Happy Endings Are All Alike

This is one of those books that I read more for the history than the story itself. I can only imagine how groundbreaking this novel was when it was first published in 1979; not only does it focus on the lesbian relationship between two teen girls (and, altogether, it's painted in a good light), but

it also mentions the Women's Liberation movement, too. So, yeah, definitely a book that was probably given the stink eye quite frequently.

The book does have a tendency to come off as dated. The characters "rap" quite a bit, and it took me a second to figure out that they meant having a conversation instead of, well, trying to be the next Eminem. And "does a chicken have lips" - haha, I can remember my mom saying that ALL of the time when I was little.

The writing style is rather sparse, and the author has difficulty picking one narrator per chapter, which leads to a lot of switching between narrators at a dizzying pace. That is quickly becoming one of my pet peeves in fiction.

Shout out to the character who doesn't shave her legs; for some reason, that's still controversial to this day!

Show Less

1 more

LibraryThing member csoki637

I first heard about this book in a summary of lesbian young adult fiction: its origins and how far it's come today. This book was mentioned as one of the books back from the days when characters were punished for being gay. And in this novel, particularly horrifically. So I thought maybe I should

stay away from this book for a while. And I did.

Now, having read it, I can say the image I had of the book was completely false. It's not a punishment story; it's an exploration of the extreme homophobia and misogyny in society, especially in the 1970s when it was written, and it's also a refreshingly feminist and powerful critique. I was happily surprised to find such a strong message — which is hard to find in any book, but in a book written 35 years ago it was especially powerful.

Show Less

Fewer