To my memory I’d never read a SVH book before, nor really desired to. While on zine tour my concentration was quite poor, so I took Celia up on her offer to lend me the first in the SVH series. It was about all I could take--both reading concentration wise and SVH wise. I can’t entirely decide if it’s good-bad or bad-bad, but my lack of interest in number two leads me to believe it’s the latter.
The characters are just too black and white--Jessica is too horrible and Liz too perfect. If it weren’t for the high school football field insurrection I would have found it entirely intolerable I think.
CATS: No!
Quotations:
“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,” Todd yelled. “We’re going to stage a sit-in right on the football field.”
reviewdate:
Jul 4 2011
isn:
0-553-27567-4
Comments
laura (not verified)
Mon, 07/11/2011 - 4:56pm
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I read one (possibly that
I read one (possibly that one?) when I was a kid because I figured then I'd be able to say legitimately that they were terrible.
c-dog (not verified)
Mon, 07/11/2011 - 8:44pm
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Dear Jenna, Please stop
Dear Jenna, Please stop harassing me about sending you #2. You can't have it until I'm done. xo
jenna
Tue, 07/12/2011 - 10:40pm
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Now if you told me you had
Now if you told me you had some Sweet Valley slash, I'd be all over it.
amanda (not verified)
Fri, 07/15/2011 - 10:56am
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Whew. We were explicitly
Whew. We were explicitly forbidden to read them (I wonder why my mother wouldn't want her daughters wallowing in Sweet Valley High ...) so when my sister was grounded over spring break she snuck an entire monster shopping bag full of Sweet Valley books (Twins, High, I think there was a third series) into our closet. Between my primary interest in following my sister around and my secondary interest in all things forbidden, I read every last one right along side her.
I think they were part of where I developed the theory that if I lived someplace normal, I could be normal like my Kansas cousins (Cheerleading, Tennis Team, Class President. Tasha was the real deal) and then I would have friends who amounted to more than tagging along with the punk kids while they did a lot more drugs than I could actually stomach and still get my homework done.
It took me until college to realize that my problem was just that I needed a few friends who were a little more like me to settle into my own skin.
So my mom was right: SVH did not make a positive contribution to my emerging sense of self.
jenna
Fri, 07/15/2011 - 2:50pm
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A friend we have in common
A friend we have in common forbade me to give them to her daughter for much the same reason, I think, which is how Celia ended up with them.
But you know, it wouldn't have surprised me to hear that you were on the tennis team or class president.