By: Jessica Pierce
(AKA: J. M. Morgan, Morgan Fields & Jill Morgan)
Genre: Young Adult,
Horror, Thriller, Suspense
Things are tight for the Baker family. Having recently
divorced, Laura is trying to make ends meet on her single income as a librarian.
To bring in some extra funds she decides to rent out a room in the house to a handsome
older seminary student named Ethan Palmer. Much to her sixteen-year-old daughter,
Christy’s dismay, Ethan is given her room, forcing her to bunk with her ten-year-old
sister, Charlotte. While the rent Ethan pays is helpful, there is something
about him that unsettles Christy, making her feel unsafe in her own home. In
order to protect her family, Christy decides to investigate Ethan and determine
whether he is the creep she thinks he is.
The SCREAM series, like Point Horror, is a collection of
young adult horror/thriller novels from the early 1990s that have no connection
to one another. The novels are contributed by various young adult authors and
each one can be read as a standalone story. As there is no reason to read them
in any sort of order, I picked this one as the plot sounded the most
interesting.
The story definitely feels heavily inspired by the 1987 film
The Stepfather mixed with the “Unhinged House Guest/Roommate” trope
popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s so it doesn’t exactly tread new
ground. While it is fairly predictable, the characters are well rounded and the
story still manages to retain tension and suspense.
We know from the book’s summary and the blurb at the
beginning of the novel that Ethan definitely is dangerous, so it’s a matter of
seeing how quickly the family he’s staying with realizes this and what happens
to them once they do. Christy is the only one in the house that picks up on
Ethan’s weird behavior but can’t get anyone with authority to listen to her
suspicions. She has to go into Nancy Drew mode if she has any hope of finding
peace again.
I really liked Christy. For an early ‘90s YA horror heroine
she’s developed pretty well. She makes no effort to hide that she’s struggling
with her parents’ divorce or her anger at having to give up her bedroom, both
of which are used against her frequently when she raises her concerns about
Ethan. However, she is fairly cognizant of her emotions for a sixteen-year-old
girl, and often doubts her own instincts for the same reasons. Despite her
doubts she pushes forward in her investigation of Ethan because she cannot
ignore the nagging feeling that something is wrong and she feels the need to
protect her family however she can. She even proves herself to be a bit of a
badass in the end, so take that, Ethan!
Thankfully Christy isn’t entirely alone in her probe into
the real Ethan Palmer. Her two best friends Keith and Lisa are by her side most
of the way. Despite a small fight between Lisa and Christy about 75% into the
story, both friendships are strong and these two supply Christy with the
support she needs to take action. Lisa always makes time for Christy, even if
she’s about to run out the door for a date or didn’t get to sleep until 2:30
AM, but Christy needs her at 6:00 AM. She does get frustrated that the Ethan
debacle seems to be taking over Christy’s life and misses her friend, which is
why they fight, but in the end they make up as best friends always do. Keith
treads the line between supportive friend and possible love interest, but
nothing really develops between him and Christy aside from some minor, shy
flirting. While Lisa even begins to doubt Christy at one point, Keith never
does, and that is something that works in Christy’s favor many times throughout
the course of the novel. (Side note, I’m still tagging this as a healthy love
interest as there is something there, just not acted upon within the context of
the story. Also, we love a male friend side-character that is a genuine, good
person without an overt romance plot.)
The character that caused me the most rage aside from Ethan
himself (oh, we’ll get to him!) is Laura, Christy’s mother. This whole thing
could have been avoided if she wasn’t so dense. I get that money was very
tight, but what single woman invites a strange man into her home almost
immediately with two young daughters in the house? There didn’t seem to even be
twenty four hours between Laura talking to Ethan about the room and him moving
in. Did she even check his references? Also, who the hell were his references
since no one seems to know him? (I’m picturing Ethan with multiple phone hook
ups ala Bobby Singer in Supernatural, answering each one pretending to
be someone else.)
Just Replace the Government Agency Names with "References"
I know that Laura is also reeling from the divorce and
having her husband run off with another woman and that she was super
vulnerable, making it incredibly easy for a smooth talking sociopath to slither
into her good graces. However, if your teenage daughter is telling you that the
boarder creeps her out and has come into her room at night, maybe listen to her
concerns, and not, I don’t know, start dating the dude? Yes he’s attractive and
makes you feel wanted or “flattered” as you call it, but your daughter is
visibly terrified of the man.
“I think you’d like something to be weird about him. You’re
looking for trouble where there isn’t any.” (p. 33)
“It’s not that I doubt you’re telling me the truth, at least
what you think is the truth … Only it was very late. You were sleepy … You were
asleep. The fire engines woke you. Maybe, if you were dreaming then, you were
dreaming earlier.” (p. 59)
“… He’s been very understanding about the way you’ve been acting
since he’s been with us. You’ve made it pretty miserable for him, Christy.”
“Mom, he scares me!”
“I’m sorry about that, I really am. I wish things could be the way they used to
be when your father and I were together, but I can’t make that happen. I know
our divorce has been hard on you. Things have changed in your life. I wish I
could make them better. Christy, you love your father, I understand. But, you
have to understand something. Our financial situation isn’t the same as it used
to be. We need the money we get from renting the room. Without it we can’t
afford to live here.” (p. 68)
You can’t rent the room to anyone else?
“He’d like to be friends with you too. I know you love your
dad. No one’s trying to change that. It’s just … Ethan wants to be someone
special in our family. He’s told me how important we’ve become to him. I’d like
it if you could give him a chance. Try a little harder to be his friend,
Christy.”
“I don’t need him as a friend.”
“Then, do it for me. Maybe I need him. Maybe I don’t want to be alone the rest
of my life. Your dad has his girlfriend. Be fair. Maybe I need someone for me.”
(p. 89)
Ugh, the guilt trip and the gaslighting. No one said you
couldn’t date, Laura! Just maybe don’t date the guy that scares your teenage
daughter? I don’t know, just a thought.
I don’t want to victim blame. Laura was in a very emotionally
vulnerable state and Ethan is a charming man that preyed upon her. He also
rapidly becomes emotionally abusive to her. For that, I am empathetic. However,
her teenage daughter has told her multiple times that she’s scared of the man
and cited numerous examples, from the way he looks at her to him coming into
her room at night to him getting physical with her, and he even admits to doing
some of these things. He just finds a way to twist them so Laura sees the
events the way he wants her to and she falls for it every time!
He Literally Corners Christy Like This in Her Room. But That's Totally Normal, Right Laura?
I’m sorry, nothing
you say is going to make me okay with you in my child’s room and especially not
if you lay hands on her. If this were my Mom, the guy would be lucky to only be
kicked out of the house and not end up six feet under. (Of course, my Mom would
never let a strange man into the house in the first place, no matter how hard
up for money we were or how attractive and charming he was, but I digress.)
This brings us to the man himself, Ethan Palmer. I hate him
so much. He’s undeniably the villain. As aforementioned, the book
makes no attempt to hide what he is. He does, for the sake of Laura and
Charlotte, but completely drops the mask around Christy most of the time. He
blatantly stares at her, calls her ‘special,’ seems aware of her every move in
the house, yells at and manhandles her when he gets her alone, listens in on
her phone calls, etc. It’s obvious he gets a sadistic pleasure out of playing
with Christy’s head and turning her family against her. He’s cocky, thinking
that because he has Laura wrapped around his finger there’s nothing Christy can
do to stop him. Oh, but sir, you’re in a Young Adult horror novel and Christy
is the heroine. You should know better than to underestimate her.
Christy's About to Channel Her Inner Buffy Summers
The plot itself, though predictable, flowed well and kept me
reading to find out what happened next. I often had an idea what Ethan would
do, but Christy’s movements occasionally surprised me. She was smart and she
was aided by good friends who would help her brainstorm what to do. She makes other people aware of her current situation – her mother
might not take her seriously, but other people suspect she might be onto
something. Her investigation into Ethan was more interesting than his increasingly
erratic behavior, but seeing how the two combined and played out was
entertaining.
It was easy to get emotionally invested in this one as I
cared about Christy and I was so frustrated for her. Having the advantage the
book’s synopsis and blurb provided, I knew Christy was onto something and
wanted her to succeed in protecting her family from Ethan. It’s a product of
its time for sure, and a bit derivative of popular horror and thriller
films of the era, but I still enjoyed this quick little read.
7/10
To view my journey through this book or see what I'm reading next, feel free to friend and/or follow me on Goodreads.
Hannah Stuart is having a rough day. She finally got up the
nerve to break up with her abusive boyfriend of six months and she just wants
to get home and be done with the day. Unfortunately there is a blizzard rolling
in and Hannah’s parents are out of town, leaving her in charge of her younger
sister Meg. As the storm hits and the night wears on, Hannah’s stress levels
are on the rise. Between threatening phone calls from her ex, anxiety about
keeping warm should they lose power, and a news report about an escaped killer
on the loose, Hannah fears it’s going to be difficult to get through. On top of this, at 2:00 AM, two injured young men appear at their door,
begging for help. The girls reluctantly let them in, but as the storm stretches over the next few days,
strange things begin to happen – food disappearing along with the axe from the
woodpile, creepy pranks of a violent nature, and who the hell built that giant snowman
in the front yard? Is it Hannah’s enraged ex boyfriend looking to terrorize
her? Is it the escaped killer? Or is one or both of the injured young men the
girls have allowed in their home not what they seem?
I originally read this novel approximately nineteen years
ago and oddly felt the urge to reread
it recently.
It’s me, hi, I’m the old fart, it’s me
It must be the winter setting that set this off, but encouragement from fellow Goodreads user and author, Nenia Campbell, pushed me to pick it up again. It’s fitting that I wound up finishing this reread of a novel about two girls isolated in a blizzard while in the middle of one myself. I remembered enjoying this story as a fourteen-year-old and hoped it held up, despite forgetting most details. For the most part, it did.
One thing I didn’t remember was what a cranky jerk Hannah
is. On the one hand, I understand, I get snippy and easily irritated when I’m
anxious too, and she is under a lot of stress. I get it, and I get that she’s
only seventeen so her emotions aren’t going to be regulated as well as a fully
developed adult’s. However, she’s quick to verbally hit Meg where it hurts and
physically attempt to hit Jonathon and Lance when they say things that upset
her. (Ninety-five percent of the time this leads to the guy pinning her down …
maybe she just has a kink for being manhandled by attractive men.
Understandable, but girl, use your words!)
Then there’s the fact that, for
about eighty percent of the novel she refuses to believe her ex could be behind
any of the strange goings-on. (Babe, he literally threatened to kill you and
could have been the only one to leave that disgusting ‘gift’ in your car.) When
she finds his abandoned car and gets upset that he might be injured and/or lost
in the snow, I was like, “Oh, honey…” When she gets pissed that the others care
more about finding the dog than making sure her piece of shit ex isn’t in
danger, I wanted to smack her upside the head myself. If I had to choose
between helping the family dog that loves everyone and the ex that threatened
to murder me, that bastard can freeze to death, I’m choosing the innocent dog. If my ex is out there we'll find his body in the spring.
The abusive ex as I cuddle up with the dog inside.
This brings us to the injured parties in question, Jonathon
and Lance. They are a little off-putting right from the start, ready to break
the door down if the girls didn’t provide them shelter. Their relationship with
the girls varies throughout the story, with Meg innocently trusting them for
the most part and Hannah being cautiously suspicious.
Jonathon is the more personable of the two – kind,
good-humored despite his severe leg injury, gentle yet stubborn, almost to the
point of self-sacrificing martyrdom. His fair hair and big blue eyes seem to
lure Hannah in, and the two do seem to have great chemistry, even kissing a few
times. They could possibly have a healthy relationship, if he doesn’t turn out
to be a murderer, and she gets her anger under control and stops trying to hit
people. (Although maybe that’s foreplay for them … their first kiss does happen after she takes a swing at him and he’s pinning her arms between their bodies.)
He does appear to be the more trustworthy of the duo, but
doesn’t come off as entirely innocent either. He’s very shifty when it comes to
personal details and does say creepy things on occasion, often reminding Hannah
of just how isolated she and Meg are.
“ ' – your parents.’ Jonathon’s voice sounded softly in her
ear, and Hannah whirled with a gasp.
“’What did you say?’
“She hadn’t heard him leave the corner, hadn’t even heard him cross the hall.
Now his blue eyes gazed into hers, and as he leaned forward, one sleeve lightly
touched her arm.
“ 'Your parents,’ he spoke again. ‘Don’t you think you should wake them up?’
“It comes to her then, in a slow, chilling realization, that he knew her parents weren’t here – that he
knew she and Meg were completely alone – that somehow, somehow he knew – " (p. 34)
“ 'As soon as the snow lets up. The road crews will be out
here early, you know … to make sure we’re all right.’ …
“ 'As isolated as you are?’ he murmured. ‘I don’t think so.’” (p. 37)
“You girls are stranded out here … It just wouldn’t be right
to leave you two alone.” (p. 65)
“ '[My boyfriend] is coming over today,’ Hannah repeated
emphatically. ‘And bringing some of his friends. They’re all football players,
and my boyfriend’s extremely jealous.’ …
“ 'Like the road crews? Look, Hannah, your boyfriend won’t be coming today. You
know it, and I know it. So why keep playing games?’" (p. 80)
This scene was playing in my head while reading the last exchange.
Lance is much more suspicious from the start. When the guys
first arrive at the house, Hannah doesn’t have much interaction with him due to
his head injury. It’s later that evening when he wakes up that they have their
first encounter, where he puts her in a stranglehold from behind. Solid start
to whatever relationship will occur between you two, bro. Everything about him
is darker than Jonathon, from his shoulder-length hair, to his broody and
intimidating demeanor, to the willingness to get physical and the weird things
he says.
He takes a particular interest in the story of the escaped
killer as Meg relays what she saw on the news and he’s the one that decides he
and Jonathon need to stay and protect them. The fact that he does seem to take
this role seriously works in his favor, especially when it comes to Meg. With
Hannah, he gets sick of her shit pretty quickly, and honestly, between her
attitude, the amount of times she runs off into the storm, and the amount of
times she tries to hit him, I don’t entirely blame him. I don’t entirely blame
her either though, because I feel like he enjoys being a bit of a jerk to her.
“She ran for the hall, jumping back with a scream as she
collided with Lance in the doorway.
“ 'Looking for your sister?’ he asked, and Hannah froze, her heart leaping into
her throat.
“ 'Where is she?’ Hannah demanded. ‘Where’s Meg?’ She tried to step around him,
but he moved sideways at the same time. To her fury, she found herself trapped
between Lance and the wall.
“Hannah looked up at him, fighting back panic …
“ 'If you don’t let me go,’ Hannah threatened, ‘I’ll –'
“ 'No one’s holding you,’ Lance said. He lifted his arms at his sides, and
Hannah suddenly realized that he’d backed away. Flushing angrily, she shoved
past him and ran up to her room.” (p. 74-75)
“… she tried again, hating herself for being flustered,
hating him even more for knowing it. ‘Get off of me,’ she said sharply.
“Lance seemed to consider this a moment, looking down at her with a relentless
stare. Hannah felt her breath quickening – her heart racing. Once more she
tried to move, once more she stopped, all too aware of his body on hers. Then
she saw one corner of his mouth curl in a sardonic smile.
“'You know …” Lance murmured, 'if I wasn’t so sure what an in-control person
you are … I’d swear you were blushing.’
“ 'Let me go!’ Hannah screamed, and tried to swing at him.
“Without warning, he pinned her hands to the ground. He was so incredibly
strong that Hannah felt a surge of panic go through her …” (p. 130-131)
One thing both men have in common is the offense they take
to the girls, particularly Hannah, suspecting one of them might be the escaped
killer. Um, guys, they are two teenage girls, stranded in the middle of nowhere
during a seemingly endless blizzard, who have heard news reports about an
escaped murderer headed their way and they have no idea who either of you are.
“’Look, I understand why you’re so nervous about us being
here, but what do I have to do to convince you we’re not going to tie you up,
rob your house, and have our way with you?’
“Hannah flushed deeply. ‘That’s not funny.’
“’No,’” Jonathon said solemnly. ‘It’s not funny. So I wish you’d stop making me
feel like a criminal.’” (p. 80)
Jonathon, how very Billy Loomis of you.
"What do I have to do to prove to you that I'm not a killer?"
Also, I don’t think
you can speak for Lance. The man has threatened to tie you up because you
insist on putting weight on your injured leg. With the amount of times Hannah
has wandered off into the blizzard or gotten violent with one of you, I’m sure
the thought of tying her up crossed his mind at least once.
While Jonathon acts like a kicked puppy about these suspicions,
Lance just gets angry and snide.
I guess his approach is the Mother Gothel method.
“Gasping, she felt Lance crush her down into the snow, and
his eyes flashed above her with a strange, dark light.
“ 'Oh, I forgot,’ he said quietly. ‘You don’t like being this close to escaped
killers, do you?’
“Hannah gasped in terror. She could see the tense lines of his cheeks, the
endless dark of his eyes. As she gazed up helplessly, she could feel her lips
moving, trying to get out the words.
“ 'I don’t know what you mean,’ she whispered. ‘I – I don’t know what you’re
talking about –'
“ 'Oh … I think you do.’
“ 'It’s – it’s just that I was on the roof – and I was so – so scared –'
“ 'You don’t know what scared is.’
“Without warning, he rolled off.
“ 'Oh. And by the way … I tried to start your car but nothing worked. Guess you
really are stranded now.’” (p. 131)
“ 'You were watching me!’
“ 'Watching you?’ Lance said slowly, as if considering the possibility. ‘If that was on my mind, a locked door
wouldn’t do you much good.’ (p. 172)
That’s really comforting, Lance. You say and do things like
those quoted above and then have the audacity to get angry when Hannah finds
you a little suspicious. And Jonathon, Mr. ‘I understand why you’re nervous,’
no, I really don’t think you do. Hannah described it pretty well.
“But no matter who those guys are, we still have to be
careful. Whoever they are, Meg and I are still alone with them – and if we act too
suspicious and scared, that could be dangerous … and if we act too nice and
trusting, that could be dangerous, too.” (p. 70)
This is one thing women and femme presenting individuals
talk about a lot – curtailing their behavior to best protect themselves.
This is often what has saved potential victims of serial killers – learning to
adapt to appease this person so you can escape. The same is often done by
victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment. You do what you
have to do to avoid being harmed as much as possible. Not knowing anything
about these men, and considering Lance got violent with her almost immediately,
it’s more than understandable that Hannah would be thinking like this.
Despite having read this book before, I couldn’t remember
most of it. However, that’s not very telling, as aforementioned, the first time
I read this was about nineteen years ago. I didn’t remember all the weird
things that our four central characters encountered or who the person behind
all of these scary occurrences turned out to be. I had the pleasure of being in
suspense all over again, and in that aspect, the story delivers. I didn’t
remember what happened next and couldn’t wait to find out – binge reading over
100 pages in one night. Despite being more annoyed by Hannah and still unsure
about both Jonathon and Lance, I did care enough about the central characters
to want them to survive and hoped that neither of the boys was the one
terrorizing the sisters.
Did it hold up? I think I’ll shave down my original rating
slightly. It is a fun, quick and enjoyable read that wasn’t too predictable,
even the second time around. It’s decent entertainment for a snowy afternoon,
being both short enough and suspenseful enough to be read in one sitting. I’m
glad I revisited it, and will probably do so again.
6.5/10
If you want to see my reading journey for this book or follow my future reading endeavors, you can friend or follow me on Goodreads.
If you grew up watching Nickelodeon in the mid-2000s or had
a sibling or child that did, you will most likely recognize Jennette McCurdy as
Samantha Puckett from iCarly and Sam & Cat. A moderately
successful child actress, Jennette and her character, Sam, have been beloved by
young millenials and elder gen Z for the past fifteen years. What no one knew
was behind the scenes and her plucky façade Jennette was struggling with many
issues and often suffering in silence. Her memoir describes her experiences
with childhood fame as well as abuse and exploitation at the hands of show
runners and her own mother - how damaging it can be and how she began to take
her life back.
The tongue-in-cheek title of this memoir may be off-putting
to some, but eight pages into the book and I was glad her Mom died too. Some
may wrongfully assume this is the memoir of a spoiled child star ungrateful for
the opportunities and success she’s had, many due to her mother’s diligent work
in getting her to them. This is not that. This is the story of a young woman
forced into a career she didn’t want by a narcissistic (Jennette’s words, I’m
not armchair diagnosing) mother wanting to live out her dreams of stardom
through her daughter. This is the story of someone who experienced emotional,
physical, and, arguably, sexual abuse at the hands of the one person she should
have been able to trust most in the world; a girl that would do whatever she
could to please the mother she idolized, often to her own detriment.
From a very young age Jennette was told she wasn’t good
enough. She was ridiculed for the way she acted while her mother struggled with
her first bout of Stage 4 breast cancer. Jennette was two years old at that
time, and would be reminded weekly of how awful she was at that time for many
years into her childhood. Her appearance was always a point of criticism:
“Each ‘good’ thing Mom says about
my ‘natural beauty’ is followed up by its downside which serves as the
justification for its need to be enhanced by a little good old-fashioned
store-bought beauty. And since it seems like every single ‘naturally beautiful’
thing about me comes with a downside that needs to be enhanced by store-bought
beauty, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m really naturally beautiful at all, or if
Mom’s use of the term ‘naturally beautiful’ goes in the same place where others
would just use the term ‘ugly.’” (p. 59)
It wasn’t just her beauty that her mother fixated on, but
her weight too. At age eleven her mother introduced her to calorie restriction
and starving themselves became a joint activity, Jennette quickly becoming
anorexic. This would be the beginning of her battle with disordered eating,
going from years of anorexia to a year or so of binge eating and settling on
bulimia before finally seeking treatment in her mid-to-late twenties.
I do want to highlight that there is A LOT of description of
these eating disorders, detailing many tricks she used to restrict calories
while deep into anorexia and the bingeing and purging of bulimia. If you
struggle with an eating disorder many passages of this book may be triggering
for you. Jennette describes the gory details of these disorders, the physical
impact they left on her body (a particular body-horror scene while she’s on a
plane to Australia for instance) as well as her mind. Thankfully her tricks and
tools for recovery are also discussed in the later chapters which some may find
beneficial.
Jennette was raised as a sheltered Mormon, homeschooled by
her mother, leaving her little contact with those outside her family and her church.
Her mother was her everything and she would do anything to please her. As
aforementioned, she got into acting because her mother wanted her to and
continued to act to please her mother, even if it was taking a toll on her own
wellbeing. This is what begins to create conflict in her mind with how she sees
and feels about her relationship with her mother.
“Fame has put a wedge between Mom
and me that I didn’t think was possible. She wanted this. And I wanted her to
have it. I wanted her to be happy. But now that I have it, I realize that she’s
happy and I’m not. Her happiness came at the cost of mine. I feel robbed and
exploited.” (p. 121)
“’Smile for the paparazzi,’ Mom
orders me.
“Without even spotting them, a vacant puppetlike smile crosses my face
automatically. My eyes are dead, my soul is nowhere to be found, but a smile is
on my face and that’s all that counts.” (p. 125)
When Jennette would tell her mother that she didn’t want to
act anymore her mother would start to cry or berate her until she agreed not to
quit. When Jennette showed interest in writing, even sitting down as a pre-teen
and drafting a 110 page screenplay, her mother shot her down instantly without
even reading the product of her daughter’s hard work. She refused to condone
anything that might take Jennette’s focus away from acting, never caring what
Jennette truly wanted.
“I absolutely prefer writing to
acting. Through writing, I feel power for the first time in my life. I don’t
have to say somebody else’s words. I can write my own. I can be myself for
once. I like the privacy of it. Nobody’s watching. Nobody’s judging. Nobody’s
weighing in. No casting directors or agents or managers or Mom. Just me and the
page. Writing is the opposite of performing to me. Performing feels inherently
fake. Writing feels inherently real.” (p. 86)
From the narrative, it appears Jennette’s iCarly
costar, Miranda Cosgrove, may have been one of her first real friends – and much
of that friendship was initially conducted online via AOL Instant Messenger (y’all
remember that fossil?) away from the prying eyes of Jennette’s mom. The more
Jennette tried to pull away and have a little space for herself, her
friendships and/or relationships, the more abusive and suffocating her mother became,
calling her names, throwing things at her, threatening to disown her, even
posting nasty things about her on her fan page. The amount of awful things this
woman did is heartbreaking and rage inducing.
Keeping Jennette so sheltered also left her at a
disadvantage in the dating world. She was never even taught about her own
period, never mind given any sort of “sex talk.” When Jennette was away from
her mother, the creepy dudes would come to prey. Between inappropriate age
gaps, coerced oral, and a first time where consent is so dubious it borders on
sexual assault, the majority of her experiences with men are awful. The only
decent guy she dates is Steven, who does manage to show her how a real
relationship should work.
The memoir does not get heavy into detail about the abuses
inflicted upon the young actors on Nickelodeon shows, despite some media
fanfare on the topic. The verbal abuse, manipulation, pitting of young actors against
each other, and the provision of alcohol to minors conducted by The Creator is
mentioned. When the stories of mistreatment leaked, Sam & Cat was
cancelled and Jennette was offered $300,000 in hush money which she refused.
While the exploitation and abuse from the studio and those
in charge of the shows she was on are definitely factors in her story, this memoir
is more about the conflicted relationship between a narcissistic mother and a
daughter that will sacrifice herself to make her mother happy. Half of the book
is prior to her mother’s passing, the other half dedicated to the process of
living life without her.
Following her mother’s death, Jennette’s eating disorder
worsens and she turns to alcohol to numb her pain and mixed feelings. No longer
having her mother in her life is both freeing and anxiety-inducing. She has to
get to know herself for the first time and that can be a challenge when you’ve
spent your entire life living for someone else.
“I tried desperately to understand
and know my mother – what made her sad, what made her happy, and on and on and
on – at the expense of ever really knowing myself. Without Mom around, I don’t
know what I want. I don’t know what I need. I don’t know who I am.” (p. 223)
Jennette doesn’t shy away from discussing her low points nor
her struggles with recovery and finding herself. It’s easy to empathize as she
describes her thoughts and feelings. There is no magical cure-all – recovery is
a lot of work that is never ending, regardless if it’s from trauma, eating
disorders, mental health conditions, addiction, or all of the above. It’s
something that will get easier with time and effort, but will never truly be
done. She also makes it clear that it will never happen until you make that
choice for yourself, because no one else can do that work for you.
“So much of my life has felt so out
of my control for so long. And I’m done with that being my reality.
“I want my life to be in my hands. Not an eating disorder’s or a casting
director’s or an agent’s or my mom’s. Mine.” (p. 293)
While the subject matter is heavy, the writing itself is
very easy to read. Jennette’s voice seems to grow as she does throughout the
chronology – from a naïve child eager to please to a grown woman taking her
life back. Her writing comes off as the age she was when whatever event she’s
describing was happening – like we’re getting her literal thoughts from that
moment in time. She does interweave some humor with the harsh reality that is
the life she reveals to us. However, this humor is more sarcastic barbs and dry
witticisms rather than the laugh-out-loud hilarity the book has been marketed
to have.
Both heartbreaking and enlightening, this memoir provides
insight into the life of a reluctant child star. A survivor of narcissistic
abuse that still battles with conflicting emotions surrounding her feelings on
her mother, Jennette details how she will always love her mother and does miss
her, but recognizes how toxic that relationship truly was. This is truly an
amazing work that had me just wanting to hug her due to everything she’s been
through. Highly recommended if you can handle the heavy subject matter.
8.5/10
Me to Jennette Throughout This Book
If you want to read through my real-time reactions while reading and keep up to date on what I'm currently reading, feel free to add and/or follow me on Goodreads.
As fifteen-year-old Sydney Riley prepares to spend the
summer with her starlet mother, Lila, in San Francisco, she has an uneasy
feeling about what the months ahead will hold. Chalking it up to nerves due to
the strained mother/daughter relationship as well as the anticipation of
meeting Lila’s new boyfriend, Sydney makes the trip anyway. What lies before
her in the coming months will be life-changing, making Sydney realize just how
important listening to one’s instincts can be.
This novel was a bit rough for me and I had to take several
breaks while reading it due to how triggering it was in some areas. It is basically the
novelized version of this meme:
I was thirteen; sixteen the first time it got really scary. See the Everyday Sexism Project for real life examples.
From the outset Sydney is
objectified by several men including Jake (Lila’s boyfriend), a young actor in
his twenties named Jay, and Shane, a man of about thirty working construction
on the house next door. There are also several instances where she has
uncomfortable interactions with strange men in public, such as a flasher, a douche
bag at a gas station and a creep in the park. The book, while documenting the
events of Sydney’s summer overall, is a commentary on the sexual
objectification of young girls and women. It is not comfortable, but it is very
necessary and done considerably well.
Sydney navigates through these experiences as she goes about
her summer, the events she encounters causing a dramatic coming-of-age by the
final chapter. She juggles the toxic relationship with her mother, turning
sixteen, first love, coming to terms with society’s bullshit standards of
purity versus sexuality, and witnessing a violent death all in the span of a
couple months. The fact that she is handling life as well as she is in the last
couple chapters is incredible, to be honest. This is an eye-opening trip for
her that leaves her much wiser at the expense of her girlhood and innocence.
“Give me back my girlhood
It was mine first”
- “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” by Taylor Swift
I really liked the characterization in this novel even if
some of the characters are complete garbage. I loved Sydney and found her very
relatable. I remember being the age she is during this narrative and learning
the same hard lessons she does – older men can be really gross, the magazines
geared toward young women do more to tear us down than build us up, and other
media we consume has not-so-great messages regarding those assigned female at
birth. The reader follows her as she matures, not just in age, but in wisdom as
she learns these lessons and finds the strength to deal with the events that
unfold over the course of the summer. Sydney is a smart girl and handles things
surprisingly well considering everything that happens throughout the story.
One lesson I’m thankful she doesn’t have to learn is how
awful first love can turn out to be. She meets Nicco, a cute, intelligent and
sweet seventeen-year-old boy, and they hit it off fairly quickly. Nicco is
probably the healthiest young adult love interest I’ve read about in recent
memory – hell, maybe the healthiest love interest in general that I’ve read
recently. He is responsible and treats Sydney with respect, never pushing her
for more than she is ready for and even cautioning her that they should take it
slow because ‘sex changes everything.’ He truly adores her and they have a cute
game they use to communicate unique to only them. At seventeen he is the only
male figure in her life that treats her well, which is sad, but also maybe a
commentary on how the younger generations of teenage boys and men are trying to
be better than those before them. I love them as a couple and was rooting for
them to last throughout the novel.
Sydney’s mother, Lila Shore, is a Hollywood actress and
fairly narcissistic. She puts everything before her daughter, especially her
career, status and any man she is presently involved with, while simultaneously
accusing Syd of being selfish and difficult. The fact that Lila has shipped Syd
off to a boarding school in Seattle where her only guardian is her grandmother,
Edwina (consequently, the only family member who seems to actually care about
Syd’s well-being), and only sees her on the holidays shows how little she cares
for her daughter. If that isn’t enough, their frequently strained interactions
throughout the summer and her actions in the final weeks of Sydney’s visit
prove it. Caletti does a great job of portraying the complicated nature of this
kind of toxic relationship between a parent and child – depicting Syd’s
conflicting feelings toward her mother, the love, the anger, the pity, the urge
to protect and the yearning for a normal relationship between them. Sydney’s
navigation through this relationship and ultimate decision regarding it at the
end of the story is relatable, understandable and heart breaking. Sydney is the
daughter of a narcissistic diva and a womanizing absentee piece of crap. She deserved
better than either of her parents could/would ever give her.
The last major character to examine is Jake, Lila’s current
beaux and an abusive, lecherous dumpster of a person.
Jake poses as a real
estate mogul and art collector, but it is pretty clear early on that he is into
shady dealings. From the minute he meets Sydney he’s touching her and making
her uncomfortable. He pressures her for a hug when she’s never met him before,
grabs her knee while they’re driving in his car, and makes comments like, “you
look a lot older,” while appraising her in a way that makes her feel he’s
staring at her breasts. (As someone who has had a large bust since age twelve
and has heard this comment and experienced this look many times, he was
DEFINITELY looking at her chest.)
Jake’s behavior toward Sydney only gets progressively
creepier as the story moves forward. He alternates between trying to be the “cool
adult” to gain her affections (taking her out driving at high speed in his Lamborghini,
pretending to respect her opinion on art, siding with her in arguments with her
mother) verging on grooming behavior, to trying to control her sexuality
(getting upset about her dating Nicco, getting furious over her getting a
hickey, calling her a slut and roughly manhandling her after catching her being
intimate with Nicco). He claims he is looking out for her but he’s obviously got
ulterior motives and it’s disgusting.
“Jake and me and sex – he didn’t care about me taking a big
step, or getting STDs, or using contraception. He was guarding my virtue, like
my body and spirit would spoil if I were touched. Like my body was his. To leer at and to control.” (pg.
309)
This man rants about how Sydney needs to respect herself and
acts like Nicco is a danger to her yet disregards her actual safety around
those far more dangerous. He tells her “you can’t let that stuff get to you”
regarding Sydney being flashed by some pervert on the street, to which she
rightfully thinks, “He didn’t have to
let that stuff get to him, because it would never happen to him.” (pg. 208) Jake
also takes Sydney along on one of his shady deals and leaves her alone in a
vehicle with one of his creepy associates that has been clearly leering at her.
This is immediately after he went off about the hickey Nicco gave her.
“’Jesus,’ His voice was full of disgust. ‘Is that a fucking
monkey bite? Have you and that kid been fooling around?’” (No… a ‘monkey bite’
is whatever that weird knee grab was you did to her in the car when you first
met. That mark on her neck is a hickey, also known as a love bite, and is a
perfectly normal thing. Stop being weird about it, you sound jealous of a
teenage boy.)
Heaven forbid a teenage girl makes out with her teenage boyfriend! The horror!
I hate this character, but he’s well written and exemplifies
the insidious attitudes patriarchal society has toward young women. The
interactions between Jake and Sydney depict how confusing, twisted and
dangerous these attitudes truly are. They make men feel like they are entitled
to women and make women feel either like a silenced object to be looked at and
preyed upon or like they have to conform in order to protect themselves and be
accepted. The effect they have on women is heavily felt by Sydney:
“… I felt pissed. The world hadn’t changed and this made me so
angry. It was the same as it had been for hundreds and hundreds of years, and
this filled me with fury. I was angry at the paintings of women who were only
bodies, who had faces with blank eyes and no mouths. I was angry at R. W. Wright,
and his sexy, punished girls, and men who leered, and boys who grabbed, and the
gaze, the gaze, the gaze. I was furious at the dick flashers and violent men,
the frauds, the thieves. I was pissed at how beauty was some highly prized
commodity – sold and sought and viciously envied, made to feel shameful. Pissed
at the guardians of your virginity who were as much creepers and controllers as
creepers and controllers.
“And I was furious at the mothers who encouraged you to be
sexy but not have sex, and ladies’ man fathers, who flirted with waitresses and
treated you like another unseen girl, because who were you supposed to be,
then? The you in the middle of all of this. The hopeful you, the wanting you,
the you with dreams, the unsteady you, the you that wants to feel everything
but isn’t allowed to, who doesn’t know what to make of this mess, and how could
you?
“… I made a decision, because our eyes do see, our mouths do
speak, and we are not objects. I am not.
“The women of my family, going back generations – we’d been
told lies about ourselves that we believed, and we’d even gone on to tell each
other those same lies. I could maybe put an end to that particular plotline.”
(pg. 353)
“This would be an ending where I listened to myself and used
my voice, no matter what the world said back.” (pg. 349)
I found this book powerful and enthralling, if a bit
triggering at times. The heroine is relatable and sympathetic. She becomes
stronger despite all she has to deal with and learns how to stand up for
herself despite her fears. Her romantic relationship is healthy and adorable.
The plot even takes a few turns I wasn’t quite expecting. The social commentary
regarding lecherous attitudes towards girls and young women is heavily woven
throughout and will make many uncomfortable, but it is a discussion we need to
be having.
8/10
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During the summer of 1965, two young women were brutally
murdered while camping in the woods. The police know who did it but cannot
prove it. They believe the killer is Ray Pye, the assistant manager at the
Starlight Motel, and regular deviant youth of their small New Jersey town. It
is also believed that Ray’s friends know more than they’re saying. Four years
later, the police are still watching Ray as he slowly comes undone, but no one
could have foreseen his final act or predicted the tragic loss left in his
wake.
The novel starts off right before the initial murders, with
Ray and his friends Tim and Jennifer hanging out at a campground. When Ray sees
two naked girls camping together, he decides he wants to kill them. What
follows is a scene of carnage as the girls are brutally shot numerous times
with Ray laughing through it all and Tim and Jennifer unable to stop him. They reluctantly
help him clean up the crime scene rather than running when they have the chance
and wind up wrapped up in the crime as accessories, fearing going to the police
due to their own involvement. Come 1969, they are both experiencing varying
degrees of guilt, but are somehow still loyal to Ray, despite the way he treats
them.
The three central characters are fairly awful people and
make their parts of the first 60% of the book hard to get through. The story is
told from the alternating perspectives of Ray, Tim, Jennifer, Detective Charlie
Schilling, retired Detective Ed Anderson, Sally, Katherine, and a stray cat
(yes you read that correctly).
The most disturbing chapters are those from Ray’s
perspective – the misogyny, the racism, the homophobia, and the narcissism. He’s
both incredibly conceited and ridiculously insecure – taking great pride in his
pretty face but wearing cowboy boots with crushed up cans inside to make up for
his height of 5’3”. (With the amount of times the boots are mentioned alongside
his difficulty walking in them, I was really hoping for a scene where they
cause him to fall. No such luck.)
I kept picturing this scene and hoping for it. *sigh*
He seems to think the world, and especially
women, owe him something, and he should be able to have whatever and whoever he
wants. When someone refuses to give him his way, disaster will strike.
Tim is Ray’s lapdog … I mean “best friend.” He is a weak,
cowardly boy who occasionally has quiet moments of rebellion against Ray’s
power over him, but, for the most part, has very little character development. Tim
would possibly be happy being Ray’s doormat for the rest of his life if he wasn’t
in love with Jennifer. Tim’s love for her is the only reason he does the one
good thing he’s ever done in his life. So in the end, he does the right thing
but for somewhat selfish reasons and I don’t feel any sympathy for him.
Jennifer is Ray’s girlfriend in the loosest sense of the
word. He has her over to have sex and expects her to be faithful to only him
while he hits on and/or has sex with every other attractive girl in town. She
puts up with it because she both loves and fears him, but it becomes apparent
her patience is wearing thin. She has a bit more development than Tim, and
there are moments when I am proud of her for standing up for herself against
Ray’s abuse, but overall she is still a crappy person by the end of the book.
At first I really did not like Katherine – she’s snotty and
rude, judgmental, and always seems to be looking for trouble. She’s also the
character with the most development, going from the spoiled rich girl with an
attitude to a young woman realizing the causes of her misdirected anger. She grows
from being nasty to other women to comforting and consoling them in frightening
situations. Katherine is also one hell of a fighter. Not only is she feisty on
her dates with Ray, giving him a run for his money, she defiantly stands up to
him during his final rampage as well, both with her sass and violence. (Shoulder
ramming him into the floor, beating him with the chair you’re tied to … Girl,
are you Black Widow?)
Sally seems like such a sweet person with a big heart. She’s
responsible, smart and kind, but also not willing to take crap from anyone,
especially Ray Pye. She’s the only woman in town he can’t seduce and it irks
him. She just wants to work and earn a little pocket money before leaving for
college in the fall, but Ray can’t accept that. Nor does he like how much of a
fighter she is. When she has the opportunity to run and possibly escape Ray’s
frenzy, she chooses to risk her life and help her fellow captives instead.
For the most part, I really liked Detective Charlie
Schilling. He really cares about the victims in the cases he investigates,
having become attached to the girls murdered in 1965 and their families. So
attached, in fact, that his marriage to his job caused his actual marriage to
crumble and his wife to leave with their two children. They part on good terms
and are still able to co-parent, even with her all the way across the country.
Their ability to remain close and their obvious continued love for each other
is touching and left me hoping for them to reunite at the resolution of the Ray
Pye issue. Schilling will not rest until he proves Ray is responsible for the
1965 murders, but ends up blaming himself for pushing so hard when Ray finally
snaps.
Given how much I typically loathe age-gap relationships, I
really thought I would dislike Ed. However, the man really does seem to love
Sally and treats her like an equal. He’s a lonely widower who spends his days
cooking and gardening and she makes him feel alive again. There are no attempts
to control her and he even tries to step back from their relationship to let
her live her life without him weighing her down. He is very protective of
Sally, especially when he realizes Ray has his sights set on her, and will stop
at nothing to keep her safe.
I’m not entirely sure why there were sections from the
perspective of a stray cat, but they were cute and eased the tension a bit.
However, these chapters also had me anxiously grumbling, “You better not kill
that sweet baby!” The cat becomes attached to Ed and he decides that it’s time
for a pet.
The majority of the novel takes place between the events in
1965 and Ray’s breaking point in 1969, following him as he slowly loses
control. As his little empire of sex, drugs and rock and roll begins to fall
apart, the mask of charismatic normalcy he’s worn all these years begins to
slip as well. When he snaps, he goes on the worst spree of assault, kidnapping
and murder the small town of Sparta has ever seen. This rampage and the final
build up to it made the final 40% of the novel intensely gripping. I couldn’t
put it down until I finished the book. I needed to know what happened – and it
was horrific.
The ending for me was a bit disappointing. I was not happy
with who died and who survived, although there were some incredibly
well-written heartbreaking scenes. Ray’s comeuppance is problematic and
unsatisfying. I was really hoping for an ending like that of the films Death
Proof (2007) or Fresh (2022), but alas, no.
This would have been a much better ending.
I wanted happier endings
for many of the characters, many of which remain just as lost as they were
throughout the rest of the novel. Then again, maybe that was the point.
This is a fast-paced but disturbing read. Being in Ray’s
head every few chapters is very uncomfortable and honestly feels a little
violating. Just reading his thoughts made me want to cover myself, causing me to empathize with the female characters even more. Some of the other characters
are just annoying and reading things from their perspectives irritated me.
The midsection of the story is a bit slower than the beginning and end, and
some find it hard to get through, but once things start falling apart on Ray,
it picks up again and doesn’t let up until the “afterward” section at the end.
The true ending is unsatisfying and problematic. An average novel that could
have been better and is not on par with the other Ketchum novels I’ve read.
Content Warning: Animal Abuse / Death, Child Abuse, Domestic
Violence and mentions of Sexual Assault / Rape.
Helena Pelletier finally has the normal life she’s always wanted – a loving
husband, two healthy daughters, and her own successful business. However, what
her family doesn’t know is that Helena harbors a secret about her past – a
secret that she never believed would come to light and endanger her newfound
peace. Helena thought she could keep her identity as the daughter of the
convicted rapist and murderer, “The Marsh King,” from her family, but once her
father escapes from prison, she knows she must track him down in order to
protect herself and her loved ones.
I really wanted to like this book but I am very torn. I thought the premise of
this novel was exciting. Helena’s character is a product of the abduction and
rape of her mother – a case similar to that of Jaycee Dugard. Helena’s mother
was abducted at age fourteen by a man of Native American heritage known to her
only as Jacob. He held her captive for fourteen years, keeping her as a “wife”
and forcing her to bare his child. I found this idea fascinating – a story told
from the point of view of a child coming from such a situation.
The story itself was interesting. It alternates from present day Helena’s
perspective to flashbacks of her life growing up in the cabin with her parents.
It detailed her survivalist training and their “living off the land” lifestyle.
Interwoven between these two time periods are excerpts from Hans Christian
Andersen’s tale, “The Marsh King’s Daughter,” which provides a parallel to the
story unfolding – especially between the daughter in the folk tale and Helena
herself.
Ms. Dionne does know how to write a suspenseful thriller. The tale was a
gripping read that slowly delved into darker depths the further we went into
Helena’s back-story. This is a child who was raised in the wilderness and knew
nothing of the outside world except for what she read in outdated National
Geographic magazines. Helena was raised in an abusive home. She watched her
father verbally abuse, beat and torture her mother while being taught to hate
her mother as well. Helena adored her father, despite his sadistic cruelty to
herself and her mother, and it wasn't until he took one “punishment” too far
that she began to detach from him and eventually escaped with her mother.
The thing that really drags this book down for me is not the plot or the story
itself – that was gripping and I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen
during the final showdown between Helena and her father. What keeps me from
giving this story a higher rating is the characters – most of the people in
this book are scum.
Obviously Jacob is absolute garbage – there are no redeeming qualities for him.
He gets off on killing animals and people alike, and wants to destroy Helena’s
carefully crafted new life. However, Helena is an incredibly irritating
protagonist and some of the things she says and does are so anger-inducing!
I really wanted to like Helena. As aforementioned, she had a unique, but
horrific upbringing, and I was hoping she’d grown from that to be able to
utilize her past skills to protect her family. While she does do the latter,
she has hardly grown from the wild child who escaped the swamp. She was raised
to hate her mother and she still does throughout the majority of the book,
constantly taking jabs at the poor woman. Helena mentions that she never really
bonded with her mother (though it appears her mother made several attempts to
do so that Jacob thwarted). Helena criticizes nearly everything her mother ever
did, to the point of being hypocritical – for example she drags her mother for
never returning to school and improving her life after they escaped from Jacob,
but Helena herself never finishes high school. Helena is a rape apologist
making constant excuses for the horrible things her father did to her mother
(including blaming his Native American heritage!) and stating her mother
wouldn’t have been any better off if she hadn’t been abducted. Never mind the
fact that her mother was in extensive therapy following her escape due to all
the trauma she experienced. Helena states she had therapy too, and it taught
her that her father was a narcissist who had slowly turned her against her
mother, but she doesn’t manage to stop criticizing her mother until the last
few pages of the novel when she seems to have a dramatic change of heart.
Helena desperately needs to return to therapy – her healing is far from
complete. She also needs to check the internalized misogyny that floods through
her veins and makes her judge her daughters harshly (ex: criticizing her oldest
for being “soft” and “afraid of bugs.”).
I do understand that Helena was limited from the start due to her first twelve
years being shaped by an abusive, sadistic narcissist and not having any
positive role models following her escape. With her mother too traumatized to
assist in raising Helena, she really needed someone to step in and fill that
void, but no one did. Helena and her mother moved in with her mother’s parents
after their escape, only to be treated as cash cows rather than provided with
love and assistance. Helena had little chance of developing normally, which is
sad, but, unfortunately, I still have very little empathy for her character.
I also understand that the child in the fairy tale of the same name is there as
a parallel to Helena. Helga, the girl in the tale, is beautiful yet evil by day
and ugly yet good by night. I felt that we were supposed to wonder if Helena’s
dark nature – her upbringing, her mixed emotions toward her father, and her
anger towards her mother - would cause her to turn evil and side with him or if
her less-often seen good side would prevail. The plot is fairly predictable in
answering that question, but the resolution is satisfying all the same.
Overall, this was an interesting read. Although many have enjoyed this book immensely,
I found the protagonist ruined it for me and the suspenseful plot was not
enough to distract from her annoying narration. If you are not into internally
misogynistic female protagonists, graphic depictions of child abuse, domestic
violence and animal deaths, you should probably skip this one.
Genre: Nonfiction, Women
& Gender Studies, Social Commentary
I was excited to read this book when I borrowed it from a
friend a few months ago. As someone who majored in Media Studies in college and
minored in Women & Gender Studies, I'm well aware of the insidious ways the
media can affect our children, particularly our daughters. As someone who wants
to have children one day, I'm always on the lookout for materials that will aid
me in raising well-balanced, intelligent people who are aware of the media's
attempts to spoon feed them toxic materialism and stereotypes. That is the goal
of this book. However, while it provides many good examples of ways to talk to
our daughters (which can also be used for our sons and non-binary children)
about what they are seeing in the media as well as great book and movie
suggestions, the attacks on certain kinds of films, music artists and books are
flawed and poorly researched, making this a hard book to recommend when there
are far better books like this available.
Lamb and Brown organize the book into six chapters, five of
which are related specifically to our daughters - what they wear, what they
watch, what they listen to, what they read, and what they do - and the sixth
devoted to Sample Conversations With Our Daughters. I will go over each chapter
individually.
I had little to no problems with the section on clothing for
girls, as for the most part, I agree with the authors. Lamb and Brown lament
the limited clothing choices available to young girls and women. The clothes
are either too revealing or have cringe-worthy sayings on them like "Don't
hate me because I'm beautiful, hate me because your boyfriend thinks I am"
and "If It Weren't for Boys, I Would Never Go To School." This book
was written in 2006, but that trend is still big today with such shirts as
"Boys Are Better Than Books."
Lamb and Brown also point out that clothing
for little girls state they are "Princesses," "Angels,"
"Pretty," or "Have Attitude," while boys get positive
clothing stating they're "Champs." I witnessed this in the kids' department
while shopping for my nephew not too long ago - there were pajamas in the boys'
department that stated the child was "Smart and Brave" but I could
not find anything equivalent to that in the girls' department.
I fully agree with Lamb and Brown that it is a
problem in marketing that we stereotype girls into brainless bimbos that
worship at the altar of makeup, the color pink and boys. From an early age this
is being sold to our girls, telling them this is the type of girl to be, and it
wriggles its way into the minds of even the most avid resisters.
Next came the chapter on movies and television, which did
raise an issue with me. The examples they use in this section are television
shows and movies I grew up watching, and while I don't want to tell the authors
that their interpretations of the messages in these shows is wrong, I will say
I do not agree with them on many examples and feel they didn't do adequate
enough research.
The authors state that girls have
very little strong female figures to relate to on television and that can be
true, especially in the early years where it seems that the boys get all the
adventures. They acknowledge Dora the
Explorer as an adventurous, strong female character, but claim she is in
the minority. As I have seen many children's shows give the exciting storylines
to male characters and the majority of children's shows have male leads, this
seems accurate to me. I do think we're doing a little better these days with
shows like Doc McStuffins and Word Girl, but I don't have much
experience with children's television circa 2006.
However, when it comes to the shows watched by
teens and preteens, I feel the authors
either blew off popular shows with great characters that were on during the
time they were researching this book or gloss over them. The authors went out of
their way to rip apart shows like Lizzie
McGuire, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Kim
Possible for pushing the girly girl stereotype and love of
shopping/clothes/makeup/boys and seemingly forget the fact that some girls do
actually like that stuff and it is okay as long as the characters are
well-rounded - which Lizzie, Sabrina and Kim all were. There is no mention of
shows like So Weirdor The Jersey that involved girls with more
varied interests such as the paranormal (So
Weird) and sports (The Jersey) or
of Ren, the brainy older sister in Even Stevens.Gilmore Girls is barely mentioned and
there is no praise for the amazing mother/daughter relationship, the fact that
Rory's best friend is a girl of color, or that Rory makes intelligence, dry wit
and being a bookworm cool. Veronica Mars
is also glossed over when she's a badass who is full center between girly-girl
and tomboy, her best friends are a guy of color and a female computer whiz and
bookworm, she solves mysteries, makes intelligence sexy, rocks the sarcastic
humor, and doesn't take crap from anyone. Buffy
the Vampire Slayer and Angel are
completely ignored in favor of Charmed
despite their badass lady characters. Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Fred, Tara and
Anya all have something to teach our girls and the boys on these shows are just
as well rounded and worthy of discussion. I felt like Brown and Lamb wasted
more page space ranting about shows that weren't very problematic and ignored
some great shows that were available at the time.
Then Lamb and Brown decided to take on the horror genre and
I began to lose respect for them. As a longtime fan of this genre, beginning at
the age of twelve, I have heard a lot of arguments against it, especially from
fellow feminists, and some do have good points while others are obviously
ill-informed and poorly researched, based on a small sampling of what the
horror genre has to offer. The argument in this book falls into the latter
category.
First, the movies they chose to
exemplify the horror genre were horrible. They claimed to be talking about Jeepers Creepers but ended up analyzing
the plot of Jeepers Creepers II which
has an entirely different style than its predecessor. The first film was more
of a suspense/thriller/creature feature while the sequel follows more of a
slasher formula. They compare Jeepers
Creepers II to a little known slasher with a limited theatrical release
from 2003 called Shredder which is
apparently supposed to exemplify all things slasher.
I REALLY HATE when critics of
horror films take the worst of the worst and use them to justify their
critiques of the stereotypes in that genre. There is no mention of the classics
such as Black Christmas (1974), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) or Friday the 13th (1980), nor of more recent quality slashers such as
Scream (which actually does their
nitpicking for them). No they choose a slasher that no one has heard of except
for its brief run on Netflix Instant Watch. The authors complain that there are
never girls helping each other , which may be the case in Shredder, but not in Jeepers
Creepers II when the cheerleaders try to help one another, nor in the
previous slashers I mentioned above - if the girls end up in a bad situation
together they look after one another. The authors complain about the nudity and
sex - which are usually aspects of a lower grade horror film, but often make an
appearance in slasher films none-the-less. While I am not a big fan of the sex
and nudity myself, it doesn't ruin a movie for me - and in the classics it is
usually tastefully done. Usually, the more in-your-face the nudity and sex
scenes are, the worse the film is.
The only other horror films mentioned are The Exorcist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake which are also frowned upon for stupid reasons. They make Reagan's gender a major aspect of why her possession was so horrifying when it's really the perversion of innocence overall. Erin in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake is chastised for wearing a white tank top and for the motherly focus when she rescues a baby. (What was she supposed to do, leave it there?) She also goes head to head with Leatherface and wins!
Why no mention of that or any of the
other badass final girls? There is nothing regarding the empowering feeling a
girl gets when a female bests the murderer / monster and comes out a hero -
which is what I felt as a teenager and still feel now when I watch these films.
Lamb and Brown act like a female
being the villain in a horror film is terrible and stating that all women are
either good or evil. Why is it so wrong for a female to be the killer? We can
be just as evil as males and there are female serial killers in existence.
Lamb and Brown bring up the virgin
vs. slut dichotomy and claim that the slut always has to die. While this is
sometimes the case, it isn't always as true horror fans can tell you. Also, the
Final Girls are NOT all virgins. It is hinted in both Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday
the 13th that Nancy and Alice have had sex prior to the beginning of the
film. Jess in Black Christmas is
struggling with the decision to abort her pregnancy. It's unknown whether Sally
in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a
virgin. Sydney loses her virginity onscreen in Scream breaking the "only virgins survive" rule. Only
Laurie Strode of Halloween is a shy
virgin. It's as if Lamb and Brown are paying lip service to a rule they've
heard about but never done their own research on.
Next, Lamb and Brown take on the
music of the time, and, as the artists and songs they used for examples were a
big part of my teenage years, I found myself in disagreement with a lot of what
they had to say. Especially since, once
again, I found their research flawed at best.
For instance, Lamb and Brown
mention that Vanessa Carlton mastered the piano and ballet, but talked about Jessica
Simpson as if she was only famous for her reality show, Newlyweds. I'm not a huge Jessica Simpson fan, but that show wouldn't
have had the audience it did if Jessica Simpson wasn't already a star (2 hit
albums were released prior to the reality series).
Lamb and Brown come across a
little hypocritical in this chapter. They practically ignore the problematic
songs by the Black Eyed Peas because that band also wrote that one decent song,
Where is the Love? (which is a great
song, but every other song they release is sexual and/or about
drinking/partying), but judge a pop artist like Britney Spears or Christina
Aguilera based on two songs out of their many albums. Britney is criticized
from going from innocent in ...Baby OneMore Time to sexually compromised in Toxic,
the entirety of the two albums between her debut ...Baby One More Time and In
the Zone which contains Toxic is
ignored - both of which contain songs like Stronger,
What U See Is What U Get, Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman, Overprotected, and Cinderella which I loved as a teen. Later in the book they also rip
on Britney for having a porn director direct her video for From the Bottom of My Broken Heart - probably her most chaste video
ever produced.
The authors do the same with Christina, comparing Genie in a Bottle to Dirrty
(which they mistakenly call "Drrty
Girl") claiming both are about sex (Genie definitely is - about the conflict between hormones and
knowing when it's right to give it up to someone, but Dirrty is more of a dance club anthem with sexual inuendo.) Songs disregarded: I Turn to You (which was supposed to be
a love song and Christina turned it into a song about her mother), Reflection (For Mulan), Can't Hold Us Down,
Fighter, Beautiful, Soar, Make Over, The Voice Within, I'm Ok
and Keep Singing My Song. All of
which are empowering and amazing.
Songs that I loved in my youth
were attacked for not being girl-friendly such as Perfect by Simple Plan - Lamb and Brown claim it's not "girl
friendly" because it doesn't include girls. Well no, it was written by a
guy about his relationship with his father - it's HIS story and HIS feelings. However, girls are included in the music video making it relatable for girls as well.
Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne is accused of being divisive among girls
and upholding stereotypes - again this was a song based on Avril's life - the
snooty girl who turns down the skater boy was the kind of girl who bullied
Avril for being different. She was describing the kind of girl who, in her
experience, was stuck up and superficial, turning her back on people who had
real potential in favor of the superficial, preppy, popular crowd. It's about the what happens when you let your friends choose your partner and are afraid to go after who and what you want.
Avril is also criticized later in
the book for getting "girly" for her second album and writing songs
about boys. (Her first album had a lot of songs about boys on it too, FYI.)
They said the "girl power" of her second album, Under My Skin was limited to "the power to wait for the right
time to have sex" and used Don't
Tell Me as an example. That is not quite what the song is about - it is
about standing up for yourself when your significant other or someone you're
dating casually or even just a friend is trying to pressure or coerce you into
having sex when you don't want to do so. Avril stands up for all the young
women telling them it is okay to say "no" and to kick the ass of
anyone who doesn't respect that decision.
The authors
also act like it is a bad thing that Avril teaches young girls through her
lyrics that they have the choice about who they date and criticize her lyrics
where she states that the guy she's no longer with never made her feel special
- like it is a bad thing to want your boyfriend to treat you like you're
special to him. I always interpreted that line to mean that he didn't treat her
well or like his girlfriend - for example - take her out on dates, do nice
things for her, call her, etc. not that he should have been worshipping at her
feet or something. I also don't see anything wrong with young women being told
that they don't have to put up with a guy not treating them right which has
always been the message that I took out of Avril's early music. The authors
seem mad that Avril uses "We all have choices ... we all have
voices..." in the terms of romantic love but not in any other terms for
young women. I'm sorry, but why does one young pop star have to be the perfect
idol for all young girls? Then the authors praise Fefe Dobson who writes the
same kind of songs. What?
I swear Lamb and Brown didn't even
listen to some of the songs they commented on. They ragged on Good Charlotte
for Riot Girl and said that Hold On was written specifically for a
girl. No it wasn't - it is an anti-suicide song for their fans. Blink 182 is criticized
on for "needing comfort" in IMiss You, (why is that a bad thing? I thought we, as feminists, were
fighting for males to be able to break free from toxic masculinity and express
their emotions!) Also they say "vocalist" when discussing Blink 182 when
both Tom and Mark sing in I Miss You.
In fact, they only ever say "The vocalist" when talking about the pop
punk bands such as Simple Plan, Blink 182, Good Charlotte and Green Day - they never
use their names, nor, it seems, bothered to find out anything about them. So we
shouldn't discuss the fact that the Madden twins of Good Charlotte grew up on
Welfare, were raised by a single mother when their dad walked out, were bullied
relentlessly at school, worked part time jobs to help provide for their family,
and taught themselves to play an instrument? Just because they're dudes that
doesn't mean they cannot be relatable to young women. I felt they ripped harder
into bands who wrote relatable, non-misogynistic , emotional / confession songs
than into artists who wrote nothing but party songs about drinking and sex.
The authors also whine about how
few bands are fronted by women and then say Amy Lee of Evanescence wrote Tourniquet about a lost love and asking
God to save her. Seriously, did they even listen to the song? It's about a
LITERAL suicide - she's committed the act, and, as a Christian, is committing a
moral sin, so she is asking to be forgiven. It is true that there aren't many
female lead bands, but the ones we do have are pretty amazing - Evanescence,
Flyleaf, Paramore, Garbage, The Cranberries, Kittie, My Ruin, and many others
have some great things to say and will empower your daughters.
Besides their poorly researched issues with the American
Girl stories, the only other issue I had with their take on the books girls
read is their description of the Nancy Drew Mystery series as "mov[ing]
from intrepid detective to hot-teen-in-trouble books with covers that resembled
Baywatch ads" and stating "we knew desire for sales would win out
over content." Did you actually read these stories though? The authors are
not clear as to which version of the Nancy Drew mysteries of recent years they
are referring to, so I'm going to assume it is the continuation of the series
numerically in paperback format. On these covers Nancy is blonde rather than a
red head, but that change occurred in the sixties or seventies when the
original series ended. Nancy is also usually dressed as an average teen in
jeans and sweaters or blouses much more practical for sleuthing in than the
dresses and heels she frequently wore in the original stories. I found I
enjoyed the mysteries in the paperback Nancy Drew stories just as much as the original
64 books in the series (and not all of those were gold either). Still it would
be helpful to know just which series the authors are referring to as we have The Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, The Nancy Drew Diaries, Nancy Drew: Girl Detective and The Nancy Drew Notebooks in addition to
the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and
just plain Nancy Drew.
The authors make one thing clear and that is their dislike
for the graphic novel version which is drawn with the "manga look"
and gives Nancy an unrealistic body with large breasts (I do believe she always
had those, she just didn't wear tight fitting clothing). They also describe
George as "pumped up" and
"OC-like" - whatever that means. I took the liberty of looking up the
graphic novel on Amazon and viewed the "Look Inside" option. Nancy is
conservatively dressed though her breasts are a little perky and her tops are a
little tight, George is still the tomboy she always was, wearing her jeans and
t-shirts, only she may be rocking a little eyeliner and lipstick, and Bess has
gone from plump and cute to pin-up girl body, wearing sexy clothes (miniskirts,
halter tops) and has become a flirt. They've also added a mean-girl nemesis for
Nancy that I've never heard of before (long time Nancy fan, here) which is
something I would have thought these authors would have latched onto as they
had an entire section on "Mean Girls v. Nice Girls" and how that
dichotomy is problematic. Maybe they didn't read the book?
Other than their less-than-well-researched-or-thought-out
comments on two of my favorite childhood book series, I did agree with much of
what they had to say regarding other teen novels and I loved their
recommendations for future reading.
I also agreed with much of what they had to say against teen
magazines and how they push material items at girls while claiming they just
want girls to be able to find themselves and be true to their own unique
personalities. I liked how the authors explained that this is problematic when
they are really teaching girls to embrace aspects of the consumer market. My
one issue with their take on magazines is how they rip on certain activities or
jobs that girls may like just because they are traditionally feminine. They
discuss how one teen magazine suggested a list of summer jobs for girls and
labeled them as "traditional Mom" jobs such as gardening, baking,
organizing and taking care of children, pets and elderly people. Yes, I get the
argument that traditionally male jobs such as mowing people's lawns or helping
out at a summer camp should be suggested for girls as well, but let's not
forget that some girls actually enjoy the "traditionally feminine"
jobs suggested and we shouldn't shame them for it. What if a girl likes to bake
or make lemonade or cook? I get the implication is that girls belong doing
cooking, cleaning and nurturing, but we shouldn't disregard suggestions like
this just because they are traditional as there are many girls who enjoy
kitchen oriented activities or organizing or being with kids, animals and
elderly folks. I think we just need to add more diverse activity and job
suggestions so no one feels unrepresented. I do agree with their assessments
that the activities suggested for girls by these magazines are pretty lame -
such as, watch TV, go to the movies, read a suggested novel (usually garbage),
write down lyrics to your favorite songs, watch the clouds, practice karaoke,
show off your fave swimsuit at the pool and have a summer fling. (I left out
giving your room a mini make over, because I found that fun and soothing in my
youth - I still do.) I really liked the ideas for activities pitched by the
authors and think they should be incorporated into more parenting and more teen
magazines.
Chapter five examined what girls like to play or do in their
free time. This chapter focused a lot on sports and the fact that many girls
seem to feel alienated from them, which is sometimes true. The authors argue
that girls don't have a lot of female sports role models to follow, especially
those with the bodies of true athletes, and that is also true as the media
spends a lot more time following men's athletics, but the authors also seemed
to forget that the Williams sisters exist
and that many young women look up to them. The authors also argue that
many women abandon sports for drama, singing and art as we "have been
taught to be deeper, more emotionally rich and complicated people, and that
drama, self-involvement, and angst-ridden self-reflection are the essence of
teenage girlhood." (p. 236) The authors go on to say, "But when girls
give up sports for these more emotionally charged and dramatic hobbies, they
miss the rewards of a deeper connection to their bodies. One could argue that
dancers have that bodily connection, but the high incidence of anorexia and
bulimia amongst dancers goes against that argument." (p. 236) Or the girl could just not be
athletically inclined and instead prefer the arts? I was one of those girls -
I'm a terrible athlete, but I love the theater. Also, the swipe at dancers is
not okay - I was into dance and knew several dancers growing up and, as an
adult, have two acquaintances (one male, one female) who teach dance on a
regular basis. Anorexia and Bulimia have nothing to do with being in touch with
one's body - they are a mental illness based on control of food and weight.
There are also plenty of ways of getting in touch with one's body that do not
involve sports - such as singing a full range of notes, hiking, taking a walk,
meditation, yoga, perfecting a difficult dance number or blocking sequence,
etc. I feel like, a lot of times, despite saying that parents need to be open
minded to their daughter's take on things and what activities their daughters
want to pursue, it is really like they are saying that girls should be into
certain activities over others - which is just as bad as what we learn from the
media.
Lamb and Brown go on to attack the suggestion that girls
decorate their bedrooms. They dedicate a two page section of the book to
ranting about how all the decor marketed for girls rooms being stereotypically
girly - pink, purple, floral, paisley - filled with princesses and fairies or
pop stars and furniture designed by their favorite teen idol. I understand the
comparison to the decor directed at boys is the cause of some of this anger -
the boys get decor related to science, nature and sports with color schemes of
green, red, yellow and blue - which again indicates that boys are smart and
active while girls are passive and silly. This kind of thing does deserve a rant.
However, it should not be frowned upon if a girl wants to take initiative to
make her room her own to match her growing personality. In my adolescence my
room went through two makeovers of my own design. I didn't use a marketing
device such as a catalog to guide my choices - I watched a lot of Trading Spaces and HGTV and picked my
own color schemes, arranged the furniture how I wanted, etc. It got my creative
juices flowing and I don't think that should be discouraged in any child. If
your son wants to decorate, there should be no shame in that either.
Chapter six is the best chapter as it provides a strategy
for talking to our children about toxic media influence as well as sample
conversations. For the most part these are well thought out, although in some
cases it appears that the authors are once again out-of-touch, such as when
they equate being "goth" to smoking pot and equated piercings and
dying one's hair a wild color with self-harming behaviors such as cutting and
eating disorders. Otherwise, it is a great tool for discussing problematic
media messages and imagery with your child, and it's one of the few things
about this book that I would recommend looking into.
Overall: While I like
what these authors have to say as far as talking to our daughters (although I
think it can be used to educate children of all genders) and the suggestions
they have on how to do so, I don't like the examples of media they chose and
feel this book was poorly researched. I recommend that anyone interested, go to
your local library and make copies of the following: the list of Movies That
Feature Strong Girls and Fewer Stereotypes (p. 116), the list of Books and
Series that Have Strong Girls and Few Stereotypes (p. 208 - 209), and Rebel,
Resist, Refuse: Sample Conversations With Our Daughters (p. 263 - 294). Forget
all the rest.
