Ruby Bell is stark raving mad. She walks the streets barefoot, pees on herself in public, howls nightlyin the forest as she battles demons and digs furiously into tree roots. Hers is a cautionary tale repeated often in a small religious African-American community located in Liberty, Texas. A tale of the wages of a life of sin and immorality. She used to be gorgeous, she used to be the object of envy and lust in Liberty but she has fallen from her lofty perch and shattered into a million tiny pieces. A public downfall that Liberty's inhabitants took a savage pleasure in. The only man who hates to see her this way is Ephram Jennings. He's the forty-five years old bachelor son of the late Reverend Jennings and the brother and only sibling of Celia Jennings, local do-gooder and revered prayer warrior. Ephram has his own wounds and scars from the blows life has dealt him physically and emotionally. He's broken on the inside, miserable and stuck with his domineering sister. Ephram wants to tend to Ruby, he wants to pick up her pieces and put her back together again but there are numerous obstacles he must confront. For Ephram and Ruby there will be no happy ending.
Ruby is set in the time period of racial turmoil in America and the community's recent past is one of lynchings and rape of colored people. Far away Martin Luther King is garnering support and earnestly trying to bring about change with his civil rights movement. Everyone of these characters know pain very intimately. One after the other we get deeply acquainted with them and their personal stories. Veils are pulled off characters revealing monsters and the atrocities they have perpetuated. Atrocities that are hard to take in but were committed by community leaders who indulge in public performances of spirituality that hide their rotten cores. The horrors that have cracked Ruby Bell open and incapacitated her beyond redemption are unspeakable and Cynthia Bond is unflinching in her narration. I love Ruby Bell and my heart broke into two for her. I love Ephram a lot and my heart broke for him too. That ending had to come. I don't think Cynthia Bond could have done any better. Ruby is a great read. It's a riveting and incredibly moving novel that I'll never forget. Cynthia Bond deserves many awards and a standing ovation. Kudos to her.
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RUBY's is my fourth book pick from my celebration of Black History Month! Follow through using the links below:
Introductory Post: February Is Black History Month on Incessant Scribble
Book Pick #1: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis | Book Review
Book Pick #2: The Mothers by Brit Bennett | Book Review
Book Pick #3: Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn | Book Review
Final/Summary Post: Black History Month 2017 on Incessant Scribble
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