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Post by sotypical42483 on Oct 2, 2007 18:14:20 GMT -5
Is there a thread for this anywhere? I didn't see one, but might've just missed it. I'm gonna read it tonight so I wanted to read the thread first...anyway, if there isn't one, discuss! And if there is, link??
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Post by sweetvalleygirl99 on Oct 2, 2007 21:35:43 GMT -5
Jessi was so mean in this one, I couldn't stand it. I knew it was because she didn't want Mal to leave but I think she could've picked a better way to feel instead of acting like a class A b*tch towards Mal. I especially couldn't stand it when Mal got the acceptance letter to Riverbend and she was so happy (I was soo happy for her when I read that  and then she goes to tell Jessi about it on the phone and she just says in this cold voice, "Well, I hope you find what you're looking for there," I mean, WTF Jessi? |
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Post by sotypical42483 on Oct 2, 2007 22:31:42 GMT -5
I totally agree! Jessi is so ridiculous! I'm still reading (about 3/4ths through) but geeeez. Also Jessi running and telling the Pike kids and the Barretts!! Way to turn everyone against your bff, Jessi. There is one part where Mal and MA are walking the kids home from school (is that really necessary btw?) and Claire keeps tripping cause she is holding on to Mallory and staring at her and Mal is like "watch where you're going!" and Claire is like "I'm sorry I just love you!" and its soooo cute. I love Claire!
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Post by aln1982 on Oct 2, 2007 23:20:45 GMT -5
^ I thought the same thing about Jessi being mean the first few times I read this one. But the last time, I viewed it from a different perspective and could see how she felt rejected and hurt. Still agree that she didn't handle the situation right but I did understand more of where she was coming from.
Totally agree about Claire being adorable ;D I really felt for everyone involved in this book as it was hard on all of them - even Jessi who is losing her best friend and felt abandoned and rejected.
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on Oct 3, 2007 3:40:21 GMT -5
I really empathize with Mary Anne in this book--I used to end up in that position a lot. (I'm just better at easing myself out now, lol). And I think Mallory looks pretty cute on the cover--much cuter than she does on the next one, sigh. Hodges does her much better in profile, I think--she looks good on "Don't Give Up, Mallory," too, IMO.
I agree with sotypical about the part where Jessi tells the kids. I can sympathize with her a little bit otherwise (although it is a pretty common reoccurence in these books that the girls expect to have way too much "ownership" over each other; that probably is normal for middle school girls, but as an adult, I kind of want someone to sit down and tell them that other people have the right to make decisions about what's right for their lives their lives, from where they'd be happiest and best educated to getting a freakin' haircut without all their friends voting on it.). But I just really, really hate when "adults" or authority figures use kids as weapons in their personal fights, and that's what Jessi did--she told the kids in a nasty, hurtful way in order just to try to score points in her fight with Mallory, and I think that's a horrible, inexcusable thing to do. I don't like that it kind of gets brushed over, as I recall, because to me, it's such a cruel thing to do to a kid that it hits my bad baby-sitting radar. (Maybe I overpersonalize it, but truly, it's one of those things I just hate).
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Post by aln1982 on Oct 3, 2007 7:43:48 GMT -5
^ Agree that Jessi telling the kids was really wrong and that people shouldn't use kids as weapons. I am sensitive to this, too, as I posted in the thread on MA Saves the Day. I'm not sure it got brushed over any more than most issues as this whole book seemed almost kind of "brushed over" (if that makes any sense ;D). I also felt for MA and could relate to her. And Mal seemed to really be tough spot, too, because someone would be unhappy no matter what she chose. I was glad, though, that she decided in the end to do what would make her happy.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Oct 3, 2007 18:29:11 GMT -5
So who did Jessi end up eating lunch with and stuff after Mal left? Do we ever find out? I haven't read anything after this. Did she have any other 6th grade friends?
The whole We Love Mallory Day was sooooo lame. OMG. Could they have gone a little more over the top? and some random book store lady gives her a journal that says WE LOVE MALLORY DAY? Whatever!!
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Post by sweetvalleygirl99 on Oct 3, 2007 21:33:11 GMT -5
Oh man, We Love Mallory Day was soo lame. The mall trip in Mallory on Strike was much better. I forgot about Jessi going to tell the Pikes and Barretts about Mal leaving, that was totally stupid.  |
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Post by aln1982 on Oct 3, 2007 23:16:35 GMT -5
I also wondered about Jessi's other friends, sotypical, but she seems like she isn't the kind to really need a lot of friends but is okay with being pretty independent. Maybe not, though, as some of the later books said she seemed sad after Mal left. I don't think she acted responsibily or rationally at all in this one, but I still felt for her.
Agree about the We Love Mallory Day. Still, it was nice to show her that they cared. I did like the mall trip better too, though.
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on Oct 4, 2007 1:16:59 GMT -5
WRT to Jessi telling the kids being "brushed over," I meant as a baby-sitting situation, sort of, not as part of the fight otherwise. To me, it's in the same category as the girls fighting at Jamie's birthday party or Stacey skipping out on Charlotte at the talent show in #83, but in those situations, they realize what an awful thing it was to do to the children involved. The book just treats it as part of the back and forth between Jessi, and doesn't force her to acknowledge that it was really cruel to the kids to tell them in an abrupt, hurtful way. Mary Anne even hints (in a really wishy-washy way) that Jessi shouldn't be "stirring up the kids" and then she does it again at the Barrett/DeWitts.
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Post by greer on Oct 4, 2007 1:48:44 GMT -5
i don't understand why this is MARY ANNE'S book--why didn't mal or jessi tell this story?
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Post by liss31d on Oct 4, 2007 1:51:36 GMT -5
I think Jessi does have other friends besides Mallory. She seems to be good friends with Wendy Loesser and from what mallory said in The All New Mallory Pike, she and Jessi would sit with a bunch of other sixth grade girls.
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Post by aln1982 on Oct 4, 2007 10:41:50 GMT -5
^ Agree. I think Jessi has other friends, just not as close of ones. And like I said, she just doesn't seem like the type to really need that constant social interaction and friendship. I think she was just really close with Mallory, which is why she liked spending time with her, and that's why she missed her so much. Not that she missed having a friend as much as she missed Mallory as a friend (if that makes sense ;D)
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Post by liss31d on Oct 4, 2007 11:22:18 GMT -5
^ Also she's going to miss having no one to play horses with ;D
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Post by sweetvalleygirl99 on Oct 4, 2007 20:25:07 GMT -5
i don't understand why this is MARY ANNE'S book--why didn't mal or jessi tell this story? I never got that either, the story definitely would've played out better if it was told from Mal or Jessi's POV. |
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and then she goes to tell Jessi about it on the phone and she just says in this cold voice, "Well, I hope you find what you're looking for there," I mean, WTF Jessi? 
