The drowned rat look is so in, Wakefield.
Aug. 9th, 2010 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_oracleLost At Sea
June 1989
Will Elizabeth ever see Jessica again?
Shipwrecked...
It's a beautiful sunny day when a group from Sweet Valley High sets sail for a special science field trip. Jessica Wakefield is looking forward to a few hours of sunbathing and flirting while her twin sister, Elizabeth, can't wait to get to the deserted Anacapa Island to study the marine life. Neither of them could have imagined the nightmare the trip will become.
On the way back from the island, a violent storm sets in, and the group is forced to abandon ship in the middle of a raging sea. Then when the lifeboat carrying Jessica and Winston Egbert capsizes, they disappear into the fog.
After the storm clears, Jessica's life preserver turns up. And soon the Coast Guard spots the missing lifeboat-but it's empty! Will Jessica and Winston ever be found?
When I was a kid, I desperately wanted to read this thing. I don't know why, other than the title made it seem awesome. My brain was sure that this would be epic and fantastic and would no doubt be amazing. In reality, it's a let down.
Despite my brain assuring me that Win and Jessica kiss, they do not. What the hell, brain? For the last five years every time I look at this cover you say, "At least Win got his kiss... and Maria never had to know." You are a dirty, rotten liar and I think we should break up.
Yeah, so moving along, let's begin.
Because Jessica and Amy have spent the last twenty books bitching about other people instead of doing their work in chemistry, they're both told that the optional trip to Anacapa Island is no longer optional. This part happened in the previous book, but we needed a recap of the recap. Because Amy is a sneaky sort, she got out of the trip by lying through her teeth saying she had a family obligation. In reality, she's at the beach with Bruce.. In return, she'll be writing a super long essay while Jessica, Lila, and Ken all bask in the glory of Anacapa Island. Jess (and Ken) figures she'll let the geeks do all the work while she sunbathes. I... kind of admire this, actually. The geeks who volunteered for this want the good grade so they won't let her fuck it up. Perfect!
Except Mr. Russo isn't an idiot. He realizes who the slackers of certain teams are and he forces them to record all the data, thus making them actually do school work. Sneaky. I like that. Jessica ends up in a group with Lois, Randy, and Winston so you know Russo's got a sense of humor. A sick, twisted sense of humor. Winston goofs off and manages to nearly ruin just about each of the assignments they've been given, but things work out fairly well for Jessica, even if Winston does drop a crab on her head. Ken seems amused, not horrified, anyway.
A storm is brewing offshore so the field trip is cut short. About fifteen minutes into the trip, the storm really kicks in and the boat begins to sink. Russo's sick sense of humor comes back to bite him in the ass when Jessica, who would have been in a lifeboat with Ken Matthews (leaving Elizabeth with Winston), gets snagged by Winston who cheerfully reminds her, "Buddy System!"
Somehow Aaron only grabs one oar and doesn't notice until he's out in the ocean. Also, Winston grabs three (despite being the last student lifeboat set out to sea) and you know where this is going, right? King Klutz stands up in the boat and attempts to throw the oar to Liz and Aaron. Only a wave comes along and bitch slaps their boat, which sends Winston stumbling into the sea. When Jessica attempts to grab him and keep the boat afloat, she's also dumped into the sea. A strong current pulls Jessica, Winston, and their boat away from the others but no one's entirely sure just how bad things are due to such crappy visibility. When the storm blows over, the group quickly realizes that Jessica and Winston are lost.
I have to interrupt and call bullshit. You're telling me that Elizabeth freakin' Wakefield did not immediately try and find an adult to inform them that her dear twin sister was lost at sea? Seriously?
Anyway, the group looks for Winston and Jessica but all they find is one lone yellow life jacket. Jessica's. Dun-dun-DUN.
Briefly we get Jessica's POV as she's out in the ocean, scared out of her mind, and not entirely sure whether she's swimming further out to sea or towards land or even back towards the island. She berates herself for not properly fastening her life jacket so that one of the first waves to hit her after she fell into the water ripped it away. Aww, nearly dying brings out the introspective best in the littlest Wakefield.
Eventually Jessica washes up on shore. She takes a moment to make sure that she isn't just hallucinating and then moves further up the beach to pass out. I can't say I blame her, really. Just going to the beach makes me super sleepy. *yawn* Apparently reading about it does, too.
Back in Sweet Valley, the captain of the boat calls the Coast Guard to alert them to the two teenagers lost in the Pacific. When the group makes it back to dry land, poor Elizabeth has to call her family and give them the bad news that Jessica's lost at sea. Russo calls Winston's parents. I should mention that when they initially realize the mismatched pair is missing, Lila freaks out. You either find this endearing or a bit "really, Drama Queen?" but once the life jacket appears, Enid joins in the sobbing brigade. (I am totally not using this as proof of a Jessica/Enid hookup. I'm merely pointing out that if read properly, there is a lot of evidence in these things. Who knew?)
Dry land again: I think my favorite bit of this book (aside from the Enid/Lila weeping above) is how the school reacts to Jessica being lost at sea. If you ignore the focus on Jessica being lost, it's actually one of the better things in the series. In high school if two kids, particularly ones like Jess and Winston, got lost at sea, even if there were a million islands they could wash up on, after a couple of days would anyone at the school really, truly expect them to still be alive? Especially once the lifeboat has been found empty. Of course not. The drama potential for weeping and sobbing and reminiscing about them as if they were already dead is too high. Liz is one of the few people to believe they made it, and that's not nearly as impressive as you would think. Twin Spidey sense and her stubborn refusal to believe in Jessica's death later on in the series kind of makes this an enh sort of moment. But the way Jeffrey and Steven both support her is sweet. Also loving the way Bruce gets in on the action, mentally picturing the way Jess is surely bossing poor Winston around. These kinds of things make me love my SV addiction.
Nicholas is sweet talked into taking his boat out to search the various islands for the missing duo, but another storm blows in and no one feels comfortable enough to wait it out. I must say that I'm a little disappointed that no mention is made to Jessica's NDE in France where a storm also nearly killed her in the water. Someone dropped the ball, people. Meh.
Out in the middle of nowhere, Jessica quickly realizes that she isn't alone on the island. Fearing cannibals untouched by modern science and pop-culture, she awaits her doom... only to find out that the thing making so much noise? Winston. He cheerfully informs her that after the boat capsized, he found his way back to said boat, righted it, and ended up on the island. Jess is ecstatic thinking they have a boat and are saved! Only Winston was so tired when he came ashore that he didn't properly secure it and now the ocean has a boat.
Poor Winston. Even when he does something right, he does it wrong. Woe. Anyway, it doesn't take long for Winston to realize that if left to her own devices, the youngest Wakefield would be content to sit on the beach all day to work on her tan. Not wanting to turn into a lobster and develop skin cancer later in life, Winston suggests that they set up something to alert planes flying overhead to their whereabouts. Jess is all about it when she thinks she'll get to write something in the sand, but Winston vetoes that idea quickly. It will take too long, a storm will fuck it up, and let us not even begin to discuss the tide. He eyes her shiny bracelet, but Jessica refuses to give up her gift from one of the grandmothers. Winston grumbles a bit but decides to use their emergency knife (he was smart enough to remove the first aid/emergency kit from the boat before it was lost) since it's plenty shiny. For a moment Jessica feels bad, but then Winston starts in on shelter.
For the class clown, Winston is surprisingly well adapted to life on a deserted island. Good to know. Anyway, he bargains with Jessica. If she'll help build the damn thing, he'll let her decorate it anyway she likes, so this way they get a place to hide from storms and she gets to pick pretty, pretty flowers. .
With shelter out of the way, Winston decides that now would be a good time to find firewood and food so they don't have to keep venturing out into the wild to get some berries. Jessica agrees and they forage for food. Sadly Winston seems to have suffered a severe loss in brain cells as he refuses to turn around and take the food and wood they've already acquired back to their shelter. Instead he wants to push on until they can find the blueberries he found earlier while he scoured the island. Naturally, this being Jessica, they run into a bear.
Not a word is mentioned about Jessica's previous run in with a bear, but who cares? (Me.) Winston freezes and Jessica has to save the day by throwing berries at the hungry animal. Eventually the bear is distracted enough that Jess can grab Winston and they run like hell all the way back to their beach. Winston is mortified that he went so completely numb in front of Jessica. If it had been left to him, they both would have died, he's sure of it. Jess does her best to console him but she's not so great with the jokes and thinking about others. Still, she tries. The two actually get along rather well, with both admitting that Jessica's a bit of a bitch at school and then Winston points out that for as much as he likes being the comic relief, sometimes he'd like to just... be. Jessica points out that maybe if he wasn't "on" all the time, he wouldn't come across as annoying so much.
Their ceasefire is short lived as the two begin to really think about what would happen if they fail to make it off the island. (I feel like I should have a Lost joke or twelve, but you'll have to supply your own.) Maria will find someone new. Jessica will never go to the mall again, and they'll both grow old and not even Tom Hanks could pull that look off without it being more than a little disturbing. Jess begins bargaining with the universe about what a better person she'll be. Suddenly they hear the whirring of a chopper overhead. They're saved!
Back home, Jessica claims credit for 98% of the actions on the island because the reporters are dying to know what it was really like on the island. When finally given a chance to speak, Winston breaks out the old crazy class clown bit and... I marvel at how Jessica always gets her way.
Okay, fine, I don't. I'm annoyed that the island they ended up on is named Outermost Island... because it's the outermost island before you hit open waters. Good grief.
Trivial Pursuit:
True Story:
Anacapa Island really does exist. Outermost? Not... so much, at least not with that name and the five minutes I devoted to Google. :P Anacapa seems to have had a rat infestation while Jess would have been stranded there, but not a single rat was seen. Interesting. If nothing else, the Google pictures that pop up are gorgeous. I don't want to swipe someone's photos so I'll leave it up to you to look 'em up, but they are pretty. I might be biased though, since I'm an ocean loving freak.
Quotes:
It was as if people were already thinking, "There goes Elizabeth Wakefield, the girl whose twin sister was drowned during the science class field trip." - Right, that's what they're thinking, Liz. p 72
"I just can't believe it," said Amy Sutton. "I almost went on that field trip. I'm so lucky I didn't! I could be out there with Jessica in the middle of the Pacific Ocean right now." She shivered.
Elizabeth shook her head. Trust Amy to worry about herself instead of one of her best friends, she thought. - See, Amy, there are things you say out loud and things you say in your head. There are things you can say out loud in front of people and things you should leave for your inner circle. This? This is a time to shut your friggin' mouth. G'ah. p73
"Hey, Patman! What are you doing with my boat, trying to fly it?" -Nicholas, p102
"I happen to know for a fact that Jessica Wakefield doesn't like to be kept waiting!" -I'll just bet you do, Bruce. p102
By this point in her life Elizabeth was used to the fact that she shared a physical identity with her twin. - This kind of contradicts what SVC's promo chapter says, but whatever. p107
Maria laughed and swatted him on the shoulder. "Put me down," she told him, giggling. "Please?"
"Nope," Winston refused, his voice cracking with emotion. "I didn't think I'd ever get to hold you again. I'm not letting you go so easily." ♥ Aww, first he swings her around in a circle and then he whispers sweet nothings. Winston! ♥ p142
She would never see her family again. Elizabeth and Steven would grow up and leave home. Steven would marry Cara, and Elizabeth would marry Jeffrey. And Jessica, simply by virtue of being a castaway, would be deprived of her right to be maid of honor at both ceremonies. Ken Matthews would date some other girl, forgetting Jessica Wakefield ever existed. She would never get to be a senior at Sweet Valley High-she'd miss all the fun of graduation! - Given what happens, I'd say you got off lucky if you spent the next few years on an island, Wakefield. p 130
She would be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, maybe even the 60 Minutes team. - Funny how this list is written in reverse order of importance today... p135
Fashion:
Jessica glanced down at herself. She was wearing new flimsy thong sandals the same cherry red as her toenail polish. Her very short, very snug iced-denim shorts made the most of her slim, bronzed legs. On top, a skimpy bandeau left her shoulders bare for optimal tanning exposure-and optimal exposure for admiring male eyes. In contrast, Elizabeth, always a conservative dresser, wore a shell-pink scooped neck top, Bermuda shorts, and sneakers. -p6
I like Lost At Sea, but not for the reasons I remembered liking it. Yes, Winston and Jessica do bond, but it's only a little bit and they're back to squabbling and annoying each other in no time. I like the way Ned and Alice freak out when a storm blows in while Liz and Steven are out looking for Jessica and the way they react as if Jessica is already gone. They have hope that they'll find Jessica alive and well, but the thought of losing all three children in such a short span of time freaks them right out. Sounds about right.
I love Lila's freak out. I hate how Elizabeth is so uncharacteristically nasty about Lila. DUDE. Liz. If Enid were lost at sea, you'd be surgically attached to her mother until Enid was found, so don't judge Lila for calling and then wanting to talk once it becomes clear that you have left her out of the loop. And yet, I kind of like that Elizabeth is annoyed. It shows she's not a robot and sometimes I really do wonder about that.
June 1989
Will Elizabeth ever see Jessica again?
Shipwrecked...
It's a beautiful sunny day when a group from Sweet Valley High sets sail for a special science field trip. Jessica Wakefield is looking forward to a few hours of sunbathing and flirting while her twin sister, Elizabeth, can't wait to get to the deserted Anacapa Island to study the marine life. Neither of them could have imagined the nightmare the trip will become.
On the way back from the island, a violent storm sets in, and the group is forced to abandon ship in the middle of a raging sea. Then when the lifeboat carrying Jessica and Winston Egbert capsizes, they disappear into the fog.
After the storm clears, Jessica's life preserver turns up. And soon the Coast Guard spots the missing lifeboat-but it's empty! Will Jessica and Winston ever be found?
When I was a kid, I desperately wanted to read this thing. I don't know why, other than the title made it seem awesome. My brain was sure that this would be epic and fantastic and would no doubt be amazing. In reality, it's a let down.
Despite my brain assuring me that Win and Jessica kiss, they do not. What the hell, brain? For the last five years every time I look at this cover you say, "At least Win got his kiss... and Maria never had to know." You are a dirty, rotten liar and I think we should break up.
Yeah, so moving along, let's begin.
Because Jessica and Amy have spent the last twenty books bitching about other people instead of doing their work in chemistry, they're both told that the optional trip to Anacapa Island is no longer optional. This part happened in the previous book, but we needed a recap of the recap. Because Amy is a sneaky sort, she got out of the trip by lying through her teeth saying she had a family obligation. In reality, she's at the beach with Bruce.. In return, she'll be writing a super long essay while Jessica, Lila, and Ken all bask in the glory of Anacapa Island. Jess (and Ken) figures she'll let the geeks do all the work while she sunbathes. I... kind of admire this, actually. The geeks who volunteered for this want the good grade so they won't let her fuck it up. Perfect!
Except Mr. Russo isn't an idiot. He realizes who the slackers of certain teams are and he forces them to record all the data, thus making them actually do school work. Sneaky. I like that. Jessica ends up in a group with Lois, Randy, and Winston so you know Russo's got a sense of humor. A sick, twisted sense of humor. Winston goofs off and manages to nearly ruin just about each of the assignments they've been given, but things work out fairly well for Jessica, even if Winston does drop a crab on her head. Ken seems amused, not horrified, anyway.
A storm is brewing offshore so the field trip is cut short. About fifteen minutes into the trip, the storm really kicks in and the boat begins to sink. Russo's sick sense of humor comes back to bite him in the ass when Jessica, who would have been in a lifeboat with Ken Matthews (leaving Elizabeth with Winston), gets snagged by Winston who cheerfully reminds her, "Buddy System!"
Somehow Aaron only grabs one oar and doesn't notice until he's out in the ocean. Also, Winston grabs three (despite being the last student lifeboat set out to sea) and you know where this is going, right? King Klutz stands up in the boat and attempts to throw the oar to Liz and Aaron. Only a wave comes along and bitch slaps their boat, which sends Winston stumbling into the sea. When Jessica attempts to grab him and keep the boat afloat, she's also dumped into the sea. A strong current pulls Jessica, Winston, and their boat away from the others but no one's entirely sure just how bad things are due to such crappy visibility. When the storm blows over, the group quickly realizes that Jessica and Winston are lost.
I have to interrupt and call bullshit. You're telling me that Elizabeth freakin' Wakefield did not immediately try and find an adult to inform them that her dear twin sister was lost at sea? Seriously?
Anyway, the group looks for Winston and Jessica but all they find is one lone yellow life jacket. Jessica's. Dun-dun-DUN.
Briefly we get Jessica's POV as she's out in the ocean, scared out of her mind, and not entirely sure whether she's swimming further out to sea or towards land or even back towards the island. She berates herself for not properly fastening her life jacket so that one of the first waves to hit her after she fell into the water ripped it away. Aww, nearly dying brings out the introspective best in the littlest Wakefield.
Eventually Jessica washes up on shore. She takes a moment to make sure that she isn't just hallucinating and then moves further up the beach to pass out. I can't say I blame her, really. Just going to the beach makes me super sleepy. *yawn* Apparently reading about it does, too.
Back in Sweet Valley, the captain of the boat calls the Coast Guard to alert them to the two teenagers lost in the Pacific. When the group makes it back to dry land, poor Elizabeth has to call her family and give them the bad news that Jessica's lost at sea. Russo calls Winston's parents. I should mention that when they initially realize the mismatched pair is missing, Lila freaks out. You either find this endearing or a bit "really, Drama Queen?" but once the life jacket appears, Enid joins in the sobbing brigade. (I am totally not using this as proof of a Jessica/Enid hookup. I'm merely pointing out that if read properly, there is a lot of evidence in these things. Who knew?)
Dry land again: I think my favorite bit of this book (aside from the Enid/Lila weeping above) is how the school reacts to Jessica being lost at sea. If you ignore the focus on Jessica being lost, it's actually one of the better things in the series. In high school if two kids, particularly ones like Jess and Winston, got lost at sea, even if there were a million islands they could wash up on, after a couple of days would anyone at the school really, truly expect them to still be alive? Especially once the lifeboat has been found empty. Of course not. The drama potential for weeping and sobbing and reminiscing about them as if they were already dead is too high. Liz is one of the few people to believe they made it, and that's not nearly as impressive as you would think. Twin Spidey sense and her stubborn refusal to believe in Jessica's death later on in the series kind of makes this an enh sort of moment. But the way Jeffrey and Steven both support her is sweet. Also loving the way Bruce gets in on the action, mentally picturing the way Jess is surely bossing poor Winston around. These kinds of things make me love my SV addiction.
Nicholas is sweet talked into taking his boat out to search the various islands for the missing duo, but another storm blows in and no one feels comfortable enough to wait it out. I must say that I'm a little disappointed that no mention is made to Jessica's NDE in France where a storm also nearly killed her in the water. Someone dropped the ball, people. Meh.
Out in the middle of nowhere, Jessica quickly realizes that she isn't alone on the island. Fearing cannibals untouched by modern science and pop-culture, she awaits her doom... only to find out that the thing making so much noise? Winston. He cheerfully informs her that after the boat capsized, he found his way back to said boat, righted it, and ended up on the island. Jess is ecstatic thinking they have a boat and are saved! Only Winston was so tired when he came ashore that he didn't properly secure it and now the ocean has a boat.
Poor Winston. Even when he does something right, he does it wrong. Woe. Anyway, it doesn't take long for Winston to realize that if left to her own devices, the youngest Wakefield would be content to sit on the beach all day to work on her tan. Not wanting to turn into a lobster and develop skin cancer later in life, Winston suggests that they set up something to alert planes flying overhead to their whereabouts. Jess is all about it when she thinks she'll get to write something in the sand, but Winston vetoes that idea quickly. It will take too long, a storm will fuck it up, and let us not even begin to discuss the tide. He eyes her shiny bracelet, but Jessica refuses to give up her gift from one of the grandmothers. Winston grumbles a bit but decides to use their emergency knife (he was smart enough to remove the first aid/emergency kit from the boat before it was lost) since it's plenty shiny. For a moment Jessica feels bad, but then Winston starts in on shelter.
For the class clown, Winston is surprisingly well adapted to life on a deserted island. Good to know. Anyway, he bargains with Jessica. If she'll help build the damn thing, he'll let her decorate it anyway she likes, so this way they get a place to hide from storms and she gets to pick pretty, pretty flowers. .
With shelter out of the way, Winston decides that now would be a good time to find firewood and food so they don't have to keep venturing out into the wild to get some berries. Jessica agrees and they forage for food. Sadly Winston seems to have suffered a severe loss in brain cells as he refuses to turn around and take the food and wood they've already acquired back to their shelter. Instead he wants to push on until they can find the blueberries he found earlier while he scoured the island. Naturally, this being Jessica, they run into a bear.
Not a word is mentioned about Jessica's previous run in with a bear, but who cares? (Me.) Winston freezes and Jessica has to save the day by throwing berries at the hungry animal. Eventually the bear is distracted enough that Jess can grab Winston and they run like hell all the way back to their beach. Winston is mortified that he went so completely numb in front of Jessica. If it had been left to him, they both would have died, he's sure of it. Jess does her best to console him but she's not so great with the jokes and thinking about others. Still, she tries. The two actually get along rather well, with both admitting that Jessica's a bit of a bitch at school and then Winston points out that for as much as he likes being the comic relief, sometimes he'd like to just... be. Jessica points out that maybe if he wasn't "on" all the time, he wouldn't come across as annoying so much.
Their ceasefire is short lived as the two begin to really think about what would happen if they fail to make it off the island. (I feel like I should have a Lost joke or twelve, but you'll have to supply your own.) Maria will find someone new. Jessica will never go to the mall again, and they'll both grow old and not even Tom Hanks could pull that look off without it being more than a little disturbing. Jess begins bargaining with the universe about what a better person she'll be. Suddenly they hear the whirring of a chopper overhead. They're saved!
Back home, Jessica claims credit for 98% of the actions on the island because the reporters are dying to know what it was really like on the island. When finally given a chance to speak, Winston breaks out the old crazy class clown bit and... I marvel at how Jessica always gets her way.
Okay, fine, I don't. I'm annoyed that the island they ended up on is named Outermost Island... because it's the outermost island before you hit open waters. Good grief.
Trivial Pursuit:
- Jessica is interested in Ken again. Sort of. He's the cutest unattached guy going on the field trip and she needs something to perk her up while on the high seas.
- While the field trip has nothing to do with chemistry, Mr. Russo admits it and basically says it's a gimme. So not such a hard ass after all, huh?
- Going to the island: Jessica, Elizabeth, Enid, Lila, Ken, Tom, Aaron, Winston, Lois, Randy Mason, and some girl named Katrina.
- Amy's at the beach with Bruce while claiming to have a family obligation that kept her from the trip. She'll have to write a three page essay to make up the extra credit points.
- Team One: Enid, Liz, Ken, and Aaron. Team Two: Jessica, Winston, Lois, and Randy.
- The scribes for the teams are: Ken, Jessica, Tom, and Katrina.
- Apparently Lois is the daughter of the school dietitian. Say wha?
- It takes an hour, each way, to get to/from Anacapa Island on the Maverick.
- Winston has his San Padres hat on backwards. Later it will be found in the ocean along with Jessica's canary yellow life jacket.
- Captain Marsden will be losing us at sea this afternoon.
- Winston's big feet disturb the tide pool, which manages to splash Jessica in the face. Ick.
- Win is invited to all the parties at school because they see him as free entertainment. This, oddly enough, makes me feel badly for him.
- Task 2 is to rope off a ten square yard area and identify twenty different plans and insects.
- Team Two only manages to find 15 before Winston causes Jessica to flip out.
- Ken apparently has blue-gray eyes this go round.
- Jessica and Ken went to homecoming sophomore year (why don't they just say last year?) and ran out of gas on the way home. Jessica thought Ken did it on purpose until he got out and walked off to get gas, alone. Thing is, wouldn't Ken have been 15 then? So... driving in California during the 80's was... different?
- "Last spring" they went to the Beach Disco and things got all kissy at the end of the night.
- Jessica is the only one to wear a canary yellow life-preserver. Everyone else has orange.
- Liz and Aaron are buddies, as are Enid and Ken as well as Jessica and Winston.
- Jess starts out swimming the crawl but switched to the breast stroke to conserve energy.
- Liz thinks her parents look old while they process Jessica being lost at sea. Duh, Liz.
- Lila calls the Wakefields (who are practically having a party with Cara and Jeffrey there) when she can't get any word on Jessica's status. Instead of being her normal understanding self, Liz is more than a little put out by Lila's attitude.
- Cara, on the other hand, actually gets how Lila's feeling.
- At 10pm one can usually find Elizabeth studying quietly while Jessica is listening to her stereo cranked up while she's on the phone, decidedly not studying anything academic.
- Winston's last meal before the Anacapa Island trip? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
- Jessica refuses to let Winston use her chunky, 14 carat gold bracelet because it's a gift from her grandmother. The reason you don't see it on the cover is because it's on her right wrist.
- After Winston makes breakfast (fish and fruit) he lets Jessica have some without picking on her. In return, she makes a big deal about doing the dishes. This is actually very cute.
- Nicholas has a new boat (well, it's certainly not the boat he sailed in #23): the twenty-eight foot Nighthawk.
- Ken figures they should check out the southern-most Channel Islands as they were only fifteen minutes away from Anacapa when they jumped ship.
- Nicholas, Bruce, Liz, Jeffrey, Ken, Steven, and Cara go looking for Jessica and Winston.
- Outermost Island is the last island before you hit open ocean.
- One of the reporters sent to interview Jessica and Winston is from WSCN.
True Story:
Anacapa Island really does exist. Outermost? Not... so much, at least not with that name and the five minutes I devoted to Google. :P Anacapa seems to have had a rat infestation while Jess would have been stranded there, but not a single rat was seen. Interesting. If nothing else, the Google pictures that pop up are gorgeous. I don't want to swipe someone's photos so I'll leave it up to you to look 'em up, but they are pretty. I might be biased though, since I'm an ocean loving freak.
Quotes:
It was as if people were already thinking, "There goes Elizabeth Wakefield, the girl whose twin sister was drowned during the science class field trip." - Right, that's what they're thinking, Liz. p 72
"I just can't believe it," said Amy Sutton. "I almost went on that field trip. I'm so lucky I didn't! I could be out there with Jessica in the middle of the Pacific Ocean right now." She shivered.
Elizabeth shook her head. Trust Amy to worry about herself instead of one of her best friends, she thought. - See, Amy, there are things you say out loud and things you say in your head. There are things you can say out loud in front of people and things you should leave for your inner circle. This? This is a time to shut your friggin' mouth. G'ah. p73
"Hey, Patman! What are you doing with my boat, trying to fly it?" -Nicholas, p102
"I happen to know for a fact that Jessica Wakefield doesn't like to be kept waiting!" -I'll just bet you do, Bruce. p102
By this point in her life Elizabeth was used to the fact that she shared a physical identity with her twin. - This kind of contradicts what SVC's promo chapter says, but whatever. p107
Maria laughed and swatted him on the shoulder. "Put me down," she told him, giggling. "Please?"
"Nope," Winston refused, his voice cracking with emotion. "I didn't think I'd ever get to hold you again. I'm not letting you go so easily." ♥ Aww, first he swings her around in a circle and then he whispers sweet nothings. Winston! ♥ p142
She would never see her family again. Elizabeth and Steven would grow up and leave home. Steven would marry Cara, and Elizabeth would marry Jeffrey. And Jessica, simply by virtue of being a castaway, would be deprived of her right to be maid of honor at both ceremonies. Ken Matthews would date some other girl, forgetting Jessica Wakefield ever existed. She would never get to be a senior at Sweet Valley High-she'd miss all the fun of graduation! - Given what happens, I'd say you got off lucky if you spent the next few years on an island, Wakefield. p 130
She would be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, maybe even the 60 Minutes team. - Funny how this list is written in reverse order of importance today... p135
Fashion:
Jessica glanced down at herself. She was wearing new flimsy thong sandals the same cherry red as her toenail polish. Her very short, very snug iced-denim shorts made the most of her slim, bronzed legs. On top, a skimpy bandeau left her shoulders bare for optimal tanning exposure-and optimal exposure for admiring male eyes. In contrast, Elizabeth, always a conservative dresser, wore a shell-pink scooped neck top, Bermuda shorts, and sneakers. -p6
I like Lost At Sea, but not for the reasons I remembered liking it. Yes, Winston and Jessica do bond, but it's only a little bit and they're back to squabbling and annoying each other in no time. I like the way Ned and Alice freak out when a storm blows in while Liz and Steven are out looking for Jessica and the way they react as if Jessica is already gone. They have hope that they'll find Jessica alive and well, but the thought of losing all three children in such a short span of time freaks them right out. Sounds about right.
I love Lila's freak out. I hate how Elizabeth is so uncharacteristically nasty about Lila. DUDE. Liz. If Enid were lost at sea, you'd be surgically attached to her mother until Enid was found, so don't judge Lila for calling and then wanting to talk once it becomes clear that you have left her out of the loop. And yet, I kind of like that Elizabeth is annoyed. It shows she's not a robot and sometimes I really do wonder about that.
