This corner of the universe is not amused

[the_oracle]

“We were surprised by the reaction,” said Dan Weiss, the publisher at large at St. Martin’s, part of Macmillan. “It speaks to the fact that initially there was a real core group of fanatic fans, who are always the preservationists. They don’t want things to change.”

Ms. Pascal is not unsympathetic. “Sweet Valley was their adolescence and I’ve done some very radical things,” she said. “But you are different from that inchoate person of 16, and you have to allow that change to those characters.”

-snip-

“You remember how innocent and chaste they were,” said Ms. Teeman, who read the books when she was younger. “But when you make it an adult novel, naturally some of that innocence has to go away. This is a novel for adults, and we expect these characters to grow up and be adults.”

Ms. Pascal said she was already considering writing another book, now that “Sweet Valley Confidential” had received some positive reviews and achieved best-seller status. A film based on the original series is in the works.

“I knew that this one would wake up those readers, the old fans,” she said. “But that’s the whole point of it.”

Courtesy of The NY Times and the delightful livfreeverse at SV Unlimited.

  Uh, no.

My problem with SVC has nothing to do with how "adult" the characters have become. Honestly, I could probably have lived to be a 137 without knowing that Liz cries after orgasm, but I don't begrudge her having them to begin with. My problem is that these are still characters pretending to be adults. Which would actually work if someone called them on it in the story. The closest you come is Liz still feeling like she's an impostor at her job and that any second someone is going to come along and ask who the hell she thinks she's fooling. Take that. Run with it. She's 27, she's allowed to feel that way. It's been proven that this generation is actually doing that, taking our own sweet damn time about growing up and accepting responsibilities that our parents would have already been old hands at by now.

That would be fine. Encouraged, even.

But it's not.

My biggest problem is that for a book that was supposedly written for its fans, it fails so spectacularly at delivering any sort of warm fuzzy feeling whatsoever. The moment you start into the book, the euphoria of having a new SV book to read is immediately tarnished by the clunky writing and it all goes downhill from there.

Francine Pascal does not seem to know her characters all that well and she sure as hell doesn't seem to know her fan base. So why, exactly, are you surprised that we're not jumping up and down screaming for more of this, Mr. Weiss? The problem Francine Pascal fails to understand, is that there is an acceptable amount of change between 16 and 27. Given the fact that we were walked through their 19th year on this planet over a much longer period of time, it seems fairly reasonable to expect that you know most of the characters.

Yes. Sometimes people change in unexpected ways. Sometimes it's for the better. Sometimes it isn't. But people don't tend to go completely off the rails with no provocation. The why is so important, especially when doing a book like this, and yet it's missing on such a massive scale that it's taken me this long just to get around to a groggy AM rant about it.

Winston Egbert is not the type to get rich and immediately lose his respect for women. He's had at least two successful serious relationships with women, both of whom are just the type SVC claims would never give him the time of day. So thus your argument for why Winston went all Bruce Patman on us? Null and void. No dice. Try again.

Enid. First of all, really. REALLY? You expect me to believe she'd change so completely and yet you don't give a single reason as to why? I could buy Enid not being Elizabeth's friend. I can more than buy Jessica feeling vindicated by this. HOWEVER, it would involve erasing the Alexandra part of the equation completely. If you want to do that, then you've got to give me a reason why.

Lila. Lila Fowler is secure enough in her own awesomeness that she would not get a boob job. She would not go trashily blonde. Lila might have seriously screwed up relationships, but she is Lila Goddamned Fowler and she is too good for what you've reduced her to. Just because you don't understand her does not give you the right to try and warp her in ways that make no sense.

Lila/Bruce does not a fling make. Because if that's a fling, then I really think it invalidates your Todd/Jessica argument. If you had chosen to say that they changed over time, either becoming entirely too alike or that the death of Bruce's parents changed him too much for their relationship to continue, this I would buy. Not happily, but I could understand it.

Cara Walker is not a wallflower. Given the way her parents split and the fact that she's had how long, exactly, to grow up, I really don't see her going quietly into the night. If she didn't, please show this.

The Aaron/Jessica animosity makes no sense. Your research has failed.

None of these character changes make sense. I buy that Liz would run away when confronted with the knowledge that her longtime boyfriend and her twin have hooked up. There's evidence of this in the Elizabeth series, much as I am loathe to admit it exists. I can even buy Todd and Jessica hooking up, although I think it could have, should have, been dealt with better.

Changing things simply for the sake of changing things is not good writing, nor is it good storytelling. No one's expecting perfection, but there is the reasonable expectation to find some spark of something you used to love buried beneath the rubble.

I find it more than a little off-putting to realize that I think *I* care more about these characters than the person getting paid to put them through their paces.



Making more of these books had better involve fixing what you screwed up and dropping a house on Caroline. Also, possibly, maybe you should go back and try and find some sort of warmth for the characters, because as it stands, if fictional characters could sue? SVC would give them a solid case against FP. Especially you, AJ. Take notice, Francine. That is AJ. He's the redhead, not the blonde, in the icon.

I suppose I should rejoice that there's obviously a section of the fanbase not content to just accept SVC as it stands. I might not necessarily run into them, but at least they exist.

Another book. Good grief.

Comments

[luxken27]

Did you see this? It was linked in the comments to the NYT piece.

http://crasstalk.com/2011/04/sweet-valley-new-york/

I certainly agree with her contention that it's pretty damn sad when the fans of the series know the characters better than the series creator herself, who apparently misplaced the Sweet Valley bible she had so lovingly cared for twenty years ago.

My problem is that these are still characters pretending to be adults.

YES. THIS.

I can honestly say if there are any more books in this series, I will not be buying them. One dose of childhood-breaking WTFery is one dose too many for me, thanks.

[luxken27]

Here's another (really good) review of the book, in which someone tries to figure out the timeline:

http://snarkvalley.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/sweet-valley-confidential-ten-years-later/

I'm glad we're not the only ones depressed/upset with the turn of events in SVC. Most of the rest of LJ seems to think "lol trainwreck!" but I find that hard to believe, especially if they're invested enough to snark every single book in the entire friggin series!

[gossip-oracle.livejournal.com]

...Wow. I know what I'll be finishing tonight. That is incredibly detailed. o_O

I want to give out pins or something to the people not just sitting back and saying, "It's SV. What did you expect?" Because, you know, I expected better than this.

[livfreeverse.livejournal.com]

thanks for the link, don't think i've read this one yet.

[gossip-oracle.livejournal.com]

I did not. I would like to take a moment and admire the absolute perfection of those shelves.

Envy.

Back to reality, I expect fans to know a bit more than the creator on a series such as this. What I don't expect is for the creator to fumble so spectacularly. There are minor issues and then there's... SVC. :P

I wish I had your backbone. If she gets her way and writes another, I will sadly read it. I'll even buy it, most likely... because that person nailed it. No matter how bad SV treats me, I keep going back. Where, oh where, is my self respect?! *sob*

[livfreeverse.livejournal.com]

because that person nailed it. No matter how bad SV treats me, I keep going back. Where, oh where, is my self respect?! *sob*

-that's exactly my view on it, I reaaaallly did NOT like SVC, it's a terrible finale to an iconic legacy and just didn't do the franchise justice, but I will shamefully get any follow ups; just because.

[gossip-oracle.livejournal.com]

I feel better that I'm not the only one who knows full well that should a second book arrive, even though I'm 99.9% sure it would enrage me just as much as SVC, I'd buy it.

I'm thinking this is less an end to SV and more like one of the endings of Clue. "That's what could have happened, but this is what really happened."

[livfreeverse.livejournal.com]

Also based on your book recap, the thing that stood out to me the most (mainly because it echos my exact thoughts on the character) was this: Lila. Lila Fowler is secure enough in her own awesomeness that she would not get a boob job. She would not go trashily blonde.
this episode scene sums it up perfectly at 1:16-1:23 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMV82dIp_OU

[gossip-oracle.livejournal.com]

I knew there had to be proof of Lila's refusal to cheapen herself like this. Huzzah!

[april44rei.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on how all these character changes didn't make sense in SVC. I also hated how SVC has so many inconsistencies and the dialogue of the characters-it didn't sound like them! FP should have assigned the writing of this book to her ghostwriters.

She shouldn't count for another book, after how this book sucked.

[gossip-oracle.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I wasted years of my life idly wondering what SV would be like if FP ever sat down and wrote an actual book. As a kid I was convinced that it would somehow be the most amazing SV book of all.

Amazing, awful, they both begin with "a", right?

Btw, happy belated birthday!

[april44rei.livejournal.com]

yeah, I also thought he writing would be great. I love her writing for the Victoria trilogy, so I hoped SVC would be awesome, but it's not. It writing is terrible, the characters don't sound the way they used to in SVH, the epilogue was rushed and it has too many inconsistencies.

and to think FP was thinking of a follow-up novel for SVC. Geez.

thanks for the bday greeting. ;)