Someone to Love

by Norma Fox Mazer

Meeting Mitch had cured Nina’s college blues. He’s just what she needs to learn about the real college experience – serious relationships. Mitch, too, has wanted someone; it hasn’t been easy dropping out of school and starting out on his own. Nina’s thrilled to move in with Mitch, and she’s amazed by her new popularity with her former roommates and, most especially, her English professor. But soon their apartment seems smaller while their fights grow longer, and Nina realizes they’re both changing. It was easy to fall in love…why couldn’t they stay that way?

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Norma Fox Mazer was an American author and teacher, best known for her books for children and young adults.

She was born in New York City but grew up in Glens Falls, New York, with parents Michael and Jean Garlan Fox. Mazer graduated from Glens Falls High School, then went to Antioch College, where she met Harry Mazer, whom she married in 1950; they have four children, one of whom, Anne Mazer, is also a writer. She also studied at Syracuse University.

New York Times Book Review contributor Ruth I. Gordon wrote that Mazer "has the skill to reveal the human qualities in both ordinary and extraordinary situations as young people mature....it would be a shame to limit their reading to young people, since they can show an adult reader much about the sometimes painful rite of adolescent passage into adulthood."

Among the honors Mazer earned for her writing were a National Book Award nomination in 1973, an American Library Association Notable Book citation in 1976, inclusion on the New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year list in 1976, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1978, an Edgar Award in 1982, German Children's Literature prizes in 1982 and 1989, and a Newbery Medal in 1988.

Mazer taught in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children & Young Adults Program at Vermont College.

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Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the last Mazer book I read. She never misses a beat describing the volatile emotions that young adults and adolescence experience.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow—where to start? It’s a bold, dynamic, and sweetly sentimental novel about Nina Bloom’s first real relationship. Norma Fox Mazer writes with a rich, deeply perceptive voice.

But holy fuck do I hate all the male characters in this book. Let’s start with Mitch, Nina’s boyfriend—an absolute, insufferable asshole. He’s insanely jealous of everything in Nina’s life: her studies, her cat, her family, even the guy she first had sex with. He sneers at academia—likely because of his resentment toward his college-professor father—and prides himself on working a “real job” so he can feel closer to the common folk. When he gets laid off, he never tells Nina and instead starts sleeping with her friend Lynell. He doesn’t even bother trying to keep the affair secret. And the icing on the cake? He inadvertently kills Nina’s cat and doesn’t show a single ounce of remorse.

Then there’s Professor Nicholas Lehman, Nina’s English lit instructor. Nina earns a little money typing up the notes for a book he’s preparing for publication—a dated detail now, but kind of a sweet one. He’s cute and intense, and Nina develops a crush on him. Unfortunately, he turns out to be just as awful as Mitch. He kisses her without consent and carries himself like a self-important jackass, leaving Nina feeling embarrassed and guilty. Shortly after Emmett the cat’s death, the two of them sleep together. Nina spirals afterward and stops attending Lehman’s class for a while. When she finally returns, he corners her after class and propositions her. It’s heavily implied that he picks a student every semester to sleep with. It’s incredibly sleazy. Nina rejects him and eventually confesses everything to Mitch.

Nina deserved better. Thankfully, the novel’s final sentence leaves the reader feeling hopeful about her future.

[Nikki Boisture · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full review at my blog:


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