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Post by zoar3 on Feb 8, 2011 11:44:24 GMT -5
I just finished re-reading and really liked this one. I know I've said that for me, things are never quite the same (already) after the end of Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, but I think this might mark an even bigger break (because it's much more permanent) in the feel of the books. Books #1-2 were so funny and fresh. We came to love and identify with the characters as though they were real. Yes, of course, they will always be "real" to us but you know what I mean. #3 was obviously more serious but, imo, it didn't have the same pull as the first 2 books. There were parts of books 4-12 and I loved most of SS#1 that I definitely liked and even felt during moments the focus seemed to be back on the girls and their Stoneybrook lives, which the BSC and client families happened to be apart of. (As opposed to very soon, crazy dramas involving Sgt. Johnson). This book, I don't know, just made me like Stacey again. Maybe because other than her note to Char, which I didn't care for, it was the one time we saw that she cared about her little sister. Also, the other girls seemed less mini-adultish and more in character. I actually though the goodbye party at Kristy's sounded fun and was the one time where it was awesome that kids were invited unlike Dawn's zillion "goodbye" galas. I also liked Ed again. He was featured a lot at the yard sale and even on moving day was humorous.
Speaking of yard sales, I think that scene might have been the first, where so many BSC Client Dads were at the same place at the same time, actually caring for their children. Scary. but not "weird" like (pyscho--how it read to me) Mr. Marshall and the "dirty length of rope)! Did that creep anyone else out? It is near the top of page 110. Hanging in the McGills' bare garage is a small length of rope which apparently Mr. Marshall can't live without. I just picture his eyes going weird and acting all strange.
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Post by candykane on Feb 9, 2011 20:14:52 GMT -5
I never got creeped out by Mr. Marshall, but I always wondered why he was so excited to find a dirty old rope. It's not like you can't buy rope at the hardware store! It just seemed like an odd scene to add to the book. I did laugh at the other people who asked how much the McGills wanted for their car, and also for the folding tables. Stacey told that guy the tables were six hundred dollars.
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u4me
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,655
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Post by u4me on Feb 9, 2011 20:25:05 GMT -5
^ Qasn't there someone who wanted to buy the shutters off their house?
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Post by zoar3 on Feb 9, 2011 20:39:38 GMT -5
Maybe it was how I read it, that I imagined him with a gleam in his eye over the dirty rope. Yeah some lady wanted the shutters. The $600 comment was so funny.
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Post by wiggir13 on Apr 10, 2011 15:09:15 GMT -5
Good Riddance, Dawn doesn't sound that bad. haha love it! However, I felt it should be "good riddance, but you'll probably be back again because you can't stick with a decision" I did love this book because it did allow us to see the girls go visit Stacey in NYC which is one of my favorites!
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Post by anzuhana on Apr 10, 2011 15:42:02 GMT -5
That would be such an honest title.
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Post by zoar3 on Apr 10, 2011 16:50:25 GMT -5
It would be perfect: Good Riddance, Dawn (and don't come back)
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ndj1991
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 76
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Post by ndj1991 on Apr 10, 2011 16:59:27 GMT -5
Aw, poor Dawn. I really did love her in the beginning of the series, though. In my Stoneybrook she remained awesome.
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Post by anzuhana on Apr 10, 2011 17:29:56 GMT -5
^ I also liked Dawn at the beginning.
The title is perfect, zoar.
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Post by zoar3 on Apr 10, 2011 19:36:03 GMT -5
I liked Dawn in #4 and for a little while in #9. Soon thereafter, that began to change. I do admit on my latest re-read, in terms of pure mean-ness at times, that crown goes to Mary Anne. Thank you, Anzuhana.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Jan 21, 2012 1:28:39 GMT -5
LOL @ the Good Riddance, Dawn comments.
Are garage things only a regional thing? Dawn mentions how they don't have them in California. I'm from Canada and we have them here. I'm wondering if they have them where you live. I just assumed everyone's had a garage sale some time or another, or at least been to them. My Popa was obsessed with garage sailing, to the point where our family made him a license plate for a retirement present that said: GRG SLS. And in elementary school, everyone would always ask me what it meant.
So in the newer editions, Ann basically admits in her letter that she was b*tched at by fans (thousands+) who were pissed that she moved Stacey. So I'm thinking that Ed and Maureen got a "convenient" divorce so that Stacey could move back. Stacey's Mistake was Ann's opportunity to write about Stacey in NYC -- which she originally intended to do -- and the divorce could allow Ann to add in Stacey-in-NYC moments from time to time when she visits Ed. She didn't need to portray a divorced kid, at this time, because we already have 2 of them!
I don't think many 13 year olds, especially now-a-days, who would spend their hard-earned garage sale-ing money to buy treats and toys for kids, some of whom can be annoying brats to them.
I forgot to add: Claudia's outfit on the cover looks like something my Grandma wore.
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Post by greer on Jan 21, 2012 2:28:04 GMT -5
I don't think we can trust what Ann says about California, hahaha. I recall reading that she sent Stacey away since dealing with a friend moving away is something that a lot of kids go through. But Stacey hadn't been in Stoneybrook very long anyway, so it wouldn't have had the same emotional impact for Kristy or maybe even Claudia, despite their "best friend" status, as if, say, Mary Anne moved to another state. I think you're right and Ann just wanted to write about NYC more.
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celaeno
Sitting For The Papadakis's
I have to share a room with Vanessa
Posts: 1,514
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Post by celaeno on Jan 21, 2012 11:04:52 GMT -5
Yeah, I would be surprised if people in CA don't do garage sales, although I'd like to hear input from someone who lives there. Interestingly, they are rarely ever called 'garage sales' here in CT. I lived in PA my whole life and they were always called 'garage sales' or 'yard sales', and then I moved to CT almost two years ago and I was surprised that 99% of the time they are called 'tag sales' up here, which is a term I'm not sure I ever heard used in PA. (virgoscorpio: I'm very familiar with garage sales too, because my MomMom was always a garage sale fiend )
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Post by candykane on Jan 21, 2012 11:48:30 GMT -5
I grew up calling them "rummage sales." It's what my mom and grandma always called them.
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Post by anzuhana on Jan 21, 2012 12:24:35 GMT -5
I've always called them "garage sales." There were a few garage sales in my neighborhood and that's what they were called.
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