But as I read more and more, I became less amused.
Maryellen's books are very shallow. They're slice of life style, just like Julie and Josefina. But Josefina's world is so removed from ours that it automatically feels historical. And Julie deals with very relatable things like divorce, animal activism and women's rights. Maryellen has some issues in her books, but they're often mentioned very, very briefly. The Cold War is explained and then immediately forgotten. Interest in space is hinted at with the flying machine contest. And there's a conflict when Maryellen befriends an Italian girl and her two other female friends are mad at her for it, because of WWII. Maryellen is quick to point out that Angela wasn't even born when the war ended, but that doesn't work. The conflict wraps up neatly and quickly though, because Angela helps one of the girls win a geography bee for their team. Yeah, it's fixed that easily. They tossed their friend aside because of her friendship with this girl, but oh, she helped us win, so now she's cool and Maryellen was right. SIGH.
The biggest issue dealt with is polio. I've heard people lauding Maryellen as the great disabled AG character. Yeah...not really. Maryellen had polio and her lasting disabilities are one leg being "a tiny bit" weaker than the other and her lungs being sensitive to the cold. Now this leg issue could have been a thing. Wayne, the bully-who-turns-into-a-friend, teases her about it. But does it keep Maryellen from doing anything? No. She swims. She bikes as fast as her friends. She rollerskates. Beverly teaches her how to ice skate, which she does at her grandparents' house. That would have been the perfect place for a difficulty. Beverly and Maryellen had troubles with the instruction and they could easily have worked her disability in there. Yet I don't think it got a single mention. And the lung thing? That came as a surprise to me when it was mentioned in the beginning of the second book, because it sure wasn't an issue when she went to her grandparents' place and experienced snow for the first time. Not a peep about the cold. She's almost a disabled character in name only, because it never stops her from doing a damn thing and she doesn't struggle with it at all. They could not have done a bigger cop out. Now they can say they have a disabled main character, instead of giving us one that's wheelchair-bound or deaf or blind or has a mental illness of some kind. Disabilities are far better represented by Speaking Rain from Kaya's books and Joy from Julie's.
Another issue I have with the polio thing is that when they focused on it at the beginning of the second book, poor Maryellen never stood up for herself. The vaccine comes out and a lot of people are thrilled, but Maryellen is appalled that an acquaintance's parents are against vaccinations. She decides to put on a show for her birthday party and make it about getting vaccinated against polio. It's REALLY important to her. But her friends find the show she spent hours writing too long and boring, so they railroad her into letting them perform a variety show. She's still going to give a speech about polio and the importance of the vaccination, but she never once stands up for herself and tells her friends how important this is to her and why. Her older sister Carolyn is even one of these people. That idiot bitch should KNOW her little sister could have died. Yet she seems to not get how important this is to Maryellen at all. None of them do and Maryellen never tells them. This is probably my single biggest issue with the writing. Valerie Tripp used to be good! She did Felicity, Josefina, Kit and Molly! And I think half of Samantha! I read Josefina's first book last night, starting my newest reread, and that single book is better than both of Maryellen's combined and presents us with a set of characters, every single one of which is more likeable than any character in Maryellen's books. What happened? How in the hell is she giving us this weak-ass character? It's horrible! I feel like she had to be instructed to make Maryellen as bland and shallow as possible, because that's what people want to believe the 50s were. Happy go lucky la de fucking da times. They weren't.
Got a bit sidetracked there, but yeah, none of the characters in the books are very good. Angela is probably my favorite. She's the Italian girl. Maryellen's other two female friends are both named Karen and they are hands down THE WORST "best friends" in AG history. Both of them show prejudice against Angela. Both of them get pissed at Maryellen for wanting to do Science Club instead of more girly things with them. One of them is a copycat and the other is a tactless bitch. She even brings up Maryellen's "throwing a tantrum" about her polio show, thus proving that these characters do not understand what Maryellen experienced AT ALL. Davy, Maryellen's male best friend, is pretty cool, but both of them should have tried harder to make up after a fight the first day of school. Her family is boring. Her parents are hardly there and not a big presence when they are. The two younger brothers are typical younger brothers. Beverly is a little drama queen. Carolyn doesn't do much except play piano (and obviously not respect that her sister almost died). Joan is probably the most interesting, but I relate to her because she loves to read. The grandparents are cool. It was really kitschy, but the holiday story was my favorite one of the bunch. I liked the road trip, but not enough was mentioned. That's a story that needed the old AG-style illustrations.
So yes, Maryellen is a big disappointment. She easily ranks lowest on my list.
AG Best to Least Best (they're too good to be called "Worst") Historical Ranking:
-Felicity
-Kaya
-Caroline
-Maryellen
Now I know I've sounded like I hated these books. I really didn't. But they're not up to AG's standards at all, and I really dislike that they gave us such a shallow character that we never really get to know that well. Caroline suffered from the same problem, but we get to know her WAY better than Maryellen and even Caroline pales in comparison to the older girls.
I do have one interesting thing to point out though. In the "Maryellen's World" bit at the end of the second book, Tripp mentions that life was good..."if you were in a middle-class white family." She goes on to point out the struggles of minorities, focusing on black families. She mentions Brown vs. the Board of Education. "This decision became a landmark in the civil rights movement, which gained momentum during the 1950s and would bring even bigger changes in the decades to come."
Anyone else think that's basically a big lead in to our black 60s girl coming up next year?
No comments:
Post a Comment