vertaald in het Nederlands: "15 Jongens, 4 kikkers & ik"
traduit en Français: "La fabuleuse histoire de la mouche dans le vestiaire des garçons"
The reason why I started reading this novel is a story on its own right. I litteraly stumbled upon it in the main hall of our building. After trying to get it back to its owner, I ended up reading it myself. I admit that the cover with the frog was one of the reasons to open it. The book turned out to be very entertaining, and I had lots of fun with it during my trip to Istanbul last year.
I’ve waited almost a year to write about this book, but I recently discovered that it has been followed by three sequels, The Boy Book (2006), The Treasure Map of Boys (2009), and Real Live Boyfriends (2010). These four novels are also known as the Ruby Oliver novels, based on their central protagonist. All of them I’ve read on my Kindle, and all of them are still very amusing. Ideal traveling/holiday literature.
"The Boyfriend List" can probably be discribed as chick flick, or a young adult book. I don’t care. I enjoyed it a lot, just as I did before with The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ (1982) by Sue Townsend - and as I am typing this, I see that that book had sequels too! Back to The Boyfriend List. Poor Ruby "Roo" Oliver has had a miserable ten days. Not only did she lose her boyfriend to her (no longer) best friend, but she also got caught kissing said (ex) boyfriend, earning the reputation of a megaslut and social outcast ("leper") at Tate Prep, the private school she's attended on scholarship since kindergarten.
Ruby's also suffered from five panic attacks in this time period, which is why she started seeing Dr. Z., her psychologist. As part of therapy, Ruby is asked to write a list of every boyfriend or crush she has ever had. Wanting to be as complete as possible, Ruby has everyone from her preschool playmate to her first kiss (courtesy of 'spin the bottle') to her only actual boyfriend, on the list. Unfortunately, Ruby's former best friend, Kim, finds a rough draft of the list, Xeroxes it, and gives a copy to every student in school. You can use your imagination to figure out what kinds of rumors get started from a list like that.
Ruby Oliver is the most realistic "teenager" I've read in a long time. She is very witty, yet naive about human nature, and readers can feel Ruby's pain with her as she learns how to deal with a broken heart and stand tall in the face of false rumors. There is some mild profanity from time to time and lots of talk about boobs, but nothing graphic or shocking.
Each chapter of The Boyfriend List covers a boy from the list (there are fifteen total), while also taking readers through Ruby's history with her ex-boyfriend, Jackson Clarke, and Kim, who started dating Jackson three short days after he abruptly broke up with Ruby. This book is written from Ruby's frank first-person perspective, with tons of explanatory/neurotic footnotes peppered throughout. For example, in relating the time the uber-popular Katarina tells Ruby about walking in on Jackson and Kim in the buff at a party, readers will find the following footnotes annotated within three paragraphs:
"10. What? She thought I'd seen Jackson's thing, as in penis thing? And she thought I'd like to hear that she thinks I've seen it?
I swear, I have no understanding of other human beings. Being a leper suits me perfectly, if my only other choice is being friends with Katarina.
11. Heidi must have seen it! Otherwise, why would Katarina think I had seen it? She must think penis viewing is the norm for Jackson's girlfriends.
12. So Jackson was getting naked with Heidi and with Kim. But not with me.
13. Why not with me? Did he not like me as much as those other girls? Was I less attractive than them? Ruby Oliver, not the kind of girl you'd want touching your penis. Ruby Oliver, not exciting enough to try and get her pants off. Ruby Oliver, good enough to kiss, but not good enough to get naked with..."
As you can see, Ruby has the same doubts and insecurities as most teenagers, and I believe that reading how she works through them could be beneficial for teens. That's not to say that Ruby ends the book with everything peachy keen, but she does show significant growth, which Lockhart enhances over the next books in the series. Enjoy!
