What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez
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3.9 • 46 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A powerful novel that's "hilarious, heartbreaking, and ass-kicking" (Jamie Ford) about a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their long‑missing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and sets out to bring her home.
Winner of the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction · Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize · March Indie Next Pick · Belletrist, Phenomenal, Page & Pairing, and Readers Digest book club pick
The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen‑year‑old middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace, it left the family scarred and scrambling. One night, twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister, Nina: This woman's hair is dyed red, and she calls herself Ruby, but the beauty mark under her left eye is instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time?
The years since Ruthy's disappearance haven't been easy on the Ramirez family. It’s 2008, and their mother, Dolores, still struggles with the loss, Jessica juggles a newborn baby with her hospital job, and Nina, after four successful years at college, has returned home to medical school rejections and is forced to work in the mall folding tiny bedazzled thongs at the lingerie store.
After seeing maybe‑Ruthy on their screen, Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to where the show is filmed in search of their long‑lost sister. When Dolores catches wind of their scheme, she insists on joining, along with her pot-stirring holy roller best friend, Irene. What follows is a family road trip and reckoning that will force the Ramirez women to finally face the past and look toward a future—with or without Ruthy in it.
What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a vivid family portrait, in all its shattered reality, exploring the familial bonds between women and cycles of generational violence, colonialism, race, and silence, replete with snark, resentment, tenderness, and, of course, love.
A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Elle • USA Today • Today.com • Ms. Magazine • Good Housekeeping • Bustle • The Week • Goodreads • Bookriot • Pop Culturely • SheReads • Litreactor • Electric Lit • The Mary Sue • People Español • Zibby Mag • Debutiful • Her Campus
Best Books of March by Shondaland • Ms. Magazine • Popsugar • Bookriot • Debutiful • Powell’s Book Blog • TIME 100 must-read book of 2023 • Booklist Top 10 debut of 2023 • Library Journal Best Pop Fiction of 2023 • The Latinidad List Best Debut Novel of 2023 • Chicago Public Library Favorite Book of 2023 • Good Housekeeping Must-Read Book of 2023 • Today.com Standout Book of 2023
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We loved this poignant and funny debut novel. Nina and Jessica Ramirez have been living in the shadow of their sister Ruthy’s disappearance for 12 years, trapping them both in a state of limbo. When Ruthy reappears on the exploitative reality show Catfight, the sisters decide to drive straight from Staten Island to Boston, where the show is filmed—and their strong-willed mother, Dolores, insists on joining them. Claire Jiménez imbues the casual banter and incendiary barbs between the Ramirezes with a palpable sense of fondness and pathos. Touching on issues as intense and important as racism and violence, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a heartfelt look at the relationship between hope and healing.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Staten Island Puerto Rican family reckons with the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl in Jiménez's brilliant debut. In 1996, middle daughter Ruthy Ramirez, a defiant, wildly independent eighth grader, mysteriously vanishes after track practice. Twelve years later, guilt-ridden matriarch Dolores harbors fear, resentment, and rage and has become obese, and determines to shed weight with help from a Christian exercise DVD. Dolores's youngest daughter, Nina, a recent college graduate with few job options, returns to Staten Island for a lingerie retail job ("Better than any political science class... really taught you how deeply patriarchy was linked to capitalism," she narrates). Jessica, the oldest, an overworked nurse's aid, shoulders the burden of her baby daughter and caring for Dolores. The sisters, especially Jessica, shield secrets: Nina wants to go to medical school, and Jessica wonders if the person who sexually abused her as an adolescent ever crossed paths with Ruthy. Then, one night, Jessica sees a woman she believes to be Ruthy on a reality show called Catfight, where five women live in a Boston condo and settle disputes with violence. Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to Boston to rescue their sister, and after Dolores learns of the trip, she enlists her church friend Irene, and all four are soon en route to the Catfight condo, where mayhem ensues. The author perfectly harnesses the Ramirez women's alternating viewpoints to illuminate how the years have worn on them, and in the stunning ending, she cannily reveal the truth behind Ruthy's disappearance. This is a knockout.
Customer Reviews
Good Book
I kept wanting to read this book and find out what happened!