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A review by thewallflower00
Blubber by Judy Blume
3.0
I'm unsure what to think about this book. This and "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret" are the two titles everyone associates with Blume. I didn't know what it was about going in. YA titles often have bizarre names mostly to intrigue the reader, like "How to Eat Fried Worms" and "My Teacher is an Alien". Not this one.
Going in blind, I was allowed to judge the characters with impartiality. The main character, Jill, starts as whiny and spoiled, and doesn't get any better when she starts targeting the title character (a fat girl).
The bullying is instigated by ringleader Wendy, and the things she and Jill (and others) do to "Blubber" are absolutely atrocious, like trapping her in the bathroom and attempting to strip her. The story culminates in a mock trial of "Blubber" that becomes too unfair not to protest. For her insolence, Jill becomes the bullied. The story ends with friendships manipulated and changed, as often happens in elementary school.
When I realized the story was about bullying, and that the bully is the protagonist, I wasn't sure how to react. I had automatic lack of sympathy for her, which I can't believe Blume didn't expect. Then I started thinking, is this a cautionary tale? A walk in the other person's shoes? No, because the reader doesn't understand why Jill started bullying, or anyone in fact, and there's no consequences from it. Is it like "The Great Gatsby" where you're not supposed to sympathize with the characters but observe the decline and fall?
And I can't help reading this book without applying what we now know about bullying and girls. I'm not saying the book is out of date. Far from it, it's actually close to home. But you've also got more knowledge on the subject like Queen Bees and Wannabes, cyberbullying, school shootings, bullycide, causes of bullying, interventions, scapegoating, and so on.
Jill's bully persona doesn't match her non-school persona (she collects stamps, for God's sake). The bully's perspective didn't feel plausible (a book that did do it well was the sequel to "My Teacher is an Alien"). And in the book, it never goes beyond the circle of girls. The events feel disconnected, like "a bunch of stuff that happens".
I guess my two biggest complaints are that, except for Jill, we never get out of the bully cliche (even though Blume says she wrote this based on what was going on her daughter's class at the time -- maybe this is the kind of stuff that actually happens to girls and not boys). It's more about the instances of bullying. They're not well-developed, complex, or have backstory. The worst people on Earth are the most fascinating. The other complaint is that no one seems to learn anything by the end, except that "war changes things". Maybe that's the lesson we're supposed to learn?
Going in blind, I was allowed to judge the characters with impartiality. The main character, Jill, starts as whiny and spoiled, and doesn't get any better when she starts targeting the title character (a fat girl).
The bullying is instigated by ringleader Wendy, and the things she and Jill (and others) do to "Blubber" are absolutely atrocious, like trapping her in the bathroom and attempting to strip her. The story culminates in a mock trial of "Blubber" that becomes too unfair not to protest. For her insolence, Jill becomes the bullied. The story ends with friendships manipulated and changed, as often happens in elementary school.
When I realized the story was about bullying, and that the bully is the protagonist, I wasn't sure how to react. I had automatic lack of sympathy for her, which I can't believe Blume didn't expect. Then I started thinking, is this a cautionary tale? A walk in the other person's shoes? No, because the reader doesn't understand why Jill started bullying, or anyone in fact, and there's no consequences from it. Is it like "The Great Gatsby" where you're not supposed to sympathize with the characters but observe the decline and fall?
And I can't help reading this book without applying what we now know about bullying and girls. I'm not saying the book is out of date. Far from it, it's actually close to home. But you've also got more knowledge on the subject like Queen Bees and Wannabes, cyberbullying, school shootings, bullycide, causes of bullying, interventions, scapegoating, and so on.
Jill's bully persona doesn't match her non-school persona (she collects stamps, for God's sake). The bully's perspective didn't feel plausible (a book that did do it well was the sequel to "My Teacher is an Alien"). And in the book, it never goes beyond the circle of girls. The events feel disconnected, like "a bunch of stuff that happens".
I guess my two biggest complaints are that, except for Jill, we never get out of the bully cliche (even though Blume says she wrote this based on what was going on her daughter's class at the time -- maybe this is the kind of stuff that actually happens to girls and not boys). It's more about the instances of bullying. They're not well-developed, complex, or have backstory. The worst people on Earth are the most fascinating. The other complaint is that no one seems to learn anything by the end, except that "war changes things". Maybe that's the lesson we're supposed to learn?