Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Woodburn Public Library | Blume | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
"Emotionally satisfying, compulsively readable . . . triggers both laughter and tears. . . . You'll be utterly captivated," is how Working Womandescribed Judy Blume's Smart Women. This tender and hilarious story of a divorced woman, who falls in love with her best friend's ex-husband, is told from the point of view of both the adults and the adolescents, making for a deeply engaging read that crosses generations. Readers have continued to discover this novel over the two decades since its original publication, to the tune of 2 million copies, and it sold more than 100,000 copies in the last year. Judy Blume holds a completely unique position in the hearts of readers, and these new editions will have them falling in love all over again.
Author Notes
Judy Blume was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on February 12, 1938. She received a bachelor's degree in education from New York University in 1961. Her first book, The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo, was published in 1969. Her other books include Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret; Then Again, Maybe I Won't; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing; Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great; and Blubber. Her adult titles include Wifey, Smart Women, Summer Sisters, and In the Unlikely Event. In 1996, she received the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2004, she received the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (1)
Kirkus Review
In her popular books for young people, Blume has often worked empathicaliy within a teen frame of reference; and here, though the prime focus is on the highs and histrionics of a trio of 40-ish, divorced professional women in Boulder, Colorado, it's their kids whose common-denominator fears and angers ring true. As for the mothers, they're a rather vacuous and tiresome lot: mother-of-two Margo (solar condo designer) counts up the 17 men she's slept with (including 21-year-old Eric) and has been divorced five years from Freddy, who wanted a Stepford Wife; real-estater Francine--a.k.a. ""B.B.""--lost her ten-year-old son in a car crash, divorced her journalist-husband, now clings to twelve-year-old daughter Sara; and oil heiress Clare is from Texas, with a philandering ex and a kid named Puffin. The women's men will criss-cross, of course. Thus, Margo is soaking in her hot-tub in her ""funky upside down house"" when Andrew, B.B.'s attractive ex, slides in on a neighborly visit; they'll soon be lovers. Meanwhile, fringe anorexic B.B., erstwhile friend of Margo, remains off-center with unresolved grief, her hate/need of Andrew, and traumatic family-past relationships: she's hovering near a breakdown. And, as Margo tries to juggle love, lust, and guilts, with B.B. dangerously raging and sulking, their children are adrift in the wake. Sara is slowly absorbed into the Margo/Andrew household--to the disgust of Margo's daughter Michelle, 17. Puffin becomes pregnant by Margo's son Stuart, and Michelle sees her through an abortion. Michelle has her first affair with Eric (Margo's Eric). The kids, often feeling ""invisible,"" weather screaming fights, uprooting of their homes, and wonder why parents can't simply love them. (""You couldn't trust parents. They were only interested in you when they didn't have anyone else. As soon as they had lovers, forget it."") But finally, after B.B. has a near-fatal crackup, there's a flurry of upbeat fadeouts: B.B. is in therapy; Margo's kids, with Sara and Andrew, are beginning to coalesce into a family; there's a wedding in the works; and Margo, in her hot tub, counts her blessings. The kid-talk is convincing, even if the kids themselves are only moderately so. The adults, in or out of Jacuzzi, are flaky, arid, and just plain tiresome. But, like Blume's previous ""adult"" novel Wifey, this has enough glossy anguish to pull in her readership--with trendy-soap appeal to adolescents of all ages. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.