Paul Zindel (1936–2003)

Just read this for the third time. I first read it back in the late 70s. Then again around 2010. And I read it again today. Oddly, it seemed even more cruel this time around.

It's a powerful story. Moves me every time. Makes me cringe every time, too. In some ways I see myself and my mother and maybe my grandmother, although not specifically or nearly as dramatically. But I can recognize the adult folly, how a mother often carries her own life's disappointments and some of her own mother's show more disappointments long into adulthood, affecting the next generation. Seeing ourselves is the power of the play. We can relate to the best and worst of our own selves both as mothers and as daughters.

That might be why I've read and re-read it: it's the sometimes tragic Mother-Daughter metaphor that could be made based on the effects of radiation on bright yellow marigolds. show less

“The speeches! They were filled with borrowed things--borrowed over and over again until the words were nothing more than a series of clichés.”
― Paul Zindel, My Darling, My Hamburger

A favorite from childhood. Review to follow.

I heard from someone that Paul Zindel commented on how he did not write good books in the time period this came out.

I cannot confirm he said this. I hope he didn't.

He needs a reality check if he did.

It is difficult to explain how much this book meant to me and show more how beloved it is to a great deal of readers. I am not sure any writer has so accurately portrayed teenagers and that is the beauty in this little gem of a book.

It isn't happy. It is bitingly cynical, brutal in its tragedy and seamless in getting into the heads of the four individuals in this story.

It covers some pretty heavy subjects..suicide, abortion, sex, dating in general, friendship..all the things teens worry about.

It is a capsule in time. I often wonder about Liz and Sean and Maggie and Dennis.

I was in Elementary school when I first read this book. Actually I did not read it. A family member who was big into theater did an oral reading for myself and my whole family. I fell in love with the book then and have reread many times since.

So as for Paul Zindel....he wrote a masterpiece. A masterpiece of feeling and bittersweet pain, the kind that we all feel as teens. A book of loneliness, alienation and yearning. A book that stands as a gr eat novel and a classic that should be read by any constant reader who favors the Literary Young Adult novel. You won't get happily ever after but you will get a book that may resonate deeply and one you will never forget. show less

Considering that this book was first published in 1969, the story and characters have held up remarkably well. It is still highly readable, relevant and relatable to today's YAs. The 4 main characters (Liz, Sean, Maggie & Dennis) are believable because they are modern archetypes. Liz & Sean are the "alpha" couple -- attractive, popular, seemingly self-assured, and quite selfish; their friends Maggie & Dennis are the "beta" couple -- not so attractive or popular, plagued by insecurities, show more self-doubt and a certain amount of self-hatred. Maggie especially rings true as the ever-loyal friend, putting Liz's needs, desires and ultimately welfare ahead of her own -- for which Maggie will pay a hefty price in the end.
The story is ageless: Sean wants to have sex with Liz - allegedly because he "loves her" -- but Liz is afraid of getting pregnant. Of course, that is precisely what does happen, and Liz is now faced with the problem of paying for an abortion (interestingly enough, the moral question is never raised, only the practical aspects of who to go to, how to pay for it, and how to hide the whole thing from her parents and the world.) When Sean decides to marry Liz, however, the problem appears to be over -- at least, in Liz's mind. She's so happy, she's almost dancing on a cloud. And this is perhaps the least realistic part of the story, or the least relatable to today's teens. Most teenage girls today are not, I think, so eager to marry at such a young age. This is not 1969; today's girls assume that they will go to college and/or have careers before becoming wives and/or mothers. So just marrying the baby's father is no longer necessarily a satisfactory -- or ANY -- solution.
The teens' relationships with their respective families also ring true. Liz's stepfather constantly erodes her self-esteem, accusing her of loose morals. (The irony is that, up until the moment he calls her a tramp, Liz had in fact kept her virginity. His declaration would prove to be the pivotal point in the story.) Liz's mother tries to be more understanding but ultimately is more concerned about her own relationship with her 2nd husband than she is about her daughter. Sean's father is a boorish, blow-hard, good-ol'-boy type who doesn't understand his son at all (yet in the end Sean seeks, and winds up taking, his dad's chauvinistic advice.) Dennis' parents are well-meaning but utterly clueless about their son. Maggie's mother is kind and caring, she's the only one who does understand and has a good relationship with her daughter.
I see the usefulness of this book more along the lines of in-depth character studies, rather than as part of a unit on sex education, abstinence, pregnancy, or dating. show less

A difficult work, full of angst and anger. Three sisters, all working in the same school system, come together to try to resolve the problem that rose with the break down of the youngest. The story develops well, and introduces a strange and unpleasant couple who stop by to pay their respects (mostly to get a look at the "nut") and end up in a tell-all session that exposes the peculiarities of even those with seemingly normal lives. Zindel rips the facade off to let us look underneath into show more the simmering, festering witches brew of family life; the result can be painful. Zindel never fails to push buttons. show less