Coronaregression
In keeping with the times, being what they are - slowing down and paying attention, reviving old hobbies, returning back to a pace in the spiral of life before time seemed to speed up exponentially- I have come back for a spell on the comfy well worn, threadbare but still intact couch of el-jay. Location of embarrassing admissions, sweet tender connections, huddled intimacy, intellectual make out sessions, witty repartees, and compared to now - the quaint safety of a mostly anonymous internet community.
One of the more unexpected outcomes of quarantine/self isolation for me has been escaping into the world of Sweet Valley High books. The O.G. series that started in 1983 (the year I was born). I remember vividly the thrill of pulling SVH spines from the young adult fiction shelves in our elementary school library and reading the backs. How scandalous and sensational the covers were. I wasn't allowed to check them out, because of my age, and also because my Mom said they were "too racy". Honestly, so far that theory holds up. So I would read the teaser and look at the covers imagining without any context really, what was between those pages I wasn't old enough to read. Reluctantly re shelving them and getting a Nancy Drew or Judy Blume instead.
Probably by the time I was allowed to check them out I was disinterested. I had a couple paperbacks in my collection at one time or another but they were the special edition thrillers. Obviously more sophisticated and cool.
Now in my late 30's in the midst of the global pandemic, somehow they are meeting the escapism needs of my overtaxed attention span. There are 181 original books and I am finishing #6 'Dangerous Love' with #7-#11 on the way after scouring the internet for old copies with O.G. covers. Did a deep dive on Wiki because the male gaze in these things is so intense I couldn't imagine a woman actually writing them. Turns out Francine Pascal is not a man's pen name and she only wrote #1-#3; the rest are ghost written by other women? That rabbit hole spoiled the entire series by leading me to character bios revealing the shocking but not shocking conclusion of how many characters (in classic soap opera fashion) either meet semi-dramatic ends (including the ridiculous specificity of a peripheral character dying of a very small dose of cocaine) or whose fates are ultimately foiled as they grow into the worst versions of their middle aged selves still living in Sweet Valley. Which honestly was more depressing than if I had gone to my High School reunion.
I am still going to read them though. More grist for el-jay entries in the future: Unpacking SVH, my COVID summer? Initial review: Jessica Wakefield is a narcissist and Elizabeth Wakefield is (in the parlance of our times) #goals - but also in that aspirational unobtainable way that is kind of the worst. There are MANY problematic themes/tropes, drool worthy fashion throwbacks and pop-cultural oddities to explore. I imagine trying to explain in the future to someone how I ended up with a treasured collection of 181 original "vintage" SVH paperbacks (no reprints so far!) as a result of my Coronaregression in the year 2020.