The Boyfriend List (2005)

15-year-old Ruby Oliver understandably starts having panic attacks when her first real boyfriend dumps her for her best friend and her other three best friends stop talking to her (in spectacular, public, and dramatic fashion, of course), all within a relatively short period of time. Her parents start taking her to a therapist, Dr. Z., who tells Ruby to make a "boyfriend list", a list of every guy who Ruby has ever had any sort (real, imagined, less-than-24-hour, or slightly longer) of relationship with at all. Told from Ruby's point of view, readers hear the blow-by-blow account of each and every boy, from the one she used to play in the splashy pool with when she was four (Adam, the mermaid) to the one who dumped her out of the blue and mere days later was discovered at a party, stark naked with her former best friend (Jackson, the actual boyfriend...not that Ruby was at the party, mind you, but an oh-so-helpful acqaintence gave her a detailed description of the event after). An entertaining look at one girl's journey to self-discovery that leaves readers wanting more--which is good, since it's the start to a series! ( )

Re-read.

I adored this book. I really enjoy Lockhart's breezy writing style, and I completely identified with Ruby, the protagonist. The characters are believable, the plotting leisurely but engrossing, and the writing matches Ruby's style exactly. ( )

5/6/2009:

Stayed up late reading this book because I'm a masochist... But it was really cute. I think I liked it even more this time around! And now the sequel is out, so I get to see what happens next. If I had to pick one of the guys (below) for her, I'd go with Noel or Angelo. My next choice would be Finn, then Shiv... But we'll see. I completely forgot that the book Ruby and her friends kept and wrote their ideas about boys was called [b:The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them|516182|The Boy Book A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them (Ruby Oliver, Book 2)|E. Lockhart|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175457733s/516182.jpg|504124], which is the name of the sequel... hence the link....


5/5/2009:

I loved this book, back in the day, and I think I blogged about it back then. I'll see if I can find what I wrote... Ahh... Here we go:

From my blog on 7/3/2006:

You know what, I’m going to let Ruby tell you what’s up with this book. Here are the introductory paragraphs:

Here it is, the Boyfriend List. In chronological order.

1. Adam (but he doesn’t count.)
2. Finn (but people just thought so.)
3. Hutch (but I’d rather not think about it.)
4. Gideon (but it was just from afar.)
5. Ben (but he didn’t know.)
6. Tommy (but it was impossible.)
7. Chase (but it was all in his mind.)
8. Sky (but he had someone else.)
9. Michael (but I so didn’t want to.)
10. Angelo (but it was just one date.)
11. Shiv (but it was just one kiss.)
12. Billy (but he didn’t call.)
13. Jackson (yes, okay, he was my boyfriend. Don’t ask me any more about it.)
14. Noel (but it was just a rumor.)
15. Cabbie (but I’m undecided.)

Before anyone reading this thinks to call me a slut–or even imagines I’m incredibly popular–let me point out that this list includes absolutely every single boy I have ever had the slightest any-kind-of-anything with.

Boys I have never kissed are on this list.

Boys I never even talked to are on this list.
Doctor Z told me not to leave anyone off. Not even if I think he’s important.

In fact, especially if I think he’s unimportant.

Doctor Z is my shrink, and she says that for the purposes of this list, the boyfriends don’t have to be official. Official, unofficial–she says it doesn’t matter, so long as I remember the boy and something about what happened.So, how this book is set up is that there are 15 chapters–one for each of the guys. She tells what happened with that guy, and woven into these stories are the story of what's going on with her to cause her to need to be at the shrink's office in the first place--why she's having panic attacks at all.

The book didn’t really end like I would have written it (with a super-mushy ending). Ruby didn’t even end up with ANY of the 15 guys!!! BUT there is a sequel, so perhaps it will all come together. It’s a good book though--very interesting--makes me want to make a list too... except that it would be TRÈS long (as I am much older than Ruby). It would start with Byron... and end with Jason, my husband..... with a whole bunch of guys in the middle... :) ( )

gah, this book stressed me OUT. however, it did make me reevaluate some past relationships. yay?
oH WAIT! extra star for footnotes!! ( )

When I started reading this, I added it on Goodreads and sort of scrolled through reviews, not reading them but eyeing the ratings. For most books, my friends reach a sort of general consensus; with The Boyfriend List, the ratings varied from one star to five. Thankfully, I fell on the higher end of the spectrum, a relief since I just bought the complete series in a fit of no will power.

The variety in opinions on this book makes perfect sense, though. How you feel about The Boyfriend List will likely have a direct correlation to how you feel about the MC, Ruby Oliver. Ruby has a very distinct way of expressing herself and somewhat controversial opinions. If she annoys you, the book will be utter hell. However, if you think she's hilarious and makes good points and maybe reminds you of your high school self, you'll think she and this book are the best ever.

Though I did not personally identify with Ruby, I did think that she was funny most of the time, with occasional forays into whininess or melodrama, though these fit her personality and her situation perfectly. The Boyfriend List revolves around a series of panic attacks Ruby had, leading her parents to send her to a therapist. Her therapist asked her to draw up a list of boys for them to discuss. Thus the list was born, ultimately with some Harriet the Spy kind of consequences.

What Lockhart got just right is the teenage drama. Ruby feels so much like a teenage girl, with her own misconceptions, weird slang and inability to deal with being a social outcast. Having a boyfriend matters so much. Her own world matters so much, and she has a lot of trouble seeing past her own issues. Her parents fight all the time, but she can't really see that until therapy, and the same goes for her friends' issues too. Ruby has blinders on, and it's wonderful to watch her gain new perspective on the world in her conversations with her shrink.

The romantic drama herein depicted may seem a bit like the absurdity of Gossip Girl or Glee, where the same twelve characters keep swapping boyfriends in an endless spiral of jealousy, betrayal and infidelity. However, Tate, Ruby's school, is this tiny prep school full of rich kids (except for Ruby, who's on scholarship); there just aren't that many fish in the dating pool. I went to a very small college, and one guy dated three girls out of the twelve on my freshman hall, so that kind of stuff does happen, though there was no drama with our instance. They're stuck in a small school with lots of hormones and not many people with whom to exercise them.

The other awesome thing about Ruby Oliver is that it's not romanticizing teens or trying to depict them as innocent or sex as awful. Ruby discusses sex openly and with overt fascination. She and her friends discuss boys and all of their exploits and that's just so much how life goes down; we all share the details with our best friends.

Now, this really does not affect my opinion of the novel or mean anything to those who have not read this book, but I still need to get this off my chest: Kim and Jackson are major d-bags. Jackson especially. He's a serial boyfriend, dumping one girl and immediately lining up the next (or already having her waiting). Kim may be a big proponent of "The Rules," and, yes, Ruby broke them too, but Kim stepped out of line first. She can talk about fate or how it only just happened all she wanted, but she is lying. Ruby needs to get those two awful people out of her heart entirely and out of her life as much as is possible at Tate.

The Boyfriend List is a humorous, sassy contemporary, sure to delight those who delight in misadventure, pop culture references, and romantic drama. ( )