User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars, rounded down
The Ruins is billed as a gothic coming of age story. Gothic seems a weird adjective, as it takes place in 1985. It covers an affluent English family who have a chateau in Southern France. While hosting friends, a car accident occurs. The story is told from the perspective of young Ruby, the 12 year old only child. The adults all seem to be vying for the “Worst Parent” award. They ignore or belittle the three young women. In one case, a daughter is literally left behind. The adults drink to excess, fight constantly. These are just ugly people, despite their supposed good breeding. The story deals with the haves and the have nots, the sense of privilege, of being able to get away with things because of one’s position.
Years later, Mrs. Cosgrove arrived back in the French town with the intention of buying the chateau. We aren’t told who she is, but it’s apparent she’s one of the young girls.
The story crept up on me. The adults are all so horrible, so cringe worthy that I didn’t want to be in their company. But still…I wanted to see how it would all play out. Would anyone be held accountable for their actions? In some way, it reminded me of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” with all the fighting. It’s a very disturbing ending and I can’t say it totally worked for me.
Warning - there are overtones of pedophilia. There are also incidents of child abuse.
My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.
Rating: really liked it
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication date: July 6, 2022 Ruby Ashby is excited to be returning to her parents’ estate in France, but this year a slew of unexpected (and not particularly welcome ) guests are out to ruin Ruby’s summer. Not only is she forced to share a room with two girls, Imogen and Annie, neither of whom she really knows, but her favourite place is filled to the brim with bickering adults full of smoldering tension. Ruby’s father can’t ask them to leave, for reasons Ruby doesn’t yet know, and just when Ruby thinks it’s over, a life-changing event occurs and soon, all of them are tied together with secrets and lies. Phoebe Wynne’s debut novel, “Madam”, was a delight for me and I was beyond excited to receive her newest novel, “The Ruins”. A gothic, coming-of-age novel of suspense, I enjoyed the deliciously lavish French estate and its glamorous setting, but the rest of the novel was something more mediocre than I was expecting.
The novel is told in two time periods, in 1985 when Ruby is going on twelve and she is spending the summer at her French estate, and in 2010 when a woman
(identified in the story at first only as “Mrs. Cosgrove”) returns to France in hopes of purchasing the long-abandoned estate, and recalls her memories of the tragedy that happened there.
Right off the bat, the plotline seemed anachronistic to me. The story was set in the last forty years, but it felt like something from the Victorian era. The guests, and obviously the owners, of the French estate were uber wealthy, but even taking this into consideration it felt a little out of place. The elaborate clothing required for every day
(not just dinners), that had all of the females in full dresses and skirts ALL THE TIME and the only modern day convenience that was ever mentioned was a DVD player and television set. It had a Great Gatsby vibe, but the story lost Fitzgerald’s charm when it entered the twentieth century. This was a tale destined for eras long ago, and I wish Wynne had made this happen.
Ruby was a little firecracker of a character, and I adored her immensely, although her parents
(and the parents of all of the other girls in the chateau at the time) were desperately lacking and inattentive, leading to the traumatic events that happen when young, preteen girls are left unsupervised around perverted old men. The only characters worth their salt, excluding Ruby, was terribly naive Annie, oblivious Liv and sassy Imogen.
I enjoyed the end of this novel, but parts in the middle had me scrambling to find a reason to finish it. I was glad to make it to the end, though, and felt a sense of satisfaction in the ending itself. Although a decidedly readable novel, “The Ruins” fell short of my expectations.
Rating: really liked it
*3-3.5 stars. The story begins in 1985 at a chateau in Provence, France, owned by the Ashby family of England. They have several friends visiting for the summer--old school chums who have brought along their families as well as their past grievances.
The story is told mainly from the point of view of the Ashby's daughter, Ruby, who is just turning twelve. She is frightfully neglected by her parents, pretty much ignored except to be scolded and disciplined. Ruby is aware of the dangerous undertones that summer, many of them sexual, but is too young to completely understand the adult interactions. There are three other young girls there that summer, all on the cusp of womanhood and attracting some unwanted attention with their budding figures. Their parents seem blissfully unaware--or is it they just don't care? Is there anyone a girl can turn to for protection?
Suddenly the story shifts to 2010. The chateau is up for sale and one of those young girls from that summer, now a recent widow, has come back to buy it. She finds she has competition from a man who is investigating what truly happened that long ago summer.
As the author notes at the beginning of her book, the theme of the story is the emotional and sexual abuse of young girls--'the darkest moments of the female experience.' But the story also delves into how the wealthy class finds ways to cover up their crimes.
The story is atmospheric and creepy. The chateau on the sea was once magnificent but is now deteriorating from the lack of the funds for upkeep, as these old friendships are also crumbling. Because the story is told by a confused child, it is clouded by innuendo. Obviously the story would have ended differently if Ruby had had loving, doting parents, someone she could have turned to. Shameful!
NB: I received an arc of this new novel from the publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks to them for the opportunity. Two thumbs up for the lovely cover art. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
Rating: really liked it
First of all, thank you Quercus Books, NetGalley and Phoebe Wynne for allowing me to read The Ruin in exchange for an honest review.
First of all, while there is a bit of mystery, I think this is more of a coming of age story. Also be sure to read the authors note at the beginning. I don’t want to spoil the book, but be aware of childhood abuse.
August 1985 at the French Riviera. A chateau, the summer home of British aristocrats, or what’s left of that. We meet Ruby and her family. Ruby has spent all summers of her 12 years at the chateau. What great memories, what great way of escaping her strict upbringing. We meet parents who care more for image than their children.
We get to meet two other girls, not yet to be called Ruby’s friends. The adults in this story are absolutely awful. Stuck up, to say the least, and that is probably their best feature.
This was no light summery read, far away from it. It’s disturbing at times. It’s hard to believe that such parents even exist. Are allowed to exist. I am not saying this is a bad book, but at times reading was not enjoyable, which I assume it was not even supposed to be. This book wants to make you think and cringe. If you expected a thriller or mystery, it is not.
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a digital copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
OOOOOF. I really think this book needs to come with a warning about some of the topics, not in a censorship way but in a trigger-warning way. I was really interested in the story based on the description, but what was written seemed to veer off course from the summary. The sexual abuse, the neglect, the rampant alcoholism, the nearly Stockholm Syndrome situation that transpires...it was a lot. I kept having to double check that the 1980s was considered the "early" timeline, because everything felt much earlier in the century. It felt very 1920s or 1950s in the 80s timeline, and very 60s or 70s in the 2010 timeline. This was a tough read to finish, because of the content and what happens in the conclusion. I was left pretty disturbed after I finished, and I kept replaying the climax/conclusion over and over in my head, not because I was savoring it. Rather, I was trying to wrap my head around writing such a climax/conclusion and how disturbed I was by the content. I can't say I would recommend this book because it's...a lot.
Rating: really liked it
Perhaps there are many books written like this. About horrible people who are negligent parents. People who treat other people badly and let their children be abused sexually and emotionally by their friends and do nothing about it. I was shocked, that a press actually accepted this book. There was no plot, no moral, just one horrible day of drunken abuse after another. Wynne is a good writer, but why she felt compelled to write this book, I have no idea. I can't recommend this book.
Rating: really liked it
This highly anticipated book was easily the worst read of the year for me. I enjoyed Wynn's debut thriller last year because it was dark and twisty, but this was a whole new level of uncomfortableness. I was ready to dnf it so many times, but wanted to finish reading so I could rate it honestly.
- The parents were all trash. The fathers were drunk and ignored the sexual abuse of their daughters that happened right before their eyes. The mothers were completely oblivious, weak female characters, and had no love for their children.
- The summary makes this book sound like a gothic horror novel, with lots of secrets waiting to be uncovered. It's obvious what those secrets are, so when they are revealed, it wasn't exciting.
- There we're multiple scenes where the adolescent girls were sexually abused. I was physically sick reading about it and had to skip over those parts. I'm not one to shy away from gore, but those scenes were so upsetting to read about and there wasn't any prior warning.
- I didn't really understand the point of the modern day storyline, set in 2010. I knew immediately whose point of view it was told from, so that wasn't a plot twist.
Disgusting, Disappointing, and Upsetting, I recommend this book to no one.
TW: sexual abuse of minors (multiple times), attempted rape of a minor, child abuse
Rating: really liked it
To begin, thank you to Phoebe Wynn, publisher, and Goodreads for an ARC I received thru winning a Goodreads giveaway. I appreciate it!
I was really excited to begin this book and started it the day I received it in the mail. From the provided overview of the story, I was expecting a thriller. However, I stopped reading multiple times to reread the summary provided on the back of the book. What I was reading didn't match up with the description for me. Also, I was unable to continue to reading and DNF this book due to the story including sexual abuse of children. If I had know this was a part of this story, I would not have entered the goodreads giveaway.
Rating: really liked it
This may be a hard book for some to read. Its main theme is about horrible, shallow, rich parents who couldn’t care less about their token children, and children who are abused, physically, mentally, and sadly, sexually, by these disgusting, spoiled drunkards.
Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I have to admit I enjoyed the tense pace of this book. It’s written in a way that you know these parents are going to get their comeuppance, you just don't know exactly how.
Part of the story dwells on one particular summer at the chateau when friends of Ruby’s parents invite themselves and then just won’t leave. The other part, over twenty years later, dwells on a visitor to the town; a widow who displays a strong dislike for actually seeing the chateau, but is insistent on purchasing it.
My interest was piqued as these two stories unfold over time. The events of the summer were hard to read, but their basis is required for the current-day efforts of the strange visitor. Occasionally, I enjoy a book that pushes me out of my comfort zone, and this is one of those books. I thought it was well written, honest, and upfront about crimes that are swept under the rug every single day in any country.
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press- Minotaur for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Rating: really liked it
This book is the train wreck that you cannot look away from. Full of despicable characters and three vulnerable young girls, I found myself invested in the story just to make sure that nothing happened to the girls.
Set on the Cote d’ Azur in a French chateau, the Ashby family and several of their so-called “friends” spend their holiday beachside while drinking and arguing. Several of the men are guilty of inappropriate behavior towards the young girls. The parents of the girls were selfishly into themselves and completely oblivious to what their daughters were going through. Money, or lack thereof, was a focus of many of the arguments.
The holiday was a ticking time bomb that eventually blew up with catastrophic consequences. I’ll admit, I was a bit shocked at the ending. For such a dreamy setting, this holiday was a nightmare and the title is very befitting of the way the holiday ended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and offer my honest review.
Rating: really liked it
"She pictured three girls bound tightly together in the back seat of the car, holding each other. Their hot breath, clammy palms, and her overshadowing fear of the man at the front, the man driving. "
The Ruins is a story about family, secrets, legacy and trauma that explores the events of a long, dark summer that can’t be forgotten. Behind the idyll of a beautiful chateau in the French Riviera and the scorching heat of the summer sun are dark shadows, cracks in the bright facade, and things hurtle towards that fateful night that can never be undone…
The book opens with a note from the author warning the reader of what we are about to read and offering those who would rather stay away from the dark but timely subject matter on these pages. I think this was a good move as it serves as both a content warning and sets the tone for what’s to come. Then comes the prologue with all of its ominous intrigue and the scene is set for this hauntingly atmospheric novel that I couldn’t put down.
"When was it, she asked herself, that her youthful joy turned sour, when this strange exterior rose up and crystallised around her? She knew exactly. It was that summer."
Though I have her debut on my shelves, this was my first time reading one of Phoebe Wynne’s books. Her writing is alluring, immersive and almost dreamlike, making me feel like there was a haze that lingered over every word as I read. The subject she examines in this story is a timely but difficult one that feels all too human and familiar. Wynne writes with understanding, sensitivity and honesty, making it hard to read in places but never gratuitous. I also liked how she wove Greek Mythology into the story. Wynne cleverly uses them as an analogy of what is happening that summer and as someone who loves the myths it made the story all the more enjoyable to read.
"All the stories from that summer had haunted her - all those women, tossed about for the desire and ambition of their male counterparts. Those had seemed to repeat themselves through her life, like some infectious, cruel joke."
This layered and nuanced story is composed of dual timelines that are expertly plotted and paced to keep you guessing. As the events of the summer of 1985 slowly unfold we move between timelines, jumping forward to 2010 when one of the young girls has returned to France to confront the trauma that has haunted her all these years. There is an air of foreboding and mystery in this timeline that adds a sinister tension to the past narrative as we try to guess what happened all those years ago. The author seamlessly weaves the narratives together, making them collide in unexpected ways. And that ending! A punch-to-the-gut finale that made me gasp out loud in shock and horror.
"Mrs Cosgrove woke up agitated; she had dreamed about the château again. That grand house perched by the water, tinged with sunlight and heat. The memory of it was permanently lodged in her mind, like an azure blue aneurysm, sharp and painful with every blink."
There is a cast of vividly drawn and recognisable characters, of which the adults are hideous, possessing few redeeming qualities and displaying monstrous behaviour that is a stark contrast to the innocence of the young girls. Our young protagonist, Ruby, lives in a time when children are expected to blindly obey their elders and be seen and not heard and the adults’ abhorrent behaviour is protected by this, as well as a culture of secrets, shame, propriety and obedience. The fear, isolation and claustrophobia that the girls feel is palpable and it is impossible not to feel horrified at the lack of parental care given to these children and how terribly each of them was failed by the adults they trusted. I wanted to leap into the book and rescue each of them from their nightmare.
Unnerving, tense and compelling, The Ruins is an important and thought-provoking novel that I highly recommend. I now intend to prioritise Ms. Wynne’s debut which is screaming at me from my shelves even louder after reading this.
Rating: really liked it
I liked Wynne’s debut, Madam, so I was interested in checking out her sophomore effort. And well…what a disappointment. Not just a dud, not just a read that dismays, but the one that actively causes disgust. (more on that later). I’d love to be able to say that you can see the traces of Madam in here and that the book merely missed something, but that would be a lie. Because this obnoxious, tedious, pretentious stab at a murder thriller is a sad excuse and a waste of talent/promise, etc.
Yeah, sorry, this is harsh, but the thing is, I hated this book. In concept more so than in the execution, meaning objectively Wynne CAN write, she just needs stronger stories.
Meaning, a tale of a bunch of young girls vacationing with their utter disgusting parents and family friends isn’t that strong of a story.
Sure, Wynne dragged it out into one, but she did so by selecting the nastiest aspects of it and dragging it out into a very specific brand of tedium.
And now, for some specifics: this is a book about child abuse. (And no, I’m not one of those squeamish readers who only wants tales from the sunny side of life; fact is, I usually prefer the other kind, but…) The adults in this story are TERRIBLE.
You have three male friends from way back and their respective families, wives, kids, all of it. All are wealthy English, vacationing in the French chateau belonging to one of them. And yes, it’s set back in the mid 80s and yes, the British are notoriously withholding and polite and all that, but at least one of the adults exhibits active peado behaviour, molesting girl after girl, often in plain view of others, including the kids’ parents and no one says Boo, or if they do, it’s barely a reprimand, more like…Oh, you. It’s just him being himself, etc. And this goes on and on and ON.
The bulk of the story takes place in the past and that’s most of the past.
Adults bicker, fight, and misbehave and kids cower in terror of them. On repeat. Yey, what fun, Wynne, what fun.
And while Wynne can indeed write, here she very deliberately chooses a very tedious, poshly pretentious tone of the upstairs portion of the upstairs/downstairs dynamic that makes the novel read like something decades and decades older than it is.
The overall effect is obnoxious (stupid?), like teens who dye their hair grey.
Also, because of all the childrens’ perspectives, the novel reads oddly young at the same time.
And slow, so very slow. Same thing repeat over and over, after we long established the adults are perverts, and the kids are playing out their own dramas that read like BBC historical tv series at their most drawn-out and maudlin.
This entire novel is a stuck up fifth digit holding up a starched crisp serviette. Affected pretension personified. With not enough of a story to excuse itself. Infuriating. Slow. Frustrating. Waste of time. Pass. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of
The Ruins. No star reviews were made for books like
The Ruins as well as anything by Alex Michaelides.
I'm always baffled when authors write stories revolving around the most heinous of characters: pedophiles and sexual predators.
You just know it's not going to turn out well for anyone.
The Ruins was not a good book; not in tone or content, not in character or style.
And I'm using very kind language to describe how unpleasant and a
HUGE waste of time it was reading this.
If you have nothing to do and want to read 300 pages about privileged, self entitled, boozy, male predators leering and making disgusting comments over prepubescent girls, then read
Ruins. If you want to read about horrible adults behaving badly (and I do mean really
badly), getting drunk, getting wasted, mothers ignoring their daughters' fears and concerns, then read
Ruins. If you want to read 300 pages of sleazy exposition that is just basically filler (the action doesn't reveal itself until the last 10 pages), then read
Ruins. What are the odds that the main character's father's friends are all sexual predators?
How this got published is beyond me. There was nothing redeeming about the story, the characters, nothing.
NADA.Well, if Alex Michaelides still manages to astonish readers, then nothing is impossible.
I wish we could fine every editor/PR team for calling a book Gothic, because I'm convinced no one really knows what the word means.
The Ruins isn't Gothic, feminist or empowering; it was just a sad, bitter, unnecessary tale filled with deeply abhorrent people.
Rating: really liked it
I wasn’t going to write a review for this book but it seems that others hold the things against it that I found absolutely compelling. When an author is able to command my emotions as thoroughly as this one does, I know I have a masterpiece on my hands.
Yes, the adults in this book are absolutely horrifying, monstrous pieces of child abusing shit. But I was absolutely drawn in to the horror they presented, wanting to know how these children would be saved, and I cheered at the end.
Absolutely believable and redeeming, in my humble opinion.
Rating: really liked it
This engrossing, coming-of-age-story is set in the Ashby family Chateau located on the French Riviera over the course of the summer of 1985. The Ashby family epitomize the upper-class arrogance of travelling Brits abroad. Toby Ashby refers to the villagers as “peasants’, and explains, “The British abroad bring a great deal to their economy. They need us. They certainly need me.”
This book is a psychological suspense in the gothic vein filled with gin-soaked, pompous, entitled (and titled), spoiled adults who ignore and abuse the children; failing to protect them or show appropriate affection.
Ruby Ashby is the only child of barrister Toby, and multiple-committee’d, fragile, changeable mother, Rhoda. She is on the cusp of adolescence; experiencing her first crush and changing body. Her father is mostly absent, and her mother worries mostly about her appearance and manners; constantly commenting on what Ruby eats and how her clothes are getting tight. At first, Ruby comes across as jealous, judgmental, and condescending as she is informed that two girls will be spending their summer at the Chateau. However, it is only a matter of time before you realize that Ruby has never experienced closeness with anyone, and is unaware of how to interact with her peers. She is lonely and alone. Through Ruby’s eyes, we experience the inexplicable debauchery and lecherous actions of the adults as they drink, fight, and paw at Ruby and one of the girls.
The backdrop to Ruby’s story is a car accident caused by two of their guests. Toby Ashby’s experience as a barrister brings him in close contact with the officials and “peasants” of the village. This plus the residents’ behavior, start a visible rift—visible to all but the British adults—that will eventually affect their stay at the chateau.
As the summer heats up, so does the story, and possibly your blood pressure. The behavior of the adults towards the girls affected me. Two of the male characters take every opportunity to accost the girls: pulling them onto their laps, feeling them up, calling them names, and speaking in inuendo. At a dinner in St. Tropez, Harley (the worst of the two) states, “Oh the burdens of daughters, and you can’t even deflower them yourselves! Don’t you think fathers should be the ones to do the honors”.
As I read this book, I found myself wondering, how will this end? Is anyone going to break? And if so, whom will it be? I was caught up in worrying about Ruby, the inexplicable adults, and the growing suspense as it built up to a storm.
I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this riveting book.
