Written by: Sarah Dessen
APA citation: Dessen, S. (2008). Lock and key. New York: Viking
Cover image: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1295102.Lock_and_Key
My summary of the plot: Ruby is seven months away from turning 18, when she is discovered living alone. Social services makes her go to live with her sister, Cora, who she hasn’t seen in 10 years. Cora lives in an upper middle class neighborhood and insists that Ruby go to a private school. Cora’s husband owns a social media site.
Keywords: Family, poverty, social media
My assessment: This is an important book because it shows a character struggling with poverty and family issues. It is also important because it includes a character that is being physically abused by his father. Ruby is unable to help the character and feels helpless. Ultimately, Ruby realizes that she has people that care about her.
“What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless”(p. 399).
Audio review: This audio book is well done. The narrator’s voice is believable as a teen.
Audio citation: Dessen, S. (2008). Lock and key. [Audio Recording]. New York: Penguin Audio
Review from a library journal: Gr 7 Up Ruby, 17, is taken in by her older sister and brother-in-law when her mother abandons her. Ruby and her sister haven’t spoken since Cora left for college a decade earlier. She moves from a semi-heated, semi-lighted farmhouse to a McMansion in a gated community. The theme of abandonment permeates the narrative-Ruby’s mother’s disappearance, Cora’s perceived abandonment, and all of the small abandonments around every corner throughout Ruby’s life. The plot hinges luxuriously on character arc. Ruby’s drama of pathological self-reliance to eventual trust plays out through thoughtful, though occasionally heavy-handed, inner monologue and metaphor. As always, Dessen’s characters live and breathe. Ruby’s sweet hipster brother-in-law and Nate, the freakishly affable hottie next door, are especially vivid, and Cora’s change from bitter control freak to sympathetic co-protagonist is subtle and seamless. Though Ruby and Nate don’t have quite the cinematic chemistry of many of Dessen’s couples, their cautious friendship into romance seems that much more realistic. The author’s feel for setting is as uncanny as ever, and Ruby’s descriptions of the homogenous nouveau riche Anytown are sharp, clever, and honest. The dialogue, especially between Ruby and Cora, is crisp, layered, and natural. The slow unfolding adds to an anticipatory mood. What’s more, secrets and situations revealed in the second half of the novel are resolved more believably by already deeply developed characters. Recommend this one to patient, sophisticated readers.
Citation for book review: Lewis, J. (2008). Lock and Key. School Library Journal, 54(5), 121.
Recommendations for library or classroom use: I would recommend this book to teen girls for individual reading.
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