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You will love him to ruins.

This is the first sentence of the book The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.

Could somebody tell me what does that mean?

Here is the sentence in context:

YOU WILL LOVE HIM TO RUINS. The words echoed in my mind as I ran through clots of laughing people. Blinking lights and delighted screams bled together in a riot of sound and color. I knew Noah was behind me. I knew he would catch up. But my feet tried to do what my heart couldn’t; they tried to leave him behind.

I finally ran out of breath beneath a leering clown that pointed to the entrance to the Hall of Mirrors. Noah caught up to me easily. He turned me to face him and I stood there, my wrist in his grasp, my cheeks wet with tears, my heart splintered by her words. If I truly loved him, she said, I would let him go. I wished I loved him enough.

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    Please check that you’ve spelled everything correctly.
    – Jim
    Aug 2, 2015 at 17:18
  • Please also edit into the question the research you have already done. It would probably also help to say where you found your sentence, because it's not exactly idiomatic English.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Aug 2, 2015 at 17:29
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    It sounds like someone complaining to the parent of a child that they are giving the infant too much love, which will result in his becoming spoiled. This is not an unknown narrative in Anglo society. But most professionals will tell you that children are far more likely to be damaged by indifferent, neglectful or excessively strict parenting than by an over-reach of love.
    – WS2
    Aug 2, 2015 at 17:38
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    OK. A book. Please say which book; and possibly a little more context -- a couple of sentences before and after that one. Give the community as much information as you possibly can. As I said, this is not idiomatic. (It was ruins, was it, and not ruin?) AND, what have you already done to find the answer?
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Aug 2, 2015 at 17:40
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    Is it perhaps a too-literal translation of "love him to pieces"? An idiom meaning roughly "love him to an irrational degree".
    – jamesqf
    Aug 2, 2015 at 18:02

3 Answers 3

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I googled the phrase and found that this is apparently a well-known, quite popular quote from a triology by Michelle Hodkin, which I saw described as a "Psychological Thriller with a Paranormal Twist."

I am guessing your question comes from being a non-native speaker of English; forgive me if that's a wrong assumption.

I haven't read the book, but I think I can answer this. The feeling that I get from the quote is This isn't a healthy relationship, and I predict no good will come of it. Maybe she will end up damaged or destroyed; maybe he will; maybe they both will.

Here's a definition of in ruins: The state of being extensively harmed or damaged: Our vacation plans are in ruins. See http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ruins

(Happy to help, but please do include the author and title, or a link in future -- thanks.)

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  • Thank you the answer :) yes, I'm a non-native speaker of English. I'm hungarian :)
    – Klaudiaaa80
    Aug 2, 2015 at 19:20
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You will love him to ruins means that loving him will either ruin you, ruin him, or ruin you both.

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I think this parallels a Scots usage in which people say colloquially "I love him to bits". It implies that the love is strong and will endure until things fall apart - that is, for a very long time.

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