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Ruth Thomas (1) (1927–2011)

Teoksen The Runaways tekijä

Katso täsmennyssivulta muut tekijät, joiden nimi on Ruth Thomas.

7 teosta 130 jäsentä 4 arvostelua

Tietoja tekijästä

Ruth Thomas was born in Wellington, Somerset, England on January 4, 1927. She received degrees in English and education from Bristol University. She worked as a teacher until she accepted early retirement and started writing. Her first book, The Runaways, was published in 1987 and won the 1988 näytä lisää Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. Her other works include The New Boy, The Secret, Guilty, and Hideaway. She died on August 25, 2011 at the age of 84. (Bowker Author Biography) näytä vähemmän

Tekijän teokset

The Runaways (1987) 59 kappaletta
The Class That Went Wild (1988) 20 kappaletta
Hideaway (1995) 17 kappaletta
The Secret (1990) 17 kappaletta
Guilty! (1993) 11 kappaletta
The New Boy (1990) 4 kappaletta
The Paperbag Baby (2002) 2 kappaletta

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I heard about this in the Name that book group here on LibraryThing and got the idea that this is sort of a cult classic for kids (though I had never heard of it before--maybe because I am in the US and not the UK where this book is based). It is right up my alley in a genre I like to call random-or-peculiar-ya-oddities.

I guess I could see why kids would like it.

But, as an adult? No way.

Definitely not a book to read if you are looking for an escape. Honestly, it left me feeling kind of gross, similar to how I felt after rereading Harriet the Spy, which was a favorite from my childhood, after twenty years because it has a similar themes of:
- Children doing questionable things and getting away with them with no true consequences or lessons learned
- Could be construed as heroic or altruistic when it is the opposite
- Makes it seem okay to disrespect and lie (even to your own detriment) to everyone around you because you have a secret

This book is filled with super-angry, misguided characters, which I am okay with if it serves a purpose, but it felt gratuitous to me. It was about awful children (from Nikki and Roy to a bunch of kids in their class and neighborhood) and awful adults (from the mom to the neighbors to the teachers) who basically have no redeeming qualities and don't learn anything. There were some nice kids in the neighborhood and school, but they were overshadowed, devalued, and nullified. One teacher and the principal seemed to like Nikki, but the teacher is devalued and nullified like the nice kids and the principal is just mystifying to me because I have no idea where his tolerance and affection for Nikki comes from--he is either easily manipulated or sees, or wants to believe there is, something in her that is worth saving (maybe it's a combo of both). For that matter, I have no idea where Nikki's penchant for him comes from, except that he is easily manipulated. When she said "I love you" to him I about stopped reading because it was so nakedly self-serving and disingenuous and I couldn't believe someone who has been around children all his life wouldn't realize that. But, I digress...

Arguably, I guess Roy maybe learned how to focus on other people instead of himself by saving Nikki at the end, the mother maybe learned how much she loved her children after all and will hopefully stop abandoning them for boyfriends, and Nikki learns... well, she learns that being a total brat will get you all the things you want in the end, no matter who it hurts, inconveniences, or scares! (Oops?)

I guess it could be said that, like Harriet the Spy, it is being "brutally honest" about how people think about each other and how people treat each other, but, like Harriet the Spy, that is meaningless to me unless there is a lesson or some sort of personal growth involved; otherwise, it is basically just a permission slip to treat each other badly for no reason other than to be cruel, feel powerful, get what you want, and place your emotional baggage on other people because you have no coping skills. Which means that I don't know what the point of this book was, except to imply to children that the only way you get anywhere is by being obnoxious, a pathological liar, duplicitous, hypocritical, and emotionally manipulative and abusive.

The plot is basically about a series of events that is just so hilariously unrealistic that, even suspending reality, I couldn't reconcile it in my head. I guess it's realistic to have a single mother who is very unhappy with her life and so her children are also unhappy (one really angry and one really sad) and basically all of them make everyone around them unhappy, but yikes this was extreme in that regard. And, I guess I could see a desperately unhappy mother running away for an overnight trip with her boyfriend and leaving her kids alone with an ADDRESS ONLY??? (that they could barely even find in a random pile of papers!) for emergencies because they are too poor to own a landline (no cell phones at this time, not that they could have afforded one if there were--the poverty of this family is basically the deus ex machina for all of this to happen as it did) and only enough money to maybe eat at school and have dinner the next day. Is it realistic that a mom would actually tell her children not to tell anyone she is leaving them alone with basically no contact information, food, or security or she will get in trouble? I guess so, but, man, I have a hard time imagining any mom, no matter how unhappy, actually doing that. I am not even a mom, and have never wanted to be, and I still can't imagine any mother doing that, no matter how unhappy she is. Then the mom gets both purse-snatched AND hit by a car AND loses her memory as a result? I guess anything is possible, but probable? Eh. Her purse, discarded by the thief, is eventually found by children who don't tell their adults about it and instead play with the items inside for several days, so of course that delays the mother being found. The neighborhood spy doesn't even try to tell the police until very late in the story that she thinks the children have been on their own for many days because she assumes they won't believe her because she has cried wolf too often. The school never even gets suspicious that there is anything wrong in their family life or tries to investigate it for reasons I can't understand--the teachers, as much as they hate her, just seem to take Nikki at face value despite how obviously self-serving she is in her own motivations. For some reason the mom's work takes forever to contact anyone about her disappearance. I think eventually it is realized that she hasn't been to work in a while and they call the police, but it is not until near the very end. On and on.

It's intriguing but unrealistic that, regardless of the mom telling them "not to tell anyone she left them alone so she doesn't get into trouble," Nikki and Roy would never tell anyone, even when they are starving. They go so far in the lie as to REFUSE FREE FOOD on a bizarre principle of not betraying their mother and then "speak" for the mother when the person who brought the food did so to apologize and make amends for a previous argument--even if that lady's motivations were nosy, it is ludicrous to reject the food at that point and continue to pretend the mother is there when she is not. O_o

It's also ludicrous that Nikki and Roy wouldn't understand what constitutes an "emergency." O_o UH AN "EMERGENCY" WOULD BE WHEN YOUR MOTHER DOESN'T COME HOME FOR MANY DAYS AFTER SHE SAID SHE WOULD AND YOU ARE STARVING. SRSLY.

As I said, I don't have kids, but if I did I'm not sure I'd want them to read this--or I'd use it as an opportunity for critical thinking and to talk about what to do instead if such a situation arose. I don't think I'd read this again. Despite how I feel about this book, I gave it a higher rating than Harriet the Spy only because at least the children in this book are trying to protect someone else with their actions (Harriet is just mean and nosy for no reason). This doesn't exactly excuse their behavior, particularly since it is obvious they (particularly Nikki) are awful all the time, but it at least makes it a little more understandable under the circumstances.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
wordcauldron | 1 muu arvostelu | Nov 7, 2018 |
read a sample in a 'treasury' and am intrigued... sort of a 'problem' novel but apparently richer, more serious, more original
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
Cheryl_in_CC_NV | Jun 5, 2016 |
I discovered this book for 20p when I was around 10 years old in my local library. It is an all time favourite: a story about 3 children who are kidnapped and find themselves stranded and fending for themselves in a caravan miles away from home. Thomas effectively presents the great sense of adventure that comes with adolescence, as well as the darker side of solitude outside of the parental grip.
½
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
kezumi | Jul 6, 2008 |
"She knew she shouldn't have left the children alone. That was why she was hurrying home, running to catch the last train. She was so worried that she didn't hear the thief come up behind her; she didn't look carefully when she dashed across the road....

"Back at home, Nicky is finding it harder and harder to reassure her younger brother Roy. Soon the children are running out of money and the neighbours are getting suspicious. But whatever happens, Nicky is certain of one thing - she will never tell."

Nicky is sure that if the authorities find out that her mum left the children alone for the weekend, she and her brother will be put into foster homes. She is stretched to her limit feeding the two of them and fighting her timid little brother's battles. But when Nicky's plan to track down their mother goes badly wrong, it is Roy's unsuspected courage and heroism that saves her life.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
muumi | 1 muu arvostelu | Oct 16, 2007 |

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Tilastot

Teokset
7
Jäseniä
130
Suosituimmuussija
#155,342
Arvio (tähdet)
½ 3.3
Kirja-arvosteluja
4
ISBN:t
57
Kielet
5

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