#10 Stacey's Problem

[otempora541]

Any thoughts?

I thought the book read more modern; there are mentions of Elizabeth Hurley, Princess Diana, and Versace for example. But the book had a filler filling though: it came off sounding more like and update (Mallory is trying to figure out her role in the family, Claudia is thinking about dating Alan, Ed is in a relationship and Maureen isn't, etc.) and not really having that much of a plot.

Its a moot point by now, but in this book the time warp is a mess- it sounds more like a May/June timeline, and yet there are no mentions of graduation or high school!

[Kylie90210]

I didn't really think this was Stacey's problem as much as her parents, lol. Good for Maureen though.

[rainbowgirl28]

Oh man, this book was way more modern compared to the regular BSC series. Lots of email and internet and cell phones. Crazy!

I liked the theme of moving forward. I did think that Maureen's feeling better after deciding to start a new business was a bit over simplistic, but it's a kids book, so I guess it makes sense to wrap things up neatly.

I liked that Mallory came home from boarding school and was having trouble adjusting. It was weird to hear about her starting an internet club or whatever at boarding school, but it makes sense.

What I didn't like was that they never followed up on Wes Ellenburg or whatever being Stacey's new math teacher. I don't think it was ever mentioned again after the boyfriend trap. Since Stacey is so high on math, it seems like it would have been worth mentioning somewhere.

[Deleted]

I didn't really know what to make of the cell phones, or the Versace... it was so non-BSC it kind of threw me off. I liked Stacey in this, though - she was so much less bratty than I thought she would be about Samantha and Ed. I feel bad for Stacey in books like this, her parents are a constant source of problems, and it seems like they can never keep those problems separate, at least in part from Stacey. I was so annoyed when Ed suggested that Stacey tell Maureen, and that he didn't call before. He should have taken all of that responsibility off Stacey, I think ... its not her job to be the messenger.

I liked the Mallory side-story, too. I especially liked the way the Pikes were since Mal had left, I can see Byron as the awesome oldest brother, while A and J don't really care. He seems to fill Mal's shoes really well.

[msstock87]

^I really liked the Mallory story in this one too, which is suprising because I didn't really like many stories in the Friends Forever series. I agree that Byron is a great older brother, out of the triplets he seems the most caring and most responsible.

[anzuhana]

^ Byron does seem to be the most caring and most responsible out of the triplets. I wouldn't be surprised if he would be a babysitter when he's older.

[lilafowler]

It always depresses me when a dead public figure is written about in the BSC books as though he or she is still alive, so I got a little reading about Anne Bancroft.

I felt SO bad for Mallory; I knew from the Ann hates Mal thread that even after Spaz Girl and the psycho roommate at Riverbend, there was one last kick in the gut waiting for her, but her siblings were so cold! I also didn't feel like there was any resolution to the Pike part of her storyline. When she was getting excited about her computer knowledge and organizing the trip for the BSC clients, I just kept thinking, "aww, Mallory, but your family still hates you."

I enjoyed Stacey's run-in with Laine. I always like snobby dark-haired characters, and she made two very astute remarks: Stacey dumped Claudia for a guy, and Jeremy sounded like a jerk. Stacey seemed to think Laine had the wrong idea, but both of those sounded about right to me.

[Deleted]

I like Mallory so I liked about her adjusting to coming back to stoneybrook. Bryon filling in his sisters shoes was a great idea as well.

[virgoscorpio]

I really liked this book. I thought it combined a lot of interesting sub-plots, including New York and Stoneybrook moments.

[wiggir13]

I liked this one a lot. I enjoyed seeing Mal back in the picture and seeing the girls interact with each other, sort of. I also really liked that Stacey's mom was branching out and looking at how she could make things better for herself and stacey.

[u4me]

I read this for the first time today. Maybe this should go in the continuity thread, but I figured I'd bring this thread back in case there are others who read this book recently.

When Stacey ran into Laine - it said that the reason Stacey and Laine weren't close anymore was because Stacey moved to Stoneybrook and they drifted apart. That wasn't it at all! It was because Laine was a lousy friend when Stacey was diagnosed with diabetes! Sure, they eventually drifted apart, but I think the breaking point of their relationship was that Laine was a jerk and then the rest of the relationship was a roller coaster from there. Laine was awful in this book and she was really only in it for 2 pages. She was arrogant, but a different kind of arrogant - more shallow in this book. Ick.

[wiggir13]

Laine is just really terrible all the way around. I found it odd in this book too that they just sort of grew apart??? I thought for a moment that Laine and Stacey would patch things up since the whole Claudia feud, but I am really glad they didn't. However, I did find irony in how Laine treated Stacey so terribly then Stacey turned around and treated Claudia equally as terrible.

[zoar3]

^That's the whole trouble with Stacey. I know we've had this discussion a zillion times, particulary in the "Stacey vs. the BSc" thread. Stacey has a lot of angst (some typical teen, some, imo, like this, a little meaner), inside of her. I don't think she is all that secure and as such, like Abby and her impersonations, sometimes "choses" friends based on her own need for "power." Spotlight, more likely. If Laine truly treated Stacey the way she did in TSB, something I never realized before reading that book, for the two of them to (for a while) go back to being semi bff like nothing ever happened, truly made no sense to me at all. The scope of Laine's nastiness had upped from calling every attention she could to Stacey at a sleepover to (somehow) turning the entire school against Stacey and being a completely un-appreciative guest at the going away party. IDK, maybe all those years of hiding her true hurt at Laine came out in how Stacey treated Claudia? Those girls sure did have a way of acting in extremes at times. (Coffee cups, out of my life forever, etc).

[sparklymouse]

Stacey has a way of inserting herself into her parents' business when they don't ask her to and then blaming them for not getting along. I do sympathize with her more in this one than in Stacey's Choice. It's the worst feeling to see your parent so upset.

I like that Stacey and Samantha liked each other so much. It was kind of over the top that Samantha was pretty much Stacey all grown up though. I had to roll my eyes that Ed went after a former model.

I enjoyed Stacey's run-in with Laine. I always like snobby dark-haired characters, and she made two very astute remarks: Stacey dumped Claudia for a guy, and Jeremy sounded like a jerk. Stacey seemed to think Laine had the wrong idea, but both of those sounded about right to me.

This is awesome. I think I liked Laine more in the two pages she was in in this one than ever before. Stacey made it sound like Laine turned into a thug with her heavy eye make-up and dark nails.

I loved the chapter where the girls were critiquing the dating tapes guys. Kristy was repulsed by bald men (any bald guys, even those whose shave their heads. I wonder if she was grossed out by cancer patients. ). She gave a thumbs up to the second guy because he could do Maureen's taxes for her (I'm sure Stacey could too), but Claudia didn't like him because he sounded like Garfield. The third choice was this old guy on disability who collected stamps for fun and couldn't do any sports. Mallory wanted him for herself .

[anzuhana]

I felt sorry for Mallory since she was replaced by Byron and that Vanessa was a brat to her. However, I did like that Mallory was the president of the Internet Club in Riverbend (and that at the BSC meeting, she had ideas on how they could organize a trip to the Stoneybrook Museum for the charges) and how Stacey made Mallory feel better.

Also, I liked that Maureen wanted to open her own clothing store. I wish we could've read about it.