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jgurniak's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those books that seems like everybody read it when they were in their early teens. I never did but here we are, a decade later and I finally read it.
Judy Blume has a gift for crafting relatable stoties for youth that can be passed down from generation to generation and still be equally relatable.
Judy Blume has a gift for crafting relatable stoties for youth that can be passed down from generation to generation and still be equally relatable.
stephreadsalot1's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book because it is part of the Gilmore Girls reading list. I guess you don't get as much out of this as an adult as you would as a tween/teen. The story was still enjoyable and was a very quick read. I would recommend it to young girls.
the_bookish_kat's review against another edition
4.5
I first read Deenie when I was eleven on a school trip to France. I haven’t read it since so it was lovely to read it again essentially for the first time. I loved this book, which is about a young girl called Deenie who has to adjust to life with a back brace after being diagnosed with scoliosis. I loved the way that Blume wrote about Deenie’s frustration and how she adjusts to her new life. I also liked how it ended a bit open-ended, but also optimistically. Even though it’s less than 200 pages, the story didn’t feel rushed or incomplete and all the characters were fleshed out. I’d highly recommend reading this book.
groovyjenni's review against another edition
3.0
So, I am very aware that Deenie is an older book from the 70s. I tried to take this into consideration as I was reading this book. It follows the life of Deenie, a seventh grader who wants to make the cheerleading squad and who doesn't like modeling--in spite of her mother pushing her toward it. The themes within this book are aligned with many young adult, coming of age types of tales. This book has also garnered its way onto the banned books list several times in the past due to mentioning topics such as menstruating, sexuality, and masturbation. As a twenty something year old adult, these themes were not controversial for me to read. However, if I were in my early teens and the beginning stages of puberty, I can see how such a novel could be banned as it would cause disruption for a young girl (or boy) to read.
Deenie's mother is a hovercraft mom. She wants Deenie to be a model. Deenie doesn't need to focus on her grades in school, since she has a pretty face. And all this pressure on Deenie makes her feel small at times. Deenie's mother is constantly harping her about standing up straight, believing that Deenie does it simply to aggravate her. However, it is nothing Deenie is intentionally doing. Instead, Deenie finds herself going to several doctors until she gets a diagnosis: adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
This diagnosis leads to much discomfort for Deenie. She has to be fitted for a brace to straighten the curvature in her back, suffers from skin rashes due to the brace, and feels much scrutiny from her peers about her brace. Understandably, she is distraught over the fact that she has to wear this brace. The doctors have told her that she is going to have to wear the brace for at least four years to correct the curvature of her spine. This news all coupled with the teenage angst and drama in her life becomes overwhelming to her and it soon strains on the entire family.
Deenie’s father is forced to make cuts at his job in order to pay medical bills from Deenie’s scoliosis. Deenie needed new clothes that would fit around her brace with comfort and even then, the brace continually tears into her clothes.
Overall, I give this book a 2.5 star rating out of 5. I think when it was first released, it was most likely a very popular and powerful book. Yet, the themes in it don’t transcend as much as some other books in the genre can do. What I did enjoy about the book was how Blume tackled the topic of illness. Deenie feels like it is something she has done that has caused the scoliosis, when really it was all out of her control and had to do with genetics. Blume handles the doctor scenes with great ease and believability.
Deenie's mother is a hovercraft mom. She wants Deenie to be a model. Deenie doesn't need to focus on her grades in school, since she has a pretty face. And all this pressure on Deenie makes her feel small at times. Deenie's mother is constantly harping her about standing up straight, believing that Deenie does it simply to aggravate her. However, it is nothing Deenie is intentionally doing. Instead, Deenie finds herself going to several doctors until she gets a diagnosis: adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
This diagnosis leads to much discomfort for Deenie. She has to be fitted for a brace to straighten the curvature in her back, suffers from skin rashes due to the brace, and feels much scrutiny from her peers about her brace. Understandably, she is distraught over the fact that she has to wear this brace. The doctors have told her that she is going to have to wear the brace for at least four years to correct the curvature of her spine. This news all coupled with the teenage angst and drama in her life becomes overwhelming to her and it soon strains on the entire family.
Deenie’s father is forced to make cuts at his job in order to pay medical bills from Deenie’s scoliosis. Deenie needed new clothes that would fit around her brace with comfort and even then, the brace continually tears into her clothes.
Overall, I give this book a 2.5 star rating out of 5. I think when it was first released, it was most likely a very popular and powerful book. Yet, the themes in it don’t transcend as much as some other books in the genre can do. What I did enjoy about the book was how Blume tackled the topic of illness. Deenie feels like it is something she has done that has caused the scoliosis, when really it was all out of her control and had to do with genetics. Blume handles the doctor scenes with great ease and believability.
bungadinding's review against another edition
3.0
Bukunya tipis juga. Kalau nggak salah dibaca maraton & kelar di hari yang sama kayak Are You There God It's Me Margaret.
Dari segi ide cerita sebenarnya aku lebih suka Deenie, unik ngangkat tentang anak yang menderita skoliosis. Baru tau juga pas baca kalau penderita skoliosis harus pakai penyangga badan yang bisa sampai tahunan, sampai tulangnya bener lagi. Seumur-umur belum pernah sih ketemu langsung sama orang yang pakai penyangga kayak gini, apa cara pengobatan jaman sekarang udah beda kali ya :-? Suka ngeliat proses gimana Deenie, yang sebelumnya lebih mementingkan penampilan, terpaksa menghadapi situasi ini. Ternyata dia malah jadi bisa memandang dirinya sendiri dan orang-orang lain di sekitarnya lebih dalam daripada yang tampak di luarnya.
Unfortunately I got some bitter comments for Deenie's mother, but I think I'd just keep them myself.
Dari segi ide cerita sebenarnya aku lebih suka Deenie, unik ngangkat tentang anak yang menderita skoliosis. Baru tau juga pas baca kalau penderita skoliosis harus pakai penyangga badan yang bisa sampai tahunan, sampai tulangnya bener lagi. Seumur-umur belum pernah sih ketemu langsung sama orang yang pakai penyangga kayak gini, apa cara pengobatan jaman sekarang udah beda kali ya :-? Suka ngeliat proses gimana Deenie, yang sebelumnya lebih mementingkan penampilan, terpaksa menghadapi situasi ini. Ternyata dia malah jadi bisa memandang dirinya sendiri dan orang-orang lain di sekitarnya lebih dalam daripada yang tampak di luarnya.
Unfortunately I got some bitter comments for Deenie's mother, but I think I'd just keep them myself.
madiganinwonderland's review against another edition
2.0
2.5
Oh boy.. Ok. So I read "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" right when I was going through girly changes and I actually really enjoyed it. So I always kinda had it in my mind of Judy Blume being a great middle grade author. And I picked up this book thinking it's so short and I'm sure a pretty quick read, which it was. However, I was pretty disappointed in this book.
First of all Deenie is a really spoiled and whiney type of character. I was really hoping for some character development of some sort by the end of the book but to be honest I didn't see much. She was still over dramatic it seemed and was snapping at everyone for everything. I can understand why she would be upset with her getting scoliosis, butt some of the things she got upset about were really ridiculous and childish, even for a middle grade book. For example the undershirt that she had to wear, it would seem pretty insignificant to me but to her it was a crisis.
I found myself wishing this book was actually within the point of view of her sister Helen. She seems like someone I could relate to more and she wasn't so dramatic it seemed plus I really wanted to hear her take on the way her mother was treating her and her sister.
Speaking of which the way her mother treated both of them was honestly very uncomfortable. It was not pleasant and very controlling and Mom you can tell it's going to cause her kids to need therapy later in life. It wasn't addressed as much as it should have been.
Surprisingly this book didn't have instalove. However I think I can associate that to it being written in the 70s and not in the 21st century. If it had been I think it would have been with the character Buddy. At first he seemed a bit like a jerk, and then he did seem sweet the way he didn't treat Deenie differently after she got the brace on but then in the end he was just another creep and the guy who took things way too far too fast especially for the age demographic that this is targeted to.
Also this book touched on acceptance of pleasuring your body, and how it's all right for both boys and girls. Which I guess is a good message but the way it was executed was so strange and made me feel very uncomfortable. It seems completely random and the way it was talking about was just kind of really odd and it just seemed like she was trying to pack in another message into the book just to do it and it was really weird and probably could have been replaced with any other typical crisis of puberty topic.
I'm not sure I really like the message this book sends out. There's a lot going on and a lot to take in that isn't really covered well including signs of depression and eating disorders and mental illnesses as well as the way you can be expected to let a guy do certain things to you once you hit a certain age, which is not something I would want a 13 year old girl thinking is acceptable.
I am glad I read this so because it did help me get out of my reading slump a little bit I think and I'm glad to clear off a book that I had just purchased. Makes me feel productive lol.
Oh boy.. Ok. So I read "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" right when I was going through girly changes and I actually really enjoyed it. So I always kinda had it in my mind of Judy Blume being a great middle grade author. And I picked up this book thinking it's so short and I'm sure a pretty quick read, which it was. However, I was pretty disappointed in this book.
First of all Deenie is a really spoiled and whiney type of character. I was really hoping for some character development of some sort by the end of the book but to be honest I didn't see much. She was still over dramatic it seemed and was snapping at everyone for everything. I can understand why she would be upset with her getting scoliosis, butt some of the things she got upset about were really ridiculous and childish, even for a middle grade book. For example the undershirt that she had to wear, it would seem pretty insignificant to me but to her it was a crisis.
I found myself wishing this book was actually within the point of view of her sister Helen. She seems like someone I could relate to more and she wasn't so dramatic it seemed plus I really wanted to hear her take on the way her mother was treating her and her sister.
Speaking of which the way her mother treated both of them was honestly very uncomfortable. It was not pleasant and very controlling and Mom you can tell it's going to cause her kids to need therapy later in life. It wasn't addressed as much as it should have been.
Surprisingly this book didn't have instalove. However I think I can associate that to it being written in the 70s and not in the 21st century. If it had been I think it would have been with the character Buddy. At first he seemed a bit like a jerk, and then he did seem sweet the way he didn't treat Deenie differently after she got the brace on but then in the end he was just another creep and the guy who took things way too far too fast especially for the age demographic that this is targeted to.
Also this book touched on acceptance of pleasuring your body, and how it's all right for both boys and girls. Which I guess is a good message but the way it was executed was so strange and made me feel very uncomfortable. It seems completely random and the way it was talking about was just kind of really odd and it just seemed like she was trying to pack in another message into the book just to do it and it was really weird and probably could have been replaced with any other typical crisis of puberty topic.
I'm not sure I really like the message this book sends out. There's a lot going on and a lot to take in that isn't really covered well including signs of depression and eating disorders and mental illnesses as well as the way you can be expected to let a guy do certain things to you once you hit a certain age, which is not something I would want a 13 year old girl thinking is acceptable.
I am glad I read this so because it did help me get out of my reading slump a little bit I think and I'm glad to clear off a book that I had just purchased. Makes me feel productive lol.
protoman21's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great book about a girl overcoming a physical limitation. Deenie is a sweet girl who deals with a lot of common issues to junior high kids: boys, friends, fitting in, peer pressure, but on top of all that she discovers that she has scoliosis and has to be fitted with a brace. This changes everything, or at least, it seems like it will, but thankfully life goes on and all that changes is her perspective. Her relationships with her parents are key to this story, especially her with mother. Her mother has expectations that Deenie will become a model and her curvature of the spine causes this dream to be ruined, or at least put on hold. Deenie wasn't sure about the modeling to begin with, so this isn't a big deal to her, but it is devastating for her mother who always thought of modeling as Deenie's one chance to be special and achieve more than she did. I like that her father and the doctors recognize that Deenie is handling the problem better than her mother and give her credit for being strong and brave.
julianagram's review against another edition
5.0
this was my introduction to Judy Blume, and it is still my favorite.
samikoonjones's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5