finesilkflower's review
5.0
Sunny runs away to the beach.
Sunny Winslow is darker and broodier than anyone understands. Between caring for her mother, who undergoing treatment for serious lung cancer, bearing the brunt of her father's stress, and trying to reconcile her own feelings about her mother's possible death, Sunny has no energy left over for school or friends. She begins cutting school to hang out at the beach and get away from her problems. When she tries to become a runaway like an On the Road devotee she met blading on the boardwalk, she begins to realize that having no ties to anyone or anything has its downsides. She is, of course, rescued by the magical Ducky and his magical car.
Sunny is pretty poorly fleshed out in the mainline series: she's just Dawn's California best friend, the bubbly, energetic, free-spirited child-of-flower-children whose "personality matches her name," as everyone says. In California Diaries, she's one of the darkest, most complex characters. She's also dealing with one of the most serious storylines. Her former bubbly traits have matured/soured realistically: she's still outgoing, but there's an edge of hostility. Her goofiness has turned into dark humor, and her mischievousness has turned into acting out. Her free-spiritedness manifests in an urge to escape. Her feelings about her mother's illness are realistic, complicated, and frankly expressed.
The Ambiguously Gay Ducky: Sunny praises Ducky's unusually meticulous fashion sense and the way he's not like other guys. She also likes his big brown eyes. But she's clearly not crushing on him; instead, she goes to him for "guy advice" about the guy she really likes. To which Ducky admits, "I'm not sure I know what guys think."
Dawn is a Horrible Person: It's interesting to see how Dawn is perceived by her California friends. In the Baby-sitters Club books, they lean heavily on the trope of Dawn being "California casual," basically a representative of all things California: she likes sunshine and health food, and dislikes the cold! They can't do that here, because everyone is supposed to be like that. Sunny takes Dawn for granted in a way typical of a longtime best friend, and seems to consider her something of a hippie-dippy stick-in-the-mud. She consistently finds Dawn to be unhelpful, from her advice about meditation and positive thinking, to her insistence on making every conversation about her. It's consistent with Diary 1 Dawn's concerns and ways of expressing herself, but at the same time, because of what Sunny's actually going through, Dawn just comes across as hopelessly naive and self-centered. It's just the sort of neat contextual subversion that I always hoped for (but never quite found) in the Baby-sitter's rotating narration.
Timing: October 20 to November 6 of eighth grade.
Revised Timeline: This is where I figure out how old the characters would be if they aged in every book. After determining that [b:Dawn: Diary 1|137951|Dawn Diary 1 (California Diaries, #1)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388182303s/137951.jpg|2097033] takes place after Dawn has graduated from college (due to its position relative to the mainline series), I hypothesized that Dawn had started a new job at a tech startup. I'm undecided on whether to assume that the gang all works together, or that they live in the same area but have different jobs (e.g. Sunny working at her dad's bookstore). Either way, Sunny's storyline is one that would basically work at any age. I imagine that she moved back in with her parents, or decided not to move out, in order to help with her mother's care, and that this feeling of arrested development is contributing to her feeling stifled. Discovering that you could technically just leave and go to the beach is a realization that could come at any point, and a pattern of absenteeism would be problematic even in any job.
Sunny Winslow is darker and broodier than anyone understands. Between caring for her mother, who undergoing treatment for serious lung cancer, bearing the brunt of her father's stress, and trying to reconcile her own feelings about her mother's possible death, Sunny has no energy left over for school or friends. She begins cutting school to hang out at the beach and get away from her problems. When she tries to become a runaway like an On the Road devotee she met blading on the boardwalk, she begins to realize that having no ties to anyone or anything has its downsides. She is, of course, rescued by the magical Ducky and his magical car.
Sunny is pretty poorly fleshed out in the mainline series: she's just Dawn's California best friend, the bubbly, energetic, free-spirited child-of-flower-children whose "personality matches her name," as everyone says. In California Diaries, she's one of the darkest, most complex characters. She's also dealing with one of the most serious storylines. Her former bubbly traits have matured/soured realistically: she's still outgoing, but there's an edge of hostility. Her goofiness has turned into dark humor, and her mischievousness has turned into acting out. Her free-spiritedness manifests in an urge to escape. Her feelings about her mother's illness are realistic, complicated, and frankly expressed.
The Ambiguously Gay Ducky: Sunny praises Ducky's unusually meticulous fashion sense and the way he's not like other guys. She also likes his big brown eyes. But she's clearly not crushing on him; instead, she goes to him for "guy advice" about the guy she really likes. To which Ducky admits, "I'm not sure I know what guys think."
Dawn is a Horrible Person: It's interesting to see how Dawn is perceived by her California friends. In the Baby-sitters Club books, they lean heavily on the trope of Dawn being "California casual," basically a representative of all things California: she likes sunshine and health food, and dislikes the cold! They can't do that here, because everyone is supposed to be like that. Sunny takes Dawn for granted in a way typical of a longtime best friend, and seems to consider her something of a hippie-dippy stick-in-the-mud. She consistently finds Dawn to be unhelpful, from her advice about meditation and positive thinking, to her insistence on making every conversation about her. It's consistent with Diary 1 Dawn's concerns and ways of expressing herself, but at the same time, because of what Sunny's actually going through, Dawn just comes across as hopelessly naive and self-centered. It's just the sort of neat contextual subversion that I always hoped for (but never quite found) in the Baby-sitter's rotating narration.
Timing: October 20 to November 6 of eighth grade.
Revised Timeline: This is where I figure out how old the characters would be if they aged in every book. After determining that [b:Dawn: Diary 1|137951|Dawn Diary 1 (California Diaries, #1)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388182303s/137951.jpg|2097033] takes place after Dawn has graduated from college (due to its position relative to the mainline series), I hypothesized that Dawn had started a new job at a tech startup. I'm undecided on whether to assume that the gang all works together, or that they live in the same area but have different jobs (e.g. Sunny working at her dad's bookstore). Either way, Sunny's storyline is one that would basically work at any age. I imagine that she moved back in with her parents, or decided not to move out, in order to help with her mother's care, and that this feeling of arrested development is contributing to her feeling stifled. Discovering that you could technically just leave and go to the beach is a realization that could come at any point, and a pattern of absenteeism would be problematic even in any job.
xtinamorse's review
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/california-diaries-2-sunny
kristenbyers's review
3.0
Re-reading the California Diaries has been interesting so far. I remember Sunny being one of my favorite characters to follow, but as an adult I find her one of the most annoying. Also, the series is starting to be a bit dated. For example, in this book, Sunny calls her parents from a pay phone at Venice Beach. A pay phone. I'll just let that settle for a bit.
roces's review
4.0
Just borrowed this from my classmate and read it out of boredom. Finished it in an hour. Surprisingly nice.
leighannsherwin's review
5.0
I never thought I would enjoy a book about a thirteen year old's rebellion so much. Sunny is going through a lot. Her mother has cancer and when she's not in hospital she's either surrounded by annoying cancer survivor support group people, or giving away her things to Sunny which causes her to panic. Her father is either working or yelling at Sunny for not having dinner on the table because having your 13 year old daughter shop, cook and clean for you always goes well. She feels alone, like no one understands her. So she skips school and heads for Venice Beach where she meets Carson an older runaway. She continues to skip school and head for the beach until finally one day she loses it completely and decides to run away for good only to find herself alone and cold and afraid on the beach at night. Even though I was an adult when my own mother died, I do remember caring for her, having to clean and help around the house as she had a chronic illness. There was always something in the back of my mind that said she might not be there one day. Sunny's story was dark but realistic and more than any other character in the whole BSC universe she felt real and human and your heart broke for her. Really hated Dawn in this book. Some good friend she is. Seriously what the hell happened to Dawn after she moved back to California? Definitely not the same girl who lived in Stoneybrook. But Sunny made up for Dawn being an ass in this series and Ducky is the kind of friend everyone should have. Can't wait to see what Maggie has in store.
lovelyflowersinherhair's review
5.0
Poor Sunny-her mother is dying of cancer throughout her diaries, and she isn't taking it very well. I thought her rebelling was completely normal, considering the circumstances, and I actually wasn't surprised that she ran away from home. Sunny isn't the bubbly thirteen year old she was in her BSC appearances, but that is understandable. Her character development was very good. Not a light read.
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