Tuesday, October 15, 2019

2019 book 128

Laura Ruby's Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All
Ruby's latest novel, after the great Bone Gap, is set in 1940s Chicago and is narrated by a ghost who likes to hang out and watch the girls at an orphanage. She is particularly interested in one Frankie, whose father left her and her siblings there during the Depression. I was personally more interested in the ghost than in Frankie (the ghost hangs out with a fox and befriends other ghosts and gradually remembers her own story), though Frankie is a very vivid and relatable character. I just felt like her story, while compelling, was not a particularly new one. Ruby is saying a lot here about being a girl and being a woman, as well as dealing a bit with racial tensions. A satisfying read for sure. B/B+.

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