Call Me Margo

by Judith St. George

Book by St. George, Judith

Genres: Young Adult, Boarding School

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Liralen]

Oh dear. Thinly plotted boarding school fiction in which the tennis coach is obviously evil because she's a lesbian, and lesbian = evil. Possibly 'evil' is too strong a word, but she spends a significant chunk of the book grooming her fifteen-year-old student (who has shown zero interest in any kind of romantic relationship with anyone, let alone a teacher) and then getting angry when Margo doesn't respond in kind. (And eventually she says that she 'can't say I didn't consider it, but I rejected long ago developing any relationship between us other than friendship' (loc. 1464)...which, lady, the fact that you even considered pursuing a relationship with your fifteen-year-old student is not okay.)

Oh dear.

Meanwhile, Margo's entire existence at Haywood is characterised by 'social suicide', which is to say that 1) the entire tennis team hates her because she's a good tennis player and 2) her English teacher makes her life misery because the English teacher is also (maybe) a lesbian and 3) just about everyone else assumes that if she spends any significant time around the tennis coach she'll also be (become? who knows) a lesbian. Which would be bad. Because lesbians.

Oh dear.

There's probably, like, some nuance that I'm ignoring or something. And yes, I do realise that the 80s were a different time. But I think that's about the crux of it.

[Jens]

It is not my place to call this book homophobic (as somebody else here did). But the grooming and how it was written to bear the storyline felt creepy. The author seemed not to be aware, almost as if this was not looking so bad when the book was written

[Mary Alice]

This is a horrible homophobic book.

[Julie S.]

A boarding school book about a girl who is trying to make firends and fit in.

Overall, the story was good, but something was bit off. I was so creeped out by the tennis coach that it detracted from the story. I know that that was probably the point, but it did not do it for me.

[Astrid]

1st read: 4⭐️
2nd read: 3⭐️