She applied the Page 69 Test to her latest novel, Life, Loss, and Puffins, and reported the following:
Page 69 text (very brief text in brackets is from the page before and after):Visit Catherine Ryan Hyde's website.[“Ru,” she said. “Just the person I was looking for. I’m so, so sorry to hear about your mother.”]I’ve done quite a few of these Page 69 Tests now, and I have very mixed feelings about this one.
I stopped cold and just stood there, refusing to look at her.
“Who did you hear that from?”
“I just spoke with your aunt on the phone.”
Another freezing slide of cold down my gullet as if I’d swallowed an ice cube whole. Aunt Bitsy had that effect on people.
“She called you?”
“Yes, she needed your address at the Gulbranson’s, so she can come pick you up. I asked why she didn’t get it from you but she said you’re not picking up calls. Which I guess is understandable at a time like this. You didn’t have to come to classes today, you know.”
“Did you give her the address?”
“Not yet. I have to call her back. First I had to come talk to you and make sure you really do have an aunt named Bitsy Milford. I’m not in the habit of telling people where my students can be found unless I know for a fact who the person is who’s asking.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling that the ice cube had reached my slightly upset stomach.
“You don’t have to call her back. I’ll call her and make an arrangement for her to pick me up.”
“We’ll miss you,” she said, and I saw genuine regret on her face. Which felt odd. Other than Ms. Stepanian, I didn’t know anyone [at the university had gotten particularly attached to me. “And again, my sincere condolences about your mother.”]
On the whole I’ll say no, I don’t think it represents the book especially well. The book is quirky, and this scene… not so much. Without context it feels a bit ordinary to me, and I honestly do not think that’s a word many people would use to describe this novel.
Oddly, whether or not this page comes through—that is, in a way that results in the book being taken home and read—hinges on whether or not the person has read the promotional text. I tend to, but some people make a point of knowing nothing going in. If you haven’t read the brief summary of the book, it seems a bit ordinary when Ru says, “You don’t have to call her back. I’ll call her and make an arrangement for her to pick me up.” Just “housekeeping.” If you have read it, then you know she has no intention of going to live with her aunt, and that, in fact, she’s about to take off with her friend Gabriel and have adventures for as long as it takes them to get caught. In fact, if I could have gone a few more sentences, in the last sentence of the scene she calls Gabriel and says “We have to go now. Not at the end of the month. We have to go today.” That makes it all a bit more weighty and interesting. But alas, it’s on page 70.
The main way in which this particular page 69 fails the test is by not including Gabriel. Ru is my protagonist, my viewpoint character, and quirky and indispensable in her own right. But Gabriel. Wonderful Gabriel. Gabriel is the heart and soul of this novel. And if he’s not on the page, then the page does not represent the book well.
Q&A with Catherine Ryan Hyde.
The Page 69 Test: Brave Girl, Quiet Girl.
The Page 69 Test: My Name is Anton.
The Page 69 Test: Seven Perfect Things.
The Page 69 Test: Boy Underground.
The Page 69 Test: Dreaming of Flight.
The Page 69 Test: So Long, Chester Wheeler.
The Page 69 Test: A Different Kind of Gone.
--Marshal Zeringue
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