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Julia and Ruth have been unlikely best friends since they first met in Sunday school: Ruth was standing on the Bible-crafts table belting out "Jesus Loves Me." Now that they're a year away from graduation, they're putting the finishing touches on their getaway plans. But their dream of a funky big-city loft and rich, interesting older men is threatened when preacher's daughter Ruth goes to a wild party without studious Julia, and all hell breaks loose. Ruth gets pregnant; Julia gets creative. Determined to support her friend and stay on track for life after high school, Julia comes up with a plan that will require all her intelligence, compassion, ingenuity and patience. Drawing on some great (and some not-so-great) works of literature, Julia proves that you can learn a lot just by opening up a book.… (more)
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I had a few problems, the biggest being the plan to deliver Ruth's baby in secret - this is a horrifically dangerous idea, for both Ruth and the baby, and I was scared by how lightly it was treated by everyone involved. It didn't seem realistic to me that everyone the finally told would take it so calmly. Also, I couldn't quite fit Julia's weight loss into the rest of the story.
I really appreciated the contrasting religious characters, Ruth's pastor father with his nasty condemning attitude and Julia's religious mother who acts with compassion and kindness without a hint of judgement.
I'd give this to readers interesting in realistic fiction, romance, or funny stories. It might also be a good one for getting a reluctant reader interested in classic fiction.
From the discovery of Ruth's pregnancy right up to the end, the book is filled with wonderful commentary on classic books and pregnancy, along with Julia's pragmatic point of view.
This is one of those strange novels that has an awesome main character - Julia is well-developed, clever, and funny - and a somewhat mediocre plot. Ruth's pregnancy is treated somewhat lightly, though there are several spots where the author seems to warn readers that it's probably not a good idea to help your teenage friend give birth without the aid of a trained doctor or any sort of medical facility. This point just doesn't ever sink in. The story also deals with post-partum depression, probably an uncommon element in young adult novels. It was nice to see this issue brought up. It was hard to understand why Ruth and Julia were friends, considering Ruth was downright abusive during most of the story. I also lost track of several other plot elements, such as Julia losing a ton of weight, the romance between Julia and Ruth's brother, or the developing relationship between Julia and her stepmother. Parts of the story work very well, but other pieces are just garbled; for example, Julia's mother just doesn't seem to be the same character as she was at the start of the book (I get that Julia gains appreciation for her mother's strength). The characters are also very anti-Christian, which I imagine could turn off a lot of readers. However, the story-telling device of using first-lines is a great one.
I'm curious to see more from this author, because it's a well-written story and can be enjoyable. I'd just like to see it tidied up a bit more. This reminded me a lot of Chris Crutcher's books.
I can't speak to the veracity here, but it does sound like hiding a pregnancy for 9 months and then having a baby at 17 isn't that difficult. There is an acknowledgment that Ruth's baby is an "easy baby," and that Ruth's support network is wider and stronger than the average 17-year-old's, but it still doesn't really communicate just how difficult new parenthood can be. However, this hardly seems the point of the book, which is more about friendship than it is about reproduction.
This is an easy, light read (not surprising as it's an Orca book), but I don't know about its hook for reluctant readers: Ruth's story, and her relationship with her underdeveloped parents, could be fascinating, but Julia's voice is one of calm intellectualism. I could identify with her, but I'm not 100% convinced the reluctant readers this publisher aims at will share Julia's passion for classic literature, or will appreciate the way she starts each chapter with the first line from a classic work.
But the story's really about friendship, and at that, it's really good.