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finesilkflower's review
1.0
Mary Anne decides she needs an attitude makeover. She’s having PTSD fire dreams; her father is picking out all her furniture for the new house; Cokie Mason is walking all over her in yearbook meetings. Cokie spreads a rumor that Mary Anne begged Logan to take her back, then fixes the yearbook superlative elections. Mary Anne asks for Cary Retlin’s help because it’s not a FF book if Cary Retlin isn’t plot-pivotal. The series should be called BSC: Cary.
Cary, in his infinite wisdom, urges restraint; he gives Mary Anne a bunch of magazine subscription cards made out to Cokie, but tells her to keep them in her back pocket unless and until she really needs them. As Cary predicted, knowing she has a weapon she can deploy at any time gives Mary Anne confidence. But Cary strains Mary Anne’s patience by continually hinting that he has a big revenge plan, without letting her know what it is or when it will happen. Mary Anne and the BSC decide to take matters into their own hands, bringing some dumb standard gags (fake spiders, saran wrap, etc.) to Cokie’s party. But after watching Cokie flirt shamelessly (and fruitlessly) with Logan, Mary Anne calls off her goons. She tells of Cokie, asking her why she’s so mean all the time, and calling her “Most Likely Not To Succeed.” Cary then dances with Mary Anne and tells her that “by telling the truth, you just got the sweetest revenge of all.”
There’s also a family subplot where Mary Anne becomes sullen and irritable with Richard. She has to sneak out to go to Cokie’s party because she’s grounded. Finally Sharon yells at them both, which is kind of a cop-out, in my opinion--shouldn’t Mary Anne being resolving this with her newfound confidence?
Overall this book makes very little sense. While I like that speaking up for herself straightforwardly, not goofy pranking, is Mary Anne’s true confidence-booster--and that Cary places a premium, not just on mischief, but on doing mischief in a poetically just and individual-personality-satisfying way--Mary Anne’s final climactic speech is not sufficiently different from an earlier tiff with Cokie to show any kind of meaningful character development or to warrant Cary’s notice or praise. It might have worked if Mary Anne had either (1) refrained from doing anything to Cokie at the end, deciding that Cokie’s own patheticness was its own punishment, “I use my turn to feel sorry for Pierce” style; or (2) totally let Cokie get away with everything up until that point, and then gave a really serious, scolding speech with no trace of meanness and tons of moral authority. I think that was the intention, but because both Mary Anne’s earlier interactions with Cokie and her final speech were laced with irritating, peevish barbs, the whole thing just carries no weight.
Timing: No specific temporal markers. Some outdoor scenes suggest springtime. Working on the yearbook suggests the end of the school year, although it could be early spring if they have an early printing deadline to meet.
Revised Timeline: March or April of third academic year post-grad. The yearbook makes no sense by this point of the revised timeline, but it’s not really necessary. Perhaps Mary Anne is feeling the injustice of a fellow grad student stealing winning a grant through underhanded dealings.
Cary, in his infinite wisdom, urges restraint; he gives Mary Anne a bunch of magazine subscription cards made out to Cokie, but tells her to keep them in her back pocket unless and until she really needs them. As Cary predicted, knowing she has a weapon she can deploy at any time gives Mary Anne confidence. But Cary strains Mary Anne’s patience by continually hinting that he has a big revenge plan, without letting her know what it is or when it will happen. Mary Anne and the BSC decide to take matters into their own hands, bringing some dumb standard gags (fake spiders, saran wrap, etc.) to Cokie’s party. But after watching Cokie flirt shamelessly (and fruitlessly) with Logan, Mary Anne calls off her goons. She tells of Cokie, asking her why she’s so mean all the time, and calling her “Most Likely Not To Succeed.” Cary then dances with Mary Anne and tells her that “by telling the truth, you just got the sweetest revenge of all.”
There’s also a family subplot where Mary Anne becomes sullen and irritable with Richard. She has to sneak out to go to Cokie’s party because she’s grounded. Finally Sharon yells at them both, which is kind of a cop-out, in my opinion--shouldn’t Mary Anne being resolving this with her newfound confidence?
Overall this book makes very little sense. While I like that speaking up for herself straightforwardly, not goofy pranking, is Mary Anne’s true confidence-booster--and that Cary places a premium, not just on mischief, but on doing mischief in a poetically just and individual-personality-satisfying way--Mary Anne’s final climactic speech is not sufficiently different from an earlier tiff with Cokie to show any kind of meaningful character development or to warrant Cary’s notice or praise. It might have worked if Mary Anne had either (1) refrained from doing anything to Cokie at the end, deciding that Cokie’s own patheticness was its own punishment, “I use my turn to feel sorry for Pierce” style; or (2) totally let Cokie get away with everything up until that point, and then gave a really serious, scolding speech with no trace of meanness and tons of moral authority. I think that was the intention, but because both Mary Anne’s earlier interactions with Cokie and her final speech were laced with irritating, peevish barbs, the whole thing just carries no weight.
Timing: No specific temporal markers. Some outdoor scenes suggest springtime. Working on the yearbook suggests the end of the school year, although it could be early spring if they have an early printing deadline to meet.
Revised Timeline: March or April of third academic year post-grad. The yearbook makes no sense by this point of the revised timeline, but it’s not really necessary. Perhaps Mary Anne is feeling the injustice of a fellow grad student stealing winning a grant through underhanded dealings.
sammah's review
3.0
Ooh, Mary Anne. It only took hundreds of books for you to grow a back bone! I admit I'm impressed with her in this book! She even snaps at Richard AND sneaks out of the house. WOAH! Let's not get TOO wild!
The whole thing with the ballots? Totally feeling that. When I was in high school year book we were tallying up votes for literally this same stupid crap, and we were sitting in two distinct groups. Someone from the other group for some reason thought my group was cheating at the votes, and squealed to our adviser (who was truly horrible at her job). We all then had to sit together and very quietly, without talking, count ballots. It was lame, it sucked balls, and that is why I quit yearbook the next semester.
The whole thing with the ballots? Totally feeling that. When I was in high school year book we were tallying up votes for literally this same stupid crap, and we were sitting in two distinct groups. Someone from the other group for some reason thought my group was cheating at the votes, and squealed to our adviser (who was truly horrible at her job). We all then had to sit together and very quietly, without talking, count ballots. It was lame, it sucked balls, and that is why I quit yearbook the next semester.
ssshira's review
2.0
this is my first time reading this book.
in the latest volume in the saga of mary anne trying to grow a backbone by ghostwriter [a:Nola Thacker|133114|Nola Thacker|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png], she is working on the features section of the yearbook, which will have a “most” and “best” section (like most likely to succeed, etc) based on student votes. cokie is a jerk to mary anne for no apparent reason (see lowlights/nitpicks) and is very competitive with her. she rigs the voting system so she and her friends will get as many of the most and best votes as possible, but when it’s very obvious that it was rigged they do a better job monitoring the revote and neither cokie nor mary anne ends up winning any of them. cokie also spreads rumors about mary anne that she begged logan to get back together, and that she begged cokie for an invite to a party when she found out logan would be there. logan, meanwhile, has started dating dorianne wallingford (an sms student who is periodically mentioned throughout the series). mary anne enlists cary’s help getting revenge on cokie: they fill out a ton of magazine subscription cards for cokie, and mary anne holds onto them with the intention of possibly sending them out. then she sneaks out while grounded to go to cokie’s party, where cokie openly gossips about mary anne in front of her. so finally, she tells cokie off at her own damn party and everyone there applauds. and she doesn’t end up using the subscription cards, because just telling cokie off was revenge enough for her. meanwhile, mary anne is having conflicts with everyone in her life, because she is finally standing up for herself, and because she’s still tormented by the memories of the fire. she gets mad at her dad for picking out furniture without consulting her, and at kristy for picking their movie theater seats without asking her. in the end, after she sneaks out to go to cokie’s party and gets busted coming home, she and her dad confront the fact that they are both still freaking out about the fire. mary anne can’t sleep because she keeps having nightmares about it, and richard stays up all night walking around the house because he’s convinced there’s going to be another fire. so they become more sympathetic towards one another.
highlights:
-mary anne mentions that austin is named after two cars (austin and bentley) and how did I never notice that before?
-cokie comments that mary anne is upset that she and logan are no longer eligible for best couple. mary anne dwells on it until she later on that day thinks of a good comeback: "no, cokie. I'm just upset because we'll have to have a page for you for Least Likely Ever to be Part of a Couple." it’s basically exactly like george costanza:
-cokie pretends to be sympathetic to mary anne and mary anne snaps at her and says "when they were handing out awful, you were first in line." okay, no that comeback is the same as the jerk store line.
-abby voted for herself six times on the most and best ballot. lol, I love abby.
-this better take on the love story quote: "I think being cokie means never having to say you're sorry."
-neither mary anne nor cokie ends up winning any of the most or best, a detail I appreciate considering how much of the book is dedicated to wondering which of them will win. it’s like when we think buffy or cordelia is going to win homecoming queen and it ends up being a tie between holly charleston and michelle blake.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-why does richard pick out mary anne’s furniture without asking her? I thought he said she was going to actually have a hand in designing her new home.
-abby advocates for most beautiful referring to a boy and a girl, but the yearbook team doesn't agree and make the boy one most handsome. I like that abby says this, but for real, it’s so annoying how devoted to the “girls=pretty, boys=handsome” thing kids are.
-why is cokie still acting competitive with mary anne? she’s not dating logan anymore, so shouldn’t she be mean girl-ing dorianne wallingford instead?
claudia outfit:
-"She was wearing wide-legged purple pants cut off at the ankle, flat back shoes, striped socks (purple and white), and a white crossed top over a purple camisole. She'd pulled her hair back with papier-mâché decorated combs that she'd created herself: two little figures were holding on to the combs as if they were being blown backward. It was pretty funny. And very creative."
no snacks in claudia’s room.
in the latest volume in the saga of mary anne trying to grow a backbone by ghostwriter [a:Nola Thacker|133114|Nola Thacker|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png], she is working on the features section of the yearbook, which will have a “most” and “best” section (like most likely to succeed, etc) based on student votes. cokie is a jerk to mary anne for no apparent reason (see lowlights/nitpicks) and is very competitive with her. she rigs the voting system so she and her friends will get as many of the most and best votes as possible, but when it’s very obvious that it was rigged they do a better job monitoring the revote and neither cokie nor mary anne ends up winning any of them. cokie also spreads rumors about mary anne that she begged logan to get back together, and that she begged cokie for an invite to a party when she found out logan would be there. logan, meanwhile, has started dating dorianne wallingford (an sms student who is periodically mentioned throughout the series). mary anne enlists cary’s help getting revenge on cokie: they fill out a ton of magazine subscription cards for cokie, and mary anne holds onto them with the intention of possibly sending them out. then she sneaks out while grounded to go to cokie’s party, where cokie openly gossips about mary anne in front of her. so finally, she tells cokie off at her own damn party and everyone there applauds. and she doesn’t end up using the subscription cards, because just telling cokie off was revenge enough for her. meanwhile, mary anne is having conflicts with everyone in her life, because she is finally standing up for herself, and because she’s still tormented by the memories of the fire. she gets mad at her dad for picking out furniture without consulting her, and at kristy for picking their movie theater seats without asking her. in the end, after she sneaks out to go to cokie’s party and gets busted coming home, she and her dad confront the fact that they are both still freaking out about the fire. mary anne can’t sleep because she keeps having nightmares about it, and richard stays up all night walking around the house because he’s convinced there’s going to be another fire. so they become more sympathetic towards one another.
highlights:
-mary anne mentions that austin is named after two cars (austin and bentley) and how did I never notice that before?
-cokie comments that mary anne is upset that she and logan are no longer eligible for best couple. mary anne dwells on it until she later on that day thinks of a good comeback: "no, cokie. I'm just upset because we'll have to have a page for you for Least Likely Ever to be Part of a Couple." it’s basically exactly like george costanza:
-cokie pretends to be sympathetic to mary anne and mary anne snaps at her and says "when they were handing out awful, you were first in line." okay, no that comeback is the same as the jerk store line.
-abby voted for herself six times on the most and best ballot. lol, I love abby.
-this better take on the love story quote: "I think being cokie means never having to say you're sorry."
-neither mary anne nor cokie ends up winning any of the most or best, a detail I appreciate considering how much of the book is dedicated to wondering which of them will win. it’s like when we think buffy or cordelia is going to win homecoming queen and it ends up being a tie between holly charleston and michelle blake.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-why does richard pick out mary anne’s furniture without asking her? I thought he said she was going to actually have a hand in designing her new home.
-abby advocates for most beautiful referring to a boy and a girl, but the yearbook team doesn't agree and make the boy one most handsome. I like that abby says this, but for real, it’s so annoying how devoted to the “girls=pretty, boys=handsome” thing kids are.
-why is cokie still acting competitive with mary anne? she’s not dating logan anymore, so shouldn’t she be mean girl-ing dorianne wallingford instead?
claudia outfit:
-"She was wearing wide-legged purple pants cut off at the ankle, flat back shoes, striped socks (purple and white), and a white crossed top over a purple camisole. She'd pulled her hair back with papier-mâché decorated combs that she'd created herself: two little figures were holding on to the combs as if they were being blown backward. It was pretty funny. And very creative."
no snacks in claudia’s room.
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