32 candles. ernessa t. carter. (302)

i decided to read 32 candles after reading about it on a book riot post.  the description shared that it was about girl who wanted a molly ringwald kind of life, after watching 16 candles.  any girl growing up in the 80s/90s wanted to be her, including me.  though after watching the breakfast club, i wanted to be ally sheedy.  but before the makeover, i hated that they changed her into that square looking girl!  but back to the novel, the mention of molly ringwald made this a to-be-read book for me.

i have to start by saying that though enjoyable, it was not what i expected.  in fact, i had anticipated a sort of #whitegirlsproblems, but davidia had some serious issues, plus she was black.    davidia grew up in an abusive home.  her mother was an alcoholic and a hoe (for lack of a better word), men came in and out of their home and sometimes paid her for sex.  as a child, davida found comfort in pretending she was tina turner, but when her mother caught her, she beat her, and davidia stopped talking.  some heavy stuff, i know.

so davidia was an outsider, nicknamed midnight monkey because she was dark and ugly.  though her ugliness may have stemmed from people knowing what her mom did.  i kinda imagined her as precious, which was unfair because she wasn't that big.  due to her outsider status, she identified with molly ringwald and felt her life mirroed 16 candles, especially after she fell for the hot rich new guy, james farrell, who was her very own andrew mccarthy.  davidia stalked him which i thought was creepy and sad.  even though davidia didn't talk, she was very bright, she saw college as the means to get away from her mother and out of her hell of a life.  however, her intelligence made her target of prank after her crush's sister, veronica started to pick on her out of jealousy over test scores.  quick interjection, it seemed really sad that veronica decided to pick on davidia, i mean that girl is that insecurity that she picked on someone so low on the totem pole.  oh and i guess the fact that davidia's mom was sleeping with the farrell's dad added fuel to the fire.  anyway, everything comes to head when veronica invites davidia to party, in which davidia brought a prom dress, having never been to a party before and became the laughing stock of the school.  davidia then ran away that night.

she ended up in hollywood and surprisingly became a jazz singer!  she becomes a new person, davie jones.  only to meet up with her crush, james farrell again. only this time he wants to date her and has no recollection of her from his past.  so the whole time i was reading about james pursuing her, i was like why is girl holding on to high school like she was.  i mean it was a traumatizing experience, but she was a new person.  it seemed kinda sad that she was still so hung up on things that had happen in high school. however, as the reader discovered she is a little cray cray.

so davidia, that the reader had pitied the whole time, turned out to be bat shit crazy.  i won't reveal too much, mainly cos i don't want to type it all out.  but just know girl messed with people's life.  however, in the end, she gets her molly ringwalk ending, which i loved.

all in all, the book was okay.  i mean not something that i absolutely loved, but it was enjoyable.  i have to add that i loved that it took place in LA, so i knew what they were talking about.  i also have two places to go eat, that sushi place that was mentioned and house of pies.  i mean this is a good summer beach read, but i mean only pick it up if you have nothing else to read on the beach.