Customer Reviews

My Darling, My Hamburger

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read this book when I was 12 and I read it at least once a year since then... Each time I read it I remember what it was like to be an akward teen going through the angst of my senior year. I've had friends like Liz and Sean and I was a Maggie once myself...

In My Darling, My Hamburger, they talk about many topics amoung teens today. In the book a senior named Liz faces problems like: I love my boy friend, but do I love him enough to have sex with him; and If I do get pregnant what will I do? Will I have the baby or get an abortion? Paul Zindel did a great job writting this book. It expresses many problems that teens face today like dating, sex, teenage pregnancy, and many others. This book was one of the best books I have read ever.

I read this book because it was on my reading list and because my mom had read it when she was in school. I really liked this book and I read it all in one night. This book had some mature subject matter that young kids should not read. For the most part, I thought this book was good and I especially enjoyed Maggie and Dennis.

Some early young adult novels (it's a fairly new form of literature, you know) age gracefully and seamlessly. I'm thinking of course of Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War" and (to a lesser extent), S.E. Hinton?s, "The Outsiders". Unfortunately, I have a nasty suspicion that these books are the exception rather than the rule. For every "Forever" there's a "My Darling, My Hamburger" that contains a great story bogged down by changes in the world. While Paul Zindel's classic tale of four teenagers and their relationship problems is at times both moving and perfectly toned, mostly the problems presented in it are as dated as they come. Even a plot synopsis makes this apparent.

Friends Maggie and Liz aren't exactly close, but they hang out frequently together. Liz is the more beautiful and popular of the two with Maggie often following behind. When Liz and her boyfriend Sean decide to hook up Maggie with his friend Dennis, the blind date is as incredibly awkward as they come. Throughout the book the narrative switches between Maggie and her tentative relationship with Dennis and Liz's problems with Sean. Sean, like any normal teenager, is as horny as they come and is continually pressuring Liz to have sex. She'd like to, but she worries that it might end up in pregnancy. Unsurprisingly, that is exactly what happens and soon the big question in the book is whether or not Sean will do the honorable thing and marry Liz (!!) or if Liz will seek out an illegal abortion on her own.

It's this last plotline that struck me as dated. The book was originally written in 1969, a full three years before Roe V. Wade and in many ways this abortion issue (while it still looms large) isn't the same. Sure, many girls will sweat over what to do with an unplanned pregnancy, but crossing the border to a state where abortion is legal is probably a more up-to-date literary solution than getting a back alley job. Then there's the debate about whether a girl should marry the guy who gets her pregnant, regardless of how old they are or what their future plans are. Maybe there are pockets of the country where this really is the only honorable solution to such a problem, but it's really not how the majority of teens would handle it today. The book is additionally riddled with small cultural time capsules as well. Talk about how Orientals kill themselves for honor, going to the movie theater to watch a documentary on pygmies, and the complete and total lack of any mention of STDs all combine to make this book an interesting window into the past.

To some degree it does still speak to teens today. I was especially amused by the Sex Ed. teacher's advice on how to stop a guy from going all the way, (suggest going out for a hamburger). The characters were interesting as well. Liz, unfortunately, isn't a character you're going to identify with intrinsically. Yes, it's sad that she doesn't get along with her parents. But she's such a self-absorbed person, constantly ridiculing her best friend and at the same time dragging Maggie into horrid and dangerous situations, that by the end you feel zippo pity for her. In fact, you're supposed to end this story hating and pitying Sean who got her pregnant in the first place. Curse those lustful young men that refuse to marry their knocked up girlfriends! Curse them! This book probably read very well in the 1970s and I could even see it having some interesting points in the 1980s. But by the 1990s with the advent of AIDS better known and the options available to teens widening, books like this one began to read more as cautionary tales than as contemporary novels. I've no doubt that "My Darling, My Hamburger" was riveting and shocking when it first came out. Unfortunately, that's certainly no longer the case. I recommend it as a glimpse into the America that once was. If you'd like to know more about the history of the Young Adult novel, this is a good book to pick up. Just don't expect it to have too many insights to offer today. I'm afraid it's no longer that meaningful.

Book: My Darling My Hamburger
Author: Paul Zindel
Number of Pages: 122
Publisher and Publication Date: 1969 Harper and Row publishers
ISBN: 0-553-27324-8
Price (if available) and whether it is paperback or hardback: Hardback

Imagine if you had parents that never trusted, or that never would believe you. Or even worse what if you had a stepparent that would call u some pretty bad names and your mom would take his side. Well that is kind of what this book is about.
The main characters in My Darling My Hamburger are two girls named Liz and Maggie. They are of course best friends. They are also both seniors in high school. It is about time for prom and they both have dates. But you'll never guess what happens next!!!
I think that this book is a really good book. Personal I loved My Darling My Hamburger. It has a really good moral. It was just like a real story. Everything in this book is based on what is happening in real life. That is just my opinion.
When I read this book it reminded me of one of my friends sister. She has just graduated and basically the same thing that has happened to one of the girls in this story. I am not going to tell you the rest but I guess that you will just have to read and find out for your self.
I would definitely recommend this book to People in 6th-9th grade. The main gender that would want to read this book would be girls because of what the story is based on and because they can relate to it the best. The people that wouldn't like this would be boys. Why? Because of what it is about.
If you really want to know what happens then I guess that you will just have to read and find out what happen next.

This is an execellent book about teenagers and all the usual problems teens go through. One of those problems is dating and sex. A girl and her boyfriend decide to take that step but they don't think of the consequences. Read the book to find out what happens!! I liked the book because it was about teenagers so I felt I could relate to the story. I give this book 4 stars.

I read this when I was in junior high school over 20 years ago. Now I felt that it was a great depiction of teenage life that I wanted to share with my teenage daughter as she searches to find herself as she enters the pre-dating scene. I highly recommend this book to any parent that does not know how to express the many things that they went through as a teenager to their children. For our children are exposed to a much different lifestyle than we were many years ago.

I think this is a very good book that answers the many questions of young adults as they are faced with them. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It's just plain good!

This novel is one that cannot go undread by young men and women alike. It introduces the consequences of seemingly innocent actions and captures the reader's undivided attention from page one. By the end of the novel, the reader will feel as though he or she knows the characters and cares for what becomes of them

i love this book and would reccomend it to any teenage person...male or female. i usually hate stories of teenage life, but this was very good..highly recommended!