Tuesday 20 August 2013

Book Review-Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden

This will be on offer for the giveaway when it happens.
Title: Annie on my Mind
 Author: Nancy Garden
Series:   N/A
Published:  February 2007 by Square Fish (my edition), first published July 1 1982 by Farrar Straus Giroux
Length: 263 pages
Source: Caroline
Other info: It has been banned in some schools. Nancy has also written Good Moon Rising, Endgame  and some other things.
Summary : From the moment Liza Winthrop meets Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she knows there is something special between them. But Liza never knew falling in love could be so wonderful... or so confusing.
Review: Liza meets Annie. They fall in love. They get outed, as do a couple of teachers at Annie’s school. things happen.
The issue I have with simple romance and LGBT books is that sometimes, nothing happens that an outside party, one who doesn’t know these people very well, would care about. I mean, yes, I know you’re going through a period of discovery or you’re finding the love of your life, but why should I care? This was what I got for the first part  of Annie on my Mind.It picks up about halfway through.
Annie on my Mind is set in the 80s, and reading it in 2012 makes me realise and appreciate how much attitudes have changed. Well, there’s still some people who don’t understand the whole be nice to everyone  regardless of who they love, but  still. Compared to the 80s, where pretty much everyone, when they learn about Liza and Annie and the two teachers, you see how far we’ve come.
From the start, Liza’s opening letter, you can tell that something big has happened between Annie and Liza and so you get more into it emotionally and you want their relationship to go well but due to the opening you know something’s going to happen and....  *this is where I break down to incoherent fangirl emotion babbling thing*
*comes back* can we just talk about the adorableness of Annie and Liza? From the mock swrodfighting at the museum to the accidental getting of almost identical rings, the early days have an excellent friendship and romance building.
Liza and Annie are both exploring feelings for eachother and the world. This book captures really well the emotions that come with questioning -wondering what you’re feeling for this person, what they feel about you, the slight sacredness- feelings for everyone- it’s something that everyone can relate to.
The secondary characters could have been developed a bit more. Sally and Poindexter especially.
The writing was simple but conveyed emotion really well. It’s quite open ended-ending a year after the main events. Anything could happen.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a short sweet story about first love and attitudes at the time.

1 comment:

  1. Great review, Nina! I've always been intrigued by Annie on My Mind, but have yet to read it. From your review, it sounds like such a great read! Thanks for the review!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking time to read this!
Comments are much loved.
Nina xxx

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