Name: Three Desperate Days
Rating: 3.18 (4 reviews)

3,016 reviews94 followers

June 19, 2022

I intended this to be a quick read and release, but I ended up getting so wrapped up in the story that I didn't want to let it go. Some favorite aspects:

* So many evocative little details of the era that really set the scene, even aside from the realization that this story would be entirely different if not impossible in the present day.

* As a Wisconsin native, the main character makes some interesting observations on Florida I've never thought of (like terrazzo floors, or the Spanish moss hanging from the trees). She also has some good advice on driving in snow/ice as they get farther north, some of which is different/easier now with advancements in automobile technology, but still recognizable

* I learned the phrase "spell you," a baffling term even in context (ex. "the only time we got lost driving was during those few miles I spelled you"), but which apparently means "to take the place of for a time."

* I decided she was my kindred spirit as soon as she started trying to get out of making the trip in the first place -- she doesn't like driving and has always found it easier and preferable to let her parents or boyfriend do it for her. Peak "that's so me!" statement: "Yes, I'd had my driver's license for about a year. But as far as I was concerned, it was merely a handy identification to carry in my wallet." (I've since learned to love driving, but it took a while.)

* I am honestly 100% Julie at the start of this story. Don't make me do things, I fear decisions, love having a boyfriend who takes the lead in everything and whom I can plan my whole future around, total wallflower -- this pot I've planted myself in is GREAT!

But now that I'm twice her age, I suppose I have gained a little of the independence and maturity that she does over the course of the book, so it's nice to see her come into that naturally as a result of the circumstances she has to overcome, and not just her meddling parents forcing her to grow up.

* I love her strength in caring for her grandmother, an initially strong if sheltered woman whose lingering illness leaves her increasingly feeble and confused as the trip wears on, forcing Julie to rely entirely on her own wits to get out of the situation they're in.

* The way her relationship with Peter, an older and now college boy, is treated is simultaneously dated and extremely, impressively mature in a way YA today rarely shows (Unbeknownst to her, her parents have had a talk with Peter and urged him to break things off with her, at least for a while, because she's never so much as looked at another boy and they think she's "root-bound" like a potted plant, overly passive/dependent on him and unable to grow on her own as an independent person.

Being a Mature Sixties Boy, he's gone along with it, finally admitting that he's been distant in his letters as a way of easing into the break. At the end of the story, they realize her parents are right, so even though they still love each other, she will attend her own college rather than joining him, and they will be free to date and fall in love with other people. In four years, if they still want to be with each other, they'll get back together and be better for it.

We talked, and it was painful, about the chance we'd be taking that the other would find someone else to love. We talked about our long, long friendship and how two people do not stand still in a friendship; you either evolve into a deeper, different relationship, or you settle into a dopey companionship that becomes brotherly-sisterly.

"And Julie, I don't want to be a brother to you," Peter said, and leaning down, he kissed me - a soft, running kiss that started on my cheek and ended against my lips.

Knowing Peter the way I knew him, I told myself, I could take the chance of being separated from him because I had a head start over any other girl. He could look around, shop, compare if he wanted - but I had a feeling that after he had shopped around, he would settle for me.

(I am Skeptical, personally, but I'm glad this makes it feel like a happy ending while also being a responsible one. More power to them if they do end up together, because they seem very sweet, while my headcanon is if not, there are no hurt feelings or pining because they each find a new person at roughly the same time.)

* While "Three Desperate Days" is undoubtedly a catchier title, the original title of "Take Me To My Friend" is rather clever. Initially appearing on the sign their first hitchhiker held, with their partner a little ways down the road holding a sign that says "the friend," the phrase is repeated to excellent metaphorical effect on the final page:

(context: in the absence of a scarf, she'd tied a red bow from one of the Christmas presents onto the car antenna -- as pictured on the hardcover's dust jacket -- to signal Peter when he met them at the halfway point. Once safely home, she doesn't throw it away, but instead thinks about the strength it gave her in the past week, and tucks it carefully into a box.)

"Where I go, you are going," I told it. "My lucky penny - my rabbit's foot --"

For a moment I wanted to weep, but then I pressed the box containing my red talisman close to me. "You'll take me to my friend," I said, and laughed. My fingers caressed the smooth box. I felt as if I were starting on a long, exciting, fascinating trip (a trip of two years? four years maybe?), and in my hands I held my return ticket.

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Three Desperate Days

Hope Dahle Jordan

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