In 2021, do Judy Blume classics still resonate?
Like many women of my generation - tail end of Boomer; think wood-paneled station wagons, metal lunchboxes packed with Hawaiian Punch and Ring Dings - I grew up devouring the books of Judy Blume. This was decades before the Internet and personal computers. On TV, one could find happy White adolescents enduring such torments as orthodontia and crushes but rarely anything more serious or intimate, like getting one’s period, say, or contracting scoliosis or (gasp) having sex.
Blume’s miraculous novel
“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” appeared in 1970. I was too young to read it then, but as I entered adolescence a few years later, this realistic story of 11-year-old Margaret as she approaches puberty beckoned from the library shelf like a mentor and friend. When Blume’s “Forever ... “was published, in 1975, I was almost 13, and here, like a gift, was the explicit, unidealized story of two suburban high school seniors who fall in love and have sex, complete with responsible birth control. In between came “Deenie,” about a girl who gets scoliosis and has to wear a Milwaukee brace - just as my own sister did. Blume’s books also happened to be about culturally Jewish girls in New Jersey, often surrounded by nonJewish friends. (Was Blume actually stalking me?)
Over 50-plus years, Blume produced more than 28 books. They’ve been translated into 32 languages and sold more than 90 million copies. “Margaret” is being made into a movie, with Rachel McAdams as Margaret’s mother. Now 83, Blume no longer writes books, instead working to fight book censorship, for libraries and in the nonprofit bookstore in Key West she co-founded with her husband. While in her shop recently, I approached a shelf of her books and wondered:
What would I think of them now - and how would they fare if they were just coming out today? I decided to reread a few favorites and see.
I started with “Margaret.” Having just slogged through three literary novels, I found this like the rainbow-sprinkled layer cake after the kale delicious and fun. Blume instantly drew me in with clear, easy prose, a fast-moving plot, a compelling firstperson voice, perfect era details and subtle, realistic humor. I raced through the book, filled with happy empathy at the end when (spoiler alert!) Margaret gets her period.
“Deenie” was next. Again, immediately captivating, with Blume’s trademark ingredients: adolescent girl and her family and friends; suburbs in the ‘70s (hot rollers, encyclopedias, veal marsala! cooking and sewing classes - required only for girls!) Right away, there’s tension - the protagonist has some un- known physical issue; a naive mother (appallingly) typecasts her daughters - and action. No unreliable narrators, flowery prose, ambiguity. Blume keeps things breezy, even when sad or difficult things happen. Characters break up, or die, and narrators move on. Dialogue is fast, light and often fun, if sometimes shallow or clichéd.