| Over
the span of my life I've become quite the expert on teeny-bopper
novels. I read a lot of them when I was that age, and I still
pick up a few from time to time. They make me feel accomplished.
I can get through them in one sitting, usually, and because
of that they don't have trouble holding my attention. Plus,
they remind me that yep, it really sucked to be a teenager,
and I'm really, really glad to be an adult now (even with
the dishes and credit card debt). For some reason, summer
makes me want to read teen novels more. Maybe because it's
the biggest time of year when I miss being in school (when
there's an absence of it).
 This
summer's candidate is The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants. The book is written by Ann Brashares and tells
the story of the first summer that a group of childhood girlfriends
spend apart from each other. I was interested in this book
a) because they had made a movie out of it, so it must have
some appeal; b) Gilmore Girls (my Tuesday night addiction)
actress, Alexis Bledel is in the movie which made me want
to see the movie and c) I like to try to read the novel before
I see the movie.
So,
I ordered the book from Amazon as is my custom and waited
for it to arrive. And waited, as the first shipment of my
book somehow got misdirected (Sort of ironic for the traveling
pants book, no?). When it finally arrived I opened the package,
set West Wing aside for another day and started into
the book. I was pleasantly surprised.
I
wasn't expecting a lot from this book. I expected some characters
and enough plot to hold my attention through almost 300 pages,
but the author accomplishes this and a bit more. She managed
to create characters that the reader is interested in without
making them overly adult or angst-ridden. The characters deal
with problems facing typical teenagers a lot more gracefully
than I ever did. Oh, and although the characters are confident--perhaps
more confident than they should be as 15-year-olds--Brashares
does a good job of showing how I remember thinking and doubting
myself as a teenager.
However,
there is the expected over-idealization of the teenage years.
For example, these girls get to go to Greece and South Carolina
and Soccer camp in Mexico. Most of my friends were lucky if
they got to be a counselor at YMCA camp. We mostly stayed
home and played cards. Then there’s occasions when the
girls fight--they never fight like my friends and I did. They
have spats over real issues that are quickly solved. I remember
my friends at that age, fighting and hating each other for
no reason. (Although maybe that's what teenagers who don't
need medication for mental illnesses act like. You think I’m
kidding? Most of my friends from high school are now on medication.)
Or the fact that the girls all understand their own strengths
and also their friends’ weaknesses. I think that's a
stretch, even for people in their 20s. Most of my friends
still don't understand their friends’ strengths
and weaknesses, let alone their own.
The
biggest thing that The Sisterhood accomplished was
making me miss summertime and my best friend (who now lives
500 miles away). I miss the things that happen during the
summer when school's out and you're still too young for a
job and there are no other expectations. Like chasing the
ice cream man, or playing Wiffle ball in the cul-de-sac or
bike rides that include riding down hill with no hands or
not having to come home until dark which was almost 10. Or
just the feeling you get in June when the whole summer is
there, ready for you, and holding the promise of experiences
yet to come.
Something
about summer always felt like the most real time of the year.
The experiences were sharpened. Boys were cuter, and your
parents and siblings were more annoying. Maybe because
the sun was brighter everything was more extreme. The
whole thing makes me want to become a teacher so I can spend
the whole summer home reliving all those wonderful and not-so-wonderful
experiences with my future children.
Oh,
so, back to the book. My recommendation: If you can deal with
teeny-bopper girl novels and like them, then I’d steer
toward this. Plus, if you get hooked there are two more books
to read (I always loved series books, made it easier to get
over the depression of finishing a book you devoured too fast).
It’s one of the better modern books of the genre. Still
no Madeline L'Engle, but better than The Babysitter's
Club or The Princess Diaries and worth the five
hours I put into the 300 pages. |
