Outcast

Sweet Valley High #41

by Francine Pascal (Creator)

No one to turn to...

Ever since Regina Morrow's tragic death at Molly Hecht's party, everyone has been treating Molly as if she has the plague. Nobody at school wants to talk to her, her parents have permanently grounded her, and even her good friend Justin Belson is avoiding her. Every time Molly tries to make amends, nobody will listen.

So when Buzz, a drug dealer who's hiding from the police, calls Molly and announces he's leaving town, she's more than ready to go with him. She'd rather flee to Mexico with Buzz than walk the halls of Sweet Valley High alone. Only Elizabeth senses that Molly is troubled, but even she may be too late to stop her from running away with a fugitive.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Romance, High School, Teen, Contemporary

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Grace Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mourning of the death of Regina Morrow continues 😭😭😭 And I STILL BLAME EVERYONE.

Molly Hecht is a social pariah now in Sweet Valley because the OD happened at her house, and she encouraged Regina to do all those lines of blow. Even her old crush Justin Belson turned his back on her but like, EXCUSE ME JUSTIN, YOU ARE JUST AS CULPABLE. This dumbass was the one that pressured Regina into going to the ill-fated party in the 1st place, even after she expressed her reservations. OH AND he was all big smiles of encouragement when the druggies were pushing Regina into doing blow SO I BLAME HIM TOO.

But anyways, we are somehow supposed to feel sorry for these people? That's a no from me.

In a nutshell. If you ever host a drug-fueled rager where one of my good friends is goaded and bullied into partaking and then DIES of an OD/heart attack, you are on my shit list forever and ever. End of story. Sorrrrry, but no sympathy for these cretins of Sweet Valley. 👋👋🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

[kylajaclyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ahhh. Another day, another SVH book conquered.
Welcome to 'Drugs Are Just Bad, Mmmkay?' or SVH #41 : 'Outcast'.
This book is totally like an episode of Degrassi, ya'll!

Good cover! I swear Molly (the shunned one in front, yeah?) looks just like Scarlett Johannsson if you look past that godawful hair.

So. Unfortunately, our library does not have the previous book, On the Edge, in which Regina dies (from ONE hit of cocaine, but it's actually because she's nice and not manipulative, which means the bell tolls for you in Sweet Valley. Her number was up.) ... but that's okay, because I think it would pain me too much to read about someone dying when it should so clearly be Jessica Wakefield instead.

Basically we learn that Regina Morrow is dead from trying coke (and exacerbated by a heart murmur) at Molly Hecht's party, and apparently Molly was one of the people who encouraged her to do it. Instead of SVH alumni blaming attempted rapist Bruce Patman (Regina's former boyf) for dating Amy Sutton and causing Regina to run off into Sweet Valley's seedy underbelly, the school has instead chose to shun Molly as the "murderer" of Regina. Never mind that no matter how good she normally was, she was still the one to snort that shit up her nose. Jessica Wakefield, Sith Lord, can only see things as good or evil, and she has clearly drawn a line in the sand for Molly. When she's not being totally obnoxious and placing ALL blame on Molly, Jess is busy in this book working on a scholarship in memory of Regina.

Like a beaten dead horse (and prior to the meddles of St. Liz), Molly runs off into the arms of salvation. This help arrives in the form of Lord Buzz (so named for how high he gets from all the drugs he does, apparently) who is on the run from the Pigs, since he supplied the drugs that killed Regina. Molly, blessed with a conscience, might as well transfer hers to Jessica, since she heeds none of the warnings in her brain to run the fuck away from this guy who is only using her for her college savings money so he can get to Mexico. It takes her former friend Justin (boyfriend?) and St. Liz to meddle their way in and call the cops and prevent her from dancing her away across the border.

But never fear! All is well, Molly and Justin escape Buzz unscathed, Liz and Jeffrey alert the police to the scoundrel, St. Liz tells Molly she'll probably be the first to receive the new scholarship in Regina's honor and Jessica lightens up on her wack emotions over Molly.

The next book also deals with Mexico - Sandra's new boyfriend Manuel has got everyone in a tizzy because he isn't blond haired and blue-eyed and he's a little TOO tan, if you catch my drift. Until next time...

[gem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Following the tragic death that occurs in book 40, On The Edge, Molly is being given the biggest guilt trip ever for hosting the party where there were drugs.

No guilt seems to be thrown at Bruce for being a cheat, Amy for stealing her boyfriend, Buzz for being a drug dealing pervert jerk, or Molly’s parents for leaving the kids alone.

I felt sorry for Molly. She didn’t force her to do drugs.
Jan was more to blame than Molly.

As always Liz has to stick her oar in. She really is an interfering busy body.

But still, it certainly puts you off doing coke!

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Source: Kindle Unlimited
Title: Outcast
Series: Sweet Valley High #41
Author: Francine Pascal // Kate William
Overall Rating: 3 stars

HERE WE GO AGAIN. The aftermath to Regina's death, the tragedy that struck Sweet Valley as beautiful and gentle Regina was killed by a rare reaction to cocaine after her boyfriend cheated on her and she fell off the wagon. But nobody blame Bruce or Amy, okay? They're totally innocent in this, but Molly, the girl who hosted the cocaine fest, is totally to blame according to Jessica. With Jessica even going as far as saying Molly murdered Regina. Regina could have said no to the cocaine...

SO, Molly is having a super bad time because of the whole murder thing, she has no friends, her parents hate her so much they don't even want to look at her and she has become best friends with a drug dealer called Buzz who "feels her on a deep level." (Emotionally, get your mind out of the gutter.) And she plans to run away with him, despite him being Sweet Valley Police Departments #1.

Until Liz and Justin save the day. Of course.

Jessica wasn't as much as a rat bag in this one as she usually is so, I mean, alls well ends well.

[Marian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outcast is a strange little slice of Sweet Valley. It immediately follows the death of Regina Morrow, but tries to elicit sympathy for Molly Hecht, one of the girls who pushed Regina to try cocaine. And this might have worked if Molly seemed to show any remorse at all for what she'd done, how she'd been acting, or much of anything at all. Instead, Molly spends most of the book saying she feels guilty, but acting as if she's more upset that Regina's death is complicating her life, rather than being sorry that someone is dead and that she played a part, however small, in it.

I do have to wonder what happened to the rest of Molly's crowd as they aren't mentioned. Were they kicked out of school? Did they go to jail/juvie?

Naturally, Saint Elizabeth sort of comes to the rescue, but not even she can get over the fact that Molly was partly responsible for Regina's death. The moment when Molly tries to approach Elizabeth for some help and Liz turns away is actually painful, in all the good ways, to read.

But you can't have Saint Liz fail completely, so she badgers poor Justin into trying to save Molly so she doesn't have to. Justin, you might recall, is Molly's ex and the guy who took Regina to the ill-fated party and then wouldn't give her a ride home until Buzz arrived.

Oddly, Justin isn't held to the same degree of accountability by the students of SVH. Possibly because it was obvious Regina liked him, or maybe someone behind the scenes thought we would relate more to Molly. If that's the case, they thought wrong.

Oddly enough, I don't recall being this annoyed by Outcast in the past, so maybe this time around just happened to fall during a bad day.

[Tiffany Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outcast
Plot: Molly Hecht is getting heat from the party she threw with drugs that killed Regina. She’s shunned by Justin. She’s shunned when she tries to talk to Elizabeth. And her parents are on her case and in her face. All the kids at SVH hate her. So when she goes to the graveyard and Nicolas all but accuses her off shoving the coke up Regina’s noise it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. So later when Buzz calls offering comforting words, she’s more than happy to take advantage of his “concern”. She and Buzz meet up at Kelly’s in the parking lot. Buzz gets her high as a kite and tells her he’s in love with her but he has to leave until things die down. Then he suggests she go with him. She hesitates a brief second and then thinks screw it. It’s better than staying in SV. Then Buzz gets to the real point “Oh but we don’t have any money.” Molly says that she has some savings she’s put away for college. But since this doesn’t seem like a reality anymore. So, she and Buzz will leave together to start their lives over. Jessica meanwhile has one of her better ideas to start a scholarship for anyone that’s tried to overcome a hardship. Her sorority will be over it and they’ll all raise money for it by doing various activities such as fundraisers, dances, door to door contributions, etc. Since the business end is to much for her to handle Mr. Wakefield volunteers to be over the financial end. Nicolas tells Elizabeth he’s ashamed of how he behaved at the graveyard and tells her to go to Molly on his behalf. Elizabeth isn’t quite comfortable approaching Molly so she tries for the second time to put the responsibility on Justin. The first time she called her told her to back the hell off. The second time he tells her he’ll think about it. By this time Molly is at the bank depleting her account. Elizabeth stops her at the bank, but Molly tells her to kiss her behind. Justin tries to go to Molly’s house but her parents tell him she’s grounded. Elizabeth finally catches up with him and tells him about seeing Molly at the bank. They meet up at night and see Molly leaving her. They trail her and find her at Kelly’s about to leave with Buzz. Justin tells Elizabeth to call the police. He then follows them and forces them off the road. Buzz and Justin fight. Weapons are drawn (a knife for Buzz, a stick for Justin), but in the end, Justin knocks Buzz out and the police arrive. The next day Molly comes to Elizabeth with the idea that she wants to be the first to get the scholarship. It ends with Cara and Jessica spotting Sandra Beacon in the hallway with a boy named Manuel looking close. Potential trouble as Sandy’s parents are racist.

My Thoughts: It’s interesting first of all that this character associated with heavy drug use is named after a drug. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but it’s ironic. Now here’s how I feel about this “Molly isn’t to blame because Regina was the one who decided to use the coke thing.” It’s BULL! Molly may not have taken Regina’s head and shoved it down on the table so the drugs went up her nose, but if you aren’t apart of the solution, you’re a part of the PROBLEM. Molly may not have MADE Regina do the drugs but she didn’t stop her from doing them either. Which makes her just as much AT FAULT! If she would have just said “Come on guys. Enough! Regina you don’t have to do this because of us. We understand if you don’t. It’s not a problem. “Let’s go back to the previous book and look at that infamous scene, shall we. Regina asks “What does it do to you?” MOLLY says “Regina, you don’t know what you’re missing. Coke is absolutely fantastic! You take one snort, and all of a sudden nothing matters. You forget about school, your family, about all your problems. You just feel terrific. Right there ENCOURAGEMENT! Jan says “Don’t waste any of it on her. She’s only good for one thing and that’s stealing boyfriends.” MOLLY giggles a “taunting giggle”. Suddenly she was sick of being “Miss Goody Two Shoes.” PRESSURE! For once she wanted to do something wild. Something that would make her part of the group. Regina asks did it matter she’d been drinking MOLLY says “Nope. Go for it, Regina. Your about of your life.” MOLLY says “Have her do another line.” Now if you can honestly tell me after hearing that this wasn’t in any shape or fashion Molly’s fault then I just don’t know what to say. Yeah, it’s a nice sentiment to make a nice, little, excusable, sympathy, statement wrapped in a pretty bow letting the guilty party off but you can NOT deny the facts. Regina was under A LOT of pressure. Some people are strong enough to walk away from this kind of pressure, but how many people can’t and have been pressured to try drugs or alcohol in a social setting just like Regina to fit in. Or dangerous acts like hazing because of pressure. I did feel sympathy that the girl got hooked on drugs in the first place and wondered why and how the story left that out since this was her story. And I did think Jessica idea was actually one of the best one’s she’s had so far in this series so I’ll give her a little credit in this one. And again it’s tedious to read about the same predicable formula of the guy ending up with the girl.

Rating: 5

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: In order to get to the lessons the story tells I'll be using spoilers first so, be aware that I'm doing this for a purpose.

Spoilers in 10

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Regina has died and her service is being held at the high school. She had started running with a bad crowd and had died when trying cocaine for one single time. It was at a girl's party that this happened and the girl goes to the same school Elizabeth does.

This causes the students to turn against Molly, the girl who had the party. She becomes shunned at school and even her own parents turn against her.

A plan develops to establish a college scholarship at school to honor Regina's name. This means that money is being collected and one thug tries to get that by any means necessary.

Elizabeth doesn't like what is happening to Molly so she writes an article for the school paper emphasizing help, not hate. Molly turns her life around.

The story relates to several themes. First, don't use drugs. Resist pressure from other's (usually of your own age or around there). This kind of message has been pushed for years yet some young people still get involved with drugs, something which they usually end up regretting severely.

Secondly, shunning is a form of bullying. In this case the people doing that to Molly forget that, no matter how things work out, the fact that Molly held a party where drugs were present and a young girl died using them is something that will haunt her for the rest of her life. She will never forget what happened.

Third, sometimes there is a way to get something good out of something bad. In this case it's a scholarship in Regina's name which will help someone when they go to college.

Then there's also the power of the press. Elizabeth's article manages to turn things around in the school and sets the stage for this good thing coming from the bad thing.

It's a very meaningful story.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

In which the denizens of Sweet Valley once again prove they are shitful humans. Regina is dead and every last student at SVH has decided that poor Molly Hecht is to blame, conveniently forgetting all about Amy and Bruce’s complicity. Nope, they’re entirely blameless because Regina herself forgave them posthumously in a letter to St. Liz. Even Molly’s former friend Justin (Jason? IDK I can’t be arsed to get up and look) has turned against her. So what’s a girl to do except for run away to Mexico with Buzz the Ineffectual Drug Dealer. Soon, though, St. Liz starts to feel uncomfortably guilty for blowing Molly off when she could have provided her with holy absolution. St. Liz then naturally sticks her nose in where it doesn’t belong (shocking, I know) and sends Justin/Jason after the fleeing Molly. Of course, St. Liz saves Molly and Molly comes as a humble penitent to receive St. Liz’s magnanimous forgiveness. These people suck. Every last one of them.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty lousy book, and a let down after the high drama of Book 40. Molly is an outcast because Regina died at her party, and she hangs with the "wrong crowd". Apparently, her friend Jan disappeared, Justin is keeping his distance, and she inexplicably decides, on reputation alone, to go to Elizabeth Wakefield to try to talk? That's...reaching, even for a SVH book. Not one of the good SVHs, feel free to skip this one, other than in the last few chapters where we learn that Sandra Bacon's parents are out and proud bigots (the 80s), and none of the white kids seem to be the least bit bothered by this accepted fact, until Sandy seems to be spending time with a boy who is Mexican-American. Looking forward to book 42.

[ThymeOperator · Rating 3 out of 5]

As ever, they wrap it all up very quickly and conveniently. But for its time, I think it tried to do a good thing. I appreciated that by the end, it came out that there is a lot more to drugs than just saying no. My main issue is that no one cares about what Jan did, and she physically shoved Regina's head down on that table. Why hasn't that come out? Why didn't we see Molly tell Jan to go to hell, or report it to the police? That's a vital detail sorely overlooked.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows immediately on the heels of a tragedy( book 40) where the SVH crowd mourns the loss of one of their classmates. It handles topics such as drug use and grief.

I liked how the students stepped up for a good cause and that the adults around them -Mr&Mrs Wakefield and Mr Collins all helped in a very heartbreaking situation.





Goodreads review published 05/10/24

[K.L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole school blames Molly Hecht for Regina Morrows death by cocaine, and she has nowhere to turn. She is almost convinced to run away with dodgy drug dealer Buzz when St Liz steps in to save the dY

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely never read this one as a kid, so this was a lot of fun to read for the first time.

Side note: they ordered Chinese food here, even though Ned refused to eat it when his parents were there. Just made me laugh.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the book series I loved in junior high and high school. The characters were awesome. I wish they were still available.

[Clementine]

i'd ostracize molly hecht because of the hair, tbh

[Kodie · Rating 1 out of 5]

A continuation of the DARE special about how doing drugs will ruin your life.

[PurplyCookie · Rating 1 out of 5]

From the previous book in the Sweet Valley High series, we learn that Regina is dead from trying coke (that was exacerbated by a heart murmur) at Molly Hecht's party. Instead of SVH alumni blaming Bruce for being the two-timing man that he is by dating Amy and causing Regina to run off into Sweet Valley's seedy underbelly, the school has instead chose to shun Molly as the "murderer" of Regina. Never mind again that most of Regina's friends were to blame since they didn't give the poor girl the heads up that she's being made a fool of. In short, all of them had a hand in Regina's death but since the community needed a scapegoat, then it falls on Molly's shoulders.

Needless to say, Molly feels shunned by everybody and was more than willing to run into the comforting (and yes, manipulative) arms of Buzz (the drug pusher who gave Regina that snort of cocaine on that tragic night). Buzz encourages Molly to run away to Mexico with him (since he is of course trying to escape from the authorities) but he'll coast along by using her college savings money. All ends well though since Liz steps in and saves the day. As expected in the Sweet Valley world, the story gets tied up neatly with a pretty bow, with Molly getting a scholarship--founded for Regina Morrow--in the process.


More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie


Book Details:

Title: Outcast (Sweet Valley High, #41)
Author: Francine Pascal
Reviewed By: Purplycookie

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll miss this book as much as I’ll miss its previous book. I’ll never forget agreeing that Molly should’ve been grounded. It’s going to be a long time before she gains her parents’ trust back. There’s something else I agree about: Regina’s death wasn’t Molly’s fault. Trying cocaine was Regina’s decision, but she didn’t know how fatal that final choice was. If giving Molly what she “deserves” for “killing” Regina is okay, we might as well blame Amy, Bruce, Elizabeth, and Justin too. That would be silly because nobody predicted this to happen. What if Molly killed herself because of this? I overlooked how depressed Molly was getting. I also wonder about Ty and Jan Brown before reading this. What happened to them? I asked myself, “Where were the teachers and Mr. Cooper?” Did they shun her or overlook the shunning? Was Mr. Cooper busy or forgetful?

[Fred Herriot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the early editions of Sweet Valley High when it came out in the early 1980s. Outcast was always one of my favourite books in the series, especially given the short-shift Molly Hecht received at the hands of her peers. I always hated that sort of thing happening to people like her, who was pretty much made a scapegoat — even by her PARENTS! — for Regina Morrow's death in the previous story.

It's a pity that Molly was just a one-off character; she had potential.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, I barely remembered reading this book until I read a review of it over on the blog Forever Young Adult. Yes, I totally remember how that one girl died after trying cocaine JUST ONCE and how everyone blamed the other girl for it! Thank you, Forever Young Adult, for reminding me of this awful book.

[Hillary]

Yes yes, drugs are super bad, but don't worry - Elizabeth the meddlesome meddler will forgive/rescue/redeem/meddle with you at the last possible moment no matter how ridiculous your behavior/rationale/life is. Oh, and Jess does something nice that her father promptly takes over responsibility for. We couldn't have two responsible Wakefield twins now could we?

[Keli Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it dont love the hairstyles though

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have I mentioned that I love these stories? Francine Pascal is just awesome. I had only a few options for great authors growing up and Francine Pascal was by far, hands down my favorite.

[hannaH · Rating 3 out of 5]

All books relating to Tragically Dead Regina are automatically win, IMO. They deal with tough subjects, like drugs! And drinking! And cheating boyfriends! And are KIND OF socially aware.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this back in secondary school... 'Sweet Valley High #41 - Outcast' by Francine Pascal

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the cover but just not the story.

[Forever Young Adult]

Graded By: Erin

Read the drinking game and review here.

[Hil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't care enough about Molly to make this a good book.

[Nate Richey · Rating 3 out of 5]

First SVH book I read. Not the best,but good.