the word "slut" in the English language) were never forced down a reader's throat (that can get so tedious) but were always subtle and didn't really change the fact that Ruby felt like calling another girl a "megaslut" right back.
3. The characters. This sort of relates to the first point on the list. Sometimes people get turned off by first person narration because they feel trapped in just one person's mind. I never got that feeling in this book because although initially I really did judge all the secondary characters on the choices they made, Ruby provided excellent insight into WHY they did the things they did (thanks to her therapist, which I'll get to in a second). All the major characters felt like they could have been real people and it would've been very easy for all the boys on the list to melt into one blob character but they all came off as distinct individuals whose names I (surprisingly) remembered. And I may have fell a little in love with Gideon. Just. Yeah. Also, there was character growth--which was both negative and positive. For example, I started out really liking Jackson but the more I got to know him, the more I got turned off. On the flip side, I didn't really like Hutch in the beginning of the book but the more I learned about him, the more I learned to love him. It worked both ways. Also, the parental figures were excellent. They were quirky and lovable (as you come to expect in teen books of this nature) but you also got the feeling that they had problems of their own that they had to work out which was a nice change. Almost everybody in this book seemed to have their own little story which made me eat this up even more.
4. The therapy sessions. Okay, I know what you're thinking. But, don't worry. This is not one of those books where the character recalls all her one-on-one talks with her shrink. Instead, she uses what she learns from her counseling to provide the insight that I described in number 3. It just shows Ruby's growth as a character as she learns more about herself and why SHE is the way she is and applies that knowledge when she comments about her past.
5. The wit. This book is funny. Not in a knee-slapping way. Like, nobody falls on banana peels repeatedly and there are no crazy mishaps that only seem to happen in comedy movies. But there are these footnotes that are present throughout the book, that at first I thought were really annoying, but very quickly started to look forward to because they contained Ruby's dry humor and sarcasm.
6. Chick-lit. This could be very easily classed as "chick-lit" which means that some (ignorant) people will dismiss as just fluff. I mean, it IS about a high school girl and all her boy troubles. Haven't we all read THAT book before? But, this just goes to show that just because a book has a female protagonist detailing her non-life-threatening problems, doesn't mean that it's worthless. Doesn't mean that you can't take something away from it. Doesn't mean that you don't learn more about the world around you by reading it. Doesn't mean that it doesn't give you a LOT of food for thought. Doesn't mean that it doesn't have excellent character development. Doesn't mean that it's not well written. God forbid it be funny AND enjoyable AND written by a woman as well. BUT IT HAS A SILLY COVER AND TITLE, SO IT MUST BE ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!!!11
I give it a: 4.5/5
