Reviews

My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel

bc7ate9's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a quick read about 4 kids in their senior year, figuring out life, sex, and themselves. 

totallybookish's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

elisabeth7291's review against another edition

3.0

I remember reading this - maybe summer of sixth or seventh grade. It was one of those books that I felt so grown up by being allowed to read. Reading as an adult it seems like it was written to scare teenagers away from having sex. Funny the difference 35 years will make. And, this confirms that as an adult, I'm really not a fan of YA.

My rating is the collective of the two readings.

lberestecki's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.0

dani_15's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

0.25

flutterlie_'s review against another edition

1.0

Too many darlings and not enough hamburgers.
Horrible, just horrible.... I lost brain cells reading this.

missmim's review against another edition

4.0

Just to show you how crazy fundamentalist and reactionary my school in P.R. was--they banned this book when one of the English teachers put it on the reading list. Why? Because it has to do with--gasp!--abortion. Horrors! I think if we had read this book a lot fewer girls in my class would've ended up knocked up at 15, but anyway... I had already bought it so I read it anyway. I found it so disturbing at the time, but I really loved it all the same.

emileeandherbooks's review against another edition

5.0

An unexpected win for me! I borrowed this from my friend solely because of the funny title. It was short and I thought, what’s the harm in reading it? 

At first I thought it was just gonna be a silly time, but I ended up being rather invested. 

Not only is it classically teenage, it’s also funny, bittersweet, and touches on quite a few serious topics such as self-loathing, insecurities, suicide, abortion, etc. 

I was truly transported to 1968 (1969, maybe?) and I FELT those teenage feelings we all know too well. There were many perceptive passages that actually struck my soul. 

The characters were believable and I was genuinely interested in their lives. Plus, the ending was good. I was expecting a classic, wholesome wrap-up, but what I got was even better. 

BEING A TEENAGER IS DIFFICULT!

savmhunter's review against another edition

5.0

I'm not sure where I picked this book up from but my copy is really old and beat up and was printed in 1971. The book was originally written in the late 1960's and covers topics ranging from love, the stress of parents, sex, abortion, and life choices all while following 4 teenagers Sean and Liz, and Dennis and Maggie as they complete their senior year in high school. The topics covered in this 43 year old book still plague teens and adults today and even while delving into these topics the book, in my opinion, is never gritty or harsh. The characters, especially that of Maggie are really well developed and seem like your everyday normal teens. Often times when I read teen fiction I find that the author really didn't capture the teenage experience right or the characters, including the parents just aren't believable, however this book fortunately doesn't fall into that category. Maggie is probably the best and the most relateable character for me, a soft spoken, awkward sort of girl who grows into herself and wants to do the right thing. I think the premise of suggesting to go get a hamburger when things start to go to far between a boy and a girl is creative and a little funny which is what I imagine when I think of Paul Zindel.

trisha_thomas's review against another edition

2.0

something was lost here in the translation between the years from 69 to now. although the message is a good one, I was too distracted by some of the dialogue (boring!) and weird slang