What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez
A deeply powerful, raw debut novel of a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their long‑missing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show
The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen‑year‑old middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice, her family was left scarred. Then one night twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on TV 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?
Review:
I really enjoyed this book, even though it ended up differing from what I expected. The synopsis implies that a majority of the book will center on a road trip comprised of two sisters, their mother and their mother’s bible-thumping friend when in truth, the road trip is only 2-3 chapters toward the end of the book. Still it’s a fun read.
The book alternates between the points of view of the Ramirez women – mother Dolores, oldest child Jessica and youngest Nina as well as a few chapters from the point of view of the woman who may or may not be the lost Ramirez.
As the title lays out, Ruthy Ramirez went missing when she was thirteen years old. The family has gone twelve years with no answers. The father died without knowing what happened to his daughter, but the family still hopes that she just ran away and one day they’ll find her. Ruthy was a bit of a rebel and she and her mother didn’t have the best relationship, so the family strongly believes she just ran away.
When Jessica is up late one night she is watching a reality TV show titled Cat Fight and one of the women on the show named Ruby looks a lot like Ruthy. Sure, it’s been twelve years, but she looks like what Jessica imagines Ruthy would look like. She even has Ruthy’s birthmark beneath her eye. She doesn’t want to get her mother’s hopes up so she gets Nina, her younger sister, involved and it doesn’t take her long to convince Nina that it could quite possibly be Ruthy. It kind of makes sense that Ruthy would be on a reality show where she has to fight to stay on the show. In Chapter 1 of the book, Nina says: “In my fourth-grade mind, Ruthy was invincible. Thirteen-year-old queen of the Quick Comeback”, hoop earrings and Vaseline, Patron Saint of Fist and the Late Night Call Home from the Principal.”
A majority of the book alternates between Nina and Jessica as they live their lives and try to make their way through their lives while they are also trying to figure out whether the Ruby on TV is, in fact, their Ruthy. There’s only one way to find out, and that’s figuring out where the show is filmed and then try to get there so they can find out for sure.
We also get several chapters from Dolores (the mother)’s point of view. These were some of my favorites. Most of her chapters were her talking to God about her thankless daughters. She is a hoot!
As I mentioned, we ultimately get an abbreviated car trip as the family and Irene set out to find out if Ruby is Ruthy and comedy ensues, and the book ultimately ends in a surprising way.
This is a quick and easy read, filled with a lot of humor and heart.
