What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez

By: Claire Jimenez

Narrated by: Claire Jimenez

A powerful novel that's "hilarious, heartbreaking, and ass-kicking" (Jamie Ford) about a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their long‑missing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and sets out to bring her home.

Winner of the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction · Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize · March Indie Next Pick · Belletrist, Phenomenal, Page & Pairing, and Readers Digest book club pick

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.

A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Elle • USA Today • Today.com • Ms. Magazine • Good Housekeeping • Bustle • The Week • Goodreads • Bookriot • Pop Culturely • SheReads • Litreactor • Electric Lit • The Mary Sue • People Español • Zibby Mag • Debutiful • Her Campus

Best Books of March by Shondaland • Ms. Magazine • Popsugar • Bookriot • Debutiful • Powell’s Book Blog • TIME 100 must-read book of 2023 • Booklist Top 10 debut of 2023

Critic reviews

"Narrating her own work, Jiménez smoothly delivers the raw and honest dialogue. She embodies each of the indomitable Ramirez women, effectively conveying their sorrow at losing Ruthy and the pain that subsequent trauma brings to their lives. Short chapters revealing Ruthy’s 13-year-old self, interspersed between her family’s perspectives in the present, will keep listeners hooked . . . Jiménez’s prose and narration shine in this engaging and powerful debut novel exploring identity, trauma, and enduring familial bonds."—Library Journal

"A rollicking, heartfelt tale of family, grief, and intergenerational healing."—Elle

“A funny and heartbreaking examination of sisterhood, generational trauma and the bonds that hold families together.”—Today.com

“There’s a delightfully subversive and maverick quality to the way first-time novelist Jiménez gives her characters the freedom to tell the truth as they see it … Jiménez brings bravery to the page, and it’s her strong storytelling and humor that make this an outstanding debut.”—Kirkus (starred review)

“A fantastic debut that is full of attitude, authenticity, and authority. This book is hilarious, heart-breaking, and ass-kicking at the same time."—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

"At turns desperate and witty, fresh and familiar, Jiménez’s debut taps into universal themes of familial relationships and shines a light on the lasting intergenerational effects of colonialism, violence, racism and tradition."
—Ms. Magazine

"Brilliant ... This book is a knockout."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Sympathetic and fiery Latina characters shine in this warm and moving novel portraying a down-to-earth family with deep loyalty and longing for closure.”—Booklist (starred review)

"Claire Jiménez's What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is at once hilarious and heartbreaking. An original novel about mothers, daughters, and sisters, about a family broken by a profound loss. Jiménez is both storyteller and cultural critic, giving us an unflinching rejection of respectability politics, characters who love and fight, who are flawed and vulnerable and real. This book will stay with me a long time.”—Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls

“Part mystery, part thriller, and filled with only the tender, snarky bite family can induce, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez promises to be a debut you won't want to miss.”—Litreactor

Just terrific!

This is an incredibly creative, brilliantly written novel. It’s an absolute delight, which one wouldn’t expect given the basis of the story. The author beautifully narrates each of her wonderful and lovable characters.
A real jewel of a listen.

A tender yet fun story about family and hope

A wonderfully written novel whose characters are relatable and endearing. Fast-paced and often comical, this story had me laughing and cursing out loud as well as crying. The author lyrically writes scenes that have you enmeshed in the culture and characters. One of the best books of the year.

Beautiful story about strong women

I loved this book! The story line was quick, witty, and sparkling. I appreciated how each character got to share their insights. I learned a thing or two from Miss D for sure! Great authentic narrating by the author,too. This is a true New York novel!

Vacation read

The story was interesting at times but the story about the girls fight club was sad and not entertaining. I was most interested and Nina and Jessica’s relationship and even the backstory of Jessica’s abuse but that was not as developed. I don’t regret reading but would not recommend unless someone was interested in bad girl reality shows

The Voice Sells This Book!

5 stars for What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez! Most of those stars are for the voice in this book which was so vibrant I literally felt like the characters were talking to me. The author's attention to the most mundane, everyday life event really makes the reader feel like you are there - on the bus trying to advocate for a little old lady who got off on the wrong stop or trying to do a blood draw on a patient in the nursing home who has dementia and is telling you that you were basically a "fast" girl in middle school or just trying to make it through your shift at the overpriced lingerie store where you struggle to fold the fancy thongs! It's hard to believe this a plot driven novel as the character development is so delightfully well done you don't even actually need the plot. Until the end. And, I think that is where other reviewers may have detracted a star because they did not get the resolution they had imagined. I am definitely a reader who appreciates resolution and I probably detract more stars for an unsatisfying ending than for any other reason. But this book does have resolution and it's tied up in the characters that you very quickly fall in love with. I loved the sisters and found their fighting and bickering so much more believable than the sisters in Hello Beautiful which to me - fell a bit short. Comments like, "Bi**ch looks like Elmo" had me laughing out loud and wanting to hang with these girls and their mom who had survived the ultimate loss - that of one of her daughters as a teen and was still kicking a** and taking names. There were strong themes of sibling rivalry and the sisterhood as well as the perfectly played Staten Island and Puerto Rican culture and growing up as a minority female and what is expected of you. In spite of the heavy event that happens in chapter one (the middle sister just disappears after school one afternoon) I found this book so funny and touching and actually slowed the speed of my audiobook down because I did not want it to end! I can't say enough good things about this book. Yes, there is a very heavy thing that happens, but the story is really about the family that survives and how they survive together. Loved it!