Don't You Forget About Me

by Jancee Dunn

After earning rave reviews with her rock-and-roll memoir But Enough About Me, Jancee Dunn takes on fiction in this comically poignant debut, a perfect read for anyone who has ever looked back nostalgically and wondered what might have been.

At thirty-eight, Lillian Curtis is content with her life. She enjoys her routine as a producer for a talk show in New York City starring showbiz veteran Vi (short for vibrant) Barbour, a spirited senior. Lillian's relationship with her husband is pleasant if no longer exciting. Most nights she is more than happy to come home to her apartment and crawl into her pajamas. Then she's hit with a piece of shocking news: Her husband wants a divorce.

Blindsided, Lillian takes a leave of absence and moves back to her parents' home in suburban New Jersey. Nestled in her childhood bedroom, where Duran Duran and Squeeze posters still cover the walls, she finds high school memories a healing salve to her troubles. She hurtles backward into her teen years, driving too fast, digging up mix tapes, and tentatively reconciling with Dawn, a childhood friend she once betrayed. Punctuating her stroll down memory lane is an invitation to the Bethel Memorial High School class of 1988 twenty-year reunion. It just might be Lillian's chance to reconnect with her long-lost boyfriend, Christian Somers, who is expected to attend. Will it be just like heaven?

Lillian discovers, as we all must, the pitfalls of glorifying the glory days, the mortification of failing as a thirtysomething adult, and the impossibility of fully recapturing the past. Don't You Forget About Me is for anyone who looks back and wonders: What if?

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Adult Fiction, Romance, Music, Adult, Audiobook

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

New York Times bestselling author Jancee Dunn has written five books, among them the rock memoir But Enough About Me and the essay collection Why Is My Mother Getting A Tattoo? And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had To Ask, which was a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Her latest book, How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids, will be out in March 2017. She also writes for many publications, among them The New York Times, Vogue, Parents, Health, and Travel and Leisure. She lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Gretchen Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Normally I wouldn't have picked up this book, let alone finish it, but I needed something to read at work. My original review was going to be short and scathing, but the more I thought about it, the more I had to say.
#1. A bunch of hastily thrown together 80s references do not a tribute novel make. Is that a proverb? No? Well, it should be.
#2. The main character has zero redeeming qualities. My gosh, she was awful. What's worse, it's HER telling the story.
#3. Everyone in the novel thinks they're so funny, but they're not. I actually thought while I was reading it, "I swear she took 7/8s of this story from her real life" and then I went to her blog where she tells the exact same stories that she did in the book! And they weren't funny in her life, either!
#4. There's a zany old lady, parents that just don't get it, popular kids that turn into popular adults, and I could go on about the terribly hackneyed character choices. Not one was original. NOT ONE.
#5. The author has written for some major publications. The construction of the novel drove me to where I sought out some of her non-fiction pieces. Truth be told, they weren't terrible. But that brings me to my next point...
#6. A writer does not a novelist make. (I'm just dropping proverbs all over the place!) This is the precise reason why I'm worried for Jen Lancaster's upcoming novel, Wish You Were Here, but less so because I think she's got what it takes.

In summary, I wish I could forget about this book, but clearly it won't let me.

During: "I'm not entirely sure why I'm still reading this book. More on that when I finish it."

[Kendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh -- I haven't seen such an unlikable character as Lillian Curtis in a long time. At first, she's introverted, quirky, and completely taken by surprise when her husband asks for a divorce because he's bored with her. Upon moving home to live with her parents in the suburbs, she INSTANTLY reverts to the personality of her 17-year-old self and becomes selfish, insecure, and mean. Although I do realize that "you can't go back again" is the lesson of the book and that Lillian's series of transformations are intentional and even necessary to the author's story, it still made for a really unpleasant reading experience. If I want to read about stuck-up teenagers, I'll just fish around in the YA section, you know?

[Offbalance · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always impressive to me when an author can present an unlikeable protagonist that I keep thinking about when I have to put the book down. I haven't wanted to slap a fictional character (that wasn't part of a Stephenie Meyer novel) upside the head more since I read Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep. Lillian is a near-40-something going through a mid-life crisis. Freshly divorced and rootless, she moves back into her parents' house to reassess her life and attend her high school reunion. She ends up trying to re-live high school - connecting with her bitchy, popular friends, blowing off the not-as-shiny friend who actually cares about her, and chasing after the loser ex she couldn't get out of her mind. What I liked best was the fact that her boss was a sassy, fun, and supportive friend, a nice departure from usual chick-lit fare. Lillian (the protagonist) finally yanks her head out of her ass in the end, but she felt more like a distant observer of events, rather than a participant. An interesting dimension to the character, but this lacked the big laughs and stylistic sparkle of Dunn's memoir, but still a fun read.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dunn's memoir, "But Enough About Me" was such an enjoyable read that I was looking forward to her debut novel. Big mistake. While Dunn has done a fine job of charachter development (specifically in the case of Lilian's father, boss Vi Barbour, and friend Dawn), it seemed entirely implausible that the protagonist could show such a small amount of self-awareness. The whole premise might have worked better had the book been set at a ten year high school reunion rather than 20. Could anyone really have matured so little in a 20 year period? Could any self-respecting 38 year old divorcee really have slipped back into the patterns of high school? Maybe I have too high of an opinion about humanity, but it hurts me to not enjoy a book that should have by all accounts been highly relateable, having grown up in the same county where the book takes place during the same time period. Despite this, the incredibly pat ending precludes me from doing so.

[Zemlja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ova knjiga je dugo i beznadežno stajala na mojoj polici. Pitala sam se zašto sam je uopšte i kupila. Međutim, kako sam u nekom contemporary i chick-lit raspoloženju, reših da joj ipak dam šansu.
Tek nakon što sam je pročitala došla sam do saznanja da spisateljica Jancee Dunn ima prilično impozantnu biografiju kao publicista. To se očigledno odrazilo i na njene knjige/novele koje je napisala.
Knjiga se bavi oživljavanjem tinejdžerskih dana glavne junakinje Lili.
Nakon što naprasno izađe iz dugogodišnjeg braka i nakon što dobije produženi odmor na poslu zbog nemogućnosti da prihvati novonastalu situaciju u svom životu gde joj se svet polako raspada, ona se vraća sa svojih 38 godina u roditeljsku kuću.
U isto vreme stiže i poziv da prisustvuje svojoj godišnjici mature.
To joj otvara priliku da se ponovo sretne sa drugaricama iz srednje škole i da ponovo sretne svog bivšeg momka prema kojem i dalje gaji neka osećanja, a koji je igrom slučaja takođe sam. Pruža joj se šanse da ponovo proživi tinejdžerske dane i ispravi sve greške koje je davno počinila. Sve deluje kao bajka...
Međutim, šta se desi kada neki ljudi više nisu ono što su nekada bili ili oni jesu ostali isti, ali na njih više ne gledamo istim očima.
Veoma iznenađujuća knjiga, sa veoma poučnim situacijama.
Moja topla preporuka za sve one koji vole dobar contemporary i za one koji su se pitali šta bi se desilo da nam život pruži još jednu priliku da ponovo proživimo svoje srednjoškolske dane...
Da li je to ono što bismo želeli?!
Dobro, glavna junakinja u ovom romanu nije preterano dopadljiva, ali mislim da nije ni poenta u tome :)
Povukla bih neku paralelu sa romanom Nataše Ikonić - "Ponovo s njim" i rekla bih da kome se dopala njena knjiga, uživaće sigurno i u ovoj knjizi :)

[Omar · Rating 3 out of 5]

From my Statesman review (http://www.statesman.com/life/content...)

A 20-year reunion is coming up for Lily Curtis and, fresh off an unexpected divorce, she regresses to her teenage state: She lives at home with the folks, Rick Springfield's on the tape deck and she's crushing on her high school sweetheart, who happens to be single and back from London. Slight even for summer chick-lit, Jancee Dunn's 'Don't You Forget About Me'(Villard Books, $24) skimps on characterization, even for its central character. Lily is a TV producer who feels she's never experienced the highs she felt as a popular high school girl. When the reunion finally comes, it should be a big climax. Lily ruins one friendship and re-establishes others, her love life suddenly takes a turn and she must figure out how far she's really come in 20 years. It warrants a scant, underwritten 20 pages. What Dunn, a former MTV2 VJ and writer for Rolling Stone, does get right are the '80s pop culture details: the music, the pastel leotard fashions and the desperate need to be Molly Ringwald. It's a book for anyone who's ever tied her hair in a ponytail using a Swatch watch and never misses an episode of "I Love the 80s." (Book is published July 29)

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I completely dislike this book. It was an easy read, but I felt no connection with the main character and as the story went on, I liked her less and less. Perhaps the "lesson" of the book is to not live life as she did, to not make ignoarant, selfish, repeated mistakes, but I don't think that was the point of the book. I wound up liking the secondary characters so much more. It was supposed to be "witty" and "funny," but I found it mostly sad. In addition, I think that it's supposed to be enjoyable and rich with 80's nostalgia, but perhaps I am to young to fully appreciate it.

Overall, a disappointing "chick" book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to this in the car and really enjoyed it - great chick lit for teenagers of the 80s

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictably, I "heart" the eighties. We romanticize the decades when we were young, and most often the years between ages 15 and 25. I spend a lot of time visiting the eighties in my mind and I doubt, after 20 years of doing so, that this era will fade anytime soon. Why not? I was young, my responsibilities few and my spare time copious. All of my friends were alive. And so were their parents. Despite the protracted drama and self criticism of those years, most of us had high hopes as teenagers. Were they the best years of my life? I won't say exactly yes. But there was something that is not possible to capture in middle age.

So I begin this story feeling extremely sympatico with the protagonist. Lilian is having a rougher entree to midlife than I. She is recently divorced, "on a break" from her position as executive producer for a cable chat program hosted by a sassy seventy-something named Vi, and back home in a New Jersey suburb living with her parents. Lilian has issues. She has issues about her past, which like many of us, she mistakenly casts with a rosier glow than what is essentially accurate. Though she is 38 and about to attend her 20th class reunion, Lilian has refused to allow her mother to alter her sanctum. Her bedroom remains untouched from the condition it was in when she moved out...a perfectly preserved time capsule of the Don't Worry, Be Happy Decade. Gnarly!

The memories flood back, if you are female and between the ages of 36 and 45. Jancee Dunn has her eighties knowledge firmly in place. The brand names, the styles, the music and the teen culture is all replicated. I begin to recall even more of my own carefully honed memories as I read the pages. I recall those perfumes (Anais Anais and Charlie!)...I listened to that music (well, some of it)...I spent happy hours in the dorm room blasting General Public or Violent Femmes in elaborate pre nightclub rituals of beauty and the sipping of cheap eighties wine (Bartles and James and Boone's Farm, sickly sweet and pastel and something I will never miss!)

This book was just pure fun to read for someone like me "of a certain age'. And there was a little more going on in the background of the story. I felt it honestly did tear the veil off of some of the facade we put on as adults...the revisionist history we write for ourselves. In a way, this book helped me to appreciate my present as much as it gave me a fun outlet for reliving my past. That is a tall order for a fun little book like this. But it did resonate. And the ending is a little unexpected...along with some things you do count on.

If the Chick Lit flavor does not completely turn you off and you have a place in your heart for the Big Eighties, Don't You Forget About Me will prove a pleasure to read. As I reach this stage in my own life I am curious about what our generation's "Summer of 42" will be. Middle aged people revel in nostalgia for their collective past and i expect more books and films to be made with a setting in the 1980s. For the present, this is one of the few I have found and it was an amusing self indulgence. .

[DJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of those books that the description just won me over. So I bought it. And I read...and it got sad...and boring...and...I...had...to...stop.

I always give a book a 30% chance to impress me. Change for the better. Thirty percent sat in the bottom corner of my kindle and it didn't happen. The problem was a problem arose for the main character, Lillian.

So I cheated. Instead of DNF'ing this book, I started flipping and skimming. *flip, flip* Lillian is crying because of stuff with her ex husband. TOO SAD for the book that was supposed to be funny. *flip,flip* Lillian is hanging with her parents in New Jersey. Too boring for something that was described as fun. *flip, flip* Possible love interest doesn't show until 60%...

It took forever to get there, and when it did, it was still monotone and uneventful.

I really hate speaking badly about a book. I know others loved this one. But for me, for maybe the styles I read, it just didn't work. I'm giving two stars over one because I did make it to the end and was happy to see a possibility of a happily ever after. Ish.

*A POST DEAD ERA READ* ~ OCTOBER 2016

[Masika · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first starting reading this book, I was completely turned off. The main character regresses back to when she was in High School. She perceives her current situation as worse. Totally shocked to find that her husband of several years is unhappy and leaves her. She's completely devastated and ends up moving back home with her parents. After the High School reunion, the book started to be somewhat interesting to me. It starts to become somewhat obvious to Lillian that she is acting like a child again.
Initially her character reminded me of sex in the City b/c those women were really immature with their relationships and their life choices.

I realized from reading this book, that maybe everyone has a time in their lives when they regress back. Whether it be because of the loss of a spouse, death or divorce, mental anguish or anything really. I suppose that reflecting on that time in ones life is not a terrible thing, but the point is to make sure that one can make even better, happier times in their lives.

[Kristy]

This is basically an 80's flashback from a 30 year old, newly divorced woman who should know better, but acts like she is still in high school. She is self-centered, a little odd, but boring.
This whole thing sounds good-in theory.
But, it is soooo boring, I'm about 50 pages away from being finished but it's just going to find a place on my shelf considering the only redeeming quality it possesses is a pretty cover!

Sidenote: the whole time I was reading this
THIS
kept popping in my head. I think because I was considering this book a 80's montouge.... If you've seen that ridiculous movie, you know what I'm talking about.

[Jules · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I very much liked Dunn's memoir, I found her novel less rich and funny than her own life story. I guess maybe I'm so introspective that it was hard for me to get behind a protagonist that seemed to have so little insight into her own motivations and desires; she seemed adrift, but without drive even to find a direction. Although Dunn does pepper in some solid pop culture references and I appreciated the zest of the Vi character, overall this was a bit blander than I'd hope for.

[Mauoijenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh dear.
It really pains me to rate this 2 stars.
I really liked the begining.
The middle was blahh.
And I admit, I skipped to the reunion part.
Skimmed through the Christian part and figured out I want I needed to know.
All in all not as good as I had hoped. :(

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book just wasn't very good. Still, I can't resist the 80s and NJ references so I kind of enjoyed it. Jancee Dunn's first book, a memoir, was way better.

[Renee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this book. Forced myself to read until the end because I wanted to see if she got the guy. Glad THIS one was a library book.

[Kristal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly realistic yet lighthearted look at revisiting one's past. I loved the lead character and completely related to everything she was going through - I only wish the book was longer.

[Sandra Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

AD, finding yourself, reliving your past by making the same mistakes
From Amazon "At thirty-eight, Lillian Curtis is content with her life. She enjoys her routine as a producer for a talk show in New York City starring showbiz veteran Vi (“short for vibrant”) Barbour, a spirited senior. Lillian’s relationship with her husband is pleasant if no longer exciting. Most nights she is more than happy to come home to her apartment and crawl into her pajamas. Then she’s hit with a piece of shocking news: Her husband wants a divorce.
Blindsided, Lillian takes a leave of absence and moves back to her parents’ home in suburban New Jersey. Nestled in her childhood bedroom, where Duran Duran and Squeeze posters still cover the walls, she finds high school memories a healing salve to her troubles. She hurtles backward into her teen years, driving too fast, digging up mix tapes, and tentatively reconciling with Dawn, a childhood friend she once betrayed. Punctuating her stroll down memory lane is an invitation to the Bethel Memorial High School class of 1988 twenty-year reunion. It just might be Lillian’s chance to reconnect with her long-lost boyfriend, Christian Somers, who is expected to attend. Will it be just like heaven?

[Snežanat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Junakinja doživljava krizu srednjih godina, kada joj muž iznenada zatraži razvod. Nažalost Lilijan je toliko egoistična i površna, da je teško saosećati sa njom i uopšte mariti za rasplet njene priče. Iako korice sugerišu da je knjiga "krajnje smešna" nalazim da je malo šta tužnije od zrele žene, koja umišlja da je tinejdžerka.
Knjiga mi se nije dopala, ali sam ipak uspela da je završim. Najinteresantniji deo su svakako delići koji se tiču pop kulture osamdesetih i to mi je pomoglo da se nekako dovučem do kraja. Ova knjiga je svakako bila loš izbor za mene, jer nikad nisam bila od onih koji idealizuju detinjstvo i mladost i još uvek se sećam koliko je bilo mučno i teško otkrivati ko si i tražiti svoje mesto u svetu, pokušavajući da se uklopiš sa ljudima sa kojima nemaš ništa zajedničko osim godine i mesta rodjenja.
Kraj je prilično dobar, iskupljujući, ali na žalost to je "too little too late"

[Ireland · Rating 1 out of 5]

What could be worse than going back to high school? Reading about a character that tries to 'go back' after 20 years. First, her husband leaves her because she's boring, and he's absolutely right. Even worse she is immature, judgmental, superior, unfeeling, cruel, and teenage stupid. I could not find one thing to like about her. I don't know why I continued reading, I kept thinking the story would start soon, it never did. The only interesting characters are her employer and parents and they are treated like caricatures of those above the age of 40. They are really treated disrespectfully. There must have been no proof readers or fact checkers. A character talks about buying a farmhouse in Madison, WI that was built in 1820. This isn't New England! In 1820 there were few, if any, farmhouses, maybe a little sod cabin, or a teepee.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I continue to love Jancee Dunn's writing, even if this book might not end up on my list of faves.

Loved all the 80s references; love the way Dunn writes about her family (or this fictional family); love her voice and descriptions.

It's a light and easy read that could be accused of being "chick lit," and there were some resolutions maybe glossed over than truly earned, but still. I love Jancee Dunn!

[Katie Sunderlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I like the storyline, however the main character was just so unlikable that by the time the redemption came, I personally didn't care that it came. It felt like the author spent too much time trying to show the main character's flaws and not enough time redeeming her for the audience. It made what should have been a quick and easy read, take longer because I was finding myself not caring for the end

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing through the Jancee Dunn canon...enjoyed a lot about this book, especially the revisiting of high school love and betrayal, the main character and her old-lady fustiness enhanced by her relationship with her boss. Very fun read especially for those who came of age in the 1980s in the greater New Jersey region.

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. So terrible. Slight, pointless. Just a 30-something divorcee with no interesting attributes wandering around her home town rattling off nostalgia points while anticipating her high school reunion. At 265 pages it still seemed really loooong. There is no reason for this book to exist.

[Julie Uiterwijk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Jancee is such a good writer and there's a laugh on every page. Lots of fun images from the 80s and the book has a good message, which has made me think about my own life.

[Pam Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgic and simplistic but enjoyable enough. Ending is too abrupt.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Camilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well that was a waste of time.

[April · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. There was not a satisfying resolution for the main character.

[Robyn Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible