Stacey's Portrait

[ktag]

It's kind of funny how Stacey wonders if Claudia wrote as much about her in her autobiography as she did about Claudia...and Claudia never mentioned Stacey at all in hers. You'd think that story would be better off in Claudia's anyway, since she was the one so upset. I thought it was going to be about Mimi, but nooo, it's just the exact same plot as Stacey's Mistake.

Another little thing, 5 year old Stacey being all cool about not believing in the tooth fairy (had she even lost any teeth yet?). Meanwhile, 2nd grade Claud was all paranoid about the tooth fairy being some psychotic dentaphile.

[macca]

^ oh well, Stacey was the sophisticated, chic, worldly NYC girl, even when she was five. Even though when she hit 13 she still didn't seem to be aware of shoplifting.

[Deleted]

I got this book kind of recently from eBay. I had never read it when I was younger. After the first few chapters, I found myself questioning the 'wealth' of the McGills.

OK, they originally lived in the Village and then move to the Upper East Side. Their apartment has four bedrooms and their building sounds incredibly nice. Stacey goes to a private school. The McGills sign Stacey up for ballroom dancing lessons. They seem to vacation a lot--Scotland, Ireland, California, somewhere in the Caribbean...I think St. Thomas, a dude ranch (Texas? somewhere in the southwest?).

And I can make educated guesses from the book that the family shops a lot at Zabar's and Macy's and Bloomingdales. They eat out a lot--at nice places like the Plaza.

They seem incredibly rich to me. When the family initially move to Stoneybrook, I'm surprised they didn't move into Watson's neighborhood.

[Deleted]

ilovethe80s said:

I got this book kind of recently from eBay. I had never read it when I was younger. After the first few chapters, I found myself questioning the 'wealth' of the McGills.

OK, they originally lived in the Village and then move to the Upper East Side. Their apartment has four bedrooms and their building sounds incredibly nice. Stacey goes to a private school. The McGills sign Stacey up for ballroom dancing lessons. They seem to vacation a lot--Scotland, Ireland, California, somewhere in the Caribbean...I think St. Thomas, a dude ranch (Texas? somewhere in the southwest?).

And I can make educated guesses from the book that the family shops a lot at Zabar's and Macy's and Bloomingdales. They eat out a lot--at nice places like the Plaza.

They seem incredibly rich to me. When the family initially move to Stoneybrook, I'm surprised they didn't move into Watson's neighborhood.

Not to mention Living on a high floor (I've read or heard that the higher the floor you live on the wealthier you are.

Shopping at harrods.(I mean come on!)
Shopping in Bloomingdales, is pretty much cumposery for a manhattoner though.
NYC is a bigger than stoneybrook and more money would be made in the city.


I wouldn't pay attention to these portraits to be honest. They're inconsistent. Stacey has never been to the Uk.

[ktag]

I posted this in the inconsistancies thread, but in all of the regular series books, Stacey always lived in the Upper West Side.

I think it would have been funny if Kristy, Stacey and Claudia all moved to the rich neighborhood.

[macca]

They seem incredibly rich to me. When the family initially move to Stoneybrook, I'm surprised they didn't move into Watson's neighborhood.

It's never even suggested that they're rich, though, which is weird, since we're constantly reminded that Watson is a REAL LIVE millionaire. But I agree, it doesn't sound as if the McGills are exactly strapped for cash. Mrs McGill can spend THOUSANDS of dollars on a whim (she was so borrrrrrrred) and although Mr McGill is infuriated, it doesn't seem as if the spending impacted their lives too much.

[lovelylemontree]

I really like Stacey's Portrait, probably because I'm such a Stacey fan. I'm also a Laine fan, so I love that she's featured so prominently in this book. Reading about the early days of their friendship was nice and made me sorry for what they lost. Despite all her faults, I like Laine. She's flawed and her friendship with Stacey is complicated, but for me, that's what makes it realistic. I'm probably sympathetic toward Laine though because I was a snob, too, so I understand her.

My favorite parts of the book are when Stacey and Laine ditch cotillion to wander the streets of New York, and then when they plan out their dream apartment. With the giant crayon! And then I love the vacation on the island with Mara. I related to Stacey in that - stubbornly hating a place and a person, then slowly and grudgingly, starting to like both. It made me sad at the end that neither ever wrote. But that's realistic, to know someone a brief time, make promises to write, and never follow through. Part of me wishes Mara had surfaced again, but mostly I'm glad she didn't. I like the small role she played in Stacey's life. I once planned to write a fanfic about Stacey and Mara meeting again, but decided to leave that as it was.

[Amalia]

^ I don't know but Mara didn't strike me as the letter-writing type.

[greer]

Stacey always lived on the UES. When her dad moves in Welcome Back, Stacey! he gets an apartment on the UWS and Stacey says she has never lived on the West Side before. I get the feeling that to find poor people in Stoneybrook you have to, well, go to Stamford. This is a town where people made fun of Mallory when her dad was laid off and the school district sends kids on lavish vacations to ski resorts. (Not to mention their Europe/Hawaii thing.)

Also, I feel like if Stacey's parents were really rich the way Watson is, they would have had a country house up the Hudson River.

[ktag]

"The East Sixties. East Sixty-fifth Street, to be exact."

"But I've never lived on the East Side," I said.

That's what it says in my book.

[greer]

really? i always thought it was the other way around. oh well

[lilafowler]

I get the feeling that to find poor people in Stoneybrook you have to, well, go to Stamford.

ITA. In retrospect, Stoneybrook seems, like, more well-off than average, even for Connecticut. They have a ton of schools, even if each one is created just because no one could be bothered to remember what the other ones in Stoneybrook were, and it is practically infested with lawyers.

[Deleted]

ktag said:

It's kind of funny how
...
5 year old Stacey being all cool about not believing in the tooth fairy (had she even lost any teeth yet?). Meanwhile, 2nd grade Claud was all paranoid about the tooth fairy being some psychotic dentaphile.

Also, Laine and Stacey were all into MTV, Sting and Madonna when they were 8. Didn't Stacey know the words to some Sting song that she was always lipsynching to the music video? That always seemed really off to me.

In the food thread, someone mentioned how some of the restaurants Stacey went to in NYC are closed now. I like the mention of The Saloon in Stacey's Portrait (Stacey and her mom take Claudia there for dinner on her first night). It makes me think of that one episode in Sex and the City where Carrie's one-night stand is a waiter there. Carrie keeps mentioning throughout the episode that the Saloon was 'very happening' back in 1989.

[greer]

When I was little kid I loved MTV. My sister's six and her favorite singers are Gwen Stefani and Barney. I think that it is quite common for small children to be watching something like MTV and playing with a dollhouse at the same time.

[Amalia]

^ I think that they were just into what they were supposed to in to. Six-year old girls are supposed to be into dolls, and contemporary culture dictated that MTV was "in," so they just rolled with the crowd?