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jana114's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jtouchard23's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I wanted to read a Judy Blume book after watching her new documentary. Just as enjoyable as I remember! I hadn’t read this one before but it’s outstanding!
jay_hobday's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
loftnine's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
kerryanndunn's review against another edition
3.0
This is a sort of sequel to Just As Long As We’re Together but can be read as stand alone. I like Rachel as a character. It’s hard when you are super smart and feel obligated to live up to all the expectations surrounding that. But this book fell a little short of my normally high Judy Blume estimation. Rachel’s brother Charles is so irritating and there is never a reveal of his motivation for acting like such a jerk to his family. This is not a Judy I’ll revisit.
celestrium's review against another edition
3.0
Edit later but for now, there appear to be plot holes in this book that only I have noticed... maybe it's not a good idea to read your very first Judy Blume book when you're 18 haha.
pamelarope's review against another edition
5.0
Love it. Judy Blume gets growing up so right. Rachel is different because she's a prodigy and her home life isn't great. I liked the realism of her drama. I wish there were a sequel to this!
panda_incognito's review against another edition
2.0
I'm always very concerned about my slice-of-life stories having plots, but Judy Blume was wildly successful without sharing that priority. This book is a strung-together series of vignettes with no actual plot, no real character development, random inserted elements that don't connect to anything else, and no resolution at the end of the book.
The main character is a thirteen-year-old girl who is mature for her age, suffers from anxiety and grinds her teeth, and is caught in a dysfunctional family situation driven by her attention-seeking, manipulative, and verbally abusive older brother. Her situation is sympathetic and her perspective feels authentic, but the story never goes anywhere, and her friends and love interests are cardboard cut-outs that lack any real development.
Parts of this book impressed me. There is some fantastic dialogue from time to time, and there are moments of emotional resonance. Still, this is a directionless slog overall, and some of the key, climactic moments make so little sense that I wanted an interpreter. Also, even though this book is lighter on problematic content than some other Judy Blume titles, the book takes a wildly unnecessary #MeToo turn near the end, when thirteen-year-old Rachel goes on a concert date with her brother's twenty-two-year-old tutor.
This is very icky, and it was not adequately foreshadowed, either. Rachel has a crush on the tutor and reads into all of their interactions, but it's never clearly implied to the reader that this is going anywhere. The date will blindside most people in the last few chapters, and it was a truly terrible choice on Blume's part. Rachel's crush on an older guy is understandable, given her stage of development, but it is absolutely unacceptable for him to be interested in her. At the same time, Judy Blume is also running a minor subplot related to Rachel's cousin having an affair with a married professor.
The book technically resolves all of this by showing that these relationships are unsuccessful, but the whole creepy storyline was completely gratuitous, did not serve what little plot there was, and seems randomly tacked on at the end. This part of the story could also normalize inappropriate relationships in the eyes of an undiscerning reader. There is enough backlash against #MeToo type relationships now that I wouldn't be concerned about it for a current reader, but this is exceptionally cringe for 1993.
The main character is a thirteen-year-old girl who is mature for her age, suffers from anxiety and grinds her teeth, and is caught in a dysfunctional family situation driven by her attention-seeking, manipulative, and verbally abusive older brother. Her situation is sympathetic and her perspective feels authentic, but the story never goes anywhere, and her friends and love interests are cardboard cut-outs that lack any real development.
Parts of this book impressed me. There is some fantastic dialogue from time to time, and there are moments of emotional resonance. Still, this is a directionless slog overall, and some of the key, climactic moments make so little sense that I wanted an interpreter. Also, even though this book is lighter on problematic content than some other Judy Blume titles, the book takes a wildly unnecessary #MeToo turn near the end, when thirteen-year-old Rachel goes on a concert date with her brother's twenty-two-year-old tutor.
This is very icky, and it was not adequately foreshadowed, either. Rachel has a crush on the tutor and reads into all of their interactions, but it's never clearly implied to the reader that this is going anywhere. The date will blindside most people in the last few chapters, and it was a truly terrible choice on Blume's part. Rachel's crush on an older guy is understandable, given her stage of development, but it is absolutely unacceptable for him to be interested in her. At the same time, Judy Blume is also running a minor subplot related to Rachel's cousin having an affair with a married professor.
The book technically resolves all of this by showing that these relationships are unsuccessful, but the whole creepy storyline was completely gratuitous, did not serve what little plot there was, and seems randomly tacked on at the end. This part of the story could also normalize inappropriate relationships in the eyes of an undiscerning reader. There is enough backlash against #MeToo type relationships now that I wouldn't be concerned about it for a current reader, but this is exceptionally cringe for 1993.