i picked up here's to you, rachel robinson, on blumesday. my friend chandra said she was going to reread it in honor of blumesday. i didn't recall the book so when i stumbled upon it at the library, i decided to check it out.
i don't remember reading here's to you, rachel robinson, but i did remember reading its predecessor, just as long as we're together. as i was reading and came across the vietnamese friend and jeremy dragon, i thought it sounded familiar so googled and discovered here's to you is a sequel. i also learned thanks to wikipedia that the title is a reference to "mrs. robinson" by simon and garfunkle, so now every time i read the title, i think of that song.
here's to you, rachel robinson is the story of rachel robinson, a smart, straight-a student, with a troublemaker for a brother. the story opens with the rachel stressing out about her brother, charles, returning home. he was sent away for school but was kicked out. rachel was super stressed out about his return, which made me think that maybe he secretly sexually abused her. i know that sounds outrageous but she was seriously freaking about his charles' return. thankfully, charles' abuse of the family did not involve sexual abuse, instead he bullied his sisters by constantly making fun of them and was extremely disrespectful to their parents. he also smoked pot, drank (i think) and may have been sexually active. rachel did have an asshole for a brother but she seemed to be a little too sensitive about it. i would be like sucks do be him screwing up his life versus worrying about him. i know i am so loving, but he obviously did not want to help himself so why bother?
since it is a blume book, it does discussed the difficulties of growing up. rachel, was super smart and involved and school, and as result felt overwhelm by her activities. though i hate to seem like too much of a school geek, but i was super involved in school but never felt overwhelmed by all of my activities. i was able to do everything and still get A's. so i didn't really see what her issue was. she should have taken that course for the credit, she would have managed, she was a genius according to her brother.
rachel's no new friends issue of just as long as we're together reared its ugly head in this story. she was still jealous of stephanie and allison's closeness. it's tough feeling like you are losing your best friend, an issue all girls have and drake too.
also rachel ended up kissing jeremy dragon which was super exciting but seemed a little random to me. but i mean maybe rachel is a hottie. sorry but lets be honest, rarely does the hot guy go for the school geek.
i also have to add that rachel thinking her night out with paul was a date was sad. she is smart girl, shouldn't she know better? and boo to blume sad for
having rachel's sleazy cousin ended up with him. i loved that rachel dropped the baby bomb on them. lol
oh and in the end, charles started to grow up and got his act together.
all in all, an enjoyable read. not the best of blume, but still a good story. and hopefully girls take away the lesson about assertiveness, alot of rachel's problems stemmed from the fact that she didn't speak up for herself.
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