SuitabookThe center of everything
Linda Urban
- Reading
- Consider reading together or checking in after chapters; the alternating timeline gradually reveals the roots of Ruby’s difficulties, so pauses can help a reader follow those connections.
- Themes
- Grief, guilt and doing one’s best: Ruby struggles after Gigi’s death and feels guilty about not listening to her grandmother’s last request. The story follows Ruby’s difficulty coping and her eventual recognition that people can only do their best.
- Friendship and community: Ruby’s relationships with Lucy and Nero are unsettled as Bunning Day brings the town together. These connections give the story a social dimension, but their treatment should not be read as a simple lesson about friendship.
- Worth knowing
- Gigi’s death precedes the story, and Ruby feels sadness and regret connected to her grandmother’s last day. The treatment is described as delicate, though grief remains central.