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Post by Karen Brewer on Jun 23, 2007 17:33:46 GMT -5
Yeah, she is a real b*tch to Mary Anne in many of the fanfics. Maybe she was jealous that Richard had Mary Anne while Dawn and Jeff both went back to California to be their father? About the "downgrading to Richard" thing--I just got Mary Anne's Portrait book and I thought he looked very cute in those pics with her. But on the family photo in the scrapbook....
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Post by booboobrewer on Jun 23, 2007 23:28:50 GMT -5
^ Those pics in her portrait are incredibly cute. Richard looks so sweet! I love the one of her hugging him and the one where they're at the school party. He seemed like such a great dad when she was little, which makes me wonder why they were "practically strangers" with each other like MA describes in book 4...but I should probably take that to the MA thread
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Post by aln1982 on Jun 23, 2007 23:36:32 GMT -5
^ Totally agree about Richard. Anyway, I tend to be biased towards looks based on personality and think Richard is much better "husband material" than Jack ;D I've never read any fan fic but Sharon being mean to MA seems really out of character for the Sharon in the real books. I always like the way she is so good to MA in those.
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Post by greer on Jun 24, 2007 15:12:05 GMT -5
Yeah, the worst thing sharon does to ma in the real series is try to have ma act as a dawn replacement, which is understandable given the circumstances.
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mckay
Junior Sitter
Posts: 672
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Post by mckay on Jun 26, 2007 17:22:38 GMT -5
Yeah, I mean, both of her kids decide she's not worth sticking around for and bail? Ouch. I think she was just trying to make sure that at least one of "her kids" liked her, but didn't realize what she really wanted was for Dawn to be around more.
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lyricalangel
Sitting For The Newtons
Logan's love-bunny
Posts: 1,918
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Post by lyricalangel on Jun 26, 2007 18:32:34 GMT -5
^I feel bad for Sharon. That would have to suck to have both kids choose their father. She probably feels inadequate and like mckay said wanted to be liked.
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Post by aln1982 on Jun 26, 2007 23:33:49 GMT -5
^ I had never thought of it like that but you're right. I didn't see that Sharon was exactly trying to "replace" Dawn in Little Princess as she was trying to "fill her place" with a different person. I got the impression that she just did for MA what she would have done for Dawn because she knew those things and thought since Dawn liked them, all girls would. I always saw Sharon as a good mom (though scatterbrained beyond belief ;D) and was always kind of surprised that Dawn went back to CA.
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Post by liss31d on Jun 27, 2007 4:32:56 GMT -5
He seemed like such a great dad when she was little, which makes me wonder why they were "practically strangers" with each other like MA describes in book 4...
Possibly because Richard found it easier to deal with a little girl but struggled when she was becoming an adolescent.
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Post by aln1982 on Jun 27, 2007 7:55:31 GMT -5
^ The only time I really saw this "practically strangers" was in book 4 so I never thought much about it. They seemed close again in all the other books, especially ones like MA's Makeover and MA vs. Logan when they have a "talk."
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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 Jun 28, 2007 1:36:05 GMT -5
I always got the impression that they were somewhat strangers with each other. To me she seems like the type of child produced by a rigid, sort-of aloof, father/figurehead. In MA's Makeover, they went out because they were talking about how they never spend any quality time together.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jun 28, 2007 16:08:37 GMT -5
I guess it also has to do with them trying to figure out their relationship beyond book 4. I mean, I never thought much of the strangers line in that book in relation to the rest of the series, since it was initially only supposed to be a four book series and setting up a cold, strained relationship between them was the necessary thing for her character or something. As for Richard finding it easier to deal with a little girl as opposed to an adolescent, I'd agree except it's not like her behavior changed all that much once she entered pre-teen years (that is, before she started "confronting" him). Her room looked the same, she dressed the same, they were polite and agreeable with each other. It's like even though she hadn't changed a whole lot yet, they still began to grow further apart...probably there's the fact that Mary Anne looked more like her mother as she grew older to consider. Like seeing that was too painful for Richard, which caused him to become even more aloof.
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Post by aln1982 on Jun 28, 2007 17:31:10 GMT -5
I think if they did drift apart at all, it probably had more to do with changes in MA’s attitude than in Richard’s. There could have been the unfortunately common teenage “I’m too busy with my life and friends for parents” thing that starts around that age. Also, I know I was super close with my dad when I was little and am again now but when I was around that age, I started feeling kind of uncomfortable around him because of not wanting to talk about things like bras, my period, boys, etc. I think this is kind of natural. After I became an adult and was no longer so uncomfortable talking about “personal” stuff like that, our relationship went back to our former closeness. Since I see a lot of similarities between MA and Richard’s relationship and mine with my dad (though my dad is much, much warmer and more open and less straight-laced), I think their situation might be similar. I really don’t get the impression that MA looking like her mom has anything to do with it. Is this mentioned in more than one book? I remember brief mention once but nothing else to make me think it. Maybe I just missed the references, though, because I didn’t think it was an issue. This might cause problems in some situations. But again, I think in this case, Richard is just not a real "warm" sort of person so they are as close as possible. But any drifting apart is because MA - not Richard - becomes more aloof.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jun 30, 2007 17:12:27 GMT -5
Yeah, I think it's mentioned in Secret in the Attic and her portrait book.
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Katie
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 153
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Post by Katie on Jul 8, 2007 20:52:16 GMT -5
Dawn says in "Mary Anne and The Great Romance" that Sharon is 43. She always seemed so much younger to me with all her crazy scatterbrained behaviors.
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Post by aln1982 on Jul 8, 2007 23:35:33 GMT -5
Just reread MA and the Little Princess and am not convinced that Sharon was actually trying to “replace” MA with Dawn, maybe fill the empty spot with MA but I don’t think her intention was to turn her into a Dawn clone. I think she just did stuff like she would have for Dawn because that is all she knew how to do and assumed that MA would like it because Dawn did (if that makes sense what I am saying). I can understand how MA might have felt uncomfortable or resentful with Sharon calling herself Mom but I felt a bit bad for Sharon, anyway. I know stepfamilies must be difficult but I always enjoy seeing good relationships starting to form between them. I always got the impression that Sharon was pretty fair to MA where Dawn was concerned, too, not taking her real daughter’s side always when they had fights or things like that. I like Sharon as a mom and stepmom, even though she is unbelievably ditzy ;D
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