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Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball!
Fifteen-year-old Marsh thinks the whole world hates him, including his own mom whom he nicknamed, Schizoid Suzy. Then he meets fellow outcast, Edna Shinglebox, in his school’s group therapy class led by the cranky Mr. Meizner. Even though Marsh writes hate letters, carries around a raccoon in his coat pocket, and tells outlandish lies, Edna finds herself getting deeper and deeper involved with Marsh as more and more insane things start to happen. And then things quickly spiral out of control.
After embarking on an incredible and dangerous adventure to unlock Marsh’s dark secret, Edna and Marsh are surprised by what they learn about themselves and each other. Will what they learn only tear them apart?
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1976
20 people are currently reading
855 people want to read
About the author
Paul Zindel
83 books301 followersPaul Zindel was an American author, playwright and educator.
In 1964, he wrote The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, his first and most successful play. The play ran off-Broadway in 1970, and on Broadway in 1971. It won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was also made into a 1972 movie by 20th Century Fox. Charlotte Zolotow, then a vice-president at Harper & Row (now Harper-Collins) contacted him to writing for her book label. Zindel wrote 39 books, all of them aimed at children or young adults. Many of these were set in his home town of Staten Island, New York. They tended to be semi-autobiographical, focusing on teenage misfits with abusive or neglectful parents. Despite the often dark subject matter of his books, which deal with loneliness, loss, and the effects of abuse, they are also filled with humor. Many of his novels have wacky titles, such as My Darling, My Hamburger, or Confessions of A Teenage Baboon.
The Pigman, first published in 1968, is widely taught in American schools, and also made it on to the list of most frequently banned books in America in the 1990s, because of what some deem offensive language.
In 1964, he wrote The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, his first and most successful play. The play ran off-Broadway in 1970, and on Broadway in 1971. It won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was also made into a 1972 movie by 20th Century Fox. Charlotte Zolotow, then a vice-president at Harper & Row (now Harper-Collins) contacted him to writing for her book label. Zindel wrote 39 books, all of them aimed at children or young adults. Many of these were set in his home town of Staten Island, New York. They tended to be semi-autobiographical, focusing on teenage misfits with abusive or neglectful parents. Despite the often dark subject matter of his books, which deal with loneliness, loss, and the effects of abuse, they are also filled with humor. Many of his novels have wacky titles, such as My Darling, My Hamburger, or Confessions of A Teenage Baboon.
The Pigman, first published in 1968, is widely taught in American schools, and also made it on to the list of most frequently banned books in America in the 1990s, because of what some deem offensive language.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
December 3, 2009
Ah, young adult literature! My Paul Zindel phase coincided with my Nirvana's Nevermind phase so that the two will forever be linked in my mind. In a way, the partnership is fitting. The grunge movement had something of the 70's and the books of Paul Zindel were imbued with the turmoil and alienation that would be a driving force in 90's music. Both capitalized on my burgeoning teen angst. (I must have been about 13 at the time).
This was my favorite of Zindel's books. Certain scenes were so vivid to me they now feel akin to actual memories. I doubt they would strike me in the same way today. I don't think any book really could at this point in my life. All those pubescent love chemicals, I suppose! Oh, to be young, and sad, and filthy! God love it.
This was my favorite of Zindel's books. Certain scenes were so vivid to me they now feel akin to actual memories. I doubt they would strike me in the same way today. I don't think any book really could at this point in my life. All those pubescent love chemicals, I suppose! Oh, to be young, and sad, and filthy! God love it.
September 16, 2018
Another surprising bookstore find. I'm glad I'm reading this at 30 and not at 15. I think I would have liked it then, but I would've understood it in a different way, probably more intuitively but less concretely.
The main characters, Louis (Marsh) Mellow and Edna Shinglebox, get to know each other during GTE at their high school on Staten Island. GTE stands for group therapy experience and is led by Mr. Meitzer, the school's obese counselor. Both Marsh and Edna struggle to make friends and to be friends. Marsh suffers from an abusive home environment. Both parents are alcoholics, and his father physically abuses him and his mom, while his mom verbally abuses him. Marsh accepts this almost as a fact of life, but there is a tragic event in his past that he can't accept, so he lies about everything else. Edna has two happily married parents who share a love of classic horror films like The Blob. Her father loves her and respects her, but her mother literally pays to fix Edna and to make her into the perfect teenage girl with lots of dates and tons of friends. Except the outer appearance doesn't change Edna's insides.
The transformation of these two characters once they connect is rapid yet believable. The plot has a steady arc that ends with a really climactic scene and then another climactic scene and a swift resolution that still feels developed and satisfying.
This book is weird. Marsh carries a baby raccoon in his pocket. He takes Edna to the Magic Elephant, a weird bar that has a creepy player piano and a stool that moves up and down with the press of a button behind the bar. Mr. Meitzer snacks on fried pig skins and talks about his ketosis. The characters' names are bizarre, and Edna's closest thing to a friend, Jacqueline, lives in a glass house and is dating the hot football player because he wants her money. Yet, the weirdness actually creates a unique world that can only be found here to support the wonderfully complex characters that Zindel created.
I haven't read a YA in a long time (except for rereads). Not to sound too much like a newly-turned 30 year old or anything...but I haven't really seen a YA that's caught my eye, so I thought, "Maybe I'm just past reading books about teens." But this book reminded me that there's no such thing as a book about teens. There are just books, stories that remind us what being human is all about. People have troubled histories. They struggle to confront the toughest things they've experienced. They need other people to help them face the truth, let it go, and move on. People are mean and say and do hurtful things to people they love because they know they can. People forgive and want to help even when they've been mistreated and belittled. Not just teens--people.
And it's ridiculous anyway because I write YA books and books about people younger than me! I'm annoyed by my own condescension and humbled by Zindel, who tells a story well with layered characters who grow and learn and react appropriately for their age but also as people.
I highly recommend this weird book that teaches a lot of lessons. I know I'm missing stuff (the politics, the school politics, the parenting missteps, the teen culture of 1976, Edna's love for Raccoon, the psychological aspects, the pictures of dead people, the cemetery scene, the title and its expression in the text, the religious stuff, the advertising slogans, the witch, and so much more), but obviously, this is a complex book with too much to reflect and comment on. I feel like I could read this again in a year and see different things. Anyway, it's good and well worth the time I spent reading it today. Thanks, Zindel.
******************************************************************************
I'm still fascinated by this book. It's weirder than I remember and also much more disturbing than I remember. This time, I wanted to write about some of the other stuff I put at the end of my review from the first read. As I said, I reread it (not within a year but still) and saw new things or at least focused more on things I sort of set aside in favor of story, character, and theme.
One of the major threads in this novel is politics. Another is advertising (in fact, the richest living character in the story is in advertising). The parenting is atrocious, but that manifests in obvious ways in the story. Marsh is a liar because he has to be--he wasn't raised with many other options, having two alcoholic parents who never take care of him but instead need him to take care of them. Edna acknowledges that her hangups are direct results of her mother's helicoptering but also her mother's negativity about Edna's looks and personality. I mean, the woman paid for her daughter's plastic surgery, so she could look prettier and attract more boys! The girl is fifteen--it's despicable. But that's the point, and again, the implications are obvious in the story. The teen culture of the 70s is par for the course. The clothes, the dating, the cars, the parties, Jacqueline wearing Butch's Varsity jacket, the gossip column, the drugs, the drinking...it's all fairly well-known if you've seen, read, or experienced anything about or as a teen in the 70s. Edna's love for Raccoon stems from her loving and wanting to protect animals, and the psychological aspects of the story--the characters' motivations for why they are how they are--are examined pretty thoroughly through the device of group therapy (GTE--forgot what the "E" stands for). We have a boy who looks like a girl and ends up on a date with a boy (they get assaulted on their way to the party) and a girl who looks like a boy who ends up holding hands with a girl down the halls at school and doesn't care what people think of her, two bed-wetters, who stop wetting their beds, etc. The pictures of the dead people and the cemetery scenes are obvious symbols for Marsh's psychological process. Saying anything else there would be a spoiler. The "religious stuff" comes into play mostly through a teen prophet who is called God Boy and worshiped by boys and girls alike but tells them to just call him Michael because "we are all God's children." He gives a speech that basically says nothing but uses words like "universe" and "sing your song" that forces everyone in a swoon or even trance, which is really creepy. Michael runs a commune in Massachusetts that basically allows teens to smoke a lot of weed and sit around doing nothing but getting thin and looking ill and under-fed, according to Edna. The title refers to Marsh's father telling Marsh not to let "them step on your eyeball." Obviously, the implication is that people are always trying to get over on you, but if you stay one step ahead, you'll make it through. The witch is actually a psychic who lives in a dirty, smelly house and has cockroaches crawling out of her cleavage. She gives Edna the advice she'll need to resolve the conflicts in her life. I don't know why Zindel chose a psychic and not one of Edna's parents or someone at school to give her that advice, but it's an interesting technique because Edna makes the decision to seek out her own answers, which shows her maturity and desire not to depend on her parents.
By far the most complex motifs are the political ideas and the advertising concept. The political motif comes through because of Marsh and his father's beliefs that the government is all corrupt. Mind you, this book is not too long after JFK was shot and Nixon was caught with the Watergate scandal. In fact, there's a great scene where Marsh yells "Liars! Liars! Liars!" at the Watergate hotel. Marsh and his father seem crazy for doubting everything and knowing the truth behind the scenes, but everyone else is anesthetized by advertising. The book is filled with brand names and slogans. Often, when a character is thinking, his or her mind goes to an ad he or she has seen, even to graffiti and street signs. The propaganda is so ingrained in our minds that we're desensitized to everything else. Nothing else sticks in our brains but the empty words and the meaningless products. The implication is that slogans and brand names mean more to us than the truth. We care more if we're doing the right things to fit in with everyone else than we do if our political leaders are doing the right things to promote a healthy democratic system. But the politicians and even school leaders can get away with being "phony" (a very Holden-esque term that Marsh repeats often) because everyone is so distracted by beauty and money and all the shallow ideals consumerism in America dictates. It's not an accident that Zindel juxtaposes politics with advertising, that again, the richest man in the novel lives in a glass house on top of a hill that everyone in Staten Island knows, that Edna's mother is so happy she's going to a party there and gets to see the inside. Wealth and good impressions are more important than being a psychologically sound, morally upright person because they're what people see first. And if you live in a glass house on top of a hill, what's on the outside matters more, but what's on the inside is still paradoxically visible and effective.
I could still say so much more about this book and the message Zindel sends out. The book ends . It really doesn't get any more symbolic than that!
The main characters, Louis (Marsh) Mellow and Edna Shinglebox, get to know each other during GTE at their high school on Staten Island. GTE stands for group therapy experience and is led by Mr. Meitzer, the school's obese counselor. Both Marsh and Edna struggle to make friends and to be friends. Marsh suffers from an abusive home environment. Both parents are alcoholics, and his father physically abuses him and his mom, while his mom verbally abuses him. Marsh accepts this almost as a fact of life, but there is a tragic event in his past that he can't accept, so he lies about everything else. Edna has two happily married parents who share a love of classic horror films like The Blob. Her father loves her and respects her, but her mother literally pays to fix Edna and to make her into the perfect teenage girl with lots of dates and tons of friends. Except the outer appearance doesn't change Edna's insides.
The transformation of these two characters once they connect is rapid yet believable. The plot has a steady arc that ends with a really climactic scene and then another climactic scene and a swift resolution that still feels developed and satisfying.
This book is weird. Marsh carries a baby raccoon in his pocket. He takes Edna to the Magic Elephant, a weird bar that has a creepy player piano and a stool that moves up and down with the press of a button behind the bar. Mr. Meitzer snacks on fried pig skins and talks about his ketosis. The characters' names are bizarre, and Edna's closest thing to a friend, Jacqueline, lives in a glass house and is dating the hot football player because he wants her money. Yet, the weirdness actually creates a unique world that can only be found here to support the wonderfully complex characters that Zindel created.
I haven't read a YA in a long time (except for rereads). Not to sound too much like a newly-turned 30 year old or anything...but I haven't really seen a YA that's caught my eye, so I thought, "Maybe I'm just past reading books about teens." But this book reminded me that there's no such thing as a book about teens. There are just books, stories that remind us what being human is all about. People have troubled histories. They struggle to confront the toughest things they've experienced. They need other people to help them face the truth, let it go, and move on. People are mean and say and do hurtful things to people they love because they know they can. People forgive and want to help even when they've been mistreated and belittled. Not just teens--people.
And it's ridiculous anyway because I write YA books and books about people younger than me! I'm annoyed by my own condescension and humbled by Zindel, who tells a story well with layered characters who grow and learn and react appropriately for their age but also as people.
I highly recommend this weird book that teaches a lot of lessons. I know I'm missing stuff (the politics, the school politics, the parenting missteps, the teen culture of 1976, Edna's love for Raccoon, the psychological aspects, the pictures of dead people, the cemetery scene, the title and its expression in the text, the religious stuff, the advertising slogans, the witch, and so much more), but obviously, this is a complex book with too much to reflect and comment on. I feel like I could read this again in a year and see different things. Anyway, it's good and well worth the time I spent reading it today. Thanks, Zindel.
******************************************************************************
I'm still fascinated by this book. It's weirder than I remember and also much more disturbing than I remember. This time, I wanted to write about some of the other stuff I put at the end of my review from the first read. As I said, I reread it (not within a year but still) and saw new things or at least focused more on things I sort of set aside in favor of story, character, and theme.
One of the major threads in this novel is politics. Another is advertising (in fact, the richest living character in the story is in advertising). The parenting is atrocious, but that manifests in obvious ways in the story. Marsh is a liar because he has to be--he wasn't raised with many other options, having two alcoholic parents who never take care of him but instead need him to take care of them. Edna acknowledges that her hangups are direct results of her mother's helicoptering but also her mother's negativity about Edna's looks and personality. I mean, the woman paid for her daughter's plastic surgery, so she could look prettier and attract more boys! The girl is fifteen--it's despicable. But that's the point, and again, the implications are obvious in the story. The teen culture of the 70s is par for the course. The clothes, the dating, the cars, the parties, Jacqueline wearing Butch's Varsity jacket, the gossip column, the drugs, the drinking...it's all fairly well-known if you've seen, read, or experienced anything about or as a teen in the 70s. Edna's love for Raccoon stems from her loving and wanting to protect animals, and the psychological aspects of the story--the characters' motivations for why they are how they are--are examined pretty thoroughly through the device of group therapy (GTE--forgot what the "E" stands for). We have a boy who looks like a girl and ends up on a date with a boy (they get assaulted on their way to the party) and a girl who looks like a boy who ends up holding hands with a girl down the halls at school and doesn't care what people think of her, two bed-wetters, who stop wetting their beds, etc. The pictures of the dead people and the cemetery scenes are obvious symbols for Marsh's psychological process. Saying anything else there would be a spoiler. The "religious stuff" comes into play mostly through a teen prophet who is called God Boy and worshiped by boys and girls alike but tells them to just call him Michael because "we are all God's children." He gives a speech that basically says nothing but uses words like "universe" and "sing your song" that forces everyone in a swoon or even trance, which is really creepy. Michael runs a commune in Massachusetts that basically allows teens to smoke a lot of weed and sit around doing nothing but getting thin and looking ill and under-fed, according to Edna. The title refers to Marsh's father telling Marsh not to let "them step on your eyeball." Obviously, the implication is that people are always trying to get over on you, but if you stay one step ahead, you'll make it through. The witch is actually a psychic who lives in a dirty, smelly house and has cockroaches crawling out of her cleavage. She gives Edna the advice she'll need to resolve the conflicts in her life. I don't know why Zindel chose a psychic and not one of Edna's parents or someone at school to give her that advice, but it's an interesting technique because Edna makes the decision to seek out her own answers, which shows her maturity and desire not to depend on her parents.
By far the most complex motifs are the political ideas and the advertising concept. The political motif comes through because of Marsh and his father's beliefs that the government is all corrupt. Mind you, this book is not too long after JFK was shot and Nixon was caught with the Watergate scandal. In fact, there's a great scene where Marsh yells "Liars! Liars! Liars!" at the Watergate hotel. Marsh and his father seem crazy for doubting everything and knowing the truth behind the scenes, but everyone else is anesthetized by advertising. The book is filled with brand names and slogans. Often, when a character is thinking, his or her mind goes to an ad he or she has seen, even to graffiti and street signs. The propaganda is so ingrained in our minds that we're desensitized to everything else. Nothing else sticks in our brains but the empty words and the meaningless products. The implication is that slogans and brand names mean more to us than the truth. We care more if we're doing the right things to fit in with everyone else than we do if our political leaders are doing the right things to promote a healthy democratic system. But the politicians and even school leaders can get away with being "phony" (a very Holden-esque term that Marsh repeats often) because everyone is so distracted by beauty and money and all the shallow ideals consumerism in America dictates. It's not an accident that Zindel juxtaposes politics with advertising, that again, the richest man in the novel lives in a glass house on top of a hill that everyone in Staten Island knows, that Edna's mother is so happy she's going to a party there and gets to see the inside. Wealth and good impressions are more important than being a psychologically sound, morally upright person because they're what people see first. And if you live in a glass house on top of a hill, what's on the outside matters more, but what's on the inside is still paradoxically visible and effective.
I could still say so much more about this book and the message Zindel sends out. The book ends . It really doesn't get any more symbolic than that!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 15, 2014
Forget keeping up appearances. These kids burned down the glass house. I'm not sure if Paul Zindell intended Marsh and Edna's story as a cautionary tale or a romance, but I took it as a romance when I first read Pardon Me You're Stepping on My Eyeball back in high school. And I don't think that was a good thing. People who are real can appear crazy, because they're not sucking in, plucking, polishing, and posturing to fit into everyone's expectations. I like being around real people. But there are also people, like Marsh, who are legitimately crazy. Marsh badgers Edna, hits Edna, and nearly gets Edna killed in a car wreck. The witch may think he's a great boy underneath it all, but I think Edna's got the wrong idea. Marsh needs help, not a girlfriend.
I'm giving Pardon Me You're Stepping on My Eyeball 4 stars, because the writing is amazing. I love the zany descriptions and fun style. The content might have me scratching my head, but maybe that's what a good book is supposed to do.
I'm giving Pardon Me You're Stepping on My Eyeball 4 stars, because the writing is amazing. I love the zany descriptions and fun style. The content might have me scratching my head, but maybe that's what a good book is supposed to do.
June 9, 2017
I don't know what to say. I'm so confused by this book. I mean, when it ends, some kind of catharsis has clearly occurred: we have Marsh finally accepting that his dad is dead and Edna, uh, acknowledging that she . . . wants romantic attention from Marsh for some ungodly reason despite how he's abused her, shamed her, treated her like crap, pressured her to drink, embarrassed her in public repeatedly on multiple occasions, manipulated her, lied to her on purpose, and almost killed her. I mean, what?
I'm baffled. I'm completely baffled by this book. At first I kind of thought it was supposed to be about quirky kids trying to find their way in a world where no one understands them, and okay, Marsh tells lies to cope and Edna has an overinvolved mom who keeps criticizing her and harassing her to get a boyfriend. But then it just . . . grows increasingly bizarre, as if this is taking place in a nightmare world. None of the authorities in the book are sensible, including the guidance counselor, who seems to exist just to say obscenely inappropriate things to shame students in front of each other and be a living fat joke. (LOTS of fat-shaming comments centered on their supposed whale of a teacher are always popping up in this book, and it's not to show how other people are mean; it's supposed to be cute for someone to announce to someone else how they should physically force the counselor to sign up for Weight Watchers.) But even considering this takes place in the 1970s, can you really sign kids up for group therapy against their will in the company of other students and have their bedwetting be common knowledge in the group and force them to trust each other to literally throw them in the air and catch them even when they protest? Can you decide someone needs therapy because they're a boy who wears perfume or a girl who has short hair, and have these gender nonconforming aspects of them upheld as some self-evident reason these kids are clearly messed up? Are you allowed to blindfold them and make them touch each other's faces, without any choice of opting out? That's not funny or cute or an acceptable bonding experience for people who haven't consented. That's weird and creepy.
And I know, I KNOW I can't hold the book to today's standards of so-called political correctness, but there was an overwhelming amount of offensive terminology and phrasing in this book. Teachers are called "fags" by a parent, and they aren't called out for it. A fortune-teller is referred to as a gypsy and the word "gyp" is also used. The threat of being "shot by minorities" is portrayed as a natural eventuality if you stay in urban environments after dark. There's a horrible joke about white kids using the yellow pages but not knowing if the Chinese kids are allowed to use the white pages. (WHAT.) For a book that had the potential to examine mental illness sensitively, there was an awful lot of outright grossness regarding "crazy" and "insane" people, with Marsh terming his mother "Schizo Suzy" and claiming he hated her "when she was being schizo." There are multiple references to "retards." At one point, completely unprovoked, the relatively sympathetic female main character Edna announces that a party attendant looks like he may have an extra chromosome and is therefore likely to be a criminal, but she talks to him to make Marsh jealous and spends an incredibly awful speech on him explaining how he is sick and looks gross and she feels sorry for him, while he replies with such complete non sequiturs such as "I want you to suck on my giggle weed," pressuring her to take drugs as she insults him smiling. Add that to the consistent messages from Edna's mother about her potential horrible fate to end up single with no children, and how she embraces Marsh as a romantic interest despite his horrible treatment of her, apparently believing his companionship is better than ending up Alone (because her mother and "a witch" with cockroaches crawling out of her boobs told her so).
But overall, I'm just . . . really CONFUSED about this book. People's actions were generally not connected with what was going on. They would suddenly sob with tears rolling down their cheeks over something that had not been indicated as emotional. They would pressure each other to do things when there was no disclosed benefit for either of them. They would behave in a variety of bizarre ways that did not appear to lead out of any of their previous thoughts or attitudes. At one point an acquaintance of Edna's from her therapy group is throwing a party at her fancy house and she's been pressured to provide a bunch of stuff that she doesn't want to--because her boyfriend is demanding it. That seems like a recipe for disaster, and in the usual book you'd probably just see the boyfriend's football friends trash the house, drink all the liquor, and steal from her parents, right? The innocent put-upon rich girl believes the guests might hang out by the pool and "play leap-frog." (what. what. what. leap-frog.) You smell the disaster coming. But then not only do tons of people show up and she must provide "veal cutlets" for them . . . somehow among the extra attendees is an actual straight-up religious cult that hasn't ever been mentioned before. Some charismatic leader who brings people in a van from another city and have them literally chanting on the pool patio or something, and the god-boy is going around touching people and telling them to find their spiritual song etc., but things get out of hand and the ceremonial candles make the house catch on fire and the house literally burns down and the pet raccoon gets burned alive and after the main characters leave there is no aftermath about this. Why was a religious cult invited? Nobody there had any motivation that suggested they would be into this, but when the cult shows up suddenly everyone's a sheep for it. Maybe everyone there, including the author, was sucking on the aforementioned giggle-weed.
I actually really liked The Pigman, and there are some similar threads between that book and this, but the slight quirkiness of the characters and the disastrous party at the end precipitated by irresponsible characters letting things get out of hand did not feel like this at all. I felt absolutely no interest in these characters except maybe the frigging raccoon, and the raccoon died because Marsh had to jump off a balcony into a pool to go fight people or something and none of that was explained either. It just read like a bunch of stuff was happening to people with no rhyme or reason and their responses and subsequent actions were not connected to the things that were popping right out of a random events generator. I don't know why I was subjected to very long manifestos from Marsh's letters (purported to be his father's, but they aren't), and why he NEEDED Edna to read them as a show of trust when there was nothing in them at all that needed to be said or shared, and like . . . why the word "terrific" was used over and over. My review here is probably also very fragmented and disorganized, but I just can't quite get across how thoroughly confused I am by everything about this book, including the fact that it exists as a published book and has so much praise. I just don't see what anyone sees in this thing. I actually felt like I was reading weird high school word vomit from someone who thinks they're sharing deep and/or quirky revelations but it's mostly just the kind of thing you write on the back of your social studies folder in eighth grade.
I will now pretend this book doesn't exist and I'd like your cooperation in helping me maintain that illusion please and thank you.
I'm baffled. I'm completely baffled by this book. At first I kind of thought it was supposed to be about quirky kids trying to find their way in a world where no one understands them, and okay, Marsh tells lies to cope and Edna has an overinvolved mom who keeps criticizing her and harassing her to get a boyfriend. But then it just . . . grows increasingly bizarre, as if this is taking place in a nightmare world. None of the authorities in the book are sensible, including the guidance counselor, who seems to exist just to say obscenely inappropriate things to shame students in front of each other and be a living fat joke. (LOTS of fat-shaming comments centered on their supposed whale of a teacher are always popping up in this book, and it's not to show how other people are mean; it's supposed to be cute for someone to announce to someone else how they should physically force the counselor to sign up for Weight Watchers.) But even considering this takes place in the 1970s, can you really sign kids up for group therapy against their will in the company of other students and have their bedwetting be common knowledge in the group and force them to trust each other to literally throw them in the air and catch them even when they protest? Can you decide someone needs therapy because they're a boy who wears perfume or a girl who has short hair, and have these gender nonconforming aspects of them upheld as some self-evident reason these kids are clearly messed up? Are you allowed to blindfold them and make them touch each other's faces, without any choice of opting out? That's not funny or cute or an acceptable bonding experience for people who haven't consented. That's weird and creepy.
And I know, I KNOW I can't hold the book to today's standards of so-called political correctness, but there was an overwhelming amount of offensive terminology and phrasing in this book. Teachers are called "fags" by a parent, and they aren't called out for it. A fortune-teller is referred to as a gypsy and the word "gyp" is also used. The threat of being "shot by minorities" is portrayed as a natural eventuality if you stay in urban environments after dark. There's a horrible joke about white kids using the yellow pages but not knowing if the Chinese kids are allowed to use the white pages. (WHAT.) For a book that had the potential to examine mental illness sensitively, there was an awful lot of outright grossness regarding "crazy" and "insane" people, with Marsh terming his mother "Schizo Suzy" and claiming he hated her "when she was being schizo." There are multiple references to "retards." At one point, completely unprovoked, the relatively sympathetic female main character Edna announces that a party attendant looks like he may have an extra chromosome and is therefore likely to be a criminal, but she talks to him to make Marsh jealous and spends an incredibly awful speech on him explaining how he is sick and looks gross and she feels sorry for him, while he replies with such complete non sequiturs such as "I want you to suck on my giggle weed," pressuring her to take drugs as she insults him smiling. Add that to the consistent messages from Edna's mother about her potential horrible fate to end up single with no children, and how she embraces Marsh as a romantic interest despite his horrible treatment of her, apparently believing his companionship is better than ending up Alone (because her mother and "a witch" with cockroaches crawling out of her boobs told her so).
But overall, I'm just . . . really CONFUSED about this book. People's actions were generally not connected with what was going on. They would suddenly sob with tears rolling down their cheeks over something that had not been indicated as emotional. They would pressure each other to do things when there was no disclosed benefit for either of them. They would behave in a variety of bizarre ways that did not appear to lead out of any of their previous thoughts or attitudes. At one point an acquaintance of Edna's from her therapy group is throwing a party at her fancy house and she's been pressured to provide a bunch of stuff that she doesn't want to--because her boyfriend is demanding it. That seems like a recipe for disaster, and in the usual book you'd probably just see the boyfriend's football friends trash the house, drink all the liquor, and steal from her parents, right? The innocent put-upon rich girl believes the guests might hang out by the pool and "play leap-frog." (what. what. what. leap-frog.) You smell the disaster coming. But then not only do tons of people show up and she must provide "veal cutlets" for them . . . somehow among the extra attendees is an actual straight-up religious cult that hasn't ever been mentioned before. Some charismatic leader who brings people in a van from another city and have them literally chanting on the pool patio or something, and the god-boy is going around touching people and telling them to find their spiritual song etc., but things get out of hand and the ceremonial candles make the house catch on fire and the house literally burns down and the pet raccoon gets burned alive and after the main characters leave there is no aftermath about this. Why was a religious cult invited? Nobody there had any motivation that suggested they would be into this, but when the cult shows up suddenly everyone's a sheep for it. Maybe everyone there, including the author, was sucking on the aforementioned giggle-weed.
I actually really liked The Pigman, and there are some similar threads between that book and this, but the slight quirkiness of the characters and the disastrous party at the end precipitated by irresponsible characters letting things get out of hand did not feel like this at all. I felt absolutely no interest in these characters except maybe the frigging raccoon, and the raccoon died because Marsh had to jump off a balcony into a pool to go fight people or something and none of that was explained either. It just read like a bunch of stuff was happening to people with no rhyme or reason and their responses and subsequent actions were not connected to the things that were popping right out of a random events generator. I don't know why I was subjected to very long manifestos from Marsh's letters (purported to be his father's, but they aren't), and why he NEEDED Edna to read them as a show of trust when there was nothing in them at all that needed to be said or shared, and like . . . why the word "terrific" was used over and over. My review here is probably also very fragmented and disorganized, but I just can't quite get across how thoroughly confused I am by everything about this book, including the fact that it exists as a published book and has so much praise. I just don't see what anyone sees in this thing. I actually felt like I was reading weird high school word vomit from someone who thinks they're sharing deep and/or quirky revelations but it's mostly just the kind of thing you write on the back of your social studies folder in eighth grade.
I will now pretend this book doesn't exist and I'd like your cooperation in helping me maintain that illusion please and thank you.
February 9, 2017
Edna Shinglebox and Louis “Marsh” Mellow are disaffected youth in the mid-1970s. When they are enrolled in a group therapy class at school they come to know each other and maybe help with each other’s emotional problems.
Everything in this book is bizarre, from Marsh’s stories about his and his father’s exploits with women to Edna’s visit to a local psychic. The descriptions are wacky and vivid and very representative of the time period and the youth scene. Marsh and Edna are fully-realized characters, if a bit over-dramatic. It is likely that the intended audience for this book no longer exists, but a modern teen reader might appreciate getting a sense of teens and their struggles in a prior time period.
Everything in this book is bizarre, from Marsh’s stories about his and his father’s exploits with women to Edna’s visit to a local psychic. The descriptions are wacky and vivid and very representative of the time period and the youth scene. Marsh and Edna are fully-realized characters, if a bit over-dramatic. It is likely that the intended audience for this book no longer exists, but a modern teen reader might appreciate getting a sense of teens and their struggles in a prior time period.
March 27, 2018
One of those where you can’t go home again. I loved this as a teen. I thought it was romantic. But now. He hits her. He also lies to her, manipulates her, and almost kills her in a car wreck. But the hardest scene for me is the very brief one in which he hits her. He feels shame, but it’s one sentence of shame. And then we move on and we see that she loves him and wants to help him. Quite a lesson there.
September 23, 2016
I cannot say enough good things about this book. I absolutely loved it! Paul Zindel has always been a favorite of mine, although I have not read him in years. This is the story of two troubled teens; Marsh and Edna. They strike up an unusual (and rather forced at first) friendship/relationship. Marsh comes from a broken home, with a mother who is crazy and a father who is in a mental institution and writes him letters. He has a pet raccoon (which is so cool) and makes up wild stories about mostly everything. This book has an incredibly addicted seventies vibe because well, it came out in 1976. When I read this I was in the process of moving, but I read my eyes out anyway. It was terribly funny and heartfelt! I adored Marsh, I thought he was so cute as was his raccoon. I am thinking about re-reading it very soon because I loved it so much!!
A must read for anyone with a sense of humor and heart!
A must read for anyone with a sense of humor and heart!
February 4, 2017
One of my favourite YA books - a surprisingly thorough and well-felt examination of strength and honesty. I remember being somewhat shocked when the protagonist learns to stand up for herself, overdoes it and is cruel, and then has to go back and fix things. That's a pretty nuanced understanding of "being honest". Anyway, a funny, heartfelt book that I reread a lot in my teenage years.
This was the first Zindel I read, and I later found many of his books are very similar in tone and theme. This remains my favourite, probably just because I read it first.
This was the first Zindel I read, and I later found many of his books are very similar in tone and theme. This remains my favourite, probably just because I read it first.
February 15, 2008
I read this as a sophomore in high school. As someone who was always a bit of a misfit, this book really felt like it was written for me. It's full of strange, dysfunctional characters and it will always have a special place in my heart.
March 10, 2008
THe first book I read from Paul Zindel, leading me to devour all of his books! This is tied as my favorite up there with My darling My hamburger! Loved it! I read it in high school, and some how taught me to love myself and all my quirkiness and that was over 25 years ago! A must read for teens!
September 26, 2023
As a teenager, Paul Zindel. Was my go to author. And this book was my favorite. I think if I hadn't discovered him as an author I most likely would have not made it through my formative years alive. I don't believe in god, but god bless you anyway mr Zindel.
January 28, 2022
Loved this book. Many years since I read it, so much so would love to read it again. Just an excellent concept, great coming of age tale and you can't knock that title. Not for the xFactor generation.
November 27, 2007
Still my favorite teen angst novel.
November 20, 2010
I am 60 years old but from time to time I still read YA novels. This is a good one.
March 18, 2015
I will always re-read!
February 5, 2016
A funny book for young adults about alienation, lying and honesty.
September 30, 2021
This was the 2nd read in my “Coming of Age” book club. It’s a tough read given all the mistreatment sustained by one of the main characters, the teenager Edna. But it’s the “Pardon Me” in the title that feels most ironic. When traumatic things are happening, how do you give voice to your pain and stand up for yourself? “Stepping on someone’s eyeball” could be metaphor for all the ways people can inflict hurt and harm. Do you keep quiet, fiercely defend yourself, or do something in between (e.g. Pardon Me = a polite, demure appeal)? Edna, in the end, did something in between.
December 11, 2014
This thing was probably brimming with life lessons... ignore them if you notice them and you've got a fun story that races its way through an absurd mental blockade and a young girl playing along all too readily (it's dastardly that the assault she took barely registered in the story line... I suppose those were different times. I enjoyed everything else).
The characters were all kinds of silly fun, especially the school psychologist.
There's no way to get bored with a story featuring so many peculiar ancillaries (God Boy, pocket raccoon, insane therapy practices, insane parents, a fortune-teller, mass group nudity, a car accident, a rocket... I think that's it).
Good times!
The characters were all kinds of silly fun, especially the school psychologist.
There's no way to get bored with a story featuring so many peculiar ancillaries (God Boy, pocket raccoon, insane therapy practices, insane parents, a fortune-teller, mass group nudity, a car accident, a rocket... I think that's it).
Good times!
August 5, 2011
Nobody wrote about teen freak outcasts better than Paul Zindel and this is one of his best YA novels, alternately very funny and sad, with a tremendously appealing heroine in Edna Shinglebox – you can’t help rooting for Edna to make it through her often grotesque trials and tribulations with her wacked-out parents, her extremely troubled sort-of love interest, “Marsh” Mellow, and the typical teen traumas of high school, self-loathing, etc. I was genuinely moved by the ending, where both Edna and Marsh get what Edna calls their “Symbolic Moment.” Beautiful stuff.
June 1, 2017
I first read this book when I was 12! This (along with Slaughterhouse Five) was the book that was responsible for turning me onto reading! I remember getting completely lost in it and finishing it in one sitting. My parents took me to see The Effect Of Gamma Rays On Man In The Moon Marigolds, and I was hooked on this author. It's too bad today's YA novels aren't written with such wit and sensitivity. I re-read this book in my mid 40's and it still stood the test of time!
August 18, 2010
Read it as a teen; read again as an adult. Good both times. If a teacher wants to have students experience character perspective, and reliability of narrator, this would be GREAT. Teens: if you have a friend who seems be different, read it. Reminds me of Chris Crutcher books with out the athleticism.
July 12, 2017
Fascinating book by Zindel! Shy, awkward, and elusive Edna is lonely. Zany, wildly outrageous Marsh Mellow is caught up in a whirlwind of lies, betrayal, and his own kind of loneliness, something which only he can understand...or can he? When Edna and Marsh's lives collide, the unexpected doesn't seem as impossible as it did before.
February 1, 2013
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's so weird and it kept me guessing, and the ending was really sweet. What I liked about it was that the characters were unhappy, just like most teenagers, but it wasn't so depressing that you felt unhappy to read it. It also has a cute title.
May 1, 2009
This book was okay, but not nearly as good as The Pigman. It didn't really say or do much and didn't draw me in.
August 18, 2009
My fave book from Zindel. Read this in high school. A great story about being yourself even if it's not considered 'normal'.
January 27, 2011
I loved the appellations used to describe the adults in this book! Sure, I read it when I was a teenager, but I'll admit I've re-read it more than oncce since I've grown up.
September 1, 2011
I remember this book because i hated it so much.
November 2, 2011
Loved it as a kid. Checked it out because of title but didn't get it until I was older. I still read it every few years or so. It is so dated, but the characterization is great.
December 24, 2017
I was young when I read it but it really impressed me. Made me really feel the magic of reading.
April 5, 2019
This was a good read, recommended to anyone who loves a food adventure!
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