Ruby Granger #45 "Um" -- Ruby Granger, 2023

[emmer_moans]

She's not consistent or tidy enough for booktuber/lifestyle content on Instagram etc. Those that appear in my feed have meticulously collated bookshelves, neat stationary, nice writing, do lovely flatlays of their hauls and generally edit things nicely. And they almost always post to a specific schedule to ride the wave of the algorithm.

Ruby wouldn't last with all that. She got lucky with Youtube because it had that peak where you could make bank even if your editing wasn't great, as long as you pulled in that initial fanbase, and she kept them for a while because she had the promise of A Levels a Bsc and then a Masters as content. But I think she's utterly blown her time at Oxford. For someone who supposedly loves nature and trees etc she could have done some touristy vlogs of Oxford, toured more colleges, gone to the nice parks and museums etc but mostly all we got was the lift, her plain bedroom, and her favourite library spots where she pretends to study. If she was only starting out as an influencer now she'd not make 1000 subscribers. She got lucky.

 

[Whisper2Me]

Boring new vlog. With all her pathetic attempts at being poetic instead of just speaking her mind (I know, she hasn't got one) she continually finds a way to make even a trip to Paris dull. She went by herself, which I could say kudos to her for, except that it would have been so much more fun to have a friend to go with and she couldn't even conjure up Blakeney for that! Sponsored, of course, and immediately hits all the English bookstores instead of embracing another language, another culture. She is drooling over her little room. That is a very basic room, hardly the presidential suite, and the view is very typical. You can't even see the Eiffel Tower from it, so not much of an upgrade. Anything bigger than her childish bedroom is considered grand to her. And not a word about Oxford, her Masters, or anything about her future. Seriously messed up woman.

 

[Hannahebee]

finally she blesses us

Why am I not surprised of course it is sponsored.

 

[gossip_guy]

It’s been a while, I seriously wonder how Ruby’s writing is going? She still working on that novel ‘Palisades Lost’? Does she still have a literary agent? Is she working on something new for her ‘debut novel’? Love to take a peak on how that’s going.

I’m just interested cause I’m a writer myself im interested in knowing maybe a bit too much

She still has the same literary agent for now, but I can't imagine they'll keep Ruby on the books indefinitely considering it's gaining them nothing but wasted/unpaid time, shoddy, plagiarised first drafts and endless rejections.

Palisades Lost seems to be the book that her agent went out on submission with and that appears to be the 5,973rd "debut novel" she's referred to.

Considering Ruby went on submission a few months ago and between that and uni she's become increasingly miserable, I doubt it's going well and it's no doubt been nothing but rejections again. It remains to be seen if she threw a tantrum, pulled this one from submission and scrapped it after rejections, too. If she had a publisher offer or a good grade from Oxford to share, she'd have been shouting about it into a vlog the first chance she got.

 

[gossip_guy]

Thanks to all who replied to my Gilmore Girls question. The nostalgia explanation makes sense, though it's depressing to realise that the 2000s are now classed as retro haha.

I 100% believed that Palisades Lost was a joke title created by someone on this thread. Then I did a Tattle search to see where the 'joke' originated and all I can say is WTF it's the actual title. If I had to guess, I'd say Palisades is referring to the setting. For example,

View attachment 2862396

This sounds like the sort of place Ruby would choose to set a novel.

From what little she's shown, it's (big shock) about a self-insert Ruby clone in rural England who lives next to some fields. In a classic display of Ruby stupidity, I think the title refers to medieval fences (the book seems to be set during unspecified "olden times").

Palisade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

She likely heard about literary allusion at uni and thought it was a free pass to lazily steal stuff, so from what little she's shared, it appears to rip off His Dark Materials, she's straight-up copied a Robert Burns poem and tossed on a nonsensical book title that references Milton.

 

[Sibyl Vane]

This outfit is giving me the impression of a precocious younger sister of the glamourous elder sister protagonist, in a period drama/murder mystery. The one noone thinks would hurt a fly because she's bookish and eccentric, but ends up being a serial axe-wielding murderer and tries to run away with the hot beau

Atonement

 

[Hannahebee]

I'd actually be glad for her if she does step away from Youtube, she needs therapy and to work on her future goals. Eve Bennet knew when it was time to 'call time' on vlogging, and I respect her for that and she's now invested in her career. Ruby needs to step away from being a social media persona and work on herself.

She definitely seems to be stepping away from YouTube at the moment as she hasn't uploaded a video for 2 weeks despite being back at home for the half term and she just seems quieter than usual. I mean I don't know what happened at Oxford during Hilary Term but IMO something has happened for her to stop uploading and I don't think it was just down to a lack of motivation.

 

[soph30]

Oh, how could we ever forget about the trauma that was her sprained ankle? The way both Ruby and Clarice carried on for WEEKS, you'd be forgiven for thinking the bone had been shattered in a tragic accident and Rooble's was at risk of never walking again.

Not to mention, we got my favourite incident of Claire scolding Marfa for the mortal sin of being alive in Ruby's presence from it.
---

Why do so many parents do this golden child/black sheep thing?! It really triggers me as I’m Marfa and my sister’s Ruby

Ruby wouldn’t be so smug and desperate for perfection if she wasn’t told she was amazing compared to Marfa all the time. That’s probably why she likes being a child all the time- it reminds her of when she was always told she was perfect

 

[abcbabe]

In her IG story where she’s recording herself donating to charity (so she can’t be accused of not doing it ) she has a tab open for an Oxford DPhil . I’m not sure what the deadlines are like for PhD but surely she would know by now if she’s going…? So what do we think? Has she already got an offer from Oxford? Is she taking a gap yaahr and applying for 2025/2026? I feel like if she had a PhD offer from somewhere else she wouldn’t be looking at the Oxford one.

View attachment 2935304

e-vision is the application portal so she is applying! If she is self funding, applications may still be open...

 

[gossip_guy]

Has she ever said in the last year that’s she actually been happy at Oxford? Seems strange it’s just feels like a tick box for her

She insisted early on that she was "JANUINELY" having the best time and "HONNASTLEE" loving it, all while looking hopelessly miserable every second there. Any time she adds the word "JANUINELY" or "HONNASTLEEE", it's a given that she's lying.

 

[Mars46]

Unrelated to the new video, I wouldn't be surprised if Ruby got a distinction, its not too hard at a masters level. If she were to do a DPhil it would mean that she already has a good relationship with her future supervisor, which is possible knowing how much she likes to suck up to her teachers. Applying to a DPhil would also explain the secrecy about her dissertation as she would want to keep her research subject for herself, its all about politics at that level.

 

[Redrose97]

Ruby seems very childish when with Blakney and it is like she is constantly seeking her approval. I think that she was very much like this when she was with Jade as well in previous videos, and she seems very fawning over them. She is a bit like an overexcited puppy or someone who is very unpopular at school is suddenly befriended by a popular student, and she is desperate to keep the friendship or the other person liking her. I think that you would normally expect the friendship to mellow out over the years when it had become more established and solid, but Ruby still has this overexcited and fawning energy around Blakney.

She might also be this overexcited as she doesn't speak to many people in her course and she spends a lot of time on her own, and she is just so excited to see Blakney. She is very much like a flower which is suddenly exposed to sunlight when she is with Blakney. She always seems much more childish and energetic around her. She might always be like this but it is evident in comparison to Blakney who seems much more laid back and mature than Ruby.

I think that Ruby might be a bit tiring to be friends with. I had to remind myself that she was 24 this year and she still comes off as so young for her age, due to her personality and her clothing, especially the chunky shoes. I think that her immaturity and her constant need to show off her intelligence would be annoying in person and I do think that getting freebies do help people such as Blakney stay friends with her or want to spend time with her. I think that most people would be inclined to spend a bit of time with Ruby to get a free entry into a film premier or a book launch etc

I do wonder how she would cope if her and Blakney had an argument or stopped being friends, considering that Blakney is her most favourite person. Or what would happen in Blakney had changed her interests etc, especially as Ruby likes friends who are just like her.

 

[hart301]

Telling off on my age here but with most group projects I got stuck with we either sat on Zoom or rented a timeslot for a study room on campus
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it’s 3 in the morning and my genuine reaction to this series of images of ruby in stratford upon avon was “what the fuck is going on”

 

[irunforfun]

Why’s she going to Exeter? 🫤 bit of a trek during a intensive masters degree

Maybe because she thinks, hopes and prays Blakeney can save her disaster-master for her? Spoonfeed her thoughts, critiques, and words in exchange for free food?

 

[StatusWoe]

I'm bored and want an update.

 

[emmer_moans]

I remember with a cringe the time I went to my English Literature dissertation supervisor to discuss my first draft, she straight-up told me it was rubbish and needed better links to research and such - mine was all sort of tenuous and wishy-washy. I got told to basically redo the whole draft.

I'd love to know what Ruby's discussion with hers went - do they know about the marigolds or has she added that in as a special last minute surprise?

I didn't do too well in mine in the end, my life was sort of falling apart due to anxiety at that time but I still came away with a second class mark, and I'm sure she'll pass, I just don't think she'll get high first class...unless...she's the ultimate troll and all these breadcrumbs in her vlogs are fake and she's actually top of her class

 

[Griftwood]

Nice to see the entire family is participating in the play-pretend

 

[crowleyskeeper1]

It is interesting to look at the stats of her channel and observe the fact that her channel is dying. Slowly, but surely. Less followers, less interaction, less likes. Especially since January. Her lack of interesting Oxford content really did her in, as well, I believe, that she is getting older and only attracts a young audience, who then finds out they can't identify her content since they are either too young or more mature than she is. Her immaturity will be her own doing in.

Idk I watched got into a lot of university vlogs years before I attended university but her university vlogs don't really show much about university and have a lot of continuity errors which can be offputting for someone who is watching her for study motivation. I think she's having trouble appealing to new watchers and maintaining her older audience that grew up with her which is essential to the longevity of the channel. I used the word watchers and not subscribers because even if her subscriber count goes up that doesn't guarantee new people actually watch her videos.

 

[Whisper2Me]

Honestly, it would be so demeaning for her to end up doing another undergraduate anywhere, if she gets her Masters at Oxford. She didn't take well to Exeter and she was the right age for undergraduate studies. Regardless, she was miserable. If she thinks that was bad, going back to undergraduate at her age will put her at even more of a disadvantage in making friends. Everyone, including professors, will wonder why she is back there after Oxford and heading backwards instead of forwards. She also won't have the comfort of her favourite person, Blakeney. It would be a disaster.

Going back home and twirling in the fields, doing absolutely nothing with her degree, would again, be complete a complete fail, even if it were for a year. Her life is so aimless and stagnant.

If she plans to continue in education, I wonder if she would try for another Masters, in Theology. Then she would actually have to get back into Oxford or would she try somewhere else if she didn't? Or a Doctorate in something she never plans to use? Wouldn't it all depend on how her thesis goes and her grades? We have been left in the dark. Either she is barely passing or struggling considerably. Or both. I can't imagine her moving out since I don't believe she ever did learn to drive. Honestly, I can't understand how behind she is on everything in life. When she is no longer producing academic content and can no longer refer to herself as a student somewhere, she is going to fall apart. She depends too highly on that identity and her YT channel. I wonder what she would be doing in life if social media didn't even exist?

 

[Wheels]

I absolutely relate to dissertation stress. I didn’t do one for my undergraduate but it was a requirement for my masters. Well when I say I got a pass I’d say I was pretty lucky. I simply didn’t have the skills to plan, research and execute a dissertation. Hence my fascination with virtually peering over the shoulder of studytubers even though I’m not sure I’ll undertake any more studying.
Having said that I never would have put myself forward as academic/ study influencer.
it feels like Ruby has painted herself into a niche and while the ad/spon/ YouTube money keeps rolling in it’s hard to break out.