LS 5623 Mod 2



sarahdessen.com



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Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen


 Module 2 Realism, Romance and Censorship


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dessen, Sarah. Lock and key: a novel. New York: Viking, 2008. ISBN 9780670010882

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

What is family? Readers will all have their own answers but Ruby’s story of survival and friendship examines this question in depth. Abandoned by an addicted mother, soon to be eighteen year old Ruby, tries to make it on her own. Soon she is reluctantly reunited with her older sister who “got out” several years ago and now lives in an half million dollar home – a complete contrast to the house with no running water or heat in which she was living. Ruby dreams of “being free and clear” but never believed she would find love and a family more important. Dessen takes readers along on Ruby’s journey from desolation and neglect to love and security. Deliberate dialogue and surroundings enhances distinctions between the old, yellow, country house where Ruby was abandoned and Cora’s newly constructed brick and cream home complete with balconies and huge walk in closets and the overcrowded, hostile Jackson High to the green lawns and cause supporting student body at Perkins Day private school. Ruby is changed throughout the novel by her environment and the characters she meets. So much so that when the story is complete, readers may find it hard to recall the Ruby they met at the start.



BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

“Minor child is apparently living without running water or heat in rental home abandoned by parent. Kitchen area was found to be filthy and overrun with vermin. Heat is non-functioning. Evidence of drug and alcohol use was discovered. Minro child appears to have been living alone for some time.” (Dessen 14)

“I felt a lump rise up in my throat, raw and throbbing, but even as the tears came I wasn’t sure who I was crying for. Cora, my mom, or maybe just me.” (Dessen 153)

“My view was blocked by my sister, who had moved to stand between us, one hand stretched out behind her, toward me. Seeing her, I rememebered a thousand nights in another house: the tow of us together, another part of a pattern, just one I’d thought had long ago been broken, never to be repeated.” (Dessen 225)



EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

Booklist

Ruby hasn’t had much success with family. Her father left; her protective older sister, Cora, left; and her boozing mother finally leaves, too. Ruby is alone until Cora learns of her situation and swoops in. Suddenly, Ruby finds herself living with Cora and her wealthy brother-in-law, attending private school, and wondering just where she fits in. As in previous books, Dessen takes on a central theme—here the meaning of family—and spins many plots and subplots around it. Most prominent yet least successful is the thread about Cora’s relationship with boy-next-door Nate, who rescues her when she needs it, but has difficulty accepting Ruby’s help, tentative at first, when she discovers he’s being physically abused. Nate seems too good to be true (as does Cora’s husband), while his father is a caricature. And one of the most important elements, the issue of the girls’ mother lying to them, gets lost. Despite the uneven narrative, Dessen’s writing can be beautiful, and her story is involving.


School Library Journal

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.