Point of View

Real Live Boyfriends is recounted in the first-person and limited omniscient perspective of fifteen-year-old Ruby Oliver. The reader is very close to Ruby's emotions and thoughts, as these are the most important factors to understanding the novel as a whole. Hence the point-of-view is completely reliable. As Ruby is struggling to understand what is happening to her, she has no reason to manipulate the circumstances for her own personal gain. Due to Ruby's panic attacks, it's often difficult for her to identify her emotions in the moment, but she has no trouble reflecting on her mistakes in the text. She expresses her emotions freely in her diary, certainly more freely than she ever has out loud. This point of view is important to the novel since one of the most important themes in the novel is Ruby's emotional growth, particularly in her relationships. There could not...