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finesilkflower's review
3.0
Ducky sticks to Alex like glue.
Ducky's friend Alex is still depressed, and Ducky is still trying to help him. I get that this is realistic--depression doesn't have an easy, magic cure, and being a good friend to a person who's at the bottom of it is a frustrating, repetitive, futile-feeling, and long process. So it's realistic, but it's not fun to read. It really feels like there has been no forward momentum in the story since [b:Ducky: Diary 1|558171|Ducky Diary 1 (California Diaries, #5)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389929841s/558171.jpg|545349]. This is basically a rehash of the same thing, only slightly more so: Ducky tries to reach Alex, Alex is unreachable.
Meanwhile, Ducky's parents return home for a few weeks between research trips, and Ducky has some conflicted feelings about that (restricted freedom, etc.), but it doesn't really tie into anything or amount to anything. The parents go away again at the end.
Positives: Ducky's voice is still an in-character and overall likeable mix of occasional wisecracks with soul-crushing self-doubt. Nice moments with brother Ted, who was mostly absent in the first book. Probably some nice moments with Sunny, et al but I can't recall any that stand out, actually.
The Ambiguously Gay Ducky: Ducky's feelings about Alex seem considerably less romantic here than in the previous Ducky diary, likely because Alex has checked out so much that he's slipped from interesting and brooding romantic hero down to charity case in need of help. Adding insult to injury, his efforts to spend plenty of time with Alex don't go unnoticed by the homophobic friends-of-friends. When Ducky again firmly refuses Jay's offer to set him up with a girl, one of the Cro Mags says, "Ducky and Alex are happy as they are."
Author Gratefully Acknowledges: Peter Lerangis. Ah, you're slipping, Lerangis. He has written some cleverly constructed plots, but he's inconsistent on it, and this is one of the ones that doesn't really do anything for me. That said, the voice is definitely there.
Timing: December 1 to December 17. Would have liked to see it go a little longer to see Ted and Ducky's parentless Christmas, but I guess if they spend it with their grandparents or something that's normal enough to not warrant us reading it.
Revised Timeline: Ducky should be about 26 at this point in my revised timeline (accepting that he's three years older than the girls, the girls are contemporaries of Dawn, and Dawn, from the original BSC timeline, is 23, because 11 in-book years have apparently passed since the beginning of the series.) I feel like the conceit that Ducky and Ted are living together in their parents' house as their parents travel the world makes a lot more sense if Ducky is an adult. At 26, Ducky could still have totally believable conflicted feelings of (a) resenting the parents for disappearing from their lives when other people's parents are around, and (b) resenting the sudden feeling of going from an adult, free life to a childlike, constricted life when his parents are briefly around.
Ducky's friend Alex is still depressed, and Ducky is still trying to help him. I get that this is realistic--depression doesn't have an easy, magic cure, and being a good friend to a person who's at the bottom of it is a frustrating, repetitive, futile-feeling, and long process. So it's realistic, but it's not fun to read. It really feels like there has been no forward momentum in the story since [b:Ducky: Diary 1|558171|Ducky Diary 1 (California Diaries, #5)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389929841s/558171.jpg|545349]. This is basically a rehash of the same thing, only slightly more so: Ducky tries to reach Alex, Alex is unreachable
Spoiler
, Alex attempts suicide. The only difference is that his attempt is more obvious this time, no longer plausibly deniable as drunk antics, so his mother takes it seriously and sends him to a "recovery center" in Chicago, whatever that meansMeanwhile, Ducky's parents return home for a few weeks between research trips, and Ducky has some conflicted feelings about that (restricted freedom, etc.), but it doesn't really tie into anything or amount to anything. The parents go away again at the end.
Positives: Ducky's voice is still an in-character and overall likeable mix of occasional wisecracks with soul-crushing self-doubt. Nice moments with brother Ted, who was mostly absent in the first book. Probably some nice moments with Sunny, et al but I can't recall any that stand out, actually.
The Ambiguously Gay Ducky: Ducky's feelings about Alex seem considerably less romantic here than in the previous Ducky diary, likely because Alex has checked out so much that he's slipped from interesting and brooding romantic hero down to charity case in need of help. Adding insult to injury, his efforts to spend plenty of time with Alex don't go unnoticed by the homophobic friends-of-friends. When Ducky again firmly refuses Jay's offer to set him up with a girl, one of the Cro Mags says, "Ducky and Alex are happy as they are."
Author Gratefully Acknowledges: Peter Lerangis. Ah, you're slipping, Lerangis. He has written some cleverly constructed plots, but he's inconsistent on it, and this is one of the ones that doesn't really do anything for me. That said, the voice is definitely there.
Timing: December 1 to December 17. Would have liked to see it go a little longer to see Ted and Ducky's parentless Christmas, but I guess if they spend it with their grandparents or something that's normal enough to not warrant us reading it.
Revised Timeline: Ducky should be about 26 at this point in my revised timeline (accepting that he's three years older than the girls, the girls are contemporaries of Dawn, and Dawn, from the original BSC timeline, is 23, because 11 in-book years have apparently passed since the beginning of the series.) I feel like the conceit that Ducky and Ted are living together in their parents' house as their parents travel the world makes a lot more sense if Ducky is an adult. At 26, Ducky could still have totally believable conflicted feelings of (a) resenting the parents for disappearing from their lives when other people's parents are around, and (b) resenting the sudden feeling of going from an adult, free life to a childlike, constricted life when his parents are briefly around.
sammah's review
4.0
The thing that always made me sad about this particular series is that we never got far enough to find out definitively that Ducky is gay. I mean, it's pretty obvious and constantly hinted at, but it was never confirmed. I always thought it would be amazing to have an out (or at least known) queer character in the extended BSC universe, but it never happened. So, alas, we will just always have to take what we were given!
This one was a bit of a let down though, as much as I adore the character (hence the four star rating). It was sort of a rehash of his first book, and revolved primarily around Alex's depression and eventual suicide attempt. Which is pretty much the same as diary one, although this one did introduce us to the McCrae parents.
Who, honestly, may be the worst parents in this weird universe and that really says something because Sharon Shafer-Spier exists. They just abandoned their 16 year old with his college aged brother to go off to another country and just think that's acceptable.
The hell, McCrae parentals?
This one was a bit of a let down though, as much as I adore the character (hence the four star rating). It was sort of a rehash of his first book, and revolved primarily around Alex's depression and eventual suicide attempt. Which is pretty much the same as diary one, although this one did introduce us to the McCrae parents.
Who, honestly, may be the worst parents in this weird universe and that really says something because Sharon Shafer-Spier exists. They just abandoned their 16 year old with his college aged brother to go off to another country and just think that's acceptable.
The hell, McCrae parentals?
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