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Post by sotypical42483 on May 2, 2006 11:59:46 GMT -5
This one started off REALLY slowly for me... I thought the whole recurring dream thing was totally random and a pretty weak way to introduce the plot. The Heritage Day chapters bored me as well, I skimmed most of the sitting chapters just to get back to Mary Anne and her search.
The scene where Mary Anne goes to the cemetary alone was SO touching. Maybe I'm being too sentimental, but I thought it was so sweet. The descriptions of her crying were really sad, I loved that part. Not because she was crying, but because I thought it was very poignant.
I found myself feeling bad for Mary Anne throughout the book. Really when you think about it, finding all of that information out would be kind of traumatic. The ending was odd... I thought everything was resolved WAY too quickly, but that seems to be a trend in BSC mysteries. Overall, loved the main plot, could've done without the Heritage day junk. I absolutely loved MA in this book.
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inge
Junior Sitter
Posts: 767
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Post by inge on May 2, 2006 13:23:17 GMT -5
The whole recurring dream thing was a very weak way to introduce the plot, but other than that I thought this was one of the best mysteries. The subplot wasn't really interesting, but I enjoyed the touch of Mary Anne going to the Heratige day picknick and realising she really misses a mom. In this one I could actually understand why she didn't tell Richard right away. I do think it was a bit too much of a coincedence about her grandmother suddenly calling and everything, but I liked this book.
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
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Post by Amalia on May 7, 2006 2:07:25 GMT -5
Ooh, I liked the cemetery part also. Man, lol, I miss Mimi.
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Post by hitzpink on May 9, 2006 22:04:14 GMT -5
One thing I found weird in this book were the letters Mary Anne's grandparents sent to Richard. I mean, it's like they were corresponding for some months about regular stuff - how Mary Anne is doing and all that jazz - and then suddenly he sends them a letter saying he wants her back? So they write back and say, "no, she's staying here" and he writes back and says, "NO, she's coming back to me." But.. why is all of this happening through letters? Wouldn't he have gone to their farm or at least called them and talked about getting Mary Anne back?
Also, if the only young baby pictures that exist of Mary Anne are ones that were taken in Iowa, and therefore Richard couldn't display in albums or frames, why did she never notice that there were no baby pics of her?
And finally, I really can't understand why Richard never told MA anything about her mother. I understand that it might be very emotional, especially since MA reminds him so much of Alma, but you'd think that he would want to keep her memory alive by sharing stories about her and stuff. Plus, it just seems selfish. He won't talk about her at all because it's "too hard" for him? As if it's not hard for a 13 year old girl to know absolutely nothing about her own mother?
Anyway, all in all I really liked this book. Mary Anne is so likeable, and I agree part where she went to the cemetary and talked to Mimi was very touching.
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Post by sotypical42483 on May 10, 2006 12:47:37 GMT -5
Good point about the letters. I thought it was odd they were arguing through the mail as well. Did the grandparents have legal custody of MA or was it just a more casual agreement? It is weird that Mary Anne has supposedly never seen any pictures of her with her grandparents. Also, at the end, how freaking long did she visit her grandma for? They made it sound like she was there for like, months! And of course there was a boy who came around, lol. Why is Mary Anne always practically cheating on Logan???
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ktag
Junior Sitter
Posts: 694
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Post by ktag on May 10, 2006 16:58:40 GMT -5
I haven't read this one, but there's a whole section about her Iowa visit in MA's portrait. She stayed there for 10 days.
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Post by hitzpink on May 10, 2006 19:38:28 GMT -5
10 days?! But she wrote at least two letters back-and-forth with Dawn! They seriously did make it seem like she spent an entire summer there.
I'm pretty sure the arrangement with her grandparents was just casual. If it had been legal, wouldn't it have been a lot harder for Richard to get her back? I can't imagine that you can legally sign away your rights to your kid and then a year later randomly decide that you want her back.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on May 11, 2006 7:41:42 GMT -5
Maybe it was a different summer! They have a lot of those in Stoneybrook. But actually, I think the date was mentioned in MA's Portrait, so I dunno... I'll have to reread them both to compare.
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
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Post by Amalia on May 12, 2006 3:39:40 GMT -5
Well, it said in the book that there was custody battle to get MA back, and it mentioned that it was "resolved without much bitterness." But yeah, it still doesn't tell us if it was a legal thing. And the letters that Richard sent MA when she was in Iowa seemed like he still harbored some hostility. In the letter that Richard sent Verna he wrote, "We're glad to have her bacK---." I wonder why the "k" is capitalized.
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ktag
Junior Sitter
Posts: 694
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Post by ktag on May 12, 2006 4:10:07 GMT -5
I really doubt Richard would give up custody. He's a lawyer; he wouldn't just sign her away like that. He just needed some time to get his act together. I'm guessing it was the grandparents who started the legal thing and thought they might get to keep her if Richard wasn't a fit parent. Obviously it didn't work.
What I always wondered was why no one ever told MA about all this? Did Richard warn everyone not to say anything?
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
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Post by Amalia on May 12, 2006 4:38:00 GMT -5
^ I remember Kristy asking her mom whether she knew about how MA had lived somewhere else for part of her infancy? It seemed as if Elizabeth/Edie seemed to respond in a dodgy way. She was like "didn't she live in Idaho or something." And about the Elizabeth/Edie thing, it's funny how the CG just says that Edie is just her middle name. Nice cover up guys.
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Post by sotypical42483 on May 12, 2006 12:06:57 GMT -5
I think when Kristy asked her mom, she was kind of like "Oh yeah, that's right... I forgot about that" type of thing. Which is weird b/c you'd think sending a baby to live in Iowa for a year and a half would be a bigger deal than just "Oh, right... yeah, that happened" ya know?
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Post by hitzpink on May 12, 2006 16:17:35 GMT -5
Yeah, Elizabeth was definitely like, "oh yeah... she did spend awhile with her grandparents. I had forgotten about that." But she probably had to act like that because otherwise Kristy might have gotten mad at her for keeping it a secret for so long. I don't buy it that she actually forgot, though.
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Post by booboobrewer on May 26, 2006 16:43:31 GMT -5
One thing I found weird in this book were the letters Mary Anne's grandparents sent to Richard. I mean, it's like they were corresponding for some months about regular stuff - how Mary Anne is doing and all that jazz - It seemed to me they were corresponding with him too much and kind of hurt their chances/dream of having MA stay with them for good. They were all, "Thank you for sending us this angel. She is a blessing", and "I know you miss your little girl but it's best she stay here with us for awhile. In the meantime, here are some pictures of her playing with the goats to tide you over!" No wonder Richard wanted her back shortly after her first birthday.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on May 30, 2006 16:48:46 GMT -5
This is probably one of my favorite mysteries, if not my absolute favorite. It seemed a little more realistic that something like this would happen than some of the others, like catching thieves and bank robbers and such. It was nice getting a glimpse into Mary Anne's life. Finding out she lived with her grandparents was definitely a shocker. Also, the way she looks on the cover is how I always saw her in my head.
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