ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES
Sonya Sones
Simon & Schuster
Fiction
ISBN: 0689858205
272 pages

I loved ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES. Both the plot and the poetry were as good as Sonya Sones's previous book, STOP PRETENDING, and it was easy to forget the disappointment of the boring book in between, WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW.

The story starts on an airplane, as 15-year-old Ruby flies from the East Coast to Beverly Hills, California, to meet her father for the first time. Her mother has just died, and Ruby isn't too happy to be meeting a man who has acted in tons of movies yet hasn't found the time to even send her a birthday card. She decides to be as horrible to him as possible.

As is Sones's trademark, the story is told in verse, and poems focus on the trials and tribulations of being 15 and living with a man you've never met, the serious --- "and I didn't have Mom's hand to hold,/ my heart flung itself into my throat" and the not-so-serious --- "Oh./ My./ God.// I just got a ticket for crossing the street." Unlike some poetry, it's extremely important to read the titles of each of these poems, as they usually serve as the poem's first line.

Ruby's father, Whip Logan, is a Tom Cruise-type character who lives next door to Cameron Diaz. She goes to school with the children of celebrities and swears that Brad Pitt was in line behind her at the store. However, Ruby is so sad and angry about having to leave her beloved Aunt Duffy, her best friend Lizzie, and her boyfriend Ray behind that she can't enjoy any of this. She's appalled by the classes her school offers --- "I just had to choose/ between signing up for// Dream Interpretation Through the Ages,/ Introduction to Transcendental Meditation,/ or The Films of Steven Spielberg" and the only fun she has is talking with her father's assistant, Max.

ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES is richly filled with great poetry, name-dropping, and e-mails to and from Ruby and her friends. As the year goes on, Ruby and her father learn to understand each other, with a few surprises along the way. This is a great read!

   --- Reviewed by Hannah Gómez (gingermulatta@kiwibox.com)

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