Customer Reviews

Fourth Comings

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Like most reviewers, I am a passionate fan of the Jessica Darling books. I loved the first book and adored the second book even more. I was unhappy with Charmed Thirds, and I went into this book expecting to be disappointed and unhappy with the ending. Maybe that's why in the beginning of the book I was annoyed with the actual writing style. I eventually got over that and did find some parts to enjoy. I liked that Jessica spent time with her parents and had a nice talk with her father. Learning about her parents' early relationship gave some insight into why her mother is the way she is. The part where Jessica describes her sister and her sister's friends' lives as MILFs who want OTB (only the best) for their children was good. But I found myself wishing something would actually happen with or to Jessica. Since the whole book covers only one week's time, I suppose that was an unrealistic hope. Only when Jessica learned the secret about her best friend Hope and Marcus's hidden past did I feel a little bit of the old magic coming back.
Maybe I'm shallow, but a big part of what I loved about the first two books was Marcus, and the latest two books don't include him much. Jessica thinks about him constantly and addresses him in her letter/journal, but he's not there to answer back. We aren't treated to the banter between the two of them that was so great in the beginning. Not that he's talked much lately anyway. He's turned into this practically mute, non-Buddhist, preachy type who I would probably find annoying to be around.
My favorite parts of this book were where Jessica referenced something from the high school years, and that's not a good thing. I could just re-read the first two books if that's what I wanted. I haven't found much to love in the latest two books. I do still admire the writing and I think McCafferty has been consistent in the way she writes Jessica. But for me, it just doesn't work without Marcus. I suppose it is Megan McCafferty's vision to tell Jessica's story and not a sappy romance novel. Like real life, maybe Jessica doesn't live happily ever after with her high school boyfriend. But we're led to believe that Jessica and Marcus have a one-in-a-million kind of connection, and I think that could and should last forever. I hear McCafferty's writing a fifth and final installment in the series. I just hope she gives the fans what they long for, a happily-ever-after ending for the couple we love.

This is the fourth (and imo, quite highly anticipated) book in the Jessica Darling series as it were known...home to some of the best books of teen angst and college angst alike, Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, Charmed Thirds, and now, Fourth Comings.

These books come out a couple of years apart it seems - in part so McCafferty can make them VERY now...they are written attached to an actual date and time, with quite current language and pop culture references. If you've read the books before you'll know that they are written in diary format, with Jessica Darling, our cynical yet lovable heroine, ranting and jibing about the masses, and at times, even those close to her.

This brings us to the first big difference in this book - although it is in journal format, it spans two notebooks, that are written specifically to Marcus Flutie, Jessica's long-time on-again off-again love object. As Jessica points out by the end of the book, writing a journal to Marcus is far different than writing a journal for herself - she feels like she is acting out a role for Marcus rather than just being herself in writing the notebooks, and it shows most prominently in Jessica's continued reflections on events surrounding Marcus, or events he may not have been present for (which she wouldn't have needed to do had the journals been just for her).

A second big difference between this book and the past ones is the fact it does not span a year or two as the first 3 did (the third was Jessica's entire college life) but a simple, but action-packed week. That's not entirely fair though, as many of the conversations and thoughts Jessica has are flashbacks of conversations, moments, and memories that occured several weeks before where the story picks up, and in some cases, quite far back in Jessica's memory.

The plot is basically as follows...when we last saw Jessica, her and Marcus reunited just in time for Jessica to take off on a month-long cross-country road trip with her best friend, Hope. When the trip is derailed, Jessica returns to New York City to figure out the 'what next'. The book picks up six months after this point, and fills in the gaps along the way as to where Jessica is living and how she is trying to scrape a living and pay her student loans. The book opens with Jessica pondering the demise of her relationship with Marcus, to which he blindsides her with a marriage proposal and a week to think it over while he's out of town.

The rest of the book has Jessica meeting up with all sorts of familiar faces from her family members to her high school classmates to her college pals to some new faces as well...one of the most interesting aspects of the book is the fact Hope, Jessica's best friend, is now a real figure in Jessica's life again, so we get to see their relationship in action instead of in Jessica's lamenting and memories. Basically the book tries to answer that pending question...What now? in every aspect of Jessica's life from her role in her family to her career prospects to most importantly, this crazy marriage proposal from Marcus.

Overall I felt a tiny bit cheated that the book was just one week long...but within the context of the plot any longer and you would have been aggravated. As it is, McCafferty manages to stretch out Jessica's 7-day streak into a 300 page book. Despite my slight disappointment in the length of the plot's timeline, the story itself is beautifully written...the advantage McCafferty has by writing her story in diary format is that as Jessica's writing gets better and more mature, it probably reflects the leaps and bounds McCafferty's writing has taken as well. There is something more interesting, more reflective, and more relatable about Jessica this time around, a voice that realizes her cynicism is both an escape and a hinderence to pushing forward with her life.

I'm glad I bought this book...if only for the way it ended. I think there will be mixed reactions overall, but don't forget, a 5th & final Jessica Darling book is on the way in the next couple of years. A great, mature take on a character I've grown to love and relate to!

As a long-time fan of the Jessica Darling series, I can confidently state that this is NOT Mccafferty's best installment so far. Yes, Jessica Darling is more snarky and irreverent as ever, and her uber-cynicism and keen wit leak onto nearly page of her journal. Yes, the writing is still fresh, engaging, and from time to time laugh-out-loud funny, teeming with entertaining satirical tidbits about, well, everything. However, I kind of wish Mccafferty would stop making pop-culture references up the wazoo and bring some more of one of the series' quirkiest, most loveable characters into the forefront--Marcus Flutie. While the journal that Jessica is keeping is supposedly addressed to her infamous Buddhist-lover Marcus Flutie, we really only SEE Marcus Flutie at the book's very beginning and very end--and then only in the briefest of dialogues and an ambiguous letter. As in the third book of the series, Mccafferty seems determined to keep Marcus' charming self hidden far the reach of the reader. The result is that Marcus becomes a shadowy, almost unknoweable character, whose mysterious persona leaves us wondering, "Who IS Marcus Flutie?" (which I realized, after reading the book's final pages, was probably the point).


Besides Marcus Flutie, I felt that I didn't really get to know any of her characters too well this time around--besides Jessica Darling, of course, given that this is her journal. The beautiful Bridget, for instance, barely makes an appearence, and even characters that I thought I would get to know more--like Hope, Jessica's bosom buddy--weren't nearly as three-dimensional as they could have been. Overall, the book is teeming with insanely colorful and at times bizarre characters--a drag queen, an on-again, off-again lesbian, a bipolar drama queen who pretends to be what she isn't--but I don't feel like any were particularly real or easy to connect with. Overall, I think Mccafferty's writing has matured in the sense that she is willing to be a little more ambiguous and leave the reader to do his or her part, too. However, I think this very ambiguity was stretched too thin, and we are left with characters who aren't very likeable simply because we don't really know them. In my opinion, this book is in need of a little more substance, and more than a little Marcus Flutie.

As a huge fan of the Jessica Darling series, this is definitely the weakest of the four books.

The book takes place within the course of a week, and is basically an intricate letter to Marcus. The reader is finally introduced to Hope, who isn't nearly as interesting as one would think. Bridget has no contribution to this novel at all, expect for a few pages regarding her relationship with Percy. This saddened me, because I really enjoy Bridget. Also, Bethany becomes ditzy again, despite gaining depth and perspective in the previous novel. In "Fourth Comings," Bethany joins a clique of stay-at-home moms called the "MILFS" and insists on promoting a shirt that reads "Doughnut Ho's" for Grant's company. This was a huge character setback for her.

Some of the novel is about Jessica's search for a job, including a ridiculous interview with an Internet dating service that isn't worth the number of pages devoted to it. I understand that we are supposed to see a different, "more adult" side of Jessica, going out into the work field and trying to figure out her feelings for Marcus. However, to me, she comes across as annoying and childish. The ending was extremely disappointing, and was not satisfying in the least.

There were some good points. Jessica finally begins to understand her parents, especially her father. We also see her deep love for Marin, who is starting school. There is also a clever storyline involving Sara and Scotty, which is somewhat enjoyable.

All in all, I hope the author will use a different formula in the fifth book, because this one just didn't work for me.

Let me just say that I greatly enjoy Megan McCafferty's series, following the spiraling life of one young woman, Jessica Darling. The first two books (Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, respectively) take place during Jessica's last two high school years, while the third (Charmed Thirds) took place in all of Jessica's four college years. ...And now, we are given 'Fourth Comings', a novel which I greatly felt was not up to Ms. McCafferty's par.

Jessica's journals now take us to after college. Instead of the usual one-year journal, this journal is one week in Jessica's life.

I felt greatly disappointed in this book. I was given 300+ pages of one week in Jessica's post-college life (living in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY area with her best friend, an old high school 'friend' part of the Clueless Crew, and said 'friend's significant other). I also felt that Jessica's sister, Bethany, had made character growth in the last book (Charmed Thirds), and this book those steps to growth had been reversed. Bethany was, what she had been in the first two books; a blonde with not much brains. While I was excited to finally meet Hope (Jessica's best friend, who is mentioned not so much in previous books), I felt Hope's sketchy character plot (Marcus/Hope) was unnecessary. It also made me question how much Jessica really knew Hope, and how much do we (the readers) know of Hope. I felt Hope has been, previously, held up on some what of a pedestal as Jess's B.F.F (best friend forever). Now that we finally meet her, it was somewhat of a let down. Also- where were the great characters of Jessica's childhood best friend, Bridget, and her French class crush, Pepe? Those two characters (who are/were supposed to get married) are not talked about much in this book. Bridget has one scene, which is alright but Pepe has NO whatsoever 'screen time' (so to speak).

However, I was satisfied to know that Ms. McCafferty plans to write a fifth book. At least this does not leave us completely hanging, for the ending of this novel was most definately a cliffhanger and slightly oddball.

I am a huge fan of all three previous novels in the Jessica Darling series. And to be honest, this obviously wasn't as good as those before it.

This whole book is written over a span of one week... 300 pages, 7 days. Jessica is writing to Marcus about his marriage proposal... and it just seems that this was sort of pointless. I understand that this is a really important week in Jessica's life, and that if Megan McCafferty were to write less about this one week and add more about what happened before or after, we would have had a different sort of novel. It wouldn't have the same urgency as this had, which is why I think it was a good choice for her to write a novel like this.

However, there were obviously problems. One of the things that I loved so much about the first three books was the impossible situations that Jessica gets herself into... and the way that she is overly sarcastic about everything. It's part of her charm... but in this book it was almost like she had one emotion... she was constantly thinking, and always about the same thing. There was no time for her to be happy, or to relax, or even to spend time with Marcus. He's obviously one of my favorite characters, and I'm surprised at how a book that is almost entirely about him and Jessica's relationship could be so lacking. Marcus only shows up in an actual scene in the beginning... when he proposes. After that he is nothing more than an afterthought.

I wish Jessica didn't think so much, and just let things work themselves out. But then again, I'm not saying this was a bad book. I just think it could have been portrayed differently.

Having been a fan of Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings and not a fan of Charmed Thirds, I'd hoped that Mrs. Mccafferty would get it right this time; however I was sorely mistaken and extremely disappointed.

First of all, the book is extremely boring and slowly paced even though it covers only a week in Jessica's life. Jessica Darling hasn't grown at all and her snarky outlook on the world while refreshing as a teenager is absolutely dreadful coming out the mouth of an adult. Enjoyable characters that made leaps and bounds of development in previous books actually de-evolve and are relegated to "not even" secondary status. No Percy, minimal Brigit, hardly any Marcus and Betthany is now an idiot. Not to mention the fact that the great Hope isn't great at all and I can't see why she and Jess had such a monumental friendship in the first place. And the convoluted nonsense that was Hope's secret involving Marcus. Please. Oh, Mrs. Mccafferty why?!

I give this book a great big BOO! and if I could rate it zero stars I would. I don't care that there will be a sequel. I'm off of the Marcus and Jess train. This is one former fan that will not be wasting her $17.99.

Having read the first installment in the Jessica Darling series, Sloppy Firsts, when I was only 12, I feel that I have literally grown up with the books, and I identify strongly with Jessica's journey into adulthood. I devoured Second Helpings, which ended on a perfect note and could well have been the end of the story, and Charmed Thirds, which jarred me a bit with its format (chronicling only Jessica's breaks during college rather than her day-to-day trials and tribulations) but impressed me with its intelligent and realistic depiction of Jessica's evolving relationship with the love of her life (or not?), Marcus Flutie. It was clear in the third installment that my beloved characters were growing up. In choosing to deal with such an age span-- 15 to, so far, 23-- Megan McCafferty has preordained that her books will vary drastically in content and style. Still, Fourth Comings came as a surprise to me.

The fourth book's format is even more experimental than that of the third: the entire novel chronicles only one week of Jessica's life. In addition, this time her snarky observations and poignant musings are addressed to Marcus, whose shocking, nontraditional marriage proposal she is neurotically mulling over. She explores her relationship with her best friend Hope, with whom she now shares an apartment, and as a long-time reader I appreciated the fleshing out of this very important secondary character. Jessica's and Hope's friendship, only communicated via letters in the former three books, rings absolutely true in the fourth. Readers are also briefed on the chic mommyhood alternately enjoyed and endured by Jessica's sister Bethany, as well as the relationship between Jessica's aging parents. Indeed, the book is made up predominantly of lengthy reflections rather than transcriptions of events, simply because, well, how much can actually happen in one week? This didn't bother me for the most part; Jessica's rants, however cynical, are always entertaining, honest, and somehow vulnerable. But-- I felt that, for all the hard work she put into Jessica's week-long meditation on life, love, and the pursuit of okayness, McCafferty might have crafted a more satisfying ending. Open-endedness is always tricky, especially when one's audience is comprised largely of "happy ever after"-craving adolescents; the ending of Fourth Comings feels a bit like a cop-out on the author's part, a neatly ambiguous path to a fifth and final installment. I agree with one of the former reviewers, that the resolution (or lack thereof) of Jessica's relationship with Marcus is incongruous with the quirky yet committed, loving relationship portrayed so brilliantly in the first three books. Marcus's final letter to Jessica feels devoid of warmth-- we recognize no trace of the impish, theatrical heartthrob we've come to love, and Jessica's reasons for her ultimate decision on the matter don't feel sound enough to negate the ardent passion with which she's loved Marcus for so long.

This books has its strong points, the most impressive of which may be McCafferty's skillful, convincing aging of Jessica. Through an ever-broadening vocabulary, increasingly frank sexual description and more complex, thoughtful reflections, McCafferty has transformed Jessica from a sardonically funny but sheltered high schooler into a believably overwhelmed (or is it underwhelmed?) college grad. Though some may fault Fourth Comings for its departure from the sweet modesty of its predecessors, devoted readers will realize that this departure is necessary if we are to believe that Jessica has matured.

I closed this book feeling on the verge of tears. On the one hand, it is a sweet rush of a novel, chock-full of all the witty plays on words and multifaceted characters the series is known for, and on the other hand, it is an apparent ending to the relationship which has always endeared me most to the series-- Jessica's and Marcus'. Still, any disappointment or sense of being let down I felt at the close of this book only intensified my anxiety for the fifth and final to arrive.

Like most reviewers here, I pretty much grew up with Jessica Darling. I was in early college when I started reading them, but still could relate to the books because we were of them same generation and everything mentioned I could relate to. I could also relate to Jessica's character because high school was pretty rough for me too and like her I had no interest in most of the things my peers were into (i.e. her love of all things 80's). I loved the first two books and read both in under a day.

I hate to say it, but things really went south after the first two. The third was tolerable, but I found myself getting annoyed with Jessica, she seemed to be becoming very hypocritical. Like the fact that she was doing things that she knocked on the Clueless Crew for during high school (getting drunk and sleeping around). I guess it was to show that she's not perfect either, but it just made her seem like a hypocrite. It also annoyed me that she bagged on Bridget so much in the other books, when clearly Bridget wasn't anything like Manda and Sara. I am glad that she and Bridget became close friends again, but her snobby attitude towards her kind of pissed me off. She was so obsessed with Hope, that she didn't realize that she had a good friend right by her side.

Fourth Comings was very slow for me as well. The fact that it took place in only a week confused me since the first two took place during her high school years and the third spanned out over her 4 years of college. Like other readers, I was also disappointed that Bridget and Pepe were barely mentioned. To me, those two are almost as important as Marcus. Hope was a big disappointment for me too, she just was not what I imagined her to be like. And the big "secret" between Hope and Marcus was lame. I mean Jessica cheats on Marcus, but is pissed off that he and Hope were "boyfriend and girlfriend" in the 4th grade?

All in all, this book was not that great. Hate to say it, but it's true. I just had hoped Jessica would have grown up a little during and after college. I will read Perfect Fifths though and I hope for a more mature Jessica and a happy ending.

This book was pressed into my hands by an eager friend who had tolerated my own tendencies to force my favorite books on her by responding in kind about six months ago. My friend had met the author at a recent book signing at our college, and bought the only title left of the series she had so enjoyed. She assured me that all the books were excellent and that I wouldn't be terribly lost in book four, even though this would be my first introduction to Jessica Darling. At the time, I gave the book a short go, but stopped after forty pages of not paying too much attention.

A recent bit of extra time and the embarrassing need to return my friend's signed book when I see her again allowed me to read the book from end to end over the course of 24 hours and two sittings. I enjoyed the story immensely, and being picky with my stars give it 3.5.

Recent Columbia grad Jessica Darling tries to dump her on/off college boyfriend as he starts college himself, but walks away with a marriage proposal instead. While she was a wee bit distracted from her original plan by physical intimacy with Marcus, she manages to request a week to think seriously about the offer. The book is made up of two notebooks of thought, as well as the chronicle of that week's events, written with Marcus as the intended audience. Jessica's chronicle ends as she gets off the train to hand him her writings and her answer- a decision that the writings prove was not made lightly.

The book contains more plot than reflection, leaving me to wonder how Jessica was able to write that much and live that much at the same time (answer: it's a book). At first glance, Jessica Darling could be mistaken for a typical chick-lit heroine. She is a broke Ivy-League grad living in New York City and working for a magazine. She goes to a club where celebrities hang out, babysits the preschool-age child of trophy wife whose circle of friends' idea of good parenting is a 'Fun Chart(tm)', loses touch with her friends, and has to deal with over-the-hill parents who comment on their end youth and marriage through somewhat disturbing actions. While as self-absorbed as most chick-lit characters in her age bracket, Jessica is not as shallow as her cohorts, and to describe her story in terms of the commonalities to similar chick-lit plot points is a disservice.

The major and minor characters are extremely well fleshed out, not because of any particular genius on McCafferty's part, but due to three books of solid back story that is used well. All of it is called upon as needed: while I could tell which parts of the story I could hear about firsthand in books 1-3, I felt like those intros stood on their own without getting me lost or making me feel like I was reading a summary. I hope longtime Darling fans are not terribly bored by rehash. Nevertheless, as one of the few readers who started on book 4, I can truly say the book truly stands on its own.

While checking the plot points on the prior installments, I saw that the other books are probably geared towards a YA audience. I would classify this book as enjoyable for adult readers, as well those who have followed Jessica's high school and college adventures. Setting the book firmly in 2006 will make the book become historical, the current and reasonable cultural references obscure, but at least not dated. As a 22 year-old recent college grad in another big city, I found Jessica to be a believable representation of her age group. Very poignant was her remark about New York seeming like a place for sophisticated grown-ups, but the subway, takeout, delivery and nannies just make everyone big kids who outsource their problems.

Near the end, I found myself howling a few suggestions at the book's deaf pages: if I wasn't always in agreement with Jessica, I was engaged in the story. Now I'm left to hope reading Fourth Comings didn't ruin books 1-3, and await book 5, something my friend had led me to believe was already in print. Ah well. In any event, I'm eager to see what Jessica has done and grown to be since making her choice. Enjoy!