Reviews with content warning for Outing - Annie on My Mind

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Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

28 reviews

chrisljm's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

3.5 star rating based on my enjoyment.

I'm usually able to enjoy books that are geared towards younger readers despite no longer being the intended audience, but I think this is one of those times where it did hinder my enjoyment of the story. But still, I did appreciate this book and I think it's an important one for people to read, especially the intended audience. Even though there are more resources today than in 1982, this could still be a reassuring book for young girls who might be struggling with their sexuality. This was very well written and still holds up well today.

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singingsea's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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crieraylax's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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analenegrace's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Annie on My Mind was a love story that was really a Window to both the Lesbian and Homophobic cultures of the 1980s. Annie and Liza's love story was the central point of the story, but I think what's more important about the book is the reactions of all of the various secondary characters as they find out about the girls' relationship.

I really enjoyed seeing Liza and Annie's relationship through Liza's reflections and how childlike wonder allowed them to find each other and fall in love. Although I loved the reflective part, the changing between first and third person from reflections in the letter to Liza at MIT was a bit jarring. I also really loved the descriptive aspects of the book, the author really captured the way people looked and acted quite well, my favorite was, " Those two old women, whale and pilot fish, eagle and sparrow, heads back, mouths open wide, eyes shining, singing as if they were both desperately trying to be fifteen years old again," about Poindexter and Baxter.

The teachers' relationship was beautifully written as a picture of what lesbians dealt with in, seemingly, the 1960s, 70s, and into the 80s and the many sacrifices they had to make to continue being together. The details we get at the end of their history, as well as the hints about their life together in their house, showcase what difficult choices had to be made at this time.

The reactions of all the other surrounding characters, either blind ignorance, religious homophobia, or well-meaning homophobia, also provided insight into the changing of the times, as we see much older characters react aggressively, like Baxter and Poindexter, middle-aged characters react by ignoring it like Liza's parents or the Board of Trustees, or the students at Liza's school either asking about their sex life, recommending therapy, or having a "love the sin hate the sinner" mentality, it shows the changing of generational reactions to LGBTQ+ people and what this looked like in the 1980s.

All in all, I quite enjoyed Annie on My Mind, but perhaps more as a history lesson than as a romance novel!

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