Blubber by Judy Blume Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.27 You Save: $3.72 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Blubber
Book Review: Have You ever seen someone who deserves more respect
Summary: 4 Stars
In this book called Blubber by Judy Blume, Linda is a girl who doesn't get a lot of respect because she is sort of fat. The main character (Jill) makes fun of her and she calls her Blubber and makes her say stuff like I am Blubber and other things. This book shows how her life is and how Jill might get to know Linda.Book Review: Helped me through my own childhood teasing
Summary: 5 Stars
When I was little, I was also "different" from my clasmates, and I found tremendous solace in the pages of this well-loved children's classic. The story centers around a young girl named Linda who is teased because of her weight and another girl's growing experience as she learns it is not as fun to be on the receiving end of such "attention".
Even though the reason for my teasing was something other than weight, I strongly identfied with Linda and her struggle to get through a school populated by judgemental, cruel and rude classmates. Blume does a superb job of capturing the loneliness and angst faced by the young protagonist--at times it feels like the reader is actually in the scenes of the book.
The only issue I had with the book was the fact that Linda and Jill apparently became friends at the end of the book. Considering the plot of the story up to this point (and the far more painful impact of intensive childhood teasing) I did not think this portion of the story fit in with what Blume was apparently trying to accomplish. Again borrowing from my own background, I know I was not in a particulary forgiving mood to people who subjected me to teasing--and I did not think Linda should forgive and forget either.
Unlike much Children's litterature which is condescending and sugary-sweet (ie kids never do anything bad to each other, or if they do, it is something minor) Blume has always taken great pains to speak to their readers about the realities of life in age-appropriate language and issues. Yes, it is more somber than most of the non-science fiction children's litterature reccently coming out, but well worth the read.
Book Review: Horrible book
Summary: 1 Stars
I like Judy Blume's Fudge series, but her other books aren't that great. This book has no redeeming qualities. One of the rules in writing children's books is that the main character should be likeable. But the main character was the most horrible, spoiled, rude, rotten bully. She constantly makes fun of an over weight girl in school along with her fellow bullies, puts rotten eggs in a neighbor's mail box, talks back to her parents, etc. Absolutely a horrible character, so it was hard to like the book (and I tried). This book was written in the 1970's, and I was surprised to see the word "bitch" in the book (the main character called an adult a bitch). I don't believe this is a very good book for a child to read. It might give them ideas on how to be a rotten child. I was surprised this book was even published.Book Review: How good it was
Summary: 5 Stars
"Blubber" was the best book i ever read about a bunch of girlsBook Review: I really don't get it.
Summary: 1 Stars
Realistic? Sure, in the sense that bullying is a guaranteed phenomenon when you force a group of immature people to be together with little guidance or oversight. (Not that the reminder has done any good -- the compulsory institutionalization of children in the name of "education" is a hazing of sorts that our society seems perfectly happy to keep in place.) And yet unrealistic -- the book (and Blume's style of writing in general) reminds me of the after-school specials I grew up with -- which dealt with valid issues and situations, yet with characters and motivations that I could not relate to because they were such awful caricatures and stereotypes. It was compelling in the way that a train wreck is compelling, but I always felt depressed and sickened afterwards. None of it helped me deal better with my own struggles; it did not make me feel less alone; there was nothing in the least edifying about it. It just made me feel icky.
A previous commenter wondered whether it might actually be fuel for bullies-in-making. While what people do with a work is not necessarily an indictment of the work itself, in this case the fact is that it reads almost purely as an observational study with little self-analysis or moralizing message implied (and it's arguable whether there is actually any,) so of course there are people for whom it's going to be easy to see it as a primer. This was actually just my experience in middle school -- the bullies thought it fantastic fodder -- and I wouldn't be surprised if it has been much used in this way. People seem to think the book is valuable simply because it *describes* bullying, as if it's something we're all unaware of and need to be enlightened about. But we already know it happens, and children see it around them and experience it first-hand. The book adds no insight, so I don't know what the point of it is, except as titillating melodrama. I'd honestly be interested to hear from anyone who it helped to either not bully or to recover from the bullying, because I am just not seeing what it is about the book that would accomplish that.