No More Saturday Nights [Hardcover]

Norma Klein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1988

A seventeen-year-old unmarried father wins the rights to custody of his son in court; goes off to college in New York City, where he finds an apartment with three girls as roommates; and improves his relationship with his own father, always knowing his baby is the most important thing in his life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wasting no time on preliminaries, Klein begins her story where many others would endwith the weighty aftermath of a casual high school romance. Tim Weber, 17 and bound for Columbia on a scholarship, goes to court to win the custody of his unborn child. Determined to show the world that he can "handle it," after his son is born, Tim sticks to his plans and moves to New York City. He eventually finds accommodating roommates, daycare for the baby, and does his best to carry a full course load. But Tim finds that being a full-time premedical student isn't always compatible with being a full-time parent. Something has to give, and Tim learns that he isn't a failure just because he admits weakness. Klein ( My Life as a Body , Older Men , etc.) starts with an unusual premise, which would have been the sole theme in a lesser work. But she never takes the easy way out, and fashions a multilayered meditation on love, parenthood and male-female roles. The occasional strong expletives and frank treatment of sex mark this as a book for mature young adults. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 10-12 In characteristic fashion, Klein tackles with candor and humor yet another topical subject of adolescent trauma: teenage unwed fatherhood. Tim Weber's dream of escaping small-town life in Massachusetts for the big time in New York City is given a push towards realization by his acceptance at Columbia. When a casual relationship with a high-school classmate results in an unwanted pregnancy, Tim decides to go to court to win custody of his child. The result finds Tim, with little Mason, sharing an apartment in the city with three females, and attempting to balance dirty diapers, daycare, dating, and studying. The novel is short on realism in its story line and long on the exaggerated drama of soap operawhich will, of course, make the book a likely pick for popular reading. Tim's emotions, his attachment to the baby, his honest vacillation between love and frustration, and the resentment as his life is swallowed up by caring for an infant are candid. He's a sympathetic character with intelligence, charm, sensitivity, and confidence. Klein's skill at smoothly integrating subplots is best shown in the changing relationship between Tim and his widowed father, caused by Mason's arrival and Tim's example that fathers can indeed nurture. The strong language of adolescents and the casual nature of their sexual relationships are depicted forthrightly and without moralizing. Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, Maine
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 15 and up
  
• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (October 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394819446
• ISBN-13: 978-0394819440
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,069,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars *No More Saturday Nights*, November 24, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: No More Saturday Nights (A Fawcett Juniper book) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was very inspiritng to me. It tought me to wait until i was ready before i started a family. It also showed me that hard work, and a loving family will always be here to help you through any thing, that tries to block your road. I would defiently recommend this book to other people, either young or old at age. It tells alot about the struggle of life, and how to overcome your fears

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adolescent decides to raise kid on his own., April 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: No More Saturday Nights (A Fawcett Juniper book) (Mass Market Paperback)

An adolescent (Tim) decides to raise his kid on his own when he hears that his ex-girlfriend (Cheryl) wants to sell (she calls it adoption) the mutual kid to some strangers. Tim, however, is moving out of town and and has to take his baby with him.

Norma Klein presents in this book the story of Tim who has to overcome many obstacles because of his decision to keep his baby.

Mrs Klein succeeds in guiding the reader into Tim's perspective. As the reading goes on one will understand Tim better.

I think that Mrs Klein did a great job writing a book about such a subject. Not only is it an adolescent who decides to raise his kid but it is a boy. I think that Mrs Klein proved with this book that it is not a matter of who raises the kid but it is matter of the will to raise the kid.

I would recommend everyone to read this book. This book is simply great. Once you start reading books from Norma Klein, you will not be able to stop reading them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was a blend of humor, romance and reality., October 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: No More Saturday Nights (A Fawcett Juniper book) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was pleased when when reading this book, to find a reality to it. People often forget that even when a teenager gets in trouble, they're not always looking for the easy way out. I thought it had an interesting ending. At first I thought it was missing a few pages, but it left me making my own ending...