The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Series: Ruby Oliver (#1)
Pages: 229
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Published: March 22nd, 2005
IBSN: 9780385732079
Series: Ruby Oliver (#1)
Pages: 229
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Published: March 22nd, 2005
IBSN: 9780385732079
Ruby Oliver is 15 and has a shrink. She knows it's unusual, but give her a break—she's had a rough 10 days. In the past 10 days she:
* lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list)
* lost her best friend (Kim)
* lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket)
* did something suspicious with a boy (#10)
* did something advanced with a boy (#15)
* had an argument with a boy (#14)
* drank her first beer (someone handed it to her)
* got caught by her mom (ag!)
* had a panic attack (scary)
* lost a lacrosse game (she's the goalie)
* failed a math test (she'll make it up)
* hurt Meghan's feelings (even though they aren't really friends)
* became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)
* and had graffiti written about her in the girls' bathroom (who knows what was in the boys'!?!).
But don't worry—Ruby lives to tell the tale. And make more lists.
* lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list)
* lost her best friend (Kim)
* lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket)
* did something suspicious with a boy (#10)
* did something advanced with a boy (#15)
* had an argument with a boy (#14)
* drank her first beer (someone handed it to her)
* got caught by her mom (ag!)
* had a panic attack (scary)
* lost a lacrosse game (she's the goalie)
* failed a math test (she'll make it up)
* hurt Meghan's feelings (even though they aren't really friends)
* became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)
* and had graffiti written about her in the girls' bathroom (who knows what was in the boys'!?!).
But don't worry—Ruby lives to tell the tale. And make more lists.
Ruby Oliver is anxious and neurotic, but if you saw what she had to deal with, you wouldn't blame her.
After losing all of her friends, her boyfriend, and gaining a reputation as super-slut, she goes to see a therapist who makes her create a list of all the boyfriends she had: wish-we-were boyfriends, he-wishes-he-was boyfriends, he-doesn't-know-I-exists boyfriends, all of them. The Boyfriend List is her account of all of the boys to her therapist.
The thing about The Boyfriend List that immediately stands out is Ruby's voice. E. Lockhart's protagonists always stay with me because of the way she can create such a real character who narrates in the way they would talk to you. I feel like as she's talking to her therapist, she's actually talking to me. On top of that, Ruby is quirky and neurotic, and completely likeable.
The Boyfriend List was an honest, clever, laugh-out-loud funny recount of falling from social grace.
I give The Boyfriend List a 4 out of 5, and definitely look forward to reading the other books in the Ruby Oliver series.
