Will Ruby get to go to college and do the things she wants to do?
Ruby
Ruby Dinsmore is our main character and the one that we follow throughout the storyline. The main character's name is Ruby Pearl Dinsmore. She goes by just plain Ruby, is the middle of nine children, and is smart. Ruby is like any normal teenage girl from the 1920s but she wants to do more than be a housewife. There are some things that I like about Ruby and some things that I dislike about her.
I like that Ruby doesn't take no for an answer, and if she wants to do something, she does it. Another thing that I like about her is how focused she is on her goals. What I don't like about her is that achieving her goals made me not like her as much as I thought I would. This young woman wants to go into the workforce instead of staying home to be taken care of by her husband. I wouldn't say I like how she achieved her goals because it got her friends in trouble and upset her family. The way she went about it just wasn't the right way to do it. However, they were Ruby's choices, and she owned her decisions.
The Story
As I said above, Ruby Pearl Dinsmore is in the middle of nine kids and wants the same opportunities as her brother does. The author does a great job of showing the setting to make the reader feel like they are in Oklahoma and Missouri. Ruby, just a junior in high school has decided that she is going to college with or without her parents' blessings and gets three school friends to help her out. I don't really want to say too much but the way that Ruby went about to get to her goal kind of broke my heart. Apart of me was hoping that Ruby could see Arthur in a different light.
Three Stars
Rise! A Girl's Struggle for More by Diann Floyd Boehm is a historical novel. The author based the main character on her own great grandmother, and it is quite a story. Ms. Boehm has quite a way with her words, but I guess I struggled with this novel more than I imagined just by reading the plot summary. Ruby Pearl is a fascinating character, but I just didn't quite like her in the end like I was supposed to. I am giving this book three stars.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Rise! A Girl's Struggle for More by Diann Floyd Boehm.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove