102 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The book's message: "Don't let ignorance win - let love.", March 9, 2002
This review is from: Annie on My Mind (Mass Market Paperback)
Published in 1982, Annie on My Mind remains one of the most censored and controversial teen novels, but it is, even after twenty years, remarkable for two reasons: its emphasis on the healing (even redemptive) power of love and its departure from young adult books that, as Michael Cart has observed, subscribed to "the idea that to be homosexual is to be doomed, either to a premature death or to a life of despair at the darkest margins of society." (Booklist Youth, v. 95)
Annie On My Mind tells the story of two young women, each with loving families but outsiders at their respective schools, who meet at a museum in New York, quickly becoming friends and, later, lovers. The book is told from the perspective of Liza, a student at a private high school governed by an authoritarian principal. When Liza and Annie get caught making love in the house of two lesbian teachers, not just their lives but others' are irrevocably changed.
The book is certainly dated (it reminds me of books like The Cat Ate My Gymsuit and others of the same general era) and flat in places, and some aspects are painted with rather broad strokes - without much attention to the complexities of class and ethnicity, for example. But it is a moving and honest invocation of teenaged angst, one that captures the tentativeness of new love.
One strength is that the book offers a sympathetic portrayal of the various characters. They are, in the end, human - flawed, ambiguous, cautious. There is no one villain; most of the characters are well-meaning, if painfully awkward.
Overall, even after two decades, the book still stands as a sensitive portrayal of the naturalness of young love and one young woman's emerging understanding that the private is, if not political, then politicized.
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73 of 79 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Restrained, Tender Love Story, April 28, 2001
This review is from: Annie on My Mind (Mass Market Paperback)
Annie on My Mind is not hip. It is not the seminal (excuse me, ovarial) novel Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown. It is not the 1995 film "The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love." It is not a sexy, rollicking romp that takes us from the softball field into the bedroom. It is not a political/erotic expose of young New York lesbians.
What Annie on My Mind is is a gentle love story told with restraint and tenderness by Nancy Garden. Liza and Annie are two 17-year-old New Yorkers who meet, become friends, and slowly realize that their feelings encompass more than friendship. They are confused, curious, tentative and intense with each other. They have no road map to guide their emotions and behavior, no understanding friends or adults to reassure them or to celebrate their relationship. Their love for each other feels so natural and good that neither is ashamed of the relationship, but they still keep it a secret from everyone in their lives.
Many of us wish to find ourselves in literature, to have our own story reflected in the pages of the novels we read. When we do find such stories, the experience is so exciting and validating that we are willing to forgive any imperfections in the book. It's just so wonderful to discover kindred souls, and to find out that others have been through similar experiences.
Such is the case with Annie on My Mind. It tells the story that many young LBQ (Lesbian, Bisexual, Questioning) women experience, and as such is the kind of "normalizing" of homosexuality that many teenagers can't get elsewhere. The imperfections are minor, but worth noting, particularly in today's irony-saturated media. While many young adult novels feature characters that are smart (and smart-aleck), socially savvy, blasé about sex and drugs, Liza and Annie are almost implausibly innocent and naïve. When the two girls initially meet by chance in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Annie is unselfconsciously singing to a painting in the American Wing. Soon after, they sword fight as imaginary knights in the Arms and Armor room, complete with "chivalrous insults." When the guard admonishes them, Annie explains, "The knights are so-so splendid! I've never seen them before-I got carried away." The guard actually says, "Harrumph!" Who talks like this? Liza almost gets expelled from her private school for not reporting another student who is offering cheap ear piercing at school. Hello, modern life? This kind of preciousness persists throughout the book, as Liza nicknames Annie "Unicorn," the private school students go door to door trying to raise money to save the school, and the total absence of any contemporary teenage culture. These teenagers listen to classical music and linger over Egyptian antiquities. The diversity and energy of New York is silent.
And aside from the girl love, there isn't a whiff of controversy in Annie on My Mind. Both girls are feminine, with long hair. Neither is an athlete, outspoken feminist, or otherwise "butch." We know they make love, but it is not described. No older women "recruit" them, although they accidentally discover that two teachers at Liza's school have been romantically partnered for decades. These two dignified, private women serve as supportive, understanding adults who reassure Liza and Annie that their love for each other is just fine.
But we don't mind these unhip details because the real point of this book is the relationship between Liza and Annie, how they dance around each other for months before the first tentative kiss, how they both fear and long for more than kissing and holding hands, how they learn to trust each other, and finally, how they learn to trust their love in the face of narrow-minded schoolmates, teachers and family.
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46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A little dated, but a classic, August 16, 2004
This review is from: Annie on My Mind (Mass Market Paperback)
At this point, Annie on My Mind is dated. I suspect most teens would find it corny. However, it is the young adult novel that began a trend of high quality YA lit with homosexual protagonists who are not punished for their sexuality. The world of Annie and Liza is a far cry from today's world where gay teens populate WB dramas and teen movies (not to mention are out and proud in high schools everywhere). These girls had no role models on TV, in novels, in movies, or, really, in life. They depended on each other to explore questions of sexuality--I won't say they actually explore their sexuality, as there is little more than a chaste kiss in all of the novel. They were isolated and made mistakes. Anyone reading this can see how far the country has come in its attitudes towards homosexuals. Annie on My Mind is a bittersweet love story worth the read.
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