∎ Descargar Gratis The Last of Eden Stephanie S Tolan 9780723261773 Books

The Last of Eden Stephanie S Tolan 9780723261773 Books

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The Last of Eden Stephanie S Tolan 9780723261773 Books

Although I find many YA novels from the `80s as fresh and readable as ever, The Last of Eden is just a historical artifact, and a seriously depressing one at that. It's kind of a slightly updated version of The Children's Hour. I heard of The Last of Eden from the Cliquey Pizza website, which has compilations of covers of `80s YA novels, and if you loved to read these books as a kid that website is like heaven. From the cover, it was clear that it was about a girl's boarding school, and I imagined it would be like Tell Me If The Lovers Are Losers by Cynthia Voigt, so I got it out of the library.

SPOILERS AHEAD. . .

Not that much actually happens to the main character, Michelle known as Mike. It's mainly about what happens to her friends. For the first time, a man comes to teach at Mike's elite all-female boarding school, and almost immediately he takes up with one of the students, Mike's friend Bits. In reality land where I live, a grown married man having a relationship with his fifteen-year old student is sexual abuse, but in this book Bits is depicted as an oversexed hussy, it's not the teacher's fault, and even though the whole school appears to know about it, the wise old headmistress does nothing. When the teacher dumps Bits, she is crazed with anger, and blames Mike's roommate and best friend Marty because she incorrectly thinks she ratted her out. Bits spreads a rumor that Marty is having a lesbian relationship with the art teacher. The whole school shuns Marty and by association Mike, putting cruel notes on their door and on blackboards. Once again, the teachers and administrators know all about it but choose to do nothing.

The following year, everything is back to normal, until a new girl name Sylva declares that she is going to break up Mike and Marty's friendship. Sylva lures in Marty with fake religiosity and then they begin sleeping together, horrifying poor Mike. This all sounds a lot more lurid and fun in summary than it comes across in the novel. Marty sends Mike a letter admitting that her feelings for the art teacher really had been "just what everyone said they were." Mike is so shocked and repulsed that she vomits all over the place. Then Sylva makes a suicide attempt. Not a single character is sympathetic, because, you know, Sylva is so hateful. Marty transfers to another school, and Mike wonders why the new school would want Marty if they knew that she had been in a lesbian relationship. Mike worries about her own sexuality and wonders if Bits was the only normal one. Then, in an epilogue she says that she's been seeing her boyfriend and that it's "a great comfort that he's male." The end!

As an anthropological document of social mores and homophobia from 1980, this novel is killer diller, but I hate to think of a teenager reading this book and coming away feeling bad about themselves because basically the message of the whole book is an extremely dated and damaging one. (That a same sex relationship destroys lives and is so horrifying that it makes people puke. Plus a cavalier attitude towards sexual abuse.) I'm not meaning to hate on the author. It was progressive at that time to have any gay content in YA at all, and it's hard not to be a mouthpiece for the beliefs of your time. I'm sure her more contemporary novels are great.

The weird thing is that my local library system is constantly de-accessioning old YA books and selling them. I've found all sorts of magnificent, classic treasures that baffle me as to why the library doesn't want them on the shelves any longer. And yet they've decided to hang on to this disheartening novel.


Tags : The Last of Eden [Stephanie S. Tolan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. During her sophomore and junior years at boarding school, Michelle must confront several painful situations which make her realize the place is not the Eden she once thought it was.,Stephanie S. Tolan,The Last of Eden,Warne,0723261776,1000251166,General,Boarding schools;Fiction.,Interpersonal relations;Fiction.,Schools;Fiction.,Boarding schools,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),Fiction,Interpersonal relations,Schools,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Young Adult Fiction General,Private schools

The Last of Eden Stephanie S Tolan 9780723261773 Books Reviews

Although I find many YA novels from the `80s as fresh and readable as ever, The Last of Eden is just a historical artifact, and a seriously depressing one at that. It's kind of a slightly updated version of The Children's Hour. I heard of The Last of Eden from the Cliquey Pizza website, which has compilations of covers of `80s YA novels, and if you loved to read these books as a kid that website is like heaven. From the cover, it was clear that it was about a girl's boarding school, and I imagined it would be like Tell Me If The Lovers Are Losers by Cynthia Voigt, so I got it out of the library.

SPOILERS AHEAD. . .

Not that much actually happens to the main character, Michelle known as Mike. It's mainly about what happens to her friends. For the first time, a man comes to teach at Mike's elite all-female boarding school, and almost immediately he takes up with one of the students, Mike's friend Bits. In reality land where I live, a grown married man having a relationship with his fifteen-year old student is sexual abuse, but in this book Bits is depicted as an oversexed hussy, it's not the teacher's fault, and even though the whole school appears to know about it, the wise old headmistress does nothing. When the teacher dumps Bits, she is crazed with anger, and blames Mike's roommate and best friend Marty because she incorrectly thinks she ratted her out. Bits spreads a rumor that Marty is having a lesbian relationship with the art teacher. The whole school shuns Marty and by association Mike, putting cruel notes on their door and on blackboards. Once again, the teachers and administrators know all about it but choose to do nothing.

The following year, everything is back to normal, until a new girl name Sylva declares that she is going to break up Mike and Marty's friendship. Sylva lures in Marty with fake religiosity and then they begin sleeping together, horrifying poor Mike. This all sounds a lot more lurid and fun in summary than it comes across in the novel. Marty sends Mike a letter admitting that her feelings for the art teacher really had been "just what everyone said they were." Mike is so shocked and repulsed that she vomits all over the place. Then Sylva makes a suicide attempt. Not a single character is sympathetic, because, you know, Sylva is so hateful. Marty transfers to another school, and Mike wonders why the new school would want Marty if they knew that she had been in a lesbian relationship. Mike worries about her own sexuality and wonders if Bits was the only normal one. Then, in an epilogue she says that she's been seeing her boyfriend and that it's "a great comfort that he's male." The end!

As an anthropological document of social mores and homophobia from 1980, this novel is killer diller, but I hate to think of a teenager reading this book and coming away feeling bad about themselves because basically the message of the whole book is an extremely dated and damaging one. (That a same sex relationship destroys lives and is so horrifying that it makes people puke. Plus a cavalier attitude towards sexual abuse.) I'm not meaning to hate on the author. It was progressive at that time to have any gay content in YA at all, and it's hard not to be a mouthpiece for the beliefs of your time. I'm sure her more contemporary novels are great.

The weird thing is that my local library system is constantly de-accessioning old YA books and selling them. I've found all sorts of magnificent, classic treasures that baffle me as to why the library doesn't want them on the shelves any longer. And yet they've decided to hang on to this disheartening novel.