Robin and Ruby

February 1, 2010
Soehnlein's third novel reintroduces Robin MacKenzie, the gay teen protagonist from The World of Normal Boys
. Robin is now 20, in the mid-1980s, and on the night that his older, scholarly lover breaks up with him, he shares an intense sexual experience with George, his black, longtime best friend. When a phone message from his sister, Ruby, on summer break after her first year at college, disturbs him, and he learns that she's disappeared from a party, Robin takes off with George to look for her. Ruby, meanwhile, has been having a hard time with her boyfriend, Calvin, and her housemates at the Jersey shore who are either drunk or high and teasing her about her virginity. Reconnecting with a troubled boy from her past, Ruby leaves to search for him and sets out on her own adventure of discovery. While the bother and sister encounter danger, passion, and sex, Ruby's story is the more engaging, capturing intimately the mood of the period.

March 15, 2010
Robin, the protagonist of Soehnleins well-received The World of Normal Boys (2000) is now 20 and has just broken up with his lover, Peter, when his younger sister, Ruby, goes missing. Robin immediately sets off for the Jersey shore in search of her, accompanied by his longtime best friend, George. The irony is that Robin is in search of himself, too, and of the truth about his deepening romantic feelings for George, who is African American and is on his own journey toward political activism. Meanwhile, Ruby has re-connected with a troubled, drug-abusing boy from her past. So much drama, all of it overlaidit being the early 1980swith the desperate fear of AIDS. The issue-laden story alternates between Robin and Ruby, whose actions sometimes seem stage-managed by the author in an attempt to heighten the drama (of course, Robin does aspire to be an actor). Nevertheless, readers will appreciate the nicely realized sense of time and place andperhaps despite themselveswill also develop a sneaking fondness for the characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)