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Yearbook
Nostalgia with a true bite, Yearbook is a novel about adolescents—and their bemused families—climbing into adulthood in a small Long Island, NY town in the tail end of the 1950s.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 22, 2014
Wow - I have been searching for the name of this book for YEARS. I am soooo excited that it has been reissued! I am about to order it right now so I can read it again ASAP.
September 23, 2014
Have you ever read a book as a teenager that moved you so deeply that you never forgot it? This would be that book for me. As a gawky, unpopular teenager, I could relate so strongly with the girl who pretended to have disdain for the high school quarterback and secretly desired him. Even now, almost thirty five years later, I remember how I felt reading this book. I doubt that I would feel the same way if I read it now, which is one of the reasons why I never will. Some things need to remain unvisited.
January 20, 2025
Honestly conflicted with this. I did finish it, and I was invested. But I didn't really like it much.
Found myself frustrated with the way the boy characters spoke about girls. The story takes place in the fifties, and was published in 1972 . Maybe that's just the way it was. But it demoralized me nonetheless. Especially knowing teen boys read this in the 70s.
Like of course you want to write in a way that mirrors life. But then it is simultaneously frustrating to think that harmful shit is reflected back as standard/okay/normal. This was probably the moment (or, momentS because they say it throughout) that irked me the most- the charming football star tells his buddies "no means yes" and that girls say no because they don't want to come off as easy but deep down they really want it so you kinda just have to be persistent. And I understand that especially until the sexual revolution, some women preserved their safety by playing innocent and coy in sexual situations- I am NOT ignorant to that... ie. Baby It's Cold Outside. But this wasn't that. This was boys just absolutely BULLDOZING through girls' reluctance. You can tell that even the narrator/author was clueless to it. He truly did believe the virtue in the boys' persistence.. at least a little bit.. boys will be boys. There is a difference between coyness/demurity and then straight up absolute discomfort that ends with yielding to sexual advances because you realize that your "no"s aren't working.
ALL IN ALL- No need to read this one. It does not stand the test of time in my opinion. But yeah, it has its entertaining moments.
Found myself frustrated with the way the boy characters spoke about girls. The story takes place in the fifties, and was published in 1972 . Maybe that's just the way it was. But it demoralized me nonetheless. Especially knowing teen boys read this in the 70s.
Like of course you want to write in a way that mirrors life. But then it is simultaneously frustrating to think that harmful shit is reflected back as standard/okay/normal. This was probably the moment (or, momentS because they say it throughout) that irked me the most- the charming football star tells his buddies "no means yes" and that girls say no because they don't want to come off as easy but deep down they really want it so you kinda just have to be persistent. And I understand that especially until the sexual revolution, some women preserved their safety by playing innocent and coy in sexual situations- I am NOT ignorant to that... ie. Baby It's Cold Outside. But this wasn't that. This was boys just absolutely BULLDOZING through girls' reluctance. You can tell that even the narrator/author was clueless to it. He truly did believe the virtue in the boys' persistence.. at least a little bit.. boys will be boys. There is a difference between coyness/demurity and then straight up absolute discomfort that ends with yielding to sexual advances because you realize that your "no"s aren't working.
ALL IN ALL- No need to read this one. It does not stand the test of time in my opinion. But yeah, it has its entertaining moments.
August 23, 2019
I read this as a teen and loved it. I sorta wish I hadn't reread it because reading it as a mother changes the perspective a whole lot.
This is very well written. Characters are stellar. Descriptions spot on.
I wasn't even born in the 50s but the messages are still applicable.
This is very well written. Characters are stellar. Descriptions spot on.
I wasn't even born in the 50s but the messages are still applicable.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews