#76 Stacey's Lie

[lippian]

Hello, folks! I hope everybody (in America) had a good Thanksgiving. This book is called Stacey's Lie, but perhaps it ought to have been called Stacey is a Spoiled Brat and Her Parents Aren't Nice Either, Nor Are Her Friends. Though I don't think that would have fit on a BSC cover. It's also got some hilarious bawdy subtext that I can only hope is

Comments

[kakeochi_umai]

Stacey adds that the change is fortuitous, because Sunday is Father's Day, and that way she'll be able to give him his present.
Maureen wonders aloud if that's the real reason Stacey's father changed dates.
Stacey wonders why her father wouldn't have just said that
Either because we all saw what happened last time or because the writers are all on crack. My money's on the latter.

her last day with Robert. They played ping-pong at the community center, and then went to craft fair, where she found a gift for her father. Then they had lunch and exchanged "the most wonderful kiss."
I've got to stop skim-reading. I saw this:
her father. Then they had lunch and exchanged "the most wonderful kiss."
And for a moment thought there was some incest going on.

Stacey's father pulls out his wallet and says "How would you like to go out and buy yourself a pretty, summery something to wear to dinner tonight? I'll take you to the Lion's Lair."
Oh God, I was JOKING!

Ed has the stones to remark that he's glad Robert will be gone for the summer--

[suzy_queue]

"one-piece shorts-dress" = romper. Totally the height of fashion, yes?

I have to wonder if the editors questioned the Fire Island thing and what kind of awkward conversations that involved!

[road_baby]

[soundfurious]

I wonder how many tween girls had their hearts broken when they found out that a buyer for a major department store is not really an entry-level position once can just take up after having been a housewife for thirteen years.

I hate when fictional universes do this. I know this was the Camelot Nineties, but it's hard enough for someone with a degree geared toward retail buying plus internships and retail management experience to step up into even an assistant buyer position. It's like Maureen just wandered into the store to shop, saw a Help Wanted sign, and was hired on the spot.

Although I remembered after I typed that that Maureen was working for Macy's when Stacey was little. It was in her Portrait Collection book; that's how she got signed up to be on the Cinderella float. And maybe Maureen went to college before she had Stacey. Still, there's another problem: Does Bellair's only have one location? Because if they're a chain, why the hell would the buyers be officed in Stoneybrook?

[lippian]

And... wouldn't fashions have changed in 13 years? How well does a job like that keep after that much lack of practice? I don't know much about the clothing industry, but can you really say "I worked as a buyer in 1980! I will be an asset to your company in 1993! Totally rad, dude! ?" I wouldn't think so.

[soundfurious]

You've got to have a long and established history of accurately predicting fashions correctly. Since a buyer decides what a store will carry and how much and what sizes and colors, this is vital. A store can go under if a buyer thinks green will be the popular color for spring and so orders tons of it in a size 2 while neglecting the store's target market averaging a size 12 with a heavy preference for warmer colors. You've got to know the latest trends and fabrics, basically a lot more than you'll ever get from a fashion magazine or by shopping.

[road_baby]

She takes a carrot and goes

Mind directly into the gutter.

Stacey gets up and puts on "a pair of blue tights, black canvas walking shorts, a long-sleeved, blue T-shirt, and a pair of black flats."

Man, I wore the HELL outta the tights/shorts combo in the 90s. It was one of my fave looks. Maybe because I didn't look like Grand Moff Tarkin. I looked Hella fly. Sometimes I still want to rock it but my confidence isn't what it should be.

ever walked up to a close family member and started discussing the clothing you almost wore in intimate detail?

Yeah, this was always weird to me. Especially when they used weird words like 'gabardine'. I remember a lot of times I'd have to ask an adult what the Hell they were talking about.

and exchanged "the most wonderful kiss."Maybe I'm either grossly immature or naive but the thought of 13 year olds kissing 'wonderful' kisses really skeeves me out. Of course, I'm not a fan of kissing myself

[irishgypsie]

Yeah, I'm with you. I think we are supposed to feel like "poor Stacey, her life is rough" but I never sympathized with her problems. Also, at 13 I was nowhere close to being interested in boys so reading about her constant parade of boy toys and kissing was annoying at best. Stacey was always my least favorite character and I never understood why she kept winning the "most popular sitter" title.

[lippian]

Exactly. She's such a spoiled little princess and she has no idea how well she has it... I mean, with Kristy they make a big deal about the "Real Live Millionaire" business, but Ed has got to be even more loaded than Watson to support this crazy lifestyle, and he's not stingy; he spends like crazy wherever he and Stacey goes. And then Stacey is angry with him for being a workaholic. I know I keep harping on that, but it's astounding to me.

[road_baby]

It just goes to show how crazy self-centered she is. I'm sure if her dad started taking time off of work to spend time with her and told her they have to go easy on the spending, she'd bitch about that.

[asukasan]

My Mom wouldn't let me do the "shorts and tights" combo back when I was a kid in the '90s. I remember watching the Legend of Zelda cartoon and I thought that Princess Zelda wore white shorts and black tights (before discovering years later that it was pants and boots), so I tried to emulate the look... My mom made me go back to my room and change. *laughs*

*In my defense for not knowing Zelda wore pants and boots, I was, maybe, seven at the time.