|
I wouldn't mind all of this if it were either balanced out by centrist and liberal points of view, or marketed as fiction, but it presents itself authoritatively. For the most part, it's told from a blatantly conservative point of view.
As fiction it would be barely passable, but marketed as nonfiction it's a complete affront to the reader's sanity. This is a BAD book.
Although it does make some good points about how much easier it is to get into an abusive relationship than it is to get out of one, overall it's not only fake, it's not even informative. Read three pages into it and it's easy to see that it's not a real diary.
That's just not how real people write, especially when they're writing to themselves. "If you have sex, you're going to get an STD, you're going to get pregnant, and the rest of your life and the baby's life will be totally ruined if you don't give the baby up for adoption." Welfare is repeatedly called "something for nothing" and the term "unwed mothers" is repeatedly used even though the book was published in 1998.
I cringe at the thought of my daughter reading something like this before she's old enough to evaluate it.
I did enjoy the outcome of this young girl's story, so I guess that gets some credit. I really had high expectations for this book, thinking it would be a good, gripping story like I thought Go Ask Alice was, but it is not. I just finished this book last night and I'm pretty upset. I'm still debating on whether I think these 'anonymous diaries' are real or not, but either way some of them are pretty good. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a bad story, it was just really hard to stay interested when I wasn't really wanting to read. The plot never screamed 'read me.' but I read it anyway. Overall, I wouldn't recommend wasting the money on this book, but if a friend offers to lend it to you to read, go ahead, it could be worse. (:
I read this book in a very hard time of life. I didn't search this book out but came across it by accidentally while I was at the public library. I loved this book from the beginning. It has been years since I read it but I am planning on re-reading it again.
I don't begrudge her her sincerely held beliefs even though they're radically different from mine, but it's just morally irresponsible to push these beliefs on impressionable teens by pretending they're from peers instead of some over-the-hill ultra-conservative psychiatrist. She and everyone else in this book come across as one-dimensional stereotypes and clichés, like they're all characters in some over the top morality play or afterschool special. Sparks's "real-life diaries" have the exact same writing style and moral preachiness, holding rather conservative views in line with her own. So it's not totally useless. How are we supposed to get accurate mental images of these people and things if all we're given are generalities. But chances are, if she'd used a real diary from a pregnant teen she had worked with, it wouldn't have had the desired holier than thou moral preachiness, anti-abortion and anti-welfare rants, childish writing style, stereotypical characters, sense of shame and guilt for something like having sex or lying to one's mother, or depiction of all teen moms as terrible parents who are just setting their kids up for a lifetime of problems unless they do the responsible thing and place the babies for adoption. Annie also acts really bipolar, the way she's all happy, excited, and bubbly one moment, then depressed, angry, frustrated, and confused the next. There are quizzes to find out if one is in an abusive relationship, a Q&A on birth control and teen pregnancy (which continues with the anti-welfare rhetoric and the downright offensive view that teens are automatically sub-par parents who are putting their kids at risk for all sorts of problems if they don't do adoption), and some resources for things like STDs and rape.
I was a teenager of the Nineties myself, and am a nearly-lifelong journaller, and nothing about Annie (her personality, thought process, writing style, etc). Maybe it's because I'm now past the target age for this book, and because I now know about how Dr. A real teen journal would also have a lot more mundane chit-chat, like about hanging out with friends, a movie she just saw, schoolwork, that sort of thing, not this obsessive focus on the "problem." And where are all of the details a normal teen girl would make sure to write about, like how she got the birth control pills or just how Danny was roughing her up during sex. The "relationship" with Danny develops way too fast, for instance, and she's already acting like he's her soulmate before she even knows his name, and then thinks they have some serious relationship when they've only had a couple of dates and hung out at school a few times. The characters and situations were just too unbelievable.
Sparks is that respected of an adolescent shrink, since she seems so profoundly out of touch with how real teens write, behave, talk, and think. Unless of course this were deliberately written as a fictional teen journal about a specific issue and not really drawn from the pages of a real teenager's journal, something she never dreamt would be published. Real teen journallers also don't over-analyse everything, use babyish expressions worthy of a six year old, use excessive italics and exclamation points, FREQUENTLY WRITE IN ALL CAPS (those sections were so annoying, irritating, and distrating I found myself just skimming over them), feel guilty for engaging in normal teen behaviors (like going to parties or lying to one's parents about their whereabouts), or apologise for having used the occasional curse word in their own journals. There are far better ways to teach teenagers to not do drugs, have unprotected sex at young ages, get eating disorders, have an affair with a teacher, or join a gang than lying to them and trying to scare them straight.I find it hard to believe that Dr. rang true.
What is this, the Fifties. Such places do still exist, but they're far and few between anymore. I also found it really hard to swallow how Annie is switched to an "unwed mothers' home" in her town. Teenagers are a lot smarter, more mature, articulate, and self-aware than she gives them credit for. As the relationship wears on, she seems to deliberately put herself in bad situations and do the most foolish things possible, like going back to him after he first tries to rape her and then actually rapes her. Annie also looks down her nose on most of the "unwed mothers" in the school, particularly because they're planning to use welfare.
Sparks in all probability just makes up these books instead of using real teen journals, but I didn't believe for one blessed moment that this book was a real teen journal, nor that Annie was a real person. And what American teen of the Nineties would actually use the term "unwed mother". How convenient one of the few still in existence is in her area. I found the anti-welfare rhetoric to be even more offensive than the anti-abortion rhetoric.
Funny how the writing style in this section, as well as in the author's note, is the exact same one used by Annie all throughout the book, down to the FREQUENT CAPS. I never felt anything for anyone in this book, not even at the supposedly dramatic moments, like when Annie stages some elaborate ruse to trick her mother into thinking she was hit by a car instead of raped, or when she tries to abandon her baby. It's so suspicious how the teens in all of Dr. Don't most babies born at seven months need to spend at least a month in the hospital).The only real thing going for this work of fiction are the supplemental sections in the back.
The way she often talks to her journal like it's an actual person, even going so far as having entire back-and-forth conversations, arguments, and tantrums with it, would also seem to suggest a serious mental problem.While there are a few things about her character that ring true, such as how many teen girls are in abusive relationships and how many young teen moms do feel overwhelmed when the baby arrives, those details are cancelled out by all of the over the top clichés and stereotypes littered throughout the rest of the book. I could see if this were a longer-term relationship, but making excuses, blaming herself, and wanting to stay with him for the sake of some minor fling at age fourteen. (And how is her baby allowed to leave the hospital after only about two weeks when she's two months premature. I don't know whether to feel more sad, amused, or scared that apparently many teen girls believe this book was written by one of their own instead of an elderly shrink pretending to be some whiny immature self-absorbed holier than thou teenager.
He asked her out on a date. While she was sitting on the bench this guy named Danny whom she had never met bothered to ask her if she was alright. Beatrice SparksThis book is based on a girl's diary that was faced with the worst experience of her life and was edited by Dr. They began dating and Annie thought that they were destined to be together.
She had been playing at one of her soccer games just like any other day and kaput she had gotten side tackled and limped off the field. Annie's DiaryEdited by: Dr. She was ecstatic and said yes. He was beginning to act stranger as the days went by.Would Annie change her opinion and personality all over a guy who she thought she was destined to be with.This was a great book it really got me involved in my reading I never wanted to put down I just wanted to keep reading and find out what happened next. Her eyes brightened; she thought she was in love Danny's looks had charmed her.Annie never normally cared what she looked like for school but she was determined to make a good impression of herself to her mystery guy.
Her best friends were very supportive over her and agreed that it would be a bad idea for Annie to tell her mother about the guy she had met. This book brings a lot of suspense to me when I was reading and helped me realize what could happen in my own life. Beatrice Sparks.Annie, the main character of this book was madly in love with sports. They would always spend time alone together but then when it came to Danny's friends he never spoke a word to her. Bell after bell every chance she got she would roam the halls looking for her prince charming.
One day they finally ran into each other. He acted like he didn't even know her. I would recommend this book to teenage girls or anyone who loves reading books based on true stories or diaries or to anyone who loves to read romance stories, or loves a good book that you can't stop reading.
|
