Ruby

Publisher's Summary

The epic, unforgettable story of a man determined to protect the woman he loves from the town desperate to destroy her - this beautiful and devastating debut heralds the arrival of a major new voice in fiction.

Ephram Jennings has never forgotten the beautiful girl with the long braids running through the piney woods of Liberty, their small East Texas town. Young Ruby, “the kind of pretty it hurt to look at,” has suffered beyond imagining, so as soon as she can, she flees suffocating Liberty for the bright pull of 1950s New York. Ruby quickly winds her way into the ripe center of the city - the darkened piano bars and hidden alleyways of the Village - all the while hoping for a glimpse of the red hair and green eyes of her mother. When a telegram from her cousin forces her to return home, 30-year-old Ruby Bell finds herself reliving the devastating violence of her girlhood. With the terrifying realization that she might not be strong enough to fight her way back out again, Ruby struggles to survive her memories of the town’s dark past. Meanwhile, Ephram must choose between loyalty to the sister who raised him and the chance for a life with the woman he has loved since he was a boy.

Full of life, exquisitely written, and suffused with the pastoral beauty of the rural South, Ruby is a transcendent novel of passion and courage. This wondrous pause-resister rushes through the red dust and gossip of Main Street, to the pit fire where men swill bootleg outside Bloom’s Juke, to Celia Jennings’s kitchen where a cake is being made, yolk by yolk, that Ephram will use to try to begin again with Ruby. Utterly transfixing, with unforgettable characters, riveting suspense, and breathtaking, luminous prose, Ruby offers an unflinching portrait of man’s dark acts and the promise of the redemptive power of love.

©2014 Cynthia Bond (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Reading Cynthia Bond’s Ruby, you can’t help but feel that one day this book will be considered a staple of our literature, a classic. Lush, deep, momentous, much like the people and landscape it describes, Ruby enchants not just with its powerful tale of lifelong quests and unrelenting love, but also with its exquisite language. It is a treasure of a book, one you won’t soon forget." (Edwidge Danticat, author of Claire of the Sea Light)

"A stunning debut. Ruby is unforgettable." (John Rechy, author of City of Night)

"Pure magic. Every line gleams with vigor and sound and beauty. Ruby somehow manages to contain the darkness of racial conflict and cruelty, the persistence of memory, the physical darkness of the piney woods and strange elemental forces, and weld it together with bright seams of love, loyalty, friendship, laced with the petty comedies of small-town lives. Slow tragedies, sudden light. This stunning debut delivers and delivers and delivers." (Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander)

disturbing yet beautiful

good lord this book was devastating. written so lyrically, it was heart-wrenching and disturbing and really just jarring to the system.

the abuse portrayed in this book is incomprehensible. juxtaposed with the amazing writing the book ends up being both beautiful and shocking at the same time. the story falls under the realm of magical realism, southern gothic and historical fiction...and has the ability to draw the reader in and forces us to truly experience the tragedy these characters live through.

it's not a story for the faint of heart...but the style of writing and strength of the characters makes it an amazing read. it's a love story at it's core...but a love that is surrounded by absolute horror. and the love is not only between a man and a woman, but it's about self love as well. finding the strength inside to not only love yourself but open yourself up for love to be given to you.

i am usually not a fan of authors reading their own books, i find that they usually don't have the depth of acting ability to embody even their own words, but Cynthia Bond brings her background in acting (theater) to this performance and makes an amazing narrator.

surely this book will stay with me for a long time.

37 of 40 people found this review helpful

Disturbing

While the book was well written and masterful use of language the story itself was a 12 hour punishing and disturbing tail. I have read hundreds of books my life and this is probably the first time I wish I could unread a book. Between the murder of children, rape, and animal sacrifices and just human misery, I could not wait for this book to be over. The book left me with no profound lesson or story for the price of the brutality in it's pages. Depressing and disturbing.

31 of 34 people found this review helpful

At times I wanted to vomit however truth.......

The story is very compelling. Deep. Sickening. Yet so captivating and real. The part where Ephraim tells Ruby while crying if you had the courage to live through that I have the courage to listen is the most important message in the story. Listening is a true act of love it allows the person to be seen. I struggled at times not wanting to hear anymore and still needed to finish. Great powerfully book.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

Warning explicit child abuse

I was far too distressed by the graphic descriptions of child rape to enjoy this book. Though well written and very well narrated I was just appalled by the content

19 of 23 people found this review helpful

Excellent!

Very heartfelt. Great writing and voice. Painful subject but so worth reading. Will become a thorn classic.
Take the plunge and listen to this book!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

This book should come with a WARNING label

What would have made Ruby better?

Less, less less. Less child abuse, less child rape, less child manipulation, hate, sickness and depravity. LESS!

Would you ever listen to anything by Cynthia Bond again?

YES... assuming the subject matter was something other than child abuse and rape. The authors writing abilities are captivating and magical, she is highly skilled. Believe it or not, I think that her skill was the problem... It was TOO well described, too vivid, too real. Too much for me.

Have you listened to any of Cynthia Bond’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not, but I loved her voice and her performance reading of the book. Unfortunately I kept wishing it would be over soon through so much of the book, (due to content only) that it was hard to truly appreciate the performance.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Ruby?

The list would be too long... the detailed scenes of child abuse were just awful.

Any additional comments?

I bought this book after seeing a passionate introduction video from Oprah for her Book Club. As an avid Oprah fan, I REALLY wanted to love this book like she apparently does. Sadly, I cannot get past the graphic and horror of the subject matter to want to spend much time even discussing it. I still love Oprah and I really love the skill and potential of this author, I can tell she is special. Just cannot be doin' the chapters upon chapters of graphic, horrifying evil. Sorry :-(

15 of 20 people found this review helpful

Heart-wrenching Haunting Beautifully Written Novel

This story of Ruby, a woman then a small girl in Liberty, Texas grabs you by the heart. Now days after finishing the book, it still won't let go. Ms Bond delivers a book that is shocking, heartbreaking, cruel and kind. This book it is hard and soft. This story is not for everyone but it spoke to me. It is reminiscent of author Toni Morrison's work but more linear and some may think more accessible. I also commend Ms. Bond for her narration. Initially I was at odds with the narrator; I wanted the narrator to have an accent that sounded southern. But as the book progressed Ms. Bond's commitment to this story became part of the magic and it all came together perfectly.

17 of 23 people found this review helpful

Horrible Not Even Close to Book that was Described

The book described spoke of a man who loved a woman who was struggling to overcome her past in a small town. Cynthia read/performed the book well. I just found absolutely nothing to relate to in any of the characters. It was hours and hours of child abuse, child rape, adult rape, demonic possessions, holier than thou religious attitudes, and for no real point at the end. This is quite possibly the worst book I've listened to and would not have picked it had I know about the true content.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Amazing!

Wow! I'm lost for words! This was great definitely worth the purchase! I see a movie coming for this one!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Haunting yet vividly compelling empathy the human

The tragic life of one of the many abused girls in the south. Yet it is a collective memory that it's sadly still be told. This happens today
to children everywhere on earth

7 of 10 people found this review helpful

Read It and Weep. A Future Classic.

If you could sum up Ruby in three words, what would they be?

Heartbreaking, Shocking, Disturbing.

What other book might you compare Ruby to, and why?

Ruby reminded me in some ways of Toni Morrison's classic tale of slavery, 'Beloved.' Whilst the main protagonist, Ruby, was not a slave in the normal sense she did inhabit a world where some unfortunate children become slaves to the modern horror of child prostitution and a world where adults who are meant to care for them actually buy and sell them with impunity.

What does Cynthia Bond bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I don't normally enjoy stories which are narrated by their author. However, Cynthia Bond's languid, emotional style of delivery and her southern accent helped to convey the undercurrents and anomalies that existed in the society of Texas' Liberty township. Her lack of acting experience/skills made the variety of voices noticeably limited; but overall she did a really good job.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. I so wish I could have listened to this in one sitting. I listened to it in huge chunks and this helped the mounting horror of Ruby's story to really have an impact on me. By the end I was close to tears and truly shocked.

Any additional comments?

This book deserves all of the praise that has been heaped on it in my opinion. It also deserves its place on the 2016 shortlist of the Baileys Prize for Fiction (in UK.) It is a love story but in a very complex plot that involves religious hypocrisy, good and evil, sibling relationships, the power of communities to isolate oddballs, sexual politics, child rape & prostitution, lynchings, supernatural beliefs, family loyalty, the need to be different and breaking free of the ties that bind.
You will be shocked and horrified by the cruelty and inhumane treatment handed out to Ruby and her relatives. You will weep for Ephram, her friend and lover. You will rage at the actions of Celia and her father. You will be horrified by the attitudes of the town's population towards Ruby and aghast at the actions of so-called religious people. The two-fold denouement of Ruby's history and the reasons for Ephram's mother's mental health meltdown are truly shocking and will live with me for years to come.
This will probably enter my 'top twenty modern books.'

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Haunting and shocking story written exquisitely

This book enveloped me emotionally and physically. I needed time out from the book to take in mans inhumanitys and the shocking scenes made me feel sick.

It’s a hard listen but is as one other reviewer said a modern classic, despite the shocking nature of the book,. This book needs more praise heaped on it.

Cynthia Bond writes in an exquisite beautiful prose which you very rarely get, it’s a joy although many time very hard to listen to her words

I have given this 5 states but my only criticism is that Cynthia Bond should have got Barni Turpin or Adjoa Andoh to narrate this book,. as she did not have the best skill set to deliver her magnificent literary work to its best,

A tough but worthwhile read.

A difficult subject matter, very harrowing. The performance was superb and kept me engrossed. Excellent Audio book.

Difficult

Got through this, reader was great but it is certainly difficult subject matter. Writing is beautiful though.