Family Secrets

by Norma Klein

Peter and Leslie's families have had beach houses near each other for years, so it seemed only natural when their friendship turned to romance. Their perfect summer romance is shattered when Leslie finds her mother's diary and discovers that her mother and Peter's father are having an affair and want to get married. Suddenly the two teens find themselves stepbrother and sister, and must learn to cope with their new lives and old friendship.

Genres: Young Adult, Banned Books, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Norma Klein was born in New York City and graduated cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard College with a degree in Russian. She later received her master's degree in Slavic languages from Columbia University.

Ms. Klein began publishing short stories while attending Barnard and since then she had written novels for readers of all ages. The author got her ideas from everyday life and advised would-be writers to do the same -- to write about their experiences or things they really care about.

Ms. Klein died in 1989.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Norma Klein is like the YA Woody Allen.

[Carin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Norma Klein book I reread since high school/college, and it holds up well. This is not one of her deeper novels, which is actually why I started with it. One thing she's truly great at is characterization. The main characters are so different from one book to the next, so real and 3-dimensional, and the peripheral characters are pretty fleshed-out too. I loved Peter's uncle even though he isn't in the book much, and his mother and Leslie's father. Her mother and his father aren't quite as well-rounded, but I feel that's accurate to who they are: self-centered and superficial. They truly aren't well-rounded people. At times with misunderstandings and misinterpretations that could be easily cleared up, I did get a tad exasperated, but again that's true to the characters: Leslie the drama queen, and Peter the shy, socially inept scientist. They aren't good with feelings or relationships, either of them. So their constant volitility and hot and cold does ring true even if it is frustrating. And one thing I've always liked about Ms. Klein's books is how she doesn't just go for the pat happy ending. Even though probably both Leslie and Peter would see it that way, think they've worked things out and will have a great summer, I think they will spend the whole summer fighting and will not stay together into college. And I think that's pretty obvious to most readers. Ms. Klein totally gets teenagers, and that's what made her books so important to me at that age.

[Kelly]

The family secrets in this one boil down to everyone being kind of awful and horrible! The adults are especially bad and the teens are more mature than they are, even though neither Peter nor Leslie have much development to them.

(I didn't care for it much, tbh!).

More on Hey YA: Extra Credit.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh...I could not stand Leslie. She reacts with no emotion at all to her mother’s divorce announcement. But then she flies off the handle at poor Peter for the most minor things. It didn’t help that every character described her as a poor, bedraggled waif, either.

And, though this has a late 80s pub date, it felt a lot more dated than that.

[alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

four stars for the adverb "fuckingly," which I can't remember ever seeing.

[Rachel Mortenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

not much to say about this one. an easy read, but sometimes the characters are unbearable.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leslie and Peter have just recently become lovers. They've known each other since they were kids, frequently seeing each other on summer break. Now it's their senior year and they discover that Leslie's mother and Peter's father have been having an affair and are getting married. This causes all kind of family dynamics problems and suddenly the teen lovers are step-siblings. And the stress of it causes them to react differently and end up lashing out and even hating each other for a time.

This was interesting. I didn't dislike it, but at the end I kind of wondered what I'd gotten out of it. It was mildly entertaining, but at times boring to read about the melodrama of teen life. Although some of the melodrama, particularly relating to the parents, was fairly interesting. Like the fact that the step-father Nelson, flirts with anything on legs, including his stepdaughter. How some of these characters have some downright depressing views on love and marriage. Ouch. Even worse is that they're open about it with the kids. Nothing like telling your daughter that you don't honestly believe that marriage works or that anybody stays happy in it. Absolutely fascinating. But honestly, what was with Peter making out with a random girl in the movie theater? What purpose did that serve except to make me wonder if he wasn't going to turn out exactly like his father after all?

Also - plenty of F-bombs, adultery/cheating, divorce, drug use, under age alcohol use, premarital teen sex, an adult male flirting with a teen girl, etc. Not a clean read if you're concerned about that.

[Sunny]

Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Rating 7/10. I liked it the same way I like Dawson's Creek. The characters are believably over the top, they deal with "normal" teenage problems blown just far enough out of proportion to be interesting.
The basic plot is this: Leslie and Peter have been family friends since early childhood, but recently they became lovers. If that wasn't complicated enough, both sets of their parents get divorced, and Leslie's mom ends up marrying Peter's dad! Leslie's mother is absorbed in her job, and Peter's dad is a handsome playboy commercial actor. Obviously, their relationship is doomed.... but what about Peter and Leslie's relationship? It goes through some rocky times, but in the end, their future looks bright.

It's easy to see why this book was challenged. There's alcohol and drug use, sexual content, swearing, a lesbian character, and a not so happy view of marriage.

Research says: Honestly, I couldn't find anything about this book. Maybe it is just too obvious.

[Erin]

This novel has been challenged in many schools and public libraries for themes deemed inappropriate for adolescents; in this case, talk about divorce, sexuality and recreational drug use. Family Secrets is on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number 81.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh!

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love love LOVE Norma Klein!

[Montana-IFC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Public libraries challenged. Retained, 1990.