The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver (Ruby Oliver #1)

It's kind of hard not to love Ruby Oliver. Sure, she has her quirks and sometimes I just want to sit her down and give her a talking to, but most of the time she realizes she doesn't have to blame herself for everything and maybe all the people she thought were awesome might not be so great.

After I started to figure out what happened with Kim and Jackson I just wanted to give Ruby a hug and be all "girl, those guys seriously suck. You do NOT need them." Because really, they do suck.

Another really cool thing (for me, at least) was the Seattle setting. I live here, so it was cool to read about all the stuff I live around. Except, the B&O Espresso is no longer where it used to be, so that's a little amusing to me.

So here's what you need to know:
Ruby is sweet, cute, a little naive, and hilarious.
There are some really sweet guys on the Boyfriend List.
There are some really sucky guys on the Boyfriend List.
Everything isn't always black and white.
Ruby's parents are a pretty big part of her life (and they're a little crazy.)
Dr. Z is kind of awesome.
You should read this book because it's good and you should.

One little aside: I was a little tired of everyone being "shattered." What are they, windows?

Hit

Title: The Boyfriend List
Author: E. Lockhart
Genre: YA

Where I got it: ODLC (the library’s e-book collection)

One sentence: Fifteen year old Ruby Oliver starts visits to a shrink after she starts getting panic attacks and relays the rough past ten days in which she has become a social outcast through “the boyfriend list”.

Themes: Rumors, romance

Main character: Ruby was a likeable main character: witty, down-to-earth, and relatable. She made some mistakes during the book, but I tend to like main characters who mess up along the way.

Secondary characters: Not really memorable. There were a couple ‘aww’ moments with some of the boys: Shiv, in particular. I hated Jackson and Kim, which is probably what I was meant to feel, but I didn’t understand their motives, which made them very flat characters to me.

Writing style: Lockhart has a very readable and entertaining writing style. The only thing that I had some issues with were the footnotes. I thought it was a clever idea to relay information, but I didn’t end up reading them when they were supposed to be read. I just waited until the end of the chapter and read them all at once (which is what I assume a lot of readers do), so they lost meaning, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time flipping back and forth to see what sentence each footnote was paired with. Would have been better if the footnotes were at the bottom of the page.

Plot: Entertaining. Not very original, but a good interpretation of high school as a teenage girl. The timeline often bounced all over, which was a little confusing but conveyed Ruby’s voice well. The main plot was constantly interrupted by spin-off about boys from the past.

Best scene: Any of Ruby’s discussions with her parents and the Hutch/dad/Ruby conversation.

Positives: Relatable and funny main character, witty and entertaining voice, realistic

Negatives: Confusing footnotes, timeline, a little slow at times.

Ending: I like that everything didn’t turn out perfect in the end. Another facet of realism; life doesn’t work that way. Still, I did want some closure.

Verdict: Cute and charming, but not necessarily memorable.

Rating: 6.4 / 10

Reader reviewed by 'Book'ie Monster

This book astonished me and and it made me think about who is actually in the hallways.

I love how in this book the author explains every boyfriend and not just saying "i liked him but, he didnt like me" it didnt do that, it actually told you the whole story of them.

My favourite guy from th boyfriend list was Gideon (you'll learn about hm in the book).

The main character in this book is Ruby Oliver and she gets a very bad reputation when her boyfriend list (for her 'shrink' or another name is therapist) gets photocopied and given to all the students at Tate (name for her school) and her boyfriend (Jackson) dumps her because of Kim (her bestfriend), and so on.

Eventually she gets everyone to hate her.

I like all the character in the book because they are all very commonly found people in a school, but sometimes not everyone knows it.

Reader reviewed by Marina

I liked this book, but not enough. I wanted her to talk about the other guys in detail like she did with Simon. All she talked about was Simon, Simon, Simon. The other boys she was suppose to be talking about, only got like a sentence or two. The rest was about Simon. And overall, it was stupid becasue she was dating him first, and then her bff starts dating him, and everyone gets mad at her. Just wierd. But it was an okay book.

Reader reviewed by Lianne

Ruby Oliver is a fun narrator. After loosing all of her friends, and having some major issues at school like being dumped by her boyfriend Ruby's parents make her go and see a therapist. At Ruby's first session with her new therapist (Dr.Z)she has to make a boyfriend list. Ruby makes the list and throughout the book you get a fun preview into Ruby's past. This book couldn't possibly be more fun! I loved how each chapter Ruby talked about another boy from the list and why they were on there! This is so funny and enjoyable. You will be laughing and having fun the whole time while reading!

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.

Reader reviewed by Samantha Watt

This was different then what I usually read, but it was okay, not the best but funny.

Enter a girl who has had two offical boyfriends, and friends that inevtned the BOY BOOK. Enter another girl who ingores the rules she made up and steals her friends boyfiend.

Then the first girl ends up kissing her ex boyfriend, and everyone thanks she is bad. Then she starts having panic attacks because of her best friend Kim stole her boyfriend.

Then because of the panic attacks she has to see a shirnk, that makes everything worse. And the shrink realzes that the reasonf or the panic attacks is guys.

It was a good book, funny even.

Reader reviewed by Amanda Marasco

It's about a girl named Ruby who begins to go to a shrink and talks about all the boys who had any impact in her life. Her bestfriend Kanga starts to go out with her newly ex-boyfriend. After that all hell breaks loose and Ruby is left on her own. This is a book that can show you how drastically your friends can change.

I loved this book. It got a little confusing at times but it was cleared up right away. The book never got boring and things were always changing. I did hate some of the characters but i think that was what we were supposed to do.

Read this book soon!

Reader reviewed by Khy

Ruby Oliver is 15 and has a shrink. She knows its unusual, but give her a breakshes had a rough 10 days. In the past 10 days she:
lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list),

lost her best friend (Kim),

lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket),

did something suspicious with a boy (#10),

did something advanced with a boy (#15),

had an argument with a boy (#14),

drank her first beer (someone handed it to her),

got caught by her mom (ag!),

had a panic attack (scary),

lost a lacrosse game (shes the goalie),

failed a math test (shell make it up),

hurt Meghans feelings (even though they arent really friends),

became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)

and had graffiti written about her in the girls bathroom (who knows what was in the boys!?!).

All these bad things result in a panic attack, and thanks to her overprotective parents, she has to go to a shrink. The shrink encourages her to create The Boyfriend List, a list of all the boys she has dated, somewhat dated, wish she dated, kissed, and the boys people thought she dated or kissed. As Ruby reveals the list, she reveals the stories behind the boys and how they relate to her current life issues.

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Yowza. This may just be my favorite E. Lockhart book yet. (I'm trying to decide if I like this one or The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks better. I can't choose. Ag.) It's that good.

Ruby Oliver is such an wonderful heroine. She is smart but makes common mistakes, funny but is very sensitive, and is a great friend but sometimes hurts her friends feelings. She acts just like a real person, which makes it easy to relate to her.

Other good things about this book:

1. It is laugh-out-loud funny.
2. All the lists make it easier to understand what exactly was going through Roo's head.
3. There are footnotes! I love footnotes. (Don't ask me why. I don't know why.) The footnotes added more of Ruby's thoughts and comments on things, so you got to know her even better.
4. The other characters were very realistic too.
5. Ruby dealt with her problems in the same way a lot of other people would. While it wasn't the best way to handle them, it was the most realistic thing to do.

I've got nothing bad to say about this book. It comes highly recommended.

reposted from freneticreader.blogspot.com

Reader reviewed by Sandy

The Boyfriend List is a story about Ruby Oliver and her past relationships with thirteen guys as well as her not-so-perfect current life. The ten worst days of her life go by and end up landing Ruby in a shrinks office. She lost all of her friends, her boyfriend, got caught drinking a beer by her mom, became a social misfit, and is being talked about by most of the school be hind her back.

This book shows all of the different types of teenage guys and every different relationship possible. Ruby is a seemingly average girl which makes it easy to relate to her and some of her problems. As she makes lists of her past thirteen boyfriends with her new psychologist, Dr. Z., Ruby learns more about herself and reflects on some of her emotions that she left bottled up.

Of course, Ruby has some special quirks such as the fact that she lives on a houseboat or that her mom is a health freak that pushes health foods down her familys throats. Or that Rubys past terrible week and a half give her routine panic attacks. Not all of us can say that we have had panic attacks or that our house can float but these make Ruby an even more interesting character. She never lets the readers down by becoming boring.

Rubys life has all of the experiences that many teenage girls go through in life. Their first relationship, first kiss, first beak-up, losing friends, failing tests, sports, and the rise and fall on the social ladder. This book perfectly summarizes a girls life from middle school to high school and E. Lockhart makes it easier to deal with everyday problems that we all come across.