Ruby by Cynthia Bond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
1. THE OPENING LINE : \nRuby sucks you in with the opening lines. \u201cRuby Bell was a constant reminder of what could befall a woman whose shoe heels were too high…She wore gray like rain clouds \u2026 Blackened nails as if she had scratched the slate of night\u2026Her eyes, the ink of sky just before a storm.\u201d<\/em> \nWhy would Ephram Jennings, a good man of the Church, want to visit the mad woman branded a ‘whore’ and shunned by the whole town? I couldn\u2019t stop reading.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
2. LYRICAL PROSE : \nThe book is strewn with beauty. Words like \u201ca piece of thunder broke off\u201d, \u201cdrunk with storm\u201d, \u201cinnocence tastes like peach cobbler\u201d and \u201cwild pines spearing the clouds\u201d are to die for!<\/p>\n
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3. MAGICAL REALISM : \nA few pages into the book, I knew this was a journey of a good man Ephram to gift the crazy lady, Ruby, with a White Lay Angel cake. But why? And there were djinns watching from trees and a crow that leads him onward the journey. I was enthralled.<\/p>\n
Ruby weaves together the natural and the supernatural with an indiscernible fine line of separation between the two. Add to this a few strands of superstitions and magic stirred in copious amounts, and you have a masterpiece which is this book.<\/p>\n
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4. NARRATION : \nI loved the way Cynthia Bond narrated the story. The story moves back and forth in time and as each layer falls off we are brought closer to the demons that lurk around and inside Ruby.<\/p>\n
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5. A MAN\u2019s WORLD : \nRuby<\/em> is set in a man\u2019s world – how they control women through sex, shame and religion.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
6. THE CHURCH : \nI loved the interplay of orthodox beliefs of the \u2018saved\u2019 and African witch crafts. Also commendable is how untruth when twisted well enough might seem like the truth. I loved the touch of magic in Ruby. It makes it an even more harrowing read than it ought to be.<\/p>\n
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7. IDENTITY AS A BLACK PERSON : \nThe black people are seen as nameless, faceless by the Whites. The book has an all-black cast, so it is more of the troubles within the community in spite of what they have in common. Ephram is described as “only a pair of hands carrying grocery bags to White folks\u2019 automobiles\u2026 They didn\u2019t see the ten crescent moons held captive in his fingernails<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\nThe black girls are brought up believing they are bad \u2013 “Ruby knew that the White girls were always good girls even when they were bad, but Negro girls started bad and could be anything after that”<\/em>. \nAlso, Ruby\u2019s mother, Charlotte\u2019s strong contempt for the white men who raped her is in this silent protest to make sure Ruby inherits nothing \u2018white\u2019 in her because of the rape \u201cThey say she willed that baby brown. Eating coffee grounds, chocolate cake, even brown eggs from a black hen. Wouldn\u2019t eat nothing white while she was with child<\/em>.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\nRuby by Cynthia Bond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
The real story behind Ruby<\/em><\/h3>\nCynthia Bond grew up hearing stories of how her aunt, a young black woman, was believed to have been murdered by Ku Klux Klans’ men in the 1930s for her relationship with a white man. The crime went unpunished. Bond herself was the victim of sexual trafficking as a child. She grew up close to the East Texas town of Liberty where her book is set.You can read about how these real events shaped Ruby<\/em> here – On Writing : Cynthia Bond<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Final Verdict<\/h3>\n Ruby<\/em> is visceral in its impact, and bursting with beauty in every line. It shocks you, as well as makes you cry. In a book liberally littered with violence, the goodness of one man, Ephram, made me reaffirm my belief in love and humanity. This is a book I want to thrust into the hands of every book lover. I would call it a must-read-book. This is easily a top contender for my best books of 2016. Bond puts together a perfect brew with insights into sexual and domestic abuse, Satanism and the supernatural, racism, myths, sexuality, family secrets and love. I salute Cynthia Bond for churning up such a brilliant debut. This isn\u2019t just a book, it is art in all its brilliance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Above all, Ruby<\/em> is a love story. And at the heart of the story lies the redemption of not just Ruby but also Ephram. It is a story of two people who \u2018saw\u2019 each other when they remained unseen to the rest of the world. It is a story that will haunt you for a long time. And here in lies its magic. Highly recommended.<\/p>\nTrigger Warning : The book contains child abuse, violence towards women and dehumanizing acts towards black people.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Title : Ruby \nAuthor : Cynthia Bond \nPublisher : Hogarth Press \nPublished : 2015 (Originally 2014) \nLanguage : English \nPages : 351 \nRating : 5\/5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ruby is the story of a girl and a boy, the persistence of their memories, the darkness …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6307,16],"tags":[51,68,6369,431,31,210,188,77],"thb-sponsors":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Ruby by Cynthia Bond - Madness and Magic in An Ethereal Love Story | The Book Satchel<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n