A review by finesilkflower
Valerie ja ilkeä Janine, by Ann M. Martin
4.0
Claudia's grandmother has a stroke.
Amidst BSC plans for an informal neighborhood playgroup, Claudia drops out to deal with a family emergency: her beloved grandmother Mimi has a stroke. Claudia "babysits" Mimi during her slow recovery, and fights with her sister Janine, whom she feels isn’t pulling her weight in the family crisis.
Mimi’s stroke is frightening and heartrending, and Claudia’s thoughts and emotions during the aftermath are complex and realistic (fear, grief, guilt, duty, love, failure, comparing Mimi to a baby, hating herself for comparing Mimi to a baby, etc.) The playgroup storyline is a bit of rehash of book 6, but it’s quickly demoted from main plot to backdrop as the hospital visits and Mimi-therapy take over Claudia’s life (a touch of realism, really; you’re never conveniently between things when an emergency happens). "Mean Janine" is at best a C-plot, but an interesting one, as the emergency forces both girls to confront their roles in the family: Claudia martyrs herself and feels unappreciated, while Janine accepts her parents’ assessment that she is too busy to help while quietly feeling isolated and unneeded. Both girls are convinced that the family loves the other one best.
As a kid, I think I accepted the Claudia/Janine stuff as general sister bickering, which is I think how it's supposed to be read; but reading it as an adult, it amazes me how little I sympathize with Claudia in the "Mean Janine" plot. It's more like "Janine and Mean Claudia"!
I do sympathize with Claudia in parts of plot--her confusion and panic at seeing Mimi in the hospital, her feelings of guilt because her last conversation with Mimi before the accident was an argument--but in every single interaction with Janine, it seems to me that Claudia is clearly in the wrong. She becomes upset at complete non-infractions, mostly Janine failing to read her mind and offer her the particular sort of comfort that Claudia wanted at the moment. It's because she's MBTI "F" and Janine is "T", I guess. Like Janine, I'm 100% "T" and I don't understand "F" people.
Timing: July between seventh and eighth grades. This is the first book which occurs in a month other than its release date. Although the books are still being released one every two months, this book (covering about a month) follows immediately on the events of the previous one--apparently Ann M. was aware that the girls were growing up too fast for the number of books she was capable of writing, but she had not yet "solved" the problem. (After all, they do go into eighth grade in a couple of books. Time is still passing... for now.)
Amidst BSC plans for an informal neighborhood playgroup, Claudia drops out to deal with a family emergency: her beloved grandmother Mimi has a stroke. Claudia "babysits" Mimi during her slow recovery, and fights with her sister Janine, whom she feels isn’t pulling her weight in the family crisis.
Mimi’s stroke is frightening and heartrending, and Claudia’s thoughts and emotions during the aftermath are complex and realistic (fear, grief, guilt, duty, love, failure, comparing Mimi to a baby, hating herself for comparing Mimi to a baby, etc.) The playgroup storyline is a bit of rehash of book 6, but it’s quickly demoted from main plot to backdrop as the hospital visits and Mimi-therapy take over Claudia’s life (a touch of realism, really; you’re never conveniently between things when an emergency happens). "Mean Janine" is at best a C-plot, but an interesting one, as the emergency forces both girls to confront their roles in the family: Claudia martyrs herself and feels unappreciated, while Janine accepts her parents’ assessment that she is too busy to help while quietly feeling isolated and unneeded. Both girls are convinced that the family loves the other one best.
As a kid, I think I accepted the Claudia/Janine stuff as general sister bickering, which is I think how it's supposed to be read; but reading it as an adult, it amazes me how little I sympathize with Claudia in the "Mean Janine" plot. It's more like "Janine and Mean Claudia"!
I do sympathize with Claudia in parts of plot--her confusion and panic at seeing Mimi in the hospital, her feelings of guilt because her last conversation with Mimi before the accident was an argument--but in every single interaction with Janine, it seems to me that Claudia is clearly in the wrong. She becomes upset at complete non-infractions, mostly Janine failing to read her mind and offer her the particular sort of comfort that Claudia wanted at the moment. It's because she's MBTI "F" and Janine is "T", I guess. Like Janine, I'm 100% "T" and I don't understand "F" people.
Timing: July between seventh and eighth grades. This is the first book which occurs in a month other than its release date. Although the books are still being released one every two months, this book (covering about a month) follows immediately on the events of the previous one--apparently Ann M. was aware that the girls were growing up too fast for the number of books she was capable of writing, but she had not yet "solved" the problem. (After all, they do go into eighth grade in a couple of books. Time is still passing... for now.)