oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,263
|
Post by oldhickory on Dec 26, 2009 1:07:52 GMT -5
doesn't it seem like abby is either saving the day or causing a disaster? i'm glad she saved the day this time. i just read this one for the first time, and my immediate opinion is just okay. nothing spectacular but nothing horrible either. i thought the whole thing with kristy wishing her dad could be there was overdone -- she has never, in 79392646 books, ever longed for her father, so that was strange to me. and watson's reaction when kristy blew up at bill bain was totally bizarre. but i thought that it was really sweet for kristy and watson to be there together. i kept thinking that maybe in a few years he could take DM to a father-son camp. you know DM would love that, probably even more than kristy. he never knew patrick, so being at camp with the only father figure he knew would probably be awesome.
|
|
|
Post by zoar3 on Dec 26, 2009 18:43:57 GMT -5
I agree about Abby, in this book she handled the situation wonderfully. It was quite odd..."off" the way Kristy suddenly was almost overwhelmed by thoughts of Patrick. I thought she no longer considered him her Dad? I understand how a part of her possibly is still sorting out his actions and the loss of a person she had hoped would love her forever. However, the day Patrick left without ever (for the most part) looking back, that should have been a fairly clear sign he was gone, as were any hopes, illusions of him. :/ I always wished we had gotten to read more about the Thomas kids, especially DM, with Watson. I've posted this before, would love to read a fan fic where Charlie, especially simply because he's the eldest and (one year ) will turn 18 and start college, talk with his siblings about changing their surname to Brewer--perhaps even as a surprise for Watson. Would have been very touching and lol a surefire bonding experience greater than Watson and Elizabeth strangely, creepily even, giving EM the name of Thomas! Just my opinion. Speaking of Watson, his outright anger, for a good long while did not seem like him at all. I can relate the similarities between Kristy working on coming to terms with the truth that her idol (Patrick) is anything but hero material and Watson to a lesser degree doing so with Bill Bain but still..didn't work for me.
|
|
|
Post by anzuhana on Jun 8, 2010 16:58:58 GMT -5
I liked reading about Kristy and Watson bonding. I thought that it sucked that Bill Bain was rude until near the end of the book. I loved the food description.
|
|
|
Post by sparklymouse on Oct 5, 2010 14:21:30 GMT -5
I didn't like this book at all. Watson actually made me uncomfortable. I get that he was disappointed, but he was acting like a mopey little boy for most of the book. Like the other dads were talking about Bill Bain at breakfast and he would just be silent and stare at his plate of food. Huh? Suck it up, dude.
I can't wrap my head around Kristy not being a star athlete. For 20+ years I have thought of her as a total jock. The second string team wasn't that shocking because it sounded like she was half-assing it at try-outs. But the fact that she said Abby was a better athlete than her and she was "just a dependable player" BLOWS MY MIND. Seriously, I'm weirded out by this revelation.
|
|
|
Post by zoar3 on Oct 5, 2010 18:31:46 GMT -5
Overall, I thought this book could have so much better. As I said long ago, the focus should have been more on Kristy and Watson in a daughter/father relationship. Kristy could have even shared with Watson some of her thoughts regarding Patrick, thanking him (Watson) for truly being there for her. Though, yeah, I don't especially see Kristy as one to outright say that, but she might have thought it.
Watson at the convention did indeed act quite weird and OOC. I actually felt a twinge of apprehension that he was about to blow up at Kristy over it, not a good moment. ITA, Sparklymouse, that he spent way too much time moping.
Most of you know what I think of Abby. I got the impression she excelled at soccer and used those skills along with being in good shape/ having good coordination to enjoy other sports. I never bought into that she was a natural athelete or at least one that was so fantastic at anything physical, sports wise. Kristy, on the other hand, I thought was.
|
|
|
Post by shannon86 on Jul 31, 2011 22:21:23 GMT -5
After years of hunting for this book, I finally found and bought it at a local Value Village on Saturday July 30th. I read it right away and just finished it this morning. I love it!
|
|
starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
|
Post by starrynight on Aug 7, 2011 3:12:11 GMT -5
I'm glad Kristy made the second string team; she DIDN'T try her hardest, and she always just assumed that everything would go her way. When the BSC was re-forming after their breakup in #100, and the girls were talking about what to do if one of them wanted to join a group that conflicted with BSC times. Kristy was so sure that the leaders of these other groups would be flexible for the BSC. She never even considered the fact that they might not even be able to do that. Little things like that happened throughout the series, and I kind of liked seeing Kristy get taken down a peg or two!
|
|
|
Post by wiggir13 on Aug 24, 2011 22:36:35 GMT -5
I felt like this book was like another set up for the FF series with Kristy and her dad. Her wondering about her dad just popped up out of nowhere for me in this one. I wish, like someone said above, that it would have been more focused on Kristy and Watson. I really can't believe that Kristy wasn't an all star either? ? wtf!
|
|
oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,263
|
Post by oldhickory on Aug 25, 2011 23:49:08 GMT -5
^ it wasn't until i read your post that i realized this was kristy's last book before patrick shows up. this book suddenly makes a lot more sense, although they could have gone about it a lot more eloquently.
|
|
|
Post by zoar3 on Aug 26, 2011 10:59:16 GMT -5
^They really could/should have. I think Ann and co should have decided (as a group) whether Patrick really sent a postcard every now and then or if he 100% abandoned his family. I never liked how wishy-washy that was. It almost put Patrick in a positive state (at least he sometimes tried type of thing, I don't think so :/) If Patrick was going to randomly show up, it should have been either that call or in person after years of nothing. It was totally in his character to sneakily try to be seen only by Kristy, she should have called him on it. That said, I can totally understand Kristy (finally) wanting a few "normal" moments with him. I really wished none of them had gone to the wedding. And that that book had been about the Thomas kids bonding with Watson.
|
|
Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
|
Post by Amalia on Jun 26, 2013 4:18:37 GMT -5
I agree that it should have been more about her relationship with Watson. I would've preferred that over it being geared towards Kristy & Abby solving other peoples' problems (Matt's group dividing, DM's, Vicki's & standing up to Bill Bain). More character development or more fleshing out of the character over heroics, I'd say. Also, I found it weird that Gloria was portrayed at one time to be someone that doesn't take crap from people (her teaching that coach a lesson) then later being shown to be so submissive to Bill and needing Kristy to stand up for her. I also found it weird that Vicki would tell a stranger such private things. It was funny how Kristy was sort of looking down on that girl who had just found out that she was on the second string team only to be shocked to then find herself on there too. The whole thing about the value system of baseball cards talked about in this book reminded me of an article that said that a lipstick stain of Lady Gaga left on a cup saucer had sold for 74K.
|
|
|
Post by virgoscorpio on Jun 26, 2013 12:00:10 GMT -5
Also, the Kristy/Patrick thing was a HUGE part of the movie. So in the Friends Forever series it never seemed like that much of a big deal to me since we had, like, 1.5 hours of it in the film.
|
|
valuemeal2
Sitter-In-Training
California Girl!
Posts: 295
|
Post by valuemeal2 on Dec 19, 2013 4:59:05 GMT -5
Also, the Kristy/Patrick thing was a HUGE part of the movie. So in the Friends Forever series it never seemed like that much of a big deal to me since we had, like, 1.5 hours of it in the film. Seriously! I felt this way as soon as I read it. I was like... okay, so it's basically the movie but it's set near where I live. (I do love that Patrick lives in Sausalito-- that's 40 miles from me!) I felt similarly about Mary Anne and the Secret in the Attic-- I read her Portrait book first, and when I got to that mystery I was like... what's the big deal? I already know all this. Same exact plot! I did not care for Kristy at Bat. Kristy + sports = dullsville.
|
|
celaeno
Sitting For The Papadakis's
I have to share a room with Vanessa
Posts: 1,514
|
Post by celaeno on Jul 20, 2014 17:47:34 GMT -5
I was expecting the sitters to interfere at the end (like a helicopter parent, but a helicopter sitter instead) and get David Michael's baseball card back, by tricking Barry or getting parents involved or something. I was glad to see that David Michael didn't get his card back - it's kinda harsh, but I think sometimes kids need to learn that life isn't fair and sometimes mean people are going to trick you, and your parents can't always be there to set things right.
|
|
starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
|
Post by starrynight on Jul 20, 2014 22:48:55 GMT -5
^ I agree....that somewhat echoes what I said earlier in the thread about being glad that Kristy only made second string. It can be nice to have things work out okay more often than not in books, movies, tv, etc, since that's not always how things go in real life. Some realism every now and then is refreshing, though, especially in BSC land. I can't tell you how disillusioned I was when I got to middle school and realized that it wasn't like the BSC after all. Maybe if this book had been around then, things would have been different!
|
|