The Boyfriend List (Ruby Oliver, #1)

by E. Lockhart

[Katie King]

**3 Stars**

Ruby Oliver is having a rough time. Her boyfriend dumps her for her friend but then kisses her at a dance, thus starting a shitstorm that engulfs her life. Ruby starts having panic attacks, and her mom makes her see a therapist. This book reads as an account of her time in therapy, where she discusses a "boyfriend list" that she wrote.

The Boyfriend List is one of those books it seems like everyone likes. Check Goodreads and there are piles of 4- and 5-star reviews. People talk about how hilarious they think Ruby is and how relatable Lockhart made her. Reflecting on this book, I didn't understand their reaction. I didn't think Ruby was particularly funny. I thought she was a stereotypical "alternative, vintage-loving reader" high school girl. Nothing in this book is new or exciting. Almost everything that happens to Ruby is essentially a consequence of her own inaction. She bitches and moans and cries but she does absolutely nothing to change her circumstances. The quote above from the book is right: she never does anything.

And yet, I didn't think this novel was that bad. My pet peeve is when people think they have the all the facts and don't, so when Kim, Nora, and Cricket wouldn't talk to her, and the bitchy girls would call her names and spread rumors, I felt myself getting a little upset. Especially because Ruby's frustration at not being heard felt so familiar. When Jackson kissed her at the dance and then backtracked when caught, I felt betrayed. When Kim spread around the boyfriend list and started all the gossip, I was shocked and hurt. When Noel squeezed her hand in the lunch line, I felt the glimmer of hope that things would be okay. Point is, Lockhart got me and I didn't even realize it until I started this review. I don't know if I should be impressed at how sneaky she was or embarrassed I wrote it off so early. Maybe both.

Some of Ruby's friends were pretty one-dimension, but I liked Kim. Although necessarily a bitch, before that she was fun, loyal, yet imperfect. Ruby's parents were totally crazy but I loved them. They weren't there to merely serve a function like most YA parents.

There were some things I didn't like. The footnotes were a nice touch, but some of them were really excessive. Footnotes should not have full conversations that spill into the next page's footnotes. Put that in the story. Another thing I didn't like is a lot of the "boyfriends" shouldn't have been on that list. One was made-up, a few were just rumors, and a few were just people she had superficial, baseless crushes on. Hardly enough to make an impact on her life. Although I guess maybe they were important to the therapeutic process, trying to recognize her patterns with guys she likes.

The ending was also a little boring for me. While not your usual "everything works out perfectly" young adult ending, it's almost to the extreme were exactly nothing happens besides Ruby riding off into the sunset of California with her mom. Again, keeping with the theme of Ruby does nothing to help herself.

Summary
I started this book with high expectations, which quickly fell as I read. I had imagined an unfavorable review, even as I looked back on my reading, but in actually writing, I realized I liked this one a lot more than I had thought. The drawn-out footnotes and helpless character known as our main protagonist detract from enjoyment, but all in all, this one is really quite solid. High-school drama, kisses, rumors, and more, Lockhart writes of a high-school I left years ago, but can so easily recall with her words.