Buddies

Hadn’t opened this paperback since I was a kid, thought I’d mostly enjoy it again for nostalgia reasons, but this pleasantly surprised me with how well it holds up, strong storytelling with humor sprinkled throughout and circumstances and emotions that are universal regardless of whether you grew up in the eighties or not.

This is a slim book, under two hundred pages, so there isn’t room for going into much detail about camp activities, though there certainly were moments involving that, as well as a talent show performance that deserves extra points for originality. The focus here is mainly on Dinah wanting to shed her kind reputation and experience what it’s like to be popular at summer camp, only right away she’s saddled show more with Fern, a girl who is the antithesis of popular.

I liked that this isn’t as simple as setting the reader up to hate Dinah for prioritizing popularity, and feeling sorry for outcast, Fern, you feel for both sides of the situation.

Dinah is likeable, you see her experiencing plenty of guilt plus she’s stuck in an identifiable and emotionally complicated situation where being nice requires her to be somewhat unfair to herself. Also Fern’s quirks can be tough to be around, you can understand how even the nicest person might reach their limit, so you get why things go the way they do even if you wish they hadn’t.

Then there’s Fern, likeable, too, in her own unique way. We’re not in her POV, still from early on you have the sense that her reluctance to speak, her so quickly clinging to Dinah has to do with how she’s been received by other people, and the story takes you on this painful to watch arc with Fern, where you see her becoming more and more comfortable with these girls, mistaking Dinah’s innate kindness for friendship.

As for the ending, the realism there very much contributed to the high rating I gave this one. show less

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