The tension between humor and trauma
with Claire Jiménez author of 'What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez'
#NuevasPaginas is a space that aims to amplify and spotlight Hispanic/Latine/x authors with newly published books. The goal is to connect readers to their next favorite Hispanic/Latine/x authored book through a mini casual get-to-know-the-book-and-author interview. So please spread the news so we can reach more readers and continue the love/support of Latine literature!
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Here’s the deal, I came up with a set of casual/random/fun questions to ask each Hispanic/Latinx/e author, I interview. If you are new here don’t forget to check out all the other amazing interviews! We also have a great line-up of guest authors coming up so make sure you don’t miss an issue by subscribing now!
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What is Lupita reading this week?
📕 Physical book - I am literally five pages from finishing Whipsmart by Melissa Febos and I can’t scream enough about this book and really anything Melissa Febos writes - her work is #goals.
I’m not sure what else to read next - I have a few things in mind but I think I am going to gravitate towards reading
newest novel (it’s out today!!! go get a copy) ‘The Late Americans’ because obviously, I’m a Brandon Taylor stan, and the tweet below sums up everything I want to read about right now:
Without further ado, our special guest author for today’s Nuevas Pagina issue is……Claire Jiménez author of What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez!
Tell me about your book without telling me about your book - share any literary inspirations behind your book! If there are none, the gap you wanted to fill in the literary canon with your book
I used to work in the Staten Island Mall at Victoria’s Secret and watched way too many episodes of Bad Girls Club in my twenties. I have so many literary influences. But, to start, I love the work of James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bamabara, Pedro Pietri, Kwame Dawes, and Grace Paley. I grew up reading RL Stine and those ninety-nine-cent joke books from the Scholastic book fair. One of my favorite books in second grade was Cream of Creature from the School Cafeteria. I loved it when the kids figured out how to beat the monster.
What are two central themes in your book that you connect with the most and why?
Throughout the novel, I am constantly thinking about storytelling/representation and the tension between humor and trauma. Particularly I’m interested in the violence of displacement and how that affects those Puerto Ricans living in the diaspora.
If a book was home, where would your home be?
It would have to be a book that made me feel seen and loved, that made me feel powerful. So I’ll pick Audre Lorde’s The Black Unicorn. There are also a few poems with references to Staten Island in there because Lorde used to live on the island.
If your book was a famous musician who would it be?
I tried so hard but I can’t pick one. It would have to be a mix between Cardi B, Marc Anthony, La Lupe, and La India.
What comfort food could a reader pair with your book?
Platanos maduros
In what ways has access (or little to no access) to Hispanic/Latinx/e literature defined you as a writer?
As a teenager, I was always looking for work by Latinx writers, even when those books were very difficult to find. But I was lucky enough to be introduced to the work of the Nuyorican poets at an afterschool poetry program in high school. Now, I am working with a group of scholars and writers on creating a digital archive documenting the lives and work of Puerto Rican writers. This project has helped me understand where my work fits in the long tradition of Puerto Rican literature.
Where can readers keep up with your work?
I’m on Twitter, but I’m planning to get off social media, hopefully soon. Before I make my exit though, I’m working on redoing my website. For now, my Twitter handle is @clairedjimenez
Thank you to Claire Jiménez for taking the time to chat with me about her book! Please please make sure you purchase a copy (or request your local library carry a copy) #SupportLatinxLit!
Claire Jiménez is a Puerto Rican writer who grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island. She is the author of the short story collection Staten Island Stories, which received the 2019 Hornblower Award for a first book from the New York Society Library and was named a finalist for the International Latino Book Awards, a New York Public Library Favorite Book about New York, and Best Latino Book of 2019 by NBC News. She received her MFA from Vanderbilt University and her PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2020, she cofounded the Puerto Rican Literature Project, a digital archive. Currently she is an Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina. Her fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in Remezcla, AfroHispanic Review, PANK, The Rumpus, and Eater, among other publications. What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is her debut novel.
Synopsis for ‘What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez’ from the Bookshop website:
The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen-year-old middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace, it left the family scarred and scrambling. One night, twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister, Nina: This woman's hair is dyed red, and she calls herself Ruby, but the beauty mark under her left eye is instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time?
The years since Ruthy's disappearance haven't been easy on the Ramirez family. It's 2008, and their mother, Dolores, still struggles with the loss, Jessica juggles a newborn baby with her hospital job, and Nina, after four successful years at college, has returned home to medical school rejections and is forced to work in the mall folding tiny bedazzled thongs at the lingerie store.
After seeing maybe-Ruthy on their screen, Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to where the show is filmed in search of their long-lost sister. When Dolores catches wind of their scheme, she insists on joining, along with her pot-stirring holy roller best friend, Irene. What follows is a family road trip and reckoning that will force the Ramirez women to finally face the past and look toward a future--with or without Ruthy in it.
What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a vivid family portrait, in all its shattered reality, exploring the familial bonds between women and cycles of generational violence, colonialism, race, and silence, replete with snark, resentment, tenderness, and, of course, love.
This one has been on my TBR forever! So interested in a copy of this book. 💖
This book was excellent! Loved the exploration of aftermath and processing trauma years later and how it still affects people.