What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimnez

Description

Fiction – Literary – Family Saga\nRelease Date: 3\/7\/2023(WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER’S WAREHOUSE)\nApowerfuldebut novel that’s \”hilarious, heartbreaking, and a**-kicking\” (Jamie Ford),of a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their longmissing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and they set out to bring her home.The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteenyearold 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. Its 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 maybeRuthy on their screen, Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to where the show is filmed in search of their longlost 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 futurewith 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.\nTheres a delightfully subversive and maverick quality to the way first-time novelist Jimnez gives her characters the freedom to tell the truth as they see it This Jimnez brings bravery to the page, and its her strong storytelling and humor that make this an outstanding debut.Kirkus (starred review)\nSympathetic and fiery Latina characters shine in this warm and moving novel portraying a down-to-earth family with deep loyalty and longing for closure.Booklist (starred review)\n\n\n\n\”Claire Jimnez’sWhat Happened to Ruthy Ramirezis at once hilarious and heartbreaking. An original novel about mothers, daughters, and sisters, about a family broken by a profound loss. Jimnez is both storyteller and cultural critic, giving us an unflinching rejection of respectability politics, characters who love and fight, who are flawed and vulnerable and real. This book will stay with me a long time.Jaquira Daz, author of Ordinary Girls