Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Adriana M.

Ruby is a 15-year old who has become somewhat of a leper at her high school after a series of events lands her in a therapist's couch and she starts suffering from panic attacks. Her therapist, Dr. X asks her to provide a list of boys. The so-called 'boyfriend list' somehow gets out at her high school, and that contributes to her friends not talking to her, and Ruby feeling more and more isolated and anxious. But the list is not made up of boys that were her boyfriends, just boys that affected her, she crushed on, or were even slightly important to her.

In the course of the novel Ruby goes through the list explaining each boy. Even though they aren't all ex-boyfriends of hers, people get the impression that she is basically a 'slut'.

Despite this angle, the books is light and humorous, and Ruby takes it all in stride as she tries to come to terms with her situation. As I read it, I thought some of her former friends were much too cruel and unfair to Ruby, and I wanted her to somehow get back at them. The footnotes that the author uses were also somewhat distracting, because even though they offered more insight and were meant to be humorous, they often interrupted the flow of the story.