Scan barcode
wordnerdy's review against another edition
3.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/05/2014-book-111.html
fridanamibia's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book and the topics discussed on it. It’s crazy how the world is changing and acceptance is slowly but surely taking part of society’s everyday living. I felt impotence with how certain things were handled by the characters and their ideas but I believe that’s what I am supposed to be feeling.
3/5! Good read.
3/5! Good read.
catherinefisher55's review against another edition
3.0
Classic lesbian teen novel from 1978. There are cliches, for sure, but it's a surprisingly hopeful book for that time and that topic.
jkh107's review against another edition
3.0
Ground-breaking for its time I am sure but the clumsy writing and weird slang made it read oddly. Some parts are good but very distressing also.
xterminal's review against another edition
3.0
Sandra Scoppetone, Happy Endings are All Alike (Alyson, 1978)
I'm not sure what book the New York Times reviewer who called this a "tensely-plotted thriller" was reading, but it sure wasn't this one. Happy Endings, written before Scoppetone became a mystery vamp of the highest order, is a simple, if somewhat twisted, coming of age tale about high-school romance and all the pain and suffering it entails.
Jaret and Peggy are stuck in the lazy summer before college, in the middle of a romance that's a badly-kept secret from Jaret's mother and Peggy's father (Peggy's father is a widower; Jaret's father is just plain clueless about most everything) and a well-kept secret from the rest of their somewhat conservative town. Well, for a while. Things get nasty when a local boy finds out about the romance and decides that Jaret needs some conversion to heterosexuality.
Scoppetone's a fine writer, for the most part, and the emotions at play throughout the book are clear and well-done. Most of the book's characters are complex, solid, and far from annoying. The one exception is Peggy, who constantly uses the word "gazinga" for... well, everything (think back to the Smurfs and their way of speaking). It gets annoying, and it gets there quickly. But if you can overlook that, this one's worth a look. ** 1/2
I'm not sure what book the New York Times reviewer who called this a "tensely-plotted thriller" was reading, but it sure wasn't this one. Happy Endings, written before Scoppetone became a mystery vamp of the highest order, is a simple, if somewhat twisted, coming of age tale about high-school romance and all the pain and suffering it entails.
Jaret and Peggy are stuck in the lazy summer before college, in the middle of a romance that's a badly-kept secret from Jaret's mother and Peggy's father (Peggy's father is a widower; Jaret's father is just plain clueless about most everything) and a well-kept secret from the rest of their somewhat conservative town. Well, for a while. Things get nasty when a local boy finds out about the romance and decides that Jaret needs some conversion to heterosexuality.
Scoppetone's a fine writer, for the most part, and the emotions at play throughout the book are clear and well-done. Most of the book's characters are complex, solid, and far from annoying. The one exception is Peggy, who constantly uses the word "gazinga" for... well, everything (think back to the Smurfs and their way of speaking). It gets annoying, and it gets there quickly. But if you can overlook that, this one's worth a look. ** 1/2
laurynreads's review against another edition
2.0
You know how sometimes authors write books and they portray characters as mouthpieces for problematic opinions as a way to prove a point? I feel like that's what Scoppettone was going for here, but really it was just a problematic book all around and very much a product of its time period.
More...