Middle School Boys of Stoneybrook

[booboobrewer]

Mark Jaffe was his name...

And early Robert is fine by me as well.

[lionessblack]

That's right! Mark Jaffe. I was thinking it was Jeff, but I didn't think they'd name one of Claudia's boyfriends Jeff when that's Dawn's brother's name. Though things like that happen in real life, not in BSC land (except for the name Sabrina Bouvier).

I just remember the BSC being all "Claudia! He's a seventh grader. But it was okay because Mark was 13. He looks so bored and detached on the cover of Claudia Makes up Her Mind.

[aln1982]

I had forgotten about Mark. I really didn't like him - Robert either (at any time ;D).

[inconstant heart]

gingersnaps said:

I always think of the boys I went to middle school with and can't imagine them doing anything as organized as the "Mischief Knights."

Yeah, I couldn't even imagine a high schooler doing that, much less a middle schooler.

I wish someone in my school would do that, though. It would spice up school life a bit more. ;D (Well, the vandalising part I could do without, like TP-ing the school, but everything else is okay.)

Was Logan one of the 'cool' guys? It seemed like being a jock at SMS was considered cool, but Logan hung around Alan and Austin/Trevor and those guys, didn't he? I'm confused because 'Stacey and the Cheerleaders' made it seem as though only some jocks (the basketballers) were cool, and other books gave the impression any jock was cool.

(I hate the word jock, but athlete doesn't sound as sports-mad as jock makes someone sound.)

[fluffycakes]

The cool crowd at SMS is sort of hard to pin down. I always thought that Pete, Austin, Trevor, Emily, Dori and the others in that group were the cool kids until Stacey and the Cheerleaders came along and we're introduced to The Group. I always thought that Logan was one of the cooler kids and therefore was such a big shocker when he dated shy Mary Anne. But I really don't know. As we all know, these books aren't exactly known for their consistencies.

As for the guys at SMS, well...I'd say on the whole they were realistic. Alan immediately comes to mind. I just have to love Alan, as he reminds me of someone I went to school with for most of my life. Pete, Austin and those guys seemed all right too. Ben was sweet - like someone else mentioned, I liked how he waited for Mal during her detentions.

Cary Retlin. Definitely not realistic by any means, but he got under my skin. I ended up really liking him as a character, and even though I wanted Kristy and Alan to get together, I liked reading about her interacting with Cary.

As for Logan, well, I'm split. For the most part, he seemed like a decent guy. But between his overly romantic and serious relationship with Mary Anne, and her overbearing, controlling tendencies, I'm on the fence with him. I don't think he's all that realistic, either. What 13 year old boy is so in love with this girlfriend that he puts on a tux and buys her a bracelet? None of my boyfriends have ever done that for me and I'm ten years older than these characters.

I never liked Robert. Something about him always rubbed me the wrong way and I wasn't sorry to see him go. Even that book was such a downer, I liked how his character dealt with depression in Stacey's Ex-Boyfriend. It was a nice change from the rest of the guys.

I did, however, absolutely love Josh. He was probably one of, if not the best of the BSC boyfriends. He had a personality beyond being cute, which I appreciate. I also liked how he was sometimes nervous around Claudia and acted goofy and all that. Considering how the other guys at SMS act like 25 year olds most of the time (Alan not included! lol), Josh was a nice change of pace.

Sorry for the long post. I guess I had a lot to say on the matter! ;D

[booboobrewer]

fluffycakes said:

But between his overly romantic and serious relationship with Mary Anne, and her overbearing, controlling tendencies, I'm on the fence with him. I don't think he's all that realistic, either. What 13 year old boy is so in love with this girlfriend that he puts on a tux and buys her a bracelet? None of my boyfriends have ever done that for me and I'm ten years older than these characters.

And he also bought Mary Anne a ring and made reservations at Chez Maurice for another Valentine's Day. When it comes to boyfriend/girlfriend relationships Logan is so far from your average thirteen year old boy that it makes my head hurt.

[msstock87]

^ I always thought Logan and Mary Anne's relationship was far beyond their years, I didn't have anything like that happen to me until I was out of high school!

[fluffy]

The way the middle school boys are portrayed is a nice escapist fantasy, with Alan Gray, the most realistic one, lurking around in case there are any shattered illusions. Obviously in real life there would be 10 of him for every Austin/Logan/Trevor type. Also when he does go out with BSC members, the relationship is more realistic, like him stalking Kristy and building the Sculpy necklace for Claudia instead of Logan giving Mary Anne fancy jewellery.
I liked Cary, but not so much the thought of him paired with a BSC member. It was okay to me when they wrote him too cartoonishly. Mainly I see him as a twist on the Alan prototype.

Robert, NO. Whenever I read about him and Stacey, I see them as college kids. The difference between him and Logan is that they never even tried to develop him. He was the most boring of all the boys.

And you know who's great? Rick Chow. I imagined him as a cool but geeky college guy, hanging out with the BSC and constructing his pretzel molecules. I also like Austin and how he was this popular kid who was nice to everyone.

[alula]

I like Rick Chow too, fluffy.

One of the more realistic moments, IMO, comes from the FF series in "Mary Anne's Big Break-up" when Logan's friends are very pointedly snubbing her. Very middle school, indeed. (I also love that Logan starts to cry when MA dumps him there, in both a mean "ha ha" kind of way, and in a way where I think it's a pretty well-written scene that captures the horrible awkwardness of the moment for both him and MA.)

I know we've discussed the multiple-personality aspects of good ol' Pete Black, but I think that within most of his variations he seems relatively realistic. It's been a long time since I read it, but I remember thinking he seemed very normal in MA Missed Logan, especially. Even his "poetic" declarations of love to Laine are more realistic, IMO, than the over-the-top romance they show so often, precisely because it's geeky and falls totally flat. (It reminds me a bit of the Eddie Izzard routine where he says "I wanted to say 'Susan, I saw you in the classroom today. As the sun came from behind the clouds, a burst of brilliant light caught your hair, it was haloed in front of me. You turned, your eyes flashed fire into my soul, I immediately read the words of Dostoyevsky and Karl Marx, and in the words of Albert Schweitzer, 'I fancy you.' " But no. At 13, you're just going, " 'ello, Sue. I've got legs. Do you like bread? I've got a French loaf. ( smacking sound ) Bye! I love you!")

In general, the romance is so over-the-top that it made me uncomfortable (as well as giving me super-unrealistic expectations.) But I have some wariness about conventional, huge "romantic" gestures anyway.

I don't even know where to begin with the Badd Boyz. Although on one hand it would be kind of funny if the book meant to comment on the idea of privileged upper-middle class white kids pretending to be thugs and looking like idiots in the process, but the book clearly means for us to take these tools seriously. Ooh! Be afraid, Mary Anne! Be very afraid.

[Penny Lane]

I love Eddie Izzard! Anyway, if anyone wants to see it, I found it on youtube. It's on this clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGy_VyF2n2g&feature=user

The part that alula was referring to is about six minutes, thirty five seconds in. NSFW, BTW

And I agree with pretty much everythign you said Alula

[Rie]

aln1982 said:

I really didn't like him - Robert either (at any time ;D).

Me too. ;D

[msstock87]

I was thinking about this thread today and I really started to think about my feelings about Cary. Sometimes part of me was really annoyed by his antics and everything but at times he intrigued me. I felt even though his antics weren't always in the best intentions I found a lot of what he did clever. I don't know if that makes sense.

[aln1982]

It makes sense. ;D I'm intrigued by Cary but the way I would be by a criminal. (if that makes sense ;D)
I wish we knew more about Trevor and Austin and some of the other boys in the series. They are mentioned several times but not really ever talked about enough for me to tell if I like them or not.

[Penny Lane]

Trevor likes poetry and Austin is named after two cars. That's about all i can think of.

[aln1982]

^ I think that's about all there is. ;D Big personalities there. ;D