Tolog Review: Lock and Key

Lock and Key
by Sarah Dessen
reviewed by Sarah Vail, class of 2015

This is a very entertaining story between a mother and daughter both named Ruby. When Ruby's single mom (Ruby) leaves for a few months before Ruby's 18th birthday. Ruby lives alone in her and her mother's poorly conditioned house without running water, hoping to stay under the radar until she's a legal adult. Instead, a social worker tells her she has to live with Cora, her older sister she hasn't seen for 10 years, now a lawyer married to a rich Internet entrepreneur. Despite her new surroundings, Ruby always wears the key to her old house on a chain around her neck as a reminder of her difficult yet more familiar old life. She slowly starts to lower her deep emotional defenses, reconnecting with her sister, making friends with another girl who doesn't fit in at school, and crushing on Nate, the cute, popular boy next door who seems to have a perfect life. It's only when she gets to know Nate that she realizes he might have secrets of his own to unlock. Overall, this book belongs in its own category of literature, it is unlike any other book I have ever read before. It was a very good book in the end though.I have actually never read a book similar to this one, this book to me is actually one of a kind. Teens will respond to Ruby's first-person voice as she struggles with all the changes in her life, even positive ones. Handed $200 by surprise and then sent to the mall, Ruby is completely anxious with what we as teenagers would seem to be as the greatest time. The child abuse isn't sensationalized; Ruby's mother, Ruby, focuses on the psychological damage, not the physical violence. This may seem crazy at first, but because of this, Ruby is able to accomplish so much in her life that she never thought would be possible. If you are entertained by the certain aspects of the book said above, you will then love this book!