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Post by sotypical42483 on Jul 14, 2006 18:39:13 GMT -5
I thought Stacey was stupid for doing that to Claudia. Claudia made it absolutely NO SECRET how insanely DESPERATE she was and Stace thought she'd be happy enough knowing that the perfect was "out there somewhere" w/o even meeting him?!?! WTF??? Trickery like that is not very sophisticated, Stacey McGill.
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Jul 14, 2006 19:22:00 GMT -5
I agree with sotypical - it was a stupid stunt. What was Stacey really trying to achieve anyway? Did she really think Claudia would appreciate it? Dumb. I also agree with greer that the BSC needed to stop promoting the idealistic nonsense of romance, boyfriends and dating in middle school. Mallory and Ben's "relationship" was more of a casual friendship, so I didn't mind that so much, but Jessi and Quint were FULL ON. And as for MA and Logan...
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Jul 15, 2006 20:09:41 GMT -5
I STILL don't understand this. If Stacey made up this guy, then he ISN'T out there just waiting to meet Claudia! How is that at all helpful?!
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Jul 15, 2006 22:50:03 GMT -5
Well put!
I guess Claudia wasn't supposed to KNOW it was Stacey behind all the letters and was supposed to be comforted by the knowledge - whether real or otherwise - that Mr Perfect was waiting to meet Claudia. But how was it supposed to work? How did Stacey think the stunt would play out?
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Jul 16, 2006 1:32:55 GMT -5
I don't think Stacey *did* think about it!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2006 0:27:10 GMT -5
Wow I didn't like this book at ALL. Claudia was soooo lame. The book opens up with her HUGGING HERSELF in her bed because she's all lonely and sad after walking home from school with Mary Anne and Logan. I can't believe no one brought that up! And...you gotta love the opening of this book--Claudia hugging herself to see what it was like to be held close by someone. Um, hasn't she hooked up with several guys across the country? I noticed! I still like this one though. Was there any later mention of Claudia still working for the SMS newspaper? Or was it a one-book gig?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Jul 17, 2006 1:47:37 GMT -5
^ I think it was briefly mentioned in a Chapter Two shorty following this book, but I don't think it was ever another plotline. And then we were supposed to forget about it or something.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Jul 17, 2006 12:51:03 GMT -5
Oh, I'm reading Mary Anne and Miss Priss right now and they mention Claud's work on the newspaper.
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Post by aln1982 on Feb 28, 2007 1:00:54 GMT -5
Loved Claud's spelling in this one and the scene of her hugging herself! Liked reading about the dates, too. Hated the Pow subplot - probably because I can't stand dogs and Pow is one of my least favorite pets so I couldn't really sympathize with the Barrett kids. I've sold lots of horses (know that's different, though) and lost many barn cats so don't get real attached. Other than the subplot, I liked this book pretty well.
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Post by sugarmonkey on Mar 29, 2007 13:58:50 GMT -5
I liked the main plot and thought it was pretty good. I like it when Claud gets a self-esteem boost since so much of the time she's pretty down on herself. She was smarter and cuter in this book than in most.
I hated the Pow subplot. It was just so stupid. They have to get rid of a dog they've had for years and has been treated like a member of the family just because one person out of the entire family is allergic? I know Mrs. B said she talked to the doctor and there was no other way, and Marnie is so incredibly allerigic and all, but that's just mean. I've always considered pets part of the family. (Although aln1982 I can see why you don't get attached to animals, since farm animals tend have a high turnover rate.)My sister is allergic to pet dander (among other things) and she grew up in a house with dogs. Now she lives with dogs and cats. She just never had to brush or wash them growing up. It was discovered my nephew had serious allergies (all kinds) around Marnie's age. He's lived with dogs his whole life. My sister said she didn't want to try and keep him in a bubble because when he got out into the world he would be exposed to his allergens and have trouble then. Now at 13, most of his allergies are gone and he's living just fine with 2 dogs and 2 cats (he's supposed to be as allergic to cats as is humanly possible). I just found it going a little overboard to chuck a pet for such a silly reason. All Mrs. B had to do was stop being a neglectful twit and try harder than she was supposedly doing. Vacuum, dust, brush and wash dog regularly, give kid allergy medicine. She could even have restricted Pow to a certain area of the house or made him an outside dog in warmer weather. So many solutions, such stupid ghostwriters.
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lyricalangel
Sitting For The Newtons
Logan's love-bunny
Posts: 1,918
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Post by lyricalangel on Mar 29, 2007 18:09:50 GMT -5
The Barretts could have given Marnie to the Pikes and kept Pow. The Pikes already have 8 kids. Would one more make that much difference. Just kidding.
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wanderingfrog
Sitting For The Arnolds
Official BSC Archivist
Posts: 2,552
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Post by wanderingfrog on Mar 29, 2007 21:53:30 GMT -5
Hee! If Marnie just ran over to the Pikes and started living with them I doubt either family would really notice. I think Marnie is still in diapers, but I assume Mallory would just change them and whine about it all the time and no one would listen to her anyway.
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Post by hitzpink on May 22, 2007 17:07:22 GMT -5
I thought the Pow subplot was really sad. When you think about it I guess it doesn't really make sense that they'd just get rid of him like that, but I just ignored that aspect of it. I felt so bad for poor Buddy and Suzi, I'd be heartbroken if I ever had to give up one of my cats! I think this was one of the first books to use computers in a more modern way. Usually the only mention of them was "Janine is a genius and spends hours at her computer everyday." Stacey teaching Claudia how to use spellcheck was cute, but would Stacey really have been allowed to spend SO much time in the newspaper office when she wasn't even part of the staff? She seemed to be in there helping Claudia out everytime Claudia went in there to work. As for the actual plot of the book... How many kids went to their school? Once you found out that Mr. Perfect From the Personals Column was actually Greg from Geometry, wouldn't you kind of be like "eh... never mind." How exciting can a personals column be when everyone already knows each other?
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Post by liss31d on May 23, 2007 14:21:13 GMT -5
I know... realistically it definitely wouldn't work, especially in a middle school. But I still liked reading the different ads made by the kids. Some very funny moments in the book, like Claud going on about her pink and gold ( ) outfit that made her feel happy as she looked like a "human sunset." Then later in the book, that guy 'Rock' (haha a 13 year old guy who calls himself 'Rock' ;D) states in his ad that he wants a girl who "preferably doesn't wear pink and Claud says "That's ok as I don't look good in pink"... another dim moment for Claud Also it's very amusing when Claud gets practically orgasmic when she discovers that spellcheck exists ;D
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Post by aln1982 on May 23, 2007 15:40:02 GMT -5
I wonder if Claudia can get the words close enough for spell check to even work. Another point that this book always brings up for me is Claudia seems good at writing - when she actually tries. This confirms my belief that she is a lot smarter than she makes herself out to be (though I believe she lacks common sense) and that she could be good at school, or at least decent at it, if she just put forth a little bit of effort. It takes a few brains to be able to do what she did with writing the personals column, editiing, combining, etc.
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