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A review by finesilkflower
Claudia Gets Her Guy by Ann M. Martin
3.0
Claudia hears that Stacey and Jeremy broke up and it’s back on the train to Sweaty Palm Village. Although Jeremy gives her no more attention now than any hi-bye friend, Claudia decides to put it all on the line and ask him to the Valentine’s dance. Shy, she writes him a note, telling him she’s admired him for a long time; not wanting to risk misspelling Jeremy’s name, she addresses it “To a good friend.” She slips the note in Jeremy’s locker, but Kristy reports that Jeremy didn’t find it, and Claudia realizes she put it in the wrong locker: Alan Gray’s! Kristy and Claudia enlist Cary Retlin to help them break into Alan’s locker and retrieve the note, but by this time, the note is already gone.
Alan pulls Claudia aside and tells her he’s touched that she saw beneath his goony prankster surface to the incredibly tender soul beneath, and of course he will go to the dance with her. He’s so thrilled to have landed such a hottie that he begins showering her with presents, such as extravagant flowers and a romantic lunch date in an empty classroom. Claudia has never been attracted to Alan, but she is impressed by the presents. This turn of events has its downsides, though: the BSC, especially Kristy, are shocked and horrified that she’s dating Alan; Jeremy’s suddenly hurt that Claudia’s showing interest in somebody else; and Cary Retlin talks to Claudia like a Dutch uncle, telling her not to break poor Alan’s heart. At least Stacey and Claudia are back on good terms; back with Ethan, Stacey is no longer threatened by the daily prospect of losing fickle Jeremy, and of course she is perfectly happy to help Claudia go after Alan.
At the dance, Claudia actually has fun with Alan. Jeremy cuts in, and Claudia enjoys dancing with him, but it doesn’t feel as good as she daydreamed it would. She realizes she’d rather spend time with Alan, because although he is still an unattractive jerk whose only redeeming feature is his wallet, Jeremy is a huge douche. I mean... romance!
In a subplot, Claudia volunteers to teach a Japanese immigrant family English. Erica works with her. We hear a little more about Erica’s adoption-search plotline; I wonder if this was meant to be a longterm thing for a future book, had the Friends Forever series not been rightfully canned, or if it was just like, “Frig, gotta find something for freaking Erica to do. Uhhh.... what did we make up for her last time?”
This is basically the same plot a #113 Claudia Makes Up Her Mind, only in that one, both the cool-guy and dork love interests were well-drawn, compelling characters with positives and negatives, inviting the reader to have an opinion and to root for one or the other. In this book it seems clear that the only person the author cares less about than Jeremy is Alan.
At least Alan Gray is a longtime BSC fixture and gets plenty of hijinks in other books. I actually like the turn of events of Claudia dating him and it could have been done really sexy with a little effort. But Alan is barely a character in this book. While he often gets background flavor stuff to do in other books where he’s not even important, here, he’s not even mentioned until chapter 4, when he’s offhandly introduced in a parenthetical aside. It’s both insulting to him and just odd storytelling. Cary Retlin, a minor player in this story, is introduced in the same paragraph and gets several sentences of description. Jeremy, meanwhile, gets plenty of screentime, but he’s a giant zero of a human being.
Seriously, what is Jeremy’s deal? He’s taken up a massive amount of emotional space in both Claudia’s and Stacey’s books, but we still know nothing about him. All he does in this book is (1) be good-looking; (2) not talk to Claudia; and (3) get all huffy and snitty when Claudia shows interest in another guy, despite showing zero interest in her, having rejected her in the past, being five minutes out of a relationship with the girl he rejected her for, and otherwise having given every indication that she is at best friendzoned. I find it interesting that he doesn’t show any interest in Claudia until after she’s safey embroiled with Alan, suggesting that he never would have risked actually having to date her. He just seems to want credit for liking her. “Hi, Claudia, bye Claudia, hi Claudia, gotta run, Claudia, really got this thing I’ve got to get to Claudia, oh, you’re with another guy? Darn... Missed my chance!” Does he feel bad that he didn’t return her affections before, or does he just get off on being the unattainable object of desire?
Timing: It's Valentine's time again!
Revised Timeline: February of the third academic year post-grad. At least if time has passed it’s conceivable that high school class clown Alan could have substantiatively changed. Also, become rich.
Alan pulls Claudia aside and tells her he’s touched that she saw beneath his goony prankster surface to the incredibly tender soul beneath, and of course he will go to the dance with her. He’s so thrilled to have landed such a hottie that he begins showering her with presents, such as extravagant flowers and a romantic lunch date in an empty classroom. Claudia has never been attracted to Alan, but she is impressed by the presents. This turn of events has its downsides, though: the BSC, especially Kristy, are shocked and horrified that she’s dating Alan; Jeremy’s suddenly hurt that Claudia’s showing interest in somebody else; and Cary Retlin talks to Claudia like a Dutch uncle, telling her not to break poor Alan’s heart. At least Stacey and Claudia are back on good terms; back with Ethan, Stacey is no longer threatened by the daily prospect of losing fickle Jeremy, and of course she is perfectly happy to help Claudia go after Alan.
At the dance, Claudia actually has fun with Alan. Jeremy cuts in, and Claudia enjoys dancing with him, but it doesn’t feel as good as she daydreamed it would. She realizes she’d rather spend time with Alan, because although he is still an unattractive jerk whose only redeeming feature is his wallet, Jeremy is a huge douche. I mean... romance!
In a subplot, Claudia volunteers to teach a Japanese immigrant family English. Erica works with her. We hear a little more about Erica’s adoption-search plotline; I wonder if this was meant to be a longterm thing for a future book, had the Friends Forever series not been rightfully canned, or if it was just like, “Frig, gotta find something for freaking Erica to do. Uhhh.... what did we make up for her last time?”
This is basically the same plot a #113 Claudia Makes Up Her Mind, only in that one, both the cool-guy and dork love interests were well-drawn, compelling characters with positives and negatives, inviting the reader to have an opinion and to root for one or the other. In this book it seems clear that the only person the author cares less about than Jeremy is Alan.
At least Alan Gray is a longtime BSC fixture and gets plenty of hijinks in other books. I actually like the turn of events of Claudia dating him and it could have been done really sexy with a little effort. But Alan is barely a character in this book. While he often gets background flavor stuff to do in other books where he’s not even important, here, he’s not even mentioned until chapter 4, when he’s offhandly introduced in a parenthetical aside. It’s both insulting to him and just odd storytelling. Cary Retlin, a minor player in this story, is introduced in the same paragraph and gets several sentences of description. Jeremy, meanwhile, gets plenty of screentime, but he’s a giant zero of a human being.
Seriously, what is Jeremy’s deal? He’s taken up a massive amount of emotional space in both Claudia’s and Stacey’s books, but we still know nothing about him. All he does in this book is (1) be good-looking; (2) not talk to Claudia; and (3) get all huffy and snitty when Claudia shows interest in another guy, despite showing zero interest in her, having rejected her in the past, being five minutes out of a relationship with the girl he rejected her for, and otherwise having given every indication that she is at best friendzoned. I find it interesting that he doesn’t show any interest in Claudia until after she’s safey embroiled with Alan, suggesting that he never would have risked actually having to date her. He just seems to want credit for liking her. “Hi, Claudia, bye Claudia, hi Claudia, gotta run, Claudia, really got this thing I’ve got to get to Claudia, oh, you’re with another guy? Darn... Missed my chance!” Does he feel bad that he didn’t return her affections before, or does he just get off on being the unattainable object of desire?
Timing: It's Valentine's time again!
Revised Timeline: February of the third academic year post-grad. At least if time has passed it’s conceivable that high school class clown Alan could have substantiatively changed. Also, become rich.