Nancy Garden (1938–2014)

Fantastic. It's obvious why Annie On My Mind is a classic, and it's not only because this was one of the very first YA books with gay main characters and a happy ending. I don't usually enjoy straight-up (ha) romance stories, but Gardener avoids the usual obnoxious style where it's obvious how the characters are going wrong and they're oblivious. Instead, when Liza and Annie argue, it's complicated by homophobia and Liza is, at least in retrospect, thoughtful and realistic.

The scene where their secret relationship is discovered is like a punch in the stomach. But the morality isn't totally clear cut, and Annie and Liza struggle to keep their guilt about things that are legitimately their fault disentangled from the things that their society is guilty for and from the guilt one feels about being gay.

The ending could have felt rushed, but it didn't to me. I was as delighted as they were. I would protest about how it's their first relationship and those usually don't last forever, but in the interview with Nancy Gardner in the back, she explains that she married her high school girlfriend, so it's understandable!

One thing that did bother me all out of proportion to how prominent it was was an extended metaphor towards the end with white=good, pure and black=evil, twisted. Made me think of the MLK speech.… (más)

I will basically read anything by Nancy Garden -- Annie on My Mind was my first LGBTQA book -- and I always love her stuff. This was no exception! Molly is upset before Open School Night because the kids in her classroom tell her she can't have both a Mommy and a Mama when she draws a picture of her family. Molly's mothers explain to her that there are all kinds of families and, reassured by that, Molly takes her family portrait back to school to proudly hang it up next to the other kids' pictures.

This is a good, solid story that explains that it's okay to have two mommies, and that it's love that makes a family, no matter who is in it.… (más)

Some books you pick up and it takes you ages to read (see: Ben Hur). Some books you pick up and never finish reading coz you get bored (see: Women in Love). Some books pick up in the middle and leave you gasping for more (see: The Picture of Dorian Gray).

This book is none of those. This book I finished reading in about three hours. This book hit all the right points, and it’s taken me so long to write this review because I couldn’t bring myself to write it and not give it the justice it deserves as a wonderful novel.

I feel a bit of historical context is also important here, first. This novel was written in the 1980s, and takes place in what I believe is the 1970s. The novel was banned for a VERY long time in a lot of public libraries, because of its depiction of homosexuality as the main romance in the novel. The main characters of the novel, Annie and Liza, fall very quickly and very deeply in love, which must have twisted a few panties back when this novel first came out. A cursory search shows that the novel is actually the 44th most challenged novel by censorship in the United States in the 1980s.

But here’s why this novel is so important for the LGBT community. When reading this novel, while it’s not got the WOW factor that some other novels might have in terms of writing, the story line is happy. Imagine that – a queer story line where nobody dies in the end. That’s a big leap there, considering that the majority of queer characters in the media up to that point had been mercilessly killed off in their depictions.

Liza, as the novel’s main narrator, is actually a very wonderful narrator who actually gives you an insight into her emotions, not making it too emotional and trying to show you what her side of the story is without undermining anything that happened, or placing the blame on others. Liza takes full accountability for her actions and acknowledges that some things she said or did in the course of the story she’s telling might have been terrible decisions. Liza is a mature narrator, and I like how she tells her story.

What I also like about this novel is how realistic the characters feel. Liza goes through her own moments of doubt and internal homophobia, questioning if what she feels is even right or real, but she also goes through her moments of falling in love for the first time that makes you blind to all other consequences and situations. Liza is, really and truly, all of us when falling in love for the first time.

I don’t want to tell you how the novel will play out, because there’s a lot more to the story than just two girls who happen to fall in love. All I can really tell you is that you have to sit down on a quiet evening, switch off your phone, and get ready for your heart to crack open just a smidge (or maybe more than that) while you’re reading this novel.

Final rating: 6/5. Honestly, though the writing isn’t perfect, it’s one of my favourites for the story line alone.… (más)