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Post by wiggir13 on Nov 18, 2012 16:11:28 GMT -5
It's really funny to me how Jeff comes in and they have such fun at the movies and dinner and then all of a sudden everyone hates each other. I really feel like dawn doesn't really care for Richard at all and I wonder if that had something to do with her move to ca?
These parents should really get some balls and tell their kids to stfu and have fun. My mom would not have put up with that!
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,263
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Post by oldhickory on Nov 18, 2012 17:49:41 GMT -5
^ when i was younger my dad took us to disneyworld. pretty soon my sister and i started fighting over something really stupid, and my dad said that if we wanted to be miserable, we could save some money and just go home. of course we didn't listen, so he packed up our stuff and we went home early. we were probably 6 and 8, or 7 and 9, so if we'd pulled the kind of crap these guys did at 13, i know for a fact my vacation would have been over right then and there. and i absolutely agree that dawn didn't really care for richard. she probably likes richard about as much as she likes carol, but the writers couldn't come out and say that since he was MA's dad.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Nov 18, 2012 18:33:05 GMT -5
^ I think it would have been interesting if there had been more Dawn and Richard conflict. I can't imagine that it was easy for either of them to get used to each other. I guess it would have made Dawn look bad, since she went through that with Carol....
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Post by zoar3 on Nov 18, 2012 18:38:51 GMT -5
I wonder if the main reason Dawn settled down about Carol was because she (they both were) living in CA. I don't think Dawn ever truly liked CT. I also totally agree that for the most part Richard was never given the time of day much less any sort of closeness from either Dawn or Jeff. I still feel like MA and her Dad moved into Dawn and Sharon's house, it just so happened Richard and Sharon were married, that was more of an after-thought (sadly) than the reality. Everything was about the love/hate between the two "wicked" step-sisters.
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Post by wiggir13 on Nov 18, 2012 20:19:06 GMT -5
Very well said Zoar. It's sad that Richard takes time off because he really wants to spend time and get to know Jeff, but Jeff is just a huge douche canoe!
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Post by zoar3 on Nov 18, 2012 20:38:05 GMT -5
^Thanks, Wiggirl. I felt so badly for Richard. For 3 days he is either ridiculed or ignored. I absolutely hated that Dawn had to tell us how he fell while trying to play catch. We really had no need to know that. :/ Anyway, he still is making an effort with not only Jeff but with having a family of 5. Come trip day, everything blows up. As you shared, Oldhickory about your DW trip, both Sharon and Richard should have stepped in much sooner, way before they even got into the car in fact. There really was no need to continue let alone stay for 2 nights and 3 days. What made it worse was even when they came home as we saw with the photographer nothing had been resolved. ITA that Jeff was being awful. However, Dawn seemed to "start" everything with her cruel remarks about Richard at the BSC Meeting. I can totally see her and Jeff conferring about what a dummy or lame guy Richard is, thus not helping things any at all. On the other hand, something that makes me like Sharon even less is that she never stood up for her own husband! Not once. :'/
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Post by wiggir13 on Nov 18, 2012 20:45:20 GMT -5
That pissed me off too! Sharon tell your kids to act right and shut up about your husband!
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Post by zoar3 on Nov 18, 2012 20:53:20 GMT -5
^She should have taken Jeff aside and "reminded" him that Richard had done nothing but be kind to him. She also should have--way before Jeff's plane landed---talked more with Richard about possible things for him and Jeff to do. The two of them could have explored the "secret" passage, gone to another "comedy" movie or heaven forbid just hung out. I get that Jeff was only 10, in this book he came across as much younger. The situation had to be hard for him. He really didn't know Richard much more than a hole in the wall. That was up to Sharon to think of and help with not Jeff. I think everything for me comes back to (IMO) the Schafer-Spiers not being a "family" and suddenly going on a long trip not being the way to instantly bond everyone.
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scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
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Post by scrounge on Nov 18, 2012 23:30:50 GMT -5
Richard tried really hard, too. He wasn't good at the sporty kind of things Jeff liked, but he tried anyway. It would have been nice if he and Jeff could have found something to do together that was their own special thing, instead of Richard just trying to do what he thought Jeff wanted. Dawn was super nasty. This is one of the books where I like her the least, and that's saying a lot.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Nov 19, 2012 19:15:06 GMT -5
^ I always liked the way that Richard tried so hard with Jeff and Dawn, even though he wasn't that comfortable with kids in general. I know we as readers were supposed to think he was this crazy strict guy, but he was such a caring dad when you get right down to it.
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Post by zoar3 on Nov 19, 2012 20:39:29 GMT -5
Scrounge, after this re-read this book is probably one that I dislike Dawn most in, too. Richard really did try so hard. Didn't Jeff even pretend to be "sick" on either Tuesday or Wednesday so he wouldn't have to spend time with Richard? That really made me sad. Sharon definitely should have intervened. As I've already said, this book did bothing to increase my caring for Sharon! ^ Aw, I love how you put that Starrynight. I think a lot of his "rules," were really more for his own peace of mind than anything else. I will always wish we had gotten to read about him and Mary Anne spending more time together. I think if young MA hadn't been as shy she just might have bonded more with her dad earlier on.
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supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
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Post by supprazz on Nov 20, 2012 11:33:30 GMT -5
Not only is Sharon scatterbrained, but she really has no backbone for anything, and I can see Dawn trying to care for her and overdoing it, eventually realizing she needs to be home in California, because the first thing her mother did was leave behind everything and moved to the east coast. I applaud her for getting away from a bad relationship all the way and I know it's not easy for kids to adjust to the move, but in this case, it didn't really seem abusive from Dawn's perspective in SS11 and mostly Sharon and Jack not being able to live under the same roof anymore.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Nov 25, 2012 1:13:07 GMT -5
I thought it was a bit odd how, at the end of the book, they put up TWO family portraits on their wall because they wanted to be reminded of their family feud. Who wants to be reminded of a fight!?
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supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
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Post by supprazz on Nov 25, 2012 10:36:31 GMT -5
Must be a Stoneybrook thing...
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Post by stolenbooks on Mar 15, 2015 0:25:09 GMT -5
So I'm gonna bring another thread back from the dead...
What is it with the BSC having guests visit when they're in school and can't entertain them which soon leads to a problem. First Claudia with Peaches (though that's Peaches own fault for leaving work at 8 weeks pregnant...), then Stacey with Laine and now Jeff in this book. Why could he not come when the girls would be out of school? I mean, come on. Richard obviously didn't know what he liked. Jeff did become a huge brat though. I did feel bad for Sharon and Richard though, especially the part where Sharon sort of wishes she could've gone to the muesum and Richard, the whale watching. Then Sharon doesn't go to dinner just because Dawn and Jeff don't want to? My parents would've put their foot down long before then if that was my brother and I.
I always found it ridiculous that Jeff expected they could go to DC last minute. He was obviously being spiteful.
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