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Susann's Reviews > Fifteen
Fifteen
by
by
**slight spoilers ahead**
1-27-20: It's her earliest teen book and the only one that's a true teen romance. Shelley moves back to Portland. Jean and Barbara are destined for More. But Jane and Stan are destined for each other, and it feels cruel to even imagine them not together. When they discuss the kiss over the phone...we should all be so lucky to have such a moment of enthusiastic consent.
4-5-14: one of those unintentional re-reads that just happen
6-19-12:
Ha! I'm bumping this up a star but, by a slim margin, I'm also lowering it in my Cleary malt shop ranking. I now like J&J just a little more than Fifteen.
4-10-08:
"And all at once she was no longer sure what kind of boy Stan was....maybe he would walk on the inside of the sidewalk and let her walk beside the curb."
Oh horrors! I didn't even know the man-beside-the-curb rule, until a few years ago when I was walking down the street with an older male friend. As a kid, I stuck with Ramona and Henry and Mitch & Amy, and I stayed away from Cleary's malt shop books. So this is my first time reading this. It's not as good as The Luckiest Girl, but is better than Jean & Johnny. The 'to thine own self be true' message is always a winner with me, and I like that Jane figured it out on her own.
1-27-20: It's her earliest teen book and the only one that's a true teen romance. Shelley moves back to Portland. Jean and Barbara are destined for More. But Jane and Stan are destined for each other, and it feels cruel to even imagine them not together. When they discuss the kiss over the phone...we should all be so lucky to have such a moment of enthusiastic consent.
4-5-14: one of those unintentional re-reads that just happen
6-19-12:
Ha! I'm bumping this up a star but, by a slim margin, I'm also lowering it in my Cleary malt shop ranking. I now like J&J just a little more than Fifteen.
4-10-08:
"And all at once she was no longer sure what kind of boy Stan was....maybe he would walk on the inside of the sidewalk and let her walk beside the curb."
Oh horrors! I didn't even know the man-beside-the-curb rule, until a few years ago when I was walking down the street with an older male friend. As a kid, I stuck with Ramona and Henry and Mitch & Amy, and I stayed away from Cleary's malt shop books. So this is my first time reading this. It's not as good as The Luckiest Girl, but is better than Jean & Johnny. The 'to thine own self be true' message is always a winner with me, and I like that Jane figured it out on her own.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
April 10, 2008
– Shelved
April 10, 2008
–
Finished Reading
Started Reading
June 19, 2012
–
Finished Reading
July 16, 2012
– Shelved as:
re-read
Started Reading
April 5, 2014
–
Finished Reading
Started Reading
January 27, 2020
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
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What is WITH all the Jean and Johnny hate around here? (Well, I know you didn't say "hate", but...) I think it's really well-written and tells a true story. AND I love the dress Jean wears to the dance. I can't ask for much more...Have you read Sister of the Bride yet? It's my second favorite after The Luckiest Girl, and I didn't even realize it was a feminist treatise (in a manner of speaking) until a couple of years ago.
Laurie talked up Sister of the Bride when she was visiting, but it was *checked out* of the library, so I got Fifteen, instead. (Was it checked out by someone like us or by an actual modern-day kid?)I would have to consult my pre-GoodReads book journal at home to remember what bugged me about J&J. But I think the outdated mores were more cringe-worthy than in Fifteen.
Constance - I remember my parents' neighbor telling me about living in NYC in the early 1980s and how the #1 rule was for women to walk closer to the curb to avoid those creeps/rats!
"A friend and I still say "hello there!" to each other when we are trying to be snarky."Which may be one of the reasons I love you Kelly! You really are a "perfectly awful girl"!
I think the sidewalk rule traces back to medieval times, "gardyloo!" and waste being dumped out of windows. At least that's the story.Adorable Bitsy and sleek Marcy epitomize those types of girl for me. (Julie's comment about how some girls make her feel "all wool and a yard wide"--so true for me, even as an adult!) When I read Luckiest Girl I wonder which type Shelley would have seemed to Jane. She certainly had more money and cashmere sweaters, but was smarter (though not intellectual like Liz) than Marcy.
Kelly I agree about Jean and Johnny being too uncomfortably true. I felt enough humiliation in my teenage years and don't enjoy reliving it. other than that, it's a good book!
The rule men rarely comprehend is that they are supposed to go first through revolving doors (so they do the hard work of pushing and the ladies can flutter delicately through).