From the dust jacket:

“Ruby, where is your mother?”

With that question from the social worker, Ruby knows the game is up.

She’s been living alone in the old yellow house, waiting out the months until she turns eighteen and can finally be on her own financially and legally. It certainly wasn’t in her plan to be reunited with Cora, the sister who left ten years before, and brought to live with Cora and her wealthy entrepreneur husband.

Suddenly, life is transformed: a luxurious house, private school, and even the chance of a future Ruby couldn’t have dreamed of. So why is she wary, unable to be grateful, incapable of letting anyone close? Her old life has been left behind, but where does she fit into this new life? Only Nate, the genial, popular boy next door, seems to understand, perhaps because he’s hiding some secrets of his own.

Funny, perceptive, and touching, Lock and Key will delight the legions of Sarah Dessen fans and win many new ones.

I’ve always thought that Sarah Dessen writes books that are somewhat miscategorized as Teen novels. While they are usually about teenagers, her books have a depth and wisdom to them that appeal to any age group, and Lock and Key is no exception.

The main theme that underlies this book is family – who are they and what do they mean? Dessen introduces this in a less than subtle way – it becomes Ruby’s thesis project on her first day at her new school. Throughout the book, Ruby asks people for their definition of family. As she consolidates this information into a coherent answer, she begins to realize for herself what family means. Slowly, she begins to let others in and begins to trust that they will not let her down. She realizes that her old life with her mother was not all that it may have seemed – her mother had her own agenda that she did not share with Ruby. Ruby grows as a person because she has a family to love her – but more importantly, she has people around her that she learns to love.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was Ruby’s character growth. In a book such as this, that development usually comes in a spurt at the very end; the character realizes the error of his or her ways and decides to change. And then the book is over. This is not the case with Lock and Key. Ruby’s character changes become evident by the middle of the book. The rest of the book is watching her experience and deal with those changes. It is nice to see a character dealing with the consequences of learning to love and let others in, rather than hearing them say they are going to do it and then never being able to follow up.

The situation with Ruby’s mother was difficult. Though we never really saw her as a character, except through Ruby’s eyes, her reasoning and decisions didn’t really make sense to me. I didn’t feel like the excuses given for her behavior (for example, why she kept her agenda hidden from Ruby) really made much sense. They seemed a bit extreme for the situation, but then again, she was obviously an alcoholic and may have had some mental issues to go along with that. It was simply never made clear.

Admittedly, Ruby is a difficult character to sympathize with. Her character experienced horrors beyond most of what the rest of us have seen – therefore, her decisions aren’t always easy to understand. She can be frustrating at times, but at the same time, Dessen makes it clear that she could not be any other way. All of the characters in this novel are well written and easy to picture. While I was reading, it was almost as if I had a movie running through my head simultaneously. I couldn’t help but cast Ruby as Amy Smart, who played the character Ruby in the show Felicity. I think it was the name that got me, mostly.

Lock and Key is a great addition to the Dessen collection. While I have only read a few of her other books, this one makes me want to devour the rest of them!

Other Books I've Read by this Author: