One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies ****

Sones, Sonya. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.

After Ruby's mother dies, she has to leave Boston to move to LA to be with her father, whom she has never met. Her father left her mother before she was even born, but she has always known who he was-- Whip Logan, a famous Hollywood actor. She has no interest in living with him, but her younger Aunt can't take her in, so she is stuck moving in with her father. Her father immediately tries to be nice to her, but she isn't interested in it, and is rude to him as best as she can. Also complicating matters is the fact that she has to leave her boyfriend Ray, while there is another girl who is after him.

The book is mainly told in poetry. People who aren't fans of poetry shouldn't be deterred from reading novels written in poems. Once the reader gets used to the format, one forgets that it isn't written in regular book form. Also, in betweem the poems, there are occassional emails to and from her boyfriend and best friend. The emails themselves are a little annoying, since they use annoying nicknames for each other that change in each email. It is a little too cutesy for me.

There was some predictible moments in the book, but knowing a lot of what was going to happen didn't detract from the great writing. I recommend this book to most readers, even the ones who don't like poetry. I have also enjoyed Sones' other novels in poetry such as What My Mother Doesn't Know.