CHARMING TEEN ROMANCE
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Even tho this book came out in the 50s, it kinda reminds me of the 80s teen movies so popular then. Jean would be the Molly Ringwald character, the studly Johnny would be the guy played by Andrew Mccarthy or Rob Lowe or Emilio Estevez, and johnny's cute-in-a-dorky-way pal would be the character played by someone like Matthew Broderick or Jon Cryer, or, most likely, Anthony Michael Hall
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Excellent first-love story; dated but with a definite edge.
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I'm 35, & have read this book many times since childhood. I loved Jean's likable awkwardness, her loving and supportive family, her tight relationship with an even more awkward best friend. The charm of this story was in the painfully familiar adolescent details: mortification on being dressed completely wrong; tailing a crush all over and calling on weak pretexts; slighting a "dorky" best friend to earn a place with the popular crowd, etc. All the characters just jumped out at me. There's a definite edginess to the writing that I haven't seen elsewhere: Johnny is portrayed as a vain, shallow jerk...but in the end not only does he go unpunished & unguilty for his selfishness, but Jean still carries a torch! An absolutely delightful, memorable tale of unrequited love and all its humiliations.
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