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From E. Lockhart, author of the highly acclaimed, New York Times bestseller We Were Liars, which John Green called “utterly unforgettable,” comes Real Live Boyfriends, the fourth book in the uproarious and heartwarming Ruby Oliver novelsthatfinds Ruby Oliver as neurotic and hyperverbal as ever as she interviews her friends for a documentary on love and popularity and while doing so turns up some uncomfortable truths.
She’s lost most of her friends. She’s lost her true love more than once. She’s lost her grandmother, her job, her reputation, and possibly her mind. But she’s never lost her sense of humor. The Ruby Oliver books are the record of her survival.
Editore : Random House Children’s Books; Reprint edizione (27 dicembre 2011)
Lingua : Inglese
Copertina flessibile : 240 pagine
ISBN-10 : 0385734298
ISBN-13 : 978-0385734295
Peso articolo : 181 g
Dimensioni : 13.18 x 1.52 x 20.32 cm
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Also appears on The Screaming Nitpicker.Ruby Oliver has made it to her senior year of high school intact and with a boyfriend: Noel. Or is he her boyfriend? Ever since he came back from his summer trip to New York, he’s been acting strangely and she can’t figure out what’s wrong. In the middle of this, Ruby is preparing her college essays and applications (which requires making a video about love, popularity, and friendship because of her wish to be in a film program), fighting with her mother over this and that, dealing with her and father’s grief over the death of Grandma Suzette, making up with Nora (again), and so much more. Don’t worry, she’ll survive. How else could she keep making lists?After falling in love with the first three books, this fourth novel was highly anticipated and was released at just the right time: I got the first three as Christmas gifts and this one came out just after Christmas. It is the last of Ruby’s series and surprisingly, I was not sad to see it end. Most series make me sad when they end because I love them so much, but the Ruby series ended right when it was a good time to end and in the best way.Ruby is the same cynical romantic she has been the entire series and I love it. She has gotten no less realistic; heck, she’s only becoming more of a real fictional person, if that makes any sense. There is one certain quality she has that I go nuts over: how she contradicts herself. Multiple times over the course of the series, she states that she doesn’t believe in the happy endings so often presented in the movies she loves. Then the romantic in her indirectly expresses a desire for a happy ending with the guy of her choice. Ruby’s previous characterization is neither completely refuted nor stuck to perfectly, and that is exactly how people work. People contradict themselves. That’s life. Ruby’s contradiction itself, that she doesn’t believe in happy endings and yet wants one so badly, strikes a chord with me in particular. That’s just how I feel (simplified)! It… I think I just got some inspiration.Ruby is not the only character that really shines in this book. Noel and Nora, two characters who already played major parts in Ruby’s life, continue to go through trials so similar to Ruby’s own and try to deal with them their own ways. Noel, a character I’ve always had a soft spot for, was as inexperienced in relationships as I expected him to be and under the pressure of his issues and Ruby’s high expectations for a boyfriend, he balked. He ain’t perfect either and I love it. Nora was on the receiving end of Cricket and Kim’s not-so-nice words the way Ruby once was, dealt with it appropriately, and made up with Ruby like I hoped she would. Meghan, Hutch, and the rest of the gang are here too, most of them being interviewed for Ruby’s college application video. Their varied definitions of love, friendship, and popularity all ring true no matter how different they sound.The three books before this one all dealt with social issues that I think are important: [edited out so that Amazon will post my review], right and wrong in friendship, and finding the good in life instead of focusing on the bad. This one still focuses on an issue (the high expectations girls have for their boyfriends or the illusions of love, friendship, and popularity; I couldn’t decide), but that doesn’t take center stage this time. Instead of focusing on a central issue, Ruby finally puts the focus on herself. The self-loathing (such as calling herself neurotic and a mental patient) gets a closer examination than it ever has before, allowing her to see just how detrimental her half-playful insults at herself have been to her. There are still times when she will concentrate on anything but herself (see: when she concentrates on a photo Doctor Z puts face-down on her desk), but Ruby is finally getting the big picture: she’s not crazy! She just has problems that every teenager has!The day I finished this book, I was miserable. The night before, a 45,000 word novel I’ve been slaving over for two years was corrupted by my flash drive, which was starting to mess up after two years of constant use. Unless a miracle happens and someone can uncorrupt it, that file and all the edits I made to it are lost. I was still upset about it the next morning and with nothing to do in my first class, I brought out Real Live Boyfriends and started reading. It had me laughing and crying and for about an hour, I didn’t think about that lost novel at all. Ruby brought me into her world and comforted me with all of her drama and funny quips and heartfelt scenes. I would have loved this book regardless, but it gets a huge amount of extra points of making me feel better.Lockhart has written a beautiful, perfect ending to this quartet and brought out the truth of teenage relationships and love in a way so few authors have in my recent reading list. From this moment on, I’m going to keep an eye on her blog so that I’ll know about any future projects. She is now among my favorite authors and I heartily recommend her books to anyone who asks for recommendations.
I am too old for this young love nonsense. I have been married for two decades. But, I read this, and I remember, and I start questioning the intentions of the other grown, married folk around me. What was the real reason he sent that email? Was it really just to schedule carpool?Dangerous. Very dangerous. I should stop.
Mit diesem Roman schlieÃt sich das Ruby Oliver-Quartett. Und ich habe damit eine weitere Serie abgeschlossen. Hätten mir die ersten drei Bände nicht gefallen, dann hätte ich mir den vierten undetzten Band auch nicht gekauft. Doch das haben sie und so war ich ganz gespannt auf den Abschluss der Serie. Das Buch ist seeehr dünn und ich hatte es innerhalb weniger Stunden schon durch.Das Cover zeigt wie gewohnt ein Mädchen und wie ich schon sagte, finde ich das schon okay, aber nicht besonders schön. Der Titel ‘Real Live Boyfriends’ bezieht sich auf eine Definition von Ruby was ein Freund alles leisten muss um ein ‘realer’ Freund zu sein und nicht nur irgendeine beliebige Affäre.Irgendwie, und ich weià nicht wieso das so ist, ging mir Ruby diesesmal ziemlich auf die Nerven. Ständig sagt sie ‘Ag’, was einem wirklich tierisch auf die Nerven geht, wenn man es auf jeder Seite mindestens zweimal liest. Und zum anderen ging mir die ständige Heulerei und das kindische Gehabe auf die Nerven. Ich bin ganz ehrlich froh, dass es diese Person nicht gibt.Meiner Meinung nach ist der vierte Band der Ruby Oliver-Reihe überflüssig. Es schien so, als sei der vierte Band einfach nur so drangehängt worden, obwohl eigentlich kein Stoff für eine Geschichte mehr da ist. Klar könnte man jetzt ewig Ruby Oliver Bücher weiterschreiben, die alle vom Aufbau ähnlich sind. Aber schlieÃlich verliert es dann irgendwie seinen Reiz.Für mich wäre optimal gewesen, wenn diese Reihe einfach nach dem dritten Band aufgehört hätte, denn ich finde, dass dieser auch ein schönes Ende hat. Und vor allem auch ein endgültiges Ende.Fazit: Ein enttäuschender letzter Band der Serie.[…]
This whole series was enjoyable, considering reading again soon! give them a shot, pretty short, probably not going to be your next favorite, but worth the time taken to read.
I had a very lazy day today and read this entire series (well, I read half of book one yesterday). I didn’t like the first book much – not because it was poorly written or I hated the characters, but because there was NO END. The second and third books had the same problem. This fourth book was my favorite and I think part of that is because it actually has an ending. The first three books go like this: Lots of really bad stuff happens to Ruby. Ruby makes some dumb decisions. Ruby has a panic attack. Ruby sees her therapist. Book ends without any real resolution.Book three ends with Ruby stating she can’t date Noel because of her friendship with Nora. Book four starts with her having already changed her mind and started dating Noel. This was awkward to me, because I thought the whole point of book 3 was Ruby deciding her friends were more important than boys. Then somewhere between book 3 and 4 she gives up on that and starts dating Noel anyways?The middle of this book was a little awkward as well. She was really crazy about Noel and I get why she dumped him, but she immediately starts dating Gideon without too much guilt or concern. I guess I understand wanting to do something to block out the pain, but she seemed a LOT more distraught over the breakup with Jackson in book 1 than she did with Noel.Ruby also has this habit of screaming at people and trying to resolve her personal problems in a very public place. In front of a bunch of classmates during a college prep meeting she starts bitching out Noel, trying to get him to talk to her. She does this a few times throughout the series and it really bugged me.Ruby’s mother is also probably the worst mother in existence. She’s selfish and immature and I’m shocked that her husband has put up with her for 20 years. Completely shocked. The way Ruby’s mom filled out the college form was so messed up and wrong. Bringing home a baby piglet and gutting it in front of her vegetarian daughter ON PURPOSE to upset her… SOOO MESSED UP AND WRONG.One of the good parts was Ruby’s reunion with Noel. I liked it. I also liked Ruby’s friendship with Meghan. I wish she had appreciated Meghan more, but she spends more time upset with Nora / Cricket / Kim without realizing what a great friend she has in Meghan. I think by the end she finally does realize that, but it’s hard to feel like Ruby deserves Meghan with how she took her for granted for so long.Overall, I did like this book best in the series. I’m unsure how this series got so many 5-star ratings, but I guess I just didn’t feel it like others did. (shrug) Such is life!