SVH #17: Love Letters
In which Caroline Pearce gets converted to Wakefieldism. I thought the A plot might work if it were expanded, and not an SVH, but a standalone YA. The B plot is the first instance of what will become a recurring plotline.
So we know Caroline Pearce. The gossippy one. Except how that distiguishes her from Jessica and her posse, I'm not sure. Oh, and she dresses primly, and has red hair, except red hair on her is not all sophisticated like it is on Patsy Webber. She has no boyfriend and no friends, and the book opens with her waking up, still blissed out because she'd been to the Patmans' party in #16. We find out that she gossips because she feels left out, but now she feels "in" because she invented a boyfriend: Adam. The way Adam is described, he sounds a lot like Todd. At any rate, Caroline has told the story so much, she's close to believing it herself.
So she goes downstairs, where her uppity older sister Anita, who appears to have some food issues, has no interest in Caroline's desperate attempts to make conversation...until she mentions Adam. Then she's alllll ears. I can see that Anita really has her priorities in order.
Caroline leaves, hoping to scam a ride to the beach with Jessica or Liz. Jessica sees her from the window (does she always look out to see who's at the door?) and implores Liz to brush Caroline off. More desperate attempts at conversation, and even Saint Liz is a bit put off. Meh, to me, Caroline just sounds like a typical self-conscious teenager. But she's the only such person in Sweet Valley, so she's poison. Even Winston, the supposed loser, is never at a loss for words. Caroline gets no response, pushes harder, and gets a negative response. Happens to a lot of people.
Caroline decides to head for the beach alone, but on her way down the driveway, she just happens to find the lid off the Wakefields' trash can, and just happens to look inside, and a letter to Alice Wakefield just happens to be right on top. The letter is offering Alice a job in San Francisco. Now, this is stealing, trespassing, invasion of privacy, whatever you call it; I'm not denying that. But Jessica has done some pretty scummy things in her time. Or worse, had people, like Robin Wilson, do them for her. So I'm not going to judge too harshly.
She catches up with Jess, Lila and Cara at the beach. Again intimidated by the silence, Caroline basically invents a story about Annie Whitman and Ricky Capaldo having a big blowup, and another about John Pfeifer (booooooo!) being at risk of getting kicked off the Oracle. Now, this is an authentic voice, exaggerating and adding emphasis to mundane points. It's still a crummy thing for her to do (well, to Annie and Ricky, anyway) but I think Caroline's main problem is talking TOO MUCH. Jessica gossips, Cara gossips, Amy Sutton gossips, although she's not in the series yet. Plenty of girls, and some guys, are catty and repeat stuff. What's wrong with Caroline is that she gossips badly. And she doesn't know how to make conversation any other way.
So Lila draws Caroline out about Adam. Caroline gushes about how superawesomeamazing he is, but when asked when they're going to see each other again, she suddenly has to be somewhere else. As soon as she's out of earshot, Jessica starts mocking her, so when Caroline returns, having heard some of this, she drops the bomb about the job offer. Jessica pretends she already knew, then goes home and freaks. At dinner, she demands to know why Alice hasn't told them yet, gives the usual "You're ruining my LIFE!" speech, and has to be reminded that this is a big deal for her mom, and congratulations might be in order? And later, she confronts Ned at his office. I wish I could show this to the readers of For Better or For Worse who claim that April overreacted to her family's moving. Uh, no. All she did was sigh. This is overreacting. Liz, of course, suggests that they come up with a reasonable plan to keep the family in Sweet Valley.
Then Liz and Todd, with Olivia and Roger, go to the Dairi Burger. Olivia tenses up when she sees Caroline approaching. She's there to apologize, to Liz, for upsetting Jessica at the beach. And of course, states why Jessica was upset. In front of Todd, who Liz didn't want to tell she was moving just yet. Caroline, desperation is the world's worst perfume. Please shut up, and when you're done, shut up some more.
So the next time we see her, she's at the library, checking out books by/about Robert Browning. The poet, you know, big torrid affair with Elizabeth Barrett. Oh, and Liz is also writing a play about them. There was some jazz about a playwriting competition. Caroline implied that Bill Chase was cheating on it somehow. Again, crummy, but what I have to ask is, why does everyone BELIEVE Caroline when she says these things? The reactions are always along the lines of "That's terrible...What else you got?" Plus, we know darn well that Jessica will tell any lie that suits her purposes, and there have been some very hurtful ones. And Cara doesn't lie, AFIAK, but she sure shoots off her mouth a lot. Caroline's not that different from them; she just doesn't have their finesse.
So Caroline types up another love letter from Adam/Robert. She realizes that the game will be up if anyone makes the connection, but she's gotten some attention already, and that will do for now. Actually, I'm astounded that anyone would think that these letters were written by a teenager, especially a guy. IRL, it would be better to just say that he copies Browning, because his own words don't fully express his passion. Of course, she'd still have to be careful not to get caught with the books. Anyway, one of the people she wants to impress is Anita, so she fakes a call from Adam. Anita demands to know more about him ("Does Mom know?" "No, she'd think I'm crazy, like you do."), then gives Caroline a semi-makeover. Caroline is even more self-conscious the next day at school (I mean, she's wearing a scooped neckline! OMG!). She also tries to make normal small talk, but her first subject is Bill Chase, who tells her to shove off. Then Annie Whitman goes off on her. Then Caroline tells Liz that Bill really must be cheating, since he acted so hostile when she asked him about his play. This girl needs therapy. I do feel bad for her, but damn.
But you know what else is happening? Liz sees Regina with Bruce, and gets all disapproving. Now who's judging people and not minding their own business?
Anyway, there's more talk about Adam, Lila and Jessica start pushing to meet Adam, and Liz reads her play to the family and Jessica connects the dots. And vows revenge, of course. So she and Lila plan a party to introduce Adam to Sweet Valley, knowing he won't show, and Caroline will be humiliated in front of the whole school. Caroline ramps up the deception, and meanwhile, the twins ramp up their campaign to remind Alice and Ned how paradisical Sweet Valley is, and tell them how awful San Francisco is. Which gets Jess and Ned driving back from the canyons in time to see Caroline Pearce on Main Street...when she's supposed to be in Cold Springs with Adam. The party's a go, but Caroline still doesn't confess. She wants to talk to Liz first, and beg her not to read her play at the competition. Which Liz agrees to do (!!) but also finally asks what the heck is wrong.
Caroline breaks down and confesses, cries, and asks Liz what it takes to have friends. Liz suggests, "Maybe you shouldn't worry who's paying attention to you. A good friend pays attention to other people. The rest just sort of follows." Now that's fairly good advice; definitely more so than Anita offers. We get the same basic scene with Anita, except in her case, she suggests a "good long talk." If Caroline is willing to listen. So she spends TWO HOURS listening to Anita tell her absolutely everything she's ever done wrong in her entire life. I don't think that's the hest idea, actually. You do interventions for drug addicts and alcoholics. You don't do an intervention for a sixteen-year-old who has no governor on her brain and is caught in a cycle of awkwardness. IRL, I think Caroline would be driven to suicide. And of course, Anita has no followup speech about how to BUILD social skills.
But she does take Caroline shopping and to get her hair done for the party. Which is a humungous shindig, with a "mobile disco," whatever that is, and two video monitors, and a ton of food. This is what you do to humiliate someone? So Caroline sweats bullets, and just as she's about to make a full confession, Adam does show up! Liz saved the day, you see: she got Todd to dig up an acquaintance from another school. So Caroline spends the evening with him, but then she confesses for real. And everyone thinks she's really brave, including "Adam," whose name is Jerry, and he asks her out again. (Except I don't believe he's ever seen or referred to after this.) And Liz wins the play competition, and the family is not going to move, and everyone's in love and flowers pick themselves. Including Regina and Bruce, which leads us into #18.
So as I said, I think the main story would have worked better if Caroline had been an average kid in an average school, instead of weighted down under Sweet Valley perfection. And the B-plot will come up again and again. Todd really does move; Liz almost goes away on a fellowship; Steve almost goes to work on a cruise ship. Funny that the Wakefields are always able to talk each other out of these things, but Todd's dad's decision was final. Wonder whose idea it was to write Todd out?
Also, DeeDee Gordon seems to have grown a spine. Remember what a pushover she was in #8? In this case, when Caroline wants to apologize to Bill (he forgives her, and she vows to never ever gossip again), DeeDee immediately says, "The table's full." Ooh, snap!
So we know Caroline Pearce. The gossippy one. Except how that distiguishes her from Jessica and her posse, I'm not sure. Oh, and she dresses primly, and has red hair, except red hair on her is not all sophisticated like it is on Patsy Webber. She has no boyfriend and no friends, and the book opens with her waking up, still blissed out because she'd been to the Patmans' party in #16. We find out that she gossips because she feels left out, but now she feels "in" because she invented a boyfriend: Adam. The way Adam is described, he sounds a lot like Todd. At any rate, Caroline has told the story so much, she's close to believing it herself.
So she goes downstairs, where her uppity older sister Anita, who appears to have some food issues, has no interest in Caroline's desperate attempts to make conversation...until she mentions Adam. Then she's alllll ears. I can see that Anita really has her priorities in order.
Caroline leaves, hoping to scam a ride to the beach with Jessica or Liz. Jessica sees her from the window (does she always look out to see who's at the door?) and implores Liz to brush Caroline off. More desperate attempts at conversation, and even Saint Liz is a bit put off. Meh, to me, Caroline just sounds like a typical self-conscious teenager. But she's the only such person in Sweet Valley, so she's poison. Even Winston, the supposed loser, is never at a loss for words. Caroline gets no response, pushes harder, and gets a negative response. Happens to a lot of people.
Caroline decides to head for the beach alone, but on her way down the driveway, she just happens to find the lid off the Wakefields' trash can, and just happens to look inside, and a letter to Alice Wakefield just happens to be right on top. The letter is offering Alice a job in San Francisco. Now, this is stealing, trespassing, invasion of privacy, whatever you call it; I'm not denying that. But Jessica has done some pretty scummy things in her time. Or worse, had people, like Robin Wilson, do them for her. So I'm not going to judge too harshly.
She catches up with Jess, Lila and Cara at the beach. Again intimidated by the silence, Caroline basically invents a story about Annie Whitman and Ricky Capaldo having a big blowup, and another about John Pfeifer (booooooo!) being at risk of getting kicked off the Oracle. Now, this is an authentic voice, exaggerating and adding emphasis to mundane points. It's still a crummy thing for her to do (well, to Annie and Ricky, anyway) but I think Caroline's main problem is talking TOO MUCH. Jessica gossips, Cara gossips, Amy Sutton gossips, although she's not in the series yet. Plenty of girls, and some guys, are catty and repeat stuff. What's wrong with Caroline is that she gossips badly. And she doesn't know how to make conversation any other way.
So Lila draws Caroline out about Adam. Caroline gushes about how superawesomeamazing he is, but when asked when they're going to see each other again, she suddenly has to be somewhere else. As soon as she's out of earshot, Jessica starts mocking her, so when Caroline returns, having heard some of this, she drops the bomb about the job offer. Jessica pretends she already knew, then goes home and freaks. At dinner, she demands to know why Alice hasn't told them yet, gives the usual "You're ruining my LIFE!" speech, and has to be reminded that this is a big deal for her mom, and congratulations might be in order? And later, she confronts Ned at his office. I wish I could show this to the readers of For Better or For Worse who claim that April overreacted to her family's moving. Uh, no. All she did was sigh. This is overreacting. Liz, of course, suggests that they come up with a reasonable plan to keep the family in Sweet Valley.
Then Liz and Todd, with Olivia and Roger, go to the Dairi Burger. Olivia tenses up when she sees Caroline approaching. She's there to apologize, to Liz, for upsetting Jessica at the beach. And of course, states why Jessica was upset. In front of Todd, who Liz didn't want to tell she was moving just yet. Caroline, desperation is the world's worst perfume. Please shut up, and when you're done, shut up some more.
So the next time we see her, she's at the library, checking out books by/about Robert Browning. The poet, you know, big torrid affair with Elizabeth Barrett. Oh, and Liz is also writing a play about them. There was some jazz about a playwriting competition. Caroline implied that Bill Chase was cheating on it somehow. Again, crummy, but what I have to ask is, why does everyone BELIEVE Caroline when she says these things? The reactions are always along the lines of "That's terrible...What else you got?" Plus, we know darn well that Jessica will tell any lie that suits her purposes, and there have been some very hurtful ones. And Cara doesn't lie, AFIAK, but she sure shoots off her mouth a lot. Caroline's not that different from them; she just doesn't have their finesse.
So Caroline types up another love letter from Adam/Robert. She realizes that the game will be up if anyone makes the connection, but she's gotten some attention already, and that will do for now. Actually, I'm astounded that anyone would think that these letters were written by a teenager, especially a guy. IRL, it would be better to just say that he copies Browning, because his own words don't fully express his passion. Of course, she'd still have to be careful not to get caught with the books. Anyway, one of the people she wants to impress is Anita, so she fakes a call from Adam. Anita demands to know more about him ("Does Mom know?" "No, she'd think I'm crazy, like you do."), then gives Caroline a semi-makeover. Caroline is even more self-conscious the next day at school (I mean, she's wearing a scooped neckline! OMG!). She also tries to make normal small talk, but her first subject is Bill Chase, who tells her to shove off. Then Annie Whitman goes off on her. Then Caroline tells Liz that Bill really must be cheating, since he acted so hostile when she asked him about his play. This girl needs therapy. I do feel bad for her, but damn.
But you know what else is happening? Liz sees Regina with Bruce, and gets all disapproving. Now who's judging people and not minding their own business?
Anyway, there's more talk about Adam, Lila and Jessica start pushing to meet Adam, and Liz reads her play to the family and Jessica connects the dots. And vows revenge, of course. So she and Lila plan a party to introduce Adam to Sweet Valley, knowing he won't show, and Caroline will be humiliated in front of the whole school. Caroline ramps up the deception, and meanwhile, the twins ramp up their campaign to remind Alice and Ned how paradisical Sweet Valley is, and tell them how awful San Francisco is. Which gets Jess and Ned driving back from the canyons in time to see Caroline Pearce on Main Street...when she's supposed to be in Cold Springs with Adam. The party's a go, but Caroline still doesn't confess. She wants to talk to Liz first, and beg her not to read her play at the competition. Which Liz agrees to do (!!) but also finally asks what the heck is wrong.
Caroline breaks down and confesses, cries, and asks Liz what it takes to have friends. Liz suggests, "Maybe you shouldn't worry who's paying attention to you. A good friend pays attention to other people. The rest just sort of follows." Now that's fairly good advice; definitely more so than Anita offers. We get the same basic scene with Anita, except in her case, she suggests a "good long talk." If Caroline is willing to listen. So she spends TWO HOURS listening to Anita tell her absolutely everything she's ever done wrong in her entire life. I don't think that's the hest idea, actually. You do interventions for drug addicts and alcoholics. You don't do an intervention for a sixteen-year-old who has no governor on her brain and is caught in a cycle of awkwardness. IRL, I think Caroline would be driven to suicide. And of course, Anita has no followup speech about how to BUILD social skills.
But she does take Caroline shopping and to get her hair done for the party. Which is a humungous shindig, with a "mobile disco," whatever that is, and two video monitors, and a ton of food. This is what you do to humiliate someone? So Caroline sweats bullets, and just as she's about to make a full confession, Adam does show up! Liz saved the day, you see: she got Todd to dig up an acquaintance from another school. So Caroline spends the evening with him, but then she confesses for real. And everyone thinks she's really brave, including "Adam," whose name is Jerry, and he asks her out again. (Except I don't believe he's ever seen or referred to after this.) And Liz wins the play competition, and the family is not going to move, and everyone's in love and flowers pick themselves. Including Regina and Bruce, which leads us into #18.
So as I said, I think the main story would have worked better if Caroline had been an average kid in an average school, instead of weighted down under Sweet Valley perfection. And the B-plot will come up again and again. Todd really does move; Liz almost goes away on a fellowship; Steve almost goes to work on a cruise ship. Funny that the Wakefields are always able to talk each other out of these things, but Todd's dad's decision was final. Wonder whose idea it was to write Todd out?
Also, DeeDee Gordon seems to have grown a spine. Remember what a pushover she was in #8? In this case, when Caroline wants to apologize to Bill (he forgives her, and she vows to never ever gossip again), DeeDee immediately says, "The table's full." Ooh, snap!