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A review by bickie
Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt
On the surface, this was an engaging book with mostly endearing characters. Even the ones who didn't seem endearing at first. There is great discussion of gentle activism, and Matt's storyline provides very creepy suspense.
At the same time, I did not appreciate the gratuitous mentions of Dr. MacKnockater's "substantial rump" (p. 8) etc. I also found it perplexing that when she was introduced by the omniscient narrator, it was as "Mrs. Nora MacKnockater" rather than Dr., as she was referred to at school. I also didn't understand what was meant by, "...portly Mrs. Kellogg, who was the dorm matron and looked exactly like what a dorm matron should look like..." (p. 17).
I was confused by the lack of mention of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination in April of 1968 and that of Robert Kennedy in June of the same year. Chapter 23 begins, "In 1968, the year before Meryl Lee Kowalski's second semester at St. Elene's Preparatory Academy for Girls, sixteen thousand five hundred and ninety-two American soldiers died in Vietnam...they had had their whole lives in front of them: meeting the girl they loved, sundaes at Woolworth's lunch counter, opening Coke bottles, dancing, getting married, having children. Everything." The book definitely has white perspective.
I as also confused about the identity of Leonidas Shug.
At the same time, I did not appreciate the gratuitous mentions of Dr. MacKnockater's "substantial rump" (p. 8) etc. I also found it perplexing that when she was introduced by the omniscient narrator, it was as "Mrs. Nora MacKnockater" rather than Dr., as she was referred to at school. I also didn't understand what was meant by, "...portly Mrs. Kellogg, who was the dorm matron and looked exactly like what a dorm matron should look like..." (p. 17).
I was confused by the lack of mention of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination in April of 1968 and that of Robert Kennedy in June of the same year. Chapter 23 begins, "In 1968, the year before Meryl Lee Kowalski's second semester at St. Elene's Preparatory Academy for Girls, sixteen thousand five hundred and ninety-two American soldiers died in Vietnam...they had had their whole lives in front of them: meeting the girl they loved, sundaes at Woolworth's lunch counter, opening Coke bottles, dancing, getting married, having children. Everything." The book definitely has white perspective.
I as also confused about the identity of Leonidas Shug.