Deenie: an inspirational and Underrated story
Intro
Today I shall be reviewing the book “Deenie” By Judy Blume. Now, I wanted to read this book for a few reasons. One being that I think more people should read this book. It has a good message, plot, and characters. Well, some characters…
Summery
Before I go over the plot summary I should probably go over the mood and type of setting for this book. This book is realistic fiction and the more you read and think about it and really get into the characters head. The more depressing it gets I would most definitely suggest this book to people ages 13 and up. I just find that teens 13 and up would slightly relate to the story a little more.
Okay, so, this book is about a tween girl named Deenie (wow so surprising). Deenie is living a life that she doesn’t want to live. This is because of her massive stage mother who is constantly pushing Deenie into a modeling career. But, as much as Deenie doesn’t want to, she goes along with her mother’s modeling appointments. But one day at an appointment the interviewer notices that Deenie’s back doesn’t look normal when she’s walking or standing up. Deenie gets scolded by her mother after this, but Deenie swears she didn’t do it on purpose. Later in the story, Deenie’s gym teacher notices the same thing and thinks that Deenie might have scoliosis. Later on it’s confirmed by a doctor that Deenie does in fact have scoliosis. She will also have to wear a back brace for at least 4 years. You may think that Deenie would be absolutely torn up about this (Which she still is) But Deenie’s mother seems to be more upset than her.
My opinion
In my opinion I loved this book. I thought it was quite well written (although what else can you expect from a Judy Blume book). I do unfortunately have a few complaints. I also will try my best not to spoil this book much but I would suggest skipping to the next section just to make sure.
Okay, one part of this book I absolutely hated was Deenie’s “love interest”. Listen, there's nothing wrong with love interests in books that have serious topics, but the love interest, Buddy, drove me nuts. I didn’t really have a problem with him until one specific scene.
So in one scene in the book Deenie’s school has this party for her grade level that she and her friends had been looking forward to. Deenie really wanted to go with Buddy. But, she thinks that he won’t go with her because of her new back brace. But even so at the dance buddy asked Deenie if she wanted to dance. Deenie decides to not dance in the gym but in another classroom with him so she follows Buddy. Right before they're gonna start dancing Deenie decides she doesn’t feel comfortable dancing with the brace. But Buddy is really persistent. I’ll just quote this scene and maybe you’ll understand why I hate it so much.
With all the people in the world, why did I have to be born with a crooked spine! I pushed Buddy away from me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked “you chicken?”
“No,” I said “Not exactly”
“Then what, Deenie?” He got my back against the wall and put his arms out on either side of me so I couldn’t get away. Then he put his face near mine. He’s going to kiss me, I thought. He’s going to kiss me and I didn’t know what to do.
I’m not sure if the intention of this scene was to show that Buddy was a creep or not. I really hoped it was to show that he sucks but I'm pretty sure it’s not. For the rest of this chapter and page Deenie seems really un- comfortable. Yet this scene is just played off normally and never get's brought up again. Maybe it’s just written strangely or something, I’m not sure. This scene did nothing for this book at all. It didn’t add anything and it only took away. It could’ve been cut out and nothing would’ve changed at all.
Another problem I had wasn’t even that major. It was the fact that I wish I could’ve gotten more scenes with Deenie and her sister together. It wasn’t till the end of the story till we actually saw them get along and communicate. They both seem to have similar goals at the beginning of the book. To please their mother. I would've loved to see more scenes of them.
In conclusion
I liked this book. It handled its message well and I enjoyed it enough. It left me knowing more about its topic then I did going in. It entertained me and it left me feeling educated. So on my ranking system I’m going to give it a 7.5/10. Was it my favorite book in the world? Heck no. Did I still like it and will suggest it to other people? Heck yeah. So, please if you can defs go check this book out.
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