**Read and Reviewed for the Judy Blume 2012 Challenge **
You won't enjoy this one if you don't take it as a form of humor, and you have to remember that not much is really going to happen action wise. Like most of Blumes stuff it's completely character-focused rather than plot-filled. Sandy is a likeable character and funny...I think I would read and enjoy ANY book Blume wrote because I just dig her style that much. This one was a light, demented read. I have to be clear it wasn't a masterpiece like most of her younger stuff.
Her husband is a nagging, controlling bore, although probably less than than her guilt-trip inducing mother and sister. Everywhere she turns she's controlled and it's frustrating, especially at the end when you see that's just the way it is, and was, for women of the times then. Despite a dirty mind and spiraling libido, sex is limited. When it's shown it's usually for an emotional reason ---- you enter an encounter where it looks as if it's just for kicks, but then turns into an emotionally overwhelmed man needing a sympathetic ear. At first it seems like the book was a cute, funny horndog fest, but it became clear after awhile it showed how much emptiness was really inside the character.
The man masturbating on the lawn is yet another random clue about how twisted this suburbia was sexually!
Overall it's a recommended read if you're a Blume fan or are in the mood for something light, simply, and funny. It's not an award-winner by any means and something to avoid if you're in the mood for relationship complexity.
Book Quotes:
“Keep busy, Sandy ... when you're busy you don't have time to brood ..."
"Life should be more than keeping busy."
"Maybe it should be, but for most of us, it's not.”
Extras from Author's Site:
Judy Blume's full introduction to the novel
Similar Reviews:
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