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A review by madiganinwonderland
Deenie by Judy Blume
2.0
2.5
Oh boy.. Ok. So I read "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" right when I was going through girly changes and I actually really enjoyed it. So I always kinda had it in my mind of Judy Blume being a great middle grade author. And I picked up this book thinking it's so short and I'm sure a pretty quick read, which it was. However, I was pretty disappointed in this book.
First of all Deenie is a really spoiled and whiney type of character. I was really hoping for some character development of some sort by the end of the book but to be honest I didn't see much. She was still over dramatic it seemed and was snapping at everyone for everything. I can understand why she would be upset with her getting scoliosis, butt some of the things she got upset about were really ridiculous and childish, even for a middle grade book. For example the undershirt that she had to wear, it would seem pretty insignificant to me but to her it was a crisis.
I found myself wishing this book was actually within the point of view of her sister Helen. She seems like someone I could relate to more and she wasn't so dramatic it seemed plus I really wanted to hear her take on the way her mother was treating her and her sister.
Speaking of which the way her mother treated both of them was honestly very uncomfortable. It was not pleasant and very controlling and Mom you can tell it's going to cause her kids to need therapy later in life. It wasn't addressed as much as it should have been.
Surprisingly this book didn't have instalove. However I think I can associate that to it being written in the 70s and not in the 21st century. If it had been I think it would have been with the character Buddy. At first he seemed a bit like a jerk, and then he did seem sweet the way he didn't treat Deenie differently after she got the brace on but then in the end he was just another creep and the guy who took things way too far too fast especially for the age demographic that this is targeted to.
Also this book touched on acceptance of pleasuring your body, and how it's all right for both boys and girls. Which I guess is a good message but the way it was executed was so strange and made me feel very uncomfortable. It seems completely random and the way it was talking about was just kind of really odd and it just seemed like she was trying to pack in another message into the book just to do it and it was really weird and probably could have been replaced with any other typical crisis of puberty topic.
I'm not sure I really like the message this book sends out. There's a lot going on and a lot to take in that isn't really covered well including signs of depression and eating disorders and mental illnesses as well as the way you can be expected to let a guy do certain things to you once you hit a certain age, which is not something I would want a 13 year old girl thinking is acceptable.
I am glad I read this so because it did help me get out of my reading slump a little bit I think and I'm glad to clear off a book that I had just purchased. Makes me feel productive lol.
Oh boy.. Ok. So I read "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" right when I was going through girly changes and I actually really enjoyed it. So I always kinda had it in my mind of Judy Blume being a great middle grade author. And I picked up this book thinking it's so short and I'm sure a pretty quick read, which it was. However, I was pretty disappointed in this book.
First of all Deenie is a really spoiled and whiney type of character. I was really hoping for some character development of some sort by the end of the book but to be honest I didn't see much. She was still over dramatic it seemed and was snapping at everyone for everything. I can understand why she would be upset with her getting scoliosis, butt some of the things she got upset about were really ridiculous and childish, even for a middle grade book. For example the undershirt that she had to wear, it would seem pretty insignificant to me but to her it was a crisis.
I found myself wishing this book was actually within the point of view of her sister Helen. She seems like someone I could relate to more and she wasn't so dramatic it seemed plus I really wanted to hear her take on the way her mother was treating her and her sister.
Speaking of which the way her mother treated both of them was honestly very uncomfortable. It was not pleasant and very controlling and Mom you can tell it's going to cause her kids to need therapy later in life. It wasn't addressed as much as it should have been.
Surprisingly this book didn't have instalove. However I think I can associate that to it being written in the 70s and not in the 21st century. If it had been I think it would have been with the character Buddy. At first he seemed a bit like a jerk, and then he did seem sweet the way he didn't treat Deenie differently after she got the brace on but then in the end he was just another creep and the guy who took things way too far too fast especially for the age demographic that this is targeted to.
Also this book touched on acceptance of pleasuring your body, and how it's all right for both boys and girls. Which I guess is a good message but the way it was executed was so strange and made me feel very uncomfortable. It seems completely random and the way it was talking about was just kind of really odd and it just seemed like she was trying to pack in another message into the book just to do it and it was really weird and probably could have been replaced with any other typical crisis of puberty topic.
I'm not sure I really like the message this book sends out. There's a lot going on and a lot to take in that isn't really covered well including signs of depression and eating disorders and mental illnesses as well as the way you can be expected to let a guy do certain things to you once you hit a certain age, which is not something I would want a 13 year old girl thinking is acceptable.
I am glad I read this so because it did help me get out of my reading slump a little bit I think and I'm glad to clear off a book that I had just purchased. Makes me feel productive lol.