SVH #64 - The Ghost of Tricia Martin
Sweet Valley High #64 - The Ghost of Tricia Martin, or, The One Where Steve Just Doesn't Get It.
I remember originally buying this book based on the title alone, because I thought it was actually about a real ghost! I don't remember if I was disappointed to find out it wasn't the case though ;)
The A Plot: Steve is getting ready to go out on a date. Only, it isn't his steady girlfriend, Cara, he's going out with, but a girl he met who works in UB, who looks JUST LIKE his tragically dead ex-girlfriend, Tricia Martin. Steve knows that what he's doing is wrong and unfair to Cara, but he's certain that if he goes out with Andrea just once, he's figure out that she's nothing like Tricia and go back to loving Cara forever and ever.
Like it's been mentioned before, there's a LOT of 'looking just like' going on in SV. As well as a lot of cheating! If it's not the twins, it's their brother. My, my, aren't Mum and Dad Wakefield just proud of their offsprings? If they even notice, that is...
Of course Steve is obsessed by Andrea=Tricia that he calls her by the wrong name THREE TIMES on the very first date. If I were Andrea I wouldn't dream of going out with him a second time, but she seems impressed by his sincerity (read, obsession) and admits to really liking him. Steve is so set on Andrea being Just Like Tricia that he gets a shock and feels like complaining whenever she does or likes something that's different. No, that's not obsessive at all Steven. You're being perfectly normal, I'm sure.
... Well, normal for Sweet Valley anyway.
Steve ends their first date by promising Andrea to call as soon as he comes home, to which Andrea tells him to wait until tomorrow instead. Oooh, burn! Steve never thinks twice about it though.
Steve does have a twinge of conscience troubles though, so the next day he arranges a date with Cara - a hike towards a romantic destination. Unfortunate he wants it to be a surprise, and he doesn't tell Cara neither what they're doing nor where they're going, so she turns up in sandals totally unsuitable for hiking. Instead of realizing that she had no clue what he'd planned, so this couldn't possibly be her fault, he spends the entire walk fuming over the fact that she wasn't ready for it, and that he was certain Andrea would have been prepared for anything. He gets more and more quiet and more and more cold, snapping at Cara for the smallest things, and while he does apologize before dropping her off back home, it's definitely too little too late.
The next couple of days continue in this fashion - alternate wonderful dates with Andrea and disastrous dates with Cara. Steve tries to get Andrea out of his mind by taking up hang-gliding to both Cara's and his mother's dismay. How exactly this will get Andrea out of his mind when he continues to see her, I don't understand.
Elizabeth feels bad for Cara since she's the only one who knows what's going on. She tried to talk to Steve that he ought to tell Cara what's happening, anything else isn't fair to her, but Steve will hear nothing of it, and just gets mad at Elizabeth for butting into his business.
Finally it all comes to a head when Cara visits the store where Andrea works, and overhears Steve and Andrea talking on the phone together. She bursts into tears, and rushes home to call Steve and confront him with what she discovered. She notices the resemblance to Tricia, and wants to be supporting and understanding, while not letting Steve walk all over her. An honorable intention, but unfortunately it doesn't really work like that. Steve gets mad and accuses her of snooping, rather than accepting that he's at fault, and they end up breaking up. I feel so sorry for Cara! She does not deserve to be treated this way.
In his next hang-gliding class, Steve is so upset by the mess he's caused for himself that he doesn't pay proper attention to what's happening, and looses control, crashing the glider. He's rushed to the hospital, where he lies, unconscious while the entire Wakefield family stand worried over his bedside, all four of them bonding for the first time in the book.
While unconscious he mutters two names - Andrea and Cara. Cara hears the former but not the latter and leaves the hospital, figuring there's nothing there for her any longer.
Once awake Steve ponders that it's ironic that it took a crash landing for him to figure out his own mind. He loved Tricia, he's in love with Andrea and he wants to stay together with her. He calls her and arranges for her to come visit him. Jessica and Elizabeth come visit him first though, and Jessica reveals that she's seen Andrea getting friendly with some guy at the movies yesterday. While I'm sure it could have been said in a kinder fashion, I'm on Jessica's side here. He deserved to know, and after the way he treated Cara, he deserved to be told bluntly. Steve tries to convince himself that it's just her brother, but sees him drop her off at the hospital and give her a decidedly un-brotherly kiss. Jess and Liz leave him so he'll be alone when Andrea comes up to the room, but in true scheming-Jessica-fashion, she immediately finds the nearest pay-phone and calls for Cara to come to the hospital.
Steve calls Andrea out on the guy she was with, and she rightly counters that they only had 5 dates, they never promised each other anything, and he only liked her because she looked like Tricia anyway. He never got to know HER. FINALLY! Why didn't she realize that after the first or second date?! They break up, figuring that they can't even be friends, and Steve is left desolate in his room, having lost both Cara and Tri... Andrea.
Cara picks just this moment to turn up and delivers a heartfelt speech about how he'll always be special to her, and how she'll always be grateful for what they had (I'm not sure I could be so generous to somebody who'd treated me like Steve treated her...). Steve realizes that he never stopped loving Cara, and since she never stopped loving him either, they get back together and live happily until the next time Steve meets somebody who looks like Tricia.
The B Plot: This time there actually is a proper B plot, and one that carries over into not just the next, but the next two books. I'll add a request for somebody to review #65 because I've never read that one, but have both #64 and #66.
Ned and Alice fight more and more. Even the smallest comments turn hurtful. I don't have much to snark over here, because I actually think that this aspect is quite realistically portrayed. I could feel Alice's constant attempts not to fight in front of the kids, and the children's concern and discomfort over the atmosphere. For once I have to say well written!
I don't know if it was deliberate or not, but I definitely got the impression that we're supposed to think Ned is the unreasonable one. Yes, Alice could have been a lot more thoughtful and not let her work push her around as she did, but she never seemed to be intentionally hurtful. I'd be interested in hearing if that carries over to #65 - Trouble At Home.
I remember originally buying this book based on the title alone, because I thought it was actually about a real ghost! I don't remember if I was disappointed to find out it wasn't the case though ;)
The A Plot: Steve is getting ready to go out on a date. Only, it isn't his steady girlfriend, Cara, he's going out with, but a girl he met who works in UB, who looks JUST LIKE his tragically dead ex-girlfriend, Tricia Martin. Steve knows that what he's doing is wrong and unfair to Cara, but he's certain that if he goes out with Andrea just once, he's figure out that she's nothing like Tricia and go back to loving Cara forever and ever.
Like it's been mentioned before, there's a LOT of 'looking just like' going on in SV. As well as a lot of cheating! If it's not the twins, it's their brother. My, my, aren't Mum and Dad Wakefield just proud of their offsprings? If they even notice, that is...
Of course Steve is obsessed by Andrea=Tricia that he calls her by the wrong name THREE TIMES on the very first date. If I were Andrea I wouldn't dream of going out with him a second time, but she seems impressed by his sincerity (read, obsession) and admits to really liking him. Steve is so set on Andrea being Just Like Tricia that he gets a shock and feels like complaining whenever she does or likes something that's different. No, that's not obsessive at all Steven. You're being perfectly normal, I'm sure.
... Well, normal for Sweet Valley anyway.
Steve ends their first date by promising Andrea to call as soon as he comes home, to which Andrea tells him to wait until tomorrow instead. Oooh, burn! Steve never thinks twice about it though.
Steve does have a twinge of conscience troubles though, so the next day he arranges a date with Cara - a hike towards a romantic destination. Unfortunate he wants it to be a surprise, and he doesn't tell Cara neither what they're doing nor where they're going, so she turns up in sandals totally unsuitable for hiking. Instead of realizing that she had no clue what he'd planned, so this couldn't possibly be her fault, he spends the entire walk fuming over the fact that she wasn't ready for it, and that he was certain Andrea would have been prepared for anything. He gets more and more quiet and more and more cold, snapping at Cara for the smallest things, and while he does apologize before dropping her off back home, it's definitely too little too late.
The next couple of days continue in this fashion - alternate wonderful dates with Andrea and disastrous dates with Cara. Steve tries to get Andrea out of his mind by taking up hang-gliding to both Cara's and his mother's dismay. How exactly this will get Andrea out of his mind when he continues to see her, I don't understand.
Elizabeth feels bad for Cara since she's the only one who knows what's going on. She tried to talk to Steve that he ought to tell Cara what's happening, anything else isn't fair to her, but Steve will hear nothing of it, and just gets mad at Elizabeth for butting into his business.
Finally it all comes to a head when Cara visits the store where Andrea works, and overhears Steve and Andrea talking on the phone together. She bursts into tears, and rushes home to call Steve and confront him with what she discovered. She notices the resemblance to Tricia, and wants to be supporting and understanding, while not letting Steve walk all over her. An honorable intention, but unfortunately it doesn't really work like that. Steve gets mad and accuses her of snooping, rather than accepting that he's at fault, and they end up breaking up. I feel so sorry for Cara! She does not deserve to be treated this way.
In his next hang-gliding class, Steve is so upset by the mess he's caused for himself that he doesn't pay proper attention to what's happening, and looses control, crashing the glider. He's rushed to the hospital, where he lies, unconscious while the entire Wakefield family stand worried over his bedside, all four of them bonding for the first time in the book.
While unconscious he mutters two names - Andrea and Cara. Cara hears the former but not the latter and leaves the hospital, figuring there's nothing there for her any longer.
Once awake Steve ponders that it's ironic that it took a crash landing for him to figure out his own mind. He loved Tricia, he's in love with Andrea and he wants to stay together with her. He calls her and arranges for her to come visit him. Jessica and Elizabeth come visit him first though, and Jessica reveals that she's seen Andrea getting friendly with some guy at the movies yesterday. While I'm sure it could have been said in a kinder fashion, I'm on Jessica's side here. He deserved to know, and after the way he treated Cara, he deserved to be told bluntly. Steve tries to convince himself that it's just her brother, but sees him drop her off at the hospital and give her a decidedly un-brotherly kiss. Jess and Liz leave him so he'll be alone when Andrea comes up to the room, but in true scheming-Jessica-fashion, she immediately finds the nearest pay-phone and calls for Cara to come to the hospital.
Steve calls Andrea out on the guy she was with, and she rightly counters that they only had 5 dates, they never promised each other anything, and he only liked her because she looked like Tricia anyway. He never got to know HER. FINALLY! Why didn't she realize that after the first or second date?! They break up, figuring that they can't even be friends, and Steve is left desolate in his room, having lost both Cara and Tri... Andrea.
Cara picks just this moment to turn up and delivers a heartfelt speech about how he'll always be special to her, and how she'll always be grateful for what they had (I'm not sure I could be so generous to somebody who'd treated me like Steve treated her...). Steve realizes that he never stopped loving Cara, and since she never stopped loving him either, they get back together and live happily until the next time Steve meets somebody who looks like Tricia.
The B Plot: This time there actually is a proper B plot, and one that carries over into not just the next, but the next two books. I'll add a request for somebody to review #65 because I've never read that one, but have both #64 and #66.
Ned and Alice fight more and more. Even the smallest comments turn hurtful. I don't have much to snark over here, because I actually think that this aspect is quite realistically portrayed. I could feel Alice's constant attempts not to fight in front of the kids, and the children's concern and discomfort over the atmosphere. For once I have to say well written!
I don't know if it was deliberate or not, but I definitely got the impression that we're supposed to think Ned is the unreasonable one. Yes, Alice could have been a lot more thoughtful and not let her work push her around as she did, but she never seemed to be intentionally hurtful. I'd be interested in hearing if that carries over to #65 - Trouble At Home.