#1 Kristy's Big News

[starrynight]

I think Emily Michelle was "Thomas-Brewer," but I'd have to go back and look at #24 to be sure.

[zoar3]

EM was Thomas-Brewer, which as someone pointed out makes no sense. Why give any more honor to your deadbeat ex? Also Emily has nothing to do with Patrick! I still think that it would have been a better choice to have asked (but lol that would have required Elizabeth and Watson *gasp* telling their kids ahead if time about Emily) for name suggestions from their Family. Perhaps Emily's name could have been created from parts of her siblings names or something signifacant to them...the Family as a whole. IMO, that not "Thomas" is a way to unify them all.

I thought Nanny's name was Janet Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor being Kristy's Mom. Lol! Maybe Bart's Dad is secretly Nannie's son and Mr. Taylor the SMS prinicipal his brother, thereby making Kristy and Bart family. Just like Morbidda Destiny and Dawn's Grandparents.

Back on topic to this book, I just re-read and it left me with an even greater disatisified and somewhat angry feeling than the last time. I (still) don’t think any of the Thomas kids should have attended the Wedding. I can understand why they’d be curious to meet Zoe, (see who this woman was that Patrick now thinks he can be a Family with and maybe (too bad they didn’t) confront him about his abandonment of them. On that note, this would have been the opportune book for each of the Thomas kids to have a moment with Watson, thanking him. I also always wished they had discussed, even just amongst themselves (Kristy and her brothers) changing their surname to Brewer).

[digigirl02]

I wonder why Kristy and her brothers never changed their surname as well, especially DM who has only known Watson to be any type of father-like figure in his life anyway.

[anzuhana]

I don't understand why someone like Zoey is marrying Patrick. It doesn't seem like he has changed. I wish that they talked about why David Michael wasn't invited.

[lilafowler]

I read all the Friends Forevers at once a few weeks ago, and this is the one that stuck out to me the most. One of the few times in the entire series any distinction is made between Charlie and Sam!

So many interesting comments about this book in the past few pages -- I wish I'd read it earlier when everyone was still around I have to agree with icequeen that cheating seems a little too much to believe for someone who refused to live in sin for a summer. Then again this book was written long after that happened, much closer to a time when Stacey points out that you don't have to be married to have a baby. Anyway, the idea that jumped out at me was that Elizabeth oopsed Patrick and that's why he basically ignores DM's existence. Way harsh because it implies that he does know the kid is his, but Patrick has showed dbagginess in other instances, so I wouldn't put it past him. Elizabeth was young when she had Charlie, wasn't she? The whole situation reminds me of the hot messes and poor baby daddy selection on Teen Mom.

Zoey's dress sounded fug. Mint green and sleeves sounds more like the bridesmaid gown of nightmares than something anyone would choose for her own wedding day.

[greer]

Apr 16, 2010 13:45:30 GMT -5 anzuhana said:

I don't understand why someone like Zoey is marrying Patrick. It doesn't seem like he has changed. I wish that they talked about why David Michael wasn't invited.

Even smart women make bad decisions about men sometimes. I know I have.

[sparklymouse]

I didn't hate this one as much on my second reading. Mostly I was just bored by it. I was annoyed that the kids were so affected by Patrick after all that time, but I guess it's one of those situations where you can't really relate unless you've been there. This sounds bad, but I was glad that when Kristy was back in Stoneybrook she still didn't like Patrick that much. A quick, happy fix would have been infuriating.

We learned that Patrick's parents died before Kristy was born. Patrick was also estranged from his only brother. It's nice to know that the family as a whole didn't abandon the kids. They were either dead or hated Patrick too.

[booboobrewer]

Jan 2, 2011 19:15:49 GMT -5 sparklymouse said:

We learned that Patrick's parents died before Kristy was born.

Really? I think Kristy says in Phantom Phone Calls that her "other Grandma" sent her some dress up clothes recently. Or something like that.

[sparklymouse]

^Hmm. Page 84

I'd forgotten about Ray, our uncle and Patrick's only brother. (Their parents--my grandparents--had died before I was born.) I gave Patrick a puzzled look. Patrick shrugged. "We had a disagreement, and when I sent Ray an invitation, he sent back best wishes but said no way."

[wanderingfrog]

Unfortunately it's much easier to retcon Mary Anne's dead grandma into a live one than it is to fix this mistake...

[lilafowler]

It was in Kristy's Big Day:

“Do you still have those old clothes you used to play make-believe with?” asked Claudia.

“I can do better than that,” I said. “Last year, out of the clear blue, Grandma – my other grandmother – sent us all these funny dress-up clothes. Some of the clothes would be perfect for our wedding. I’ll go get them.”

That's the only mention of Patrick's family I recall before Kristy's Big News. I can't blame the ghostwriters for missing it, was Grandma even mentioned in the Complete Guide? "Grandma: Patrick Thomas's mother, outfitted pretend wedding that took place the week her ex-daughter-in-law got married"

[anzuhana]

^ In the Complete Guide, it says that she's Kristy's other grandma and that she's a widow.

[booboobrewer]

Haha. That's what I was thinking of. Although there's also this from #2:

“We could go up in the attic and look through that trunk of antique toys that Mom got from Grandma’s,” Kristy suggested.

Possibility it's Nannie before she took on the so-hip-and-not-like-other-grandmothers moniker Nannie? She's not mentioned in KGI.

[virgoscorpio]

^ Chalk that one up to another inconsistency!

I could relate to this book. My father basically abandoned me, and got remarried when I was around 8 and now has an entirely new family (to which he is a good dad to). I don't know how I would react to him coming back into my life, so I could relate to what the Thomas kids were going through.

This book got a little bit on the boring side (at parts).

[zoar3]

This book really lends hate to Elizabeth In a way she was worse (in this book) than Patrick. Yes, I skimmed some of it. Now, I really am saying goodbye to the FF. How dare she get angry with David Michael for wanting to go (and not be left out). ITA, even at age 7, DM could/should have reminded everyone that he was abandoned, too. I also hated that once in CA, (for the most part), DM never came up and all was brushed over with Patrick. "Everything Changes" was wonderful in comparison to this. How I miss "red ribbons," and chasing after Chewy not to mention the feel of the BSC as both friends and part of the Stoneybrook community. I loved Kristy's essay in "Fire." That was the BSC to me, anyway.