i read this is as a teenager, sitting in the school library to avoid everyone. i enjoyed it then and would probably re-read it now as an adult, just to see how it strikes the adult me. it was certainly intriguing back then. a great coming-of-age tale. ( )

Another good YA novel about treating girls right, I think. ( )

“The speeches! They were filled with borrowed things--borrowed over and over again until the words were nothing more than a series of clichés.”
― Paul Zindel, My Darling, My Hamburger

A favorite from childhood. Review to follow.

I heard from someone that Paul Zindel commented on how he did not write good books in the time period this came out.

I cannot confirm he said this. I hope he didn't.

He needs a reality check if he did.

It is difficult to explain how much this book meant to me and how beloved it is to a great deal of readers. I am not sure any writer has so accurately portrayed teenagers and that is the beauty in this little gem of a book.

It isn't happy. It is bitingly cynical, brutal in its tragedy and seamless in getting into the heads of the four individuals in this story.

It covers some pretty heavy subjects..suicide, abortion, sex, dating in general, friendship..all the things teens worry about.

It is a capsule in time. I often wonder about Liz and Sean and Maggie and Dennis.

I was in Elementary school when I first read this book. Actually I did not read it. A family member who was big into theater did an oral reading for myself and my whole family. I fell in love with the book then and have reread many times since.

So as for Paul Zindel....he wrote a masterpiece. A masterpiece of feeling and bittersweet pain, the kind that we all feel as teens. A book of loneliness, alienation and yearning. A book that stands as a gr eat novel and a classic that should be read by any constant reader who favors the Literary Young Adult novel. You won't get happily ever after but you will get a book that may resonate deeply and one you will never forget. ( )

Ridiculous title, very little character development, full of tropes, and eminently predictable. ( )

I read this when I was a teen and thought I remembered really liking it. The writing is so choppy, unemotional and lackluster I found I didn't care one bit what happened to any of the characters they were so undeveloped. Not as good as Zindel's other work by far. ( )