Prior to the release of the much-awaited film version of Are You There God It's Me Margaret I watched the Judy Blume Forever documentary which featured interviews with the beloved author as well as many who grew up reading her books. In discussing the controversial Forever (who could forget Ralph?) one of the featured interviewees indicated that she realized re-reading the book as an adult that Michael really was a "dick". Gauntlet thrown. I had to read it again myself. I expect it has been over 40 years since I read it, but I know I read it several times as a teenager. My single Mom was cool about it and I didn't have to hide under the covers to read it.
Reading it as an almost-sixty-year old it is clear that Michael is rather controlling, and the awkward sex scenes were definitely more cringe-worthy than I remembered. I laughed when I read the description of Katherine's mother as five foot six inches and 109 pounds and how concerned she was that her thighs were getting flabby. I also am five foot six, but I weigh twice that. Thankfully, I gave up worrying about flab ages ago. One thing I'd not remembered is that Katherine's mother is also a librarian. So there's that.
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