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nonnie63's review
3.0
I heard about this book from the author who was featured on "Sarah's bookshelves" a podcast. When you have a church as one of the characters, how can it not be a good story! Cool plot twist!
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
steel_city_peach's review
5.0
This just might be my favorite book of 2020. The writing was absolute perfection. The story is heart piercing, but so damn good. This book fed my soul.
temickey's review
5.0
Trigger warning: This book contains graphic descriptions of child abuse and domestic violence.
If you binge content on Lifetime and the ID channels, you are gonna love this one. Saving Ruby King speaks from several different perspectives of people who are either connected by blood or history. Based in Chicago, it starts off with a murder. Ruby, the child of the victim, is distraught and needs helps in many ways. Throughout the book, you meet everyone in her village for good and for bad. The last half of the book had me unable to put it down. I just had to know what happened next. The ending was shocking.
If you binge content on Lifetime and the ID channels, you are gonna love this one. Saving Ruby King speaks from several different perspectives of people who are either connected by blood or history. Based in Chicago, it starts off with a murder. Ruby, the child of the victim, is distraught and needs helps in many ways. Throughout the book, you meet everyone in her village for good and for bad. The last half of the book had me unable to put it down. I just had to know what happened next. The ending was shocking.
kaileighsbooknook's review
4.0
This is a short novel, but it is truly a powerful one. The book starts with the violent murder of her mother in Chicago. A city that at this time remains so dangerous for POC. Ruby’s mother was her only safe place in her home with her abusive father. This book jumps from multiple POV’s and that truly helps you understand how deeply connected each of the people are. We hear from Ruby, Lebanon (Ruby’s father, who also lived a deeply troubled life), Layla who is Ruby’s best friend and who is trying to help Ruby get a better life, every step of the way and we also hear from Layla’s father Jackson who is the local pastor in their neighborhood. Jackson grew up with Lebanon and that history is a tie that keeps them held together. This was a powerful story and you find yourself rooting for Ruby while you are slowly putting the whole story together.
nmclaury's review
3.0
3.5 stars. I had trouble keeping track of the characters for the first third or so, but part of me wonders if that was the authors intent—it played into the “mystery” of the story a bit.
Lots of good themes around female friendship, family secrets and the impact that can have on future generations, faith, and more. Some pretty terrible mentions of physical abuse and incest.
The book kept me reading and intrigued....was it one of the best I read all year? Probably not but def worth reading!
Favorite line: Our history can shape the future, but it doesn’t define it. Our present is anchored by those around us, those we allow in our lives and those who, by default or shared blood, walk a road with us. What we choose to do w that companionship is up to us.
Lots of good themes around female friendship, family secrets and the impact that can have on future generations, faith, and more. Some pretty terrible mentions of physical abuse and incest.
The book kept me reading and intrigued....was it one of the best I read all year? Probably not but def worth reading!
Favorite line: Our history can shape the future, but it doesn’t define it. Our present is anchored by those around us, those we allow in our lives and those who, by default or shared blood, walk a road with us. What we choose to do w that companionship is up to us.
krisandburn's review
4.5
There could not have been a more urgent time to read this novel. It touched on so many of the issues that have been highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement and the tragic death of George Floyd, another black man killed by those that are supposed to uphold the law.
This novel is set on the South Side of Chicago and centres around two families that are tightly connected. Both families harbour secrets, but one knows love, the other only pain.
This was not an easy read. It was not supposed to be. It was a hard-hitting, often painful read that made my heart shrink with sorrow for the people at the core of the story. The book touches on domestic abuse, incest, racism and suicide, but so worth every bit of heartache I felt whilst reading it.
This book does what so few books do. It looks at events from a number of perspectives. It does not excuse domestic violence, but it does show how hard it is to break a cycle of abuse. You also do not often get the point of view from an inanimate object, in this case a church building. I thought this tool was well-utilized to tell this particular story. It brings a whole new meaning to ‘if walls could talk’.
Overall, I was impressed with this novel. It felt very human and very necessary. The characters felt very real, as did their stories. Highly recommended.
This novel is set on the South Side of Chicago and centres around two families that are tightly connected. Both families harbour secrets, but one knows love, the other only pain.
This was not an easy read. It was not supposed to be. It was a hard-hitting, often painful read that made my heart shrink with sorrow for the people at the core of the story. The book touches on domestic abuse, incest, racism and suicide, but so worth every bit of heartache I felt whilst reading it.
This book does what so few books do. It looks at events from a number of perspectives. It does not excuse domestic violence, but it does show how hard it is to break a cycle of abuse. You also do not often get the point of view from an inanimate object, in this case a church building. I thought this tool was well-utilized to tell this particular story. It brings a whole new meaning to ‘if walls could talk’.
Overall, I was impressed with this novel. It felt very human and very necessary. The characters felt very real, as did their stories. Highly recommended.
ajthudson's review
3.0
I admire the aims of this novel so much. It's working at being a crime novel that highlights the effects of inherited trauma, and the complicated and realistic ways some characters can function a perpetrator, a victim, and a bystander all at once. It's also attempting a compassionate but unvarnished portrait of a community on Chicago's South Side, and using a church (as in the physical building) as a narrator for portions of the book provides something of a unique lens. And it's teasing us along with a central mystery, complete with red herrings and a big reveal in the last few pages.
But the execution in general falls short for me. As someone who's already familiar with the ideas of inherited trauma and cycles of abuse, I kept waiting for fresh insights that never materialized. And the perspective-hopping is really undermined by the nagging sense that everybody kind of thinks the same. (The "church voice" is really just a dressed up omniscient third-person narrator.) And the thriller-like twists and turns just kind of flopped for me, since they were all pretty unsurprising.
There is some lovely prose here. And it's pretty briskly paced, which I enjoyed. Once I finished it, though, I double checked the publisher's website to make sure it wasn't classified as young adult fiction. For me, that would explain the frustration I felt wishing for more depth and nuance. For readers of YA fiction, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend "Saving Ruby King." As adult literary fiction, I found it admirable but disappointing. 3 stars.
But the execution in general falls short for me. As someone who's already familiar with the ideas of inherited trauma and cycles of abuse, I kept waiting for fresh insights that never materialized. And the perspective-hopping is really undermined by the nagging sense that everybody kind of thinks the same. (The "church voice" is really just a dressed up omniscient third-person narrator.) And the thriller-like twists and turns just kind of flopped for me, since they were all pretty unsurprising.
There is some lovely prose here. And it's pretty briskly paced, which I enjoyed. Once I finished it, though, I double checked the publisher's website to make sure it wasn't classified as young adult fiction. For me, that would explain the frustration I felt wishing for more depth and nuance. For readers of YA fiction, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend "Saving Ruby King." As adult literary fiction, I found it admirable but disappointing. 3 stars.
kendranicole28's review
5.0
When Alice King is found murdered in her home on Chicago’s South Side, the crime is dismissed by police as a senseless act of violence, but her death sends shockwaves through the King family and their broader church community. With Alice’s passing, her daughter Ruby is left defenseless against her abusive father, Lebanon. Ruby’s best friend, Layla, wants to help, but Layla’s father Jackson (their church’s pastor) insists on keeping the friends apart. As the story unfolds, we hear from the viewpoints of Ruby, Layla, Lebanon, and Jackson, as well as from Calvary Community Church, whose walls have borne witness to generations of secrets, trauma, and abuse. (And yes, you read that correctly, the church itself is one of our narrators—and a fantastic one, at that.)
Thought at its heart a mystery (really a pairing of mysteries), this is an intricately layered story of faith, family, friendship, and loyalty amid the racially divided landscape of Chicago across three generations (beginning in the 1960s and leading up to the present day). The various themes, stories, and perspectives play well together, building off of one another to forge an unforgettable story of tragedy and, ultimately, redemption. The topics of racism and unhealthy church dynamics are both prevalent within fiction these days, but few books navigate these issues with the nuance and hope that are woven into Saving Ruby King.
This book provides one of the most thoughtful and empathetic examinations I have read on the topic of generational trauma and the varying manifestations of abuse; our characters are flawed yet fluid, and if not always likable, their behavior is either well-intentioned or at least understandable. Through their experiences we are given profound insights into how abuse can continue to be tolerated within a family and a community, despite the best intentions of loved ones. We see what can happen when loyalties and motives are misguided or misplaced, but from the center of these imperfections, we are given a picture of friendship at its finest.
My one qualm with this book is that the protagonists read very young, despite being in their twenties—something that confused me and gave the novel a YA feel, though I believe it is intended to be adult fiction. Small caveat aside, this is an incredible debut novel; I look forward to reading more from Catherine Adel West. I’ve enjoyed hearing her interviewed on a few podcasts and learning about how much of this novel is built on her own experience growing up the daughter of a pastor and her connections to the black church and her own faith.
My Rating: 5 Stars!
This review first appeared on my personal blog, https://kendranicole.net/april-2021-quick-lit-fiction-reads/
Please visit my site for more book reviews: https://kendranicole.net/category/book-corner/
Thought at its heart a mystery (really a pairing of mysteries), this is an intricately layered story of faith, family, friendship, and loyalty amid the racially divided landscape of Chicago across three generations (beginning in the 1960s and leading up to the present day). The various themes, stories, and perspectives play well together, building off of one another to forge an unforgettable story of tragedy and, ultimately, redemption. The topics of racism and unhealthy church dynamics are both prevalent within fiction these days, but few books navigate these issues with the nuance and hope that are woven into Saving Ruby King.
This book provides one of the most thoughtful and empathetic examinations I have read on the topic of generational trauma and the varying manifestations of abuse; our characters are flawed yet fluid, and if not always likable, their behavior is either well-intentioned or at least understandable. Through their experiences we are given profound insights into how abuse can continue to be tolerated within a family and a community, despite the best intentions of loved ones. We see what can happen when loyalties and motives are misguided or misplaced, but from the center of these imperfections, we are given a picture of friendship at its finest.
My one qualm with this book is that the protagonists read very young, despite being in their twenties—something that confused me and gave the novel a YA feel, though I believe it is intended to be adult fiction. Small caveat aside, this is an incredible debut novel; I look forward to reading more from Catherine Adel West. I’ve enjoyed hearing her interviewed on a few podcasts and learning about how much of this novel is built on her own experience growing up the daughter of a pastor and her connections to the black church and her own faith.
My Rating: 5 Stars!
This review first appeared on my personal blog, https://kendranicole.net/april-2021-quick-lit-fiction-reads/
Please visit my site for more book reviews: https://kendranicole.net/category/book-corner/
esquiredtoread's review
4.0
A hard read but a good one. I found the shifting timelines and POV (even the church had a POV!) a bit difficult to process but the pay off for sticking through is good.
A good exploration and conversational starter on generational trauma.
A good exploration and conversational starter on generational trauma.