Farewell Friday- The Party's Over

The main character, would have been born in 1972. It's shocking to see how different life was thirty years ago; I lived it, so you'd think I'd remember. Aside from the fact that the outfit she's wearing on the cover looks like something that a fifty year old might wear today, the story just doesn't reflect the experience of modern kids. Interesting that this is solidly Young Adult, yet barely 200 pages. Young Adult literature has changed SO much. Can't say I enjoy the changes, but also can't say that I'll keep this book around. 

Cooney, Caroline B. The Party's Over

1991 by Scholastic (first published 1989)

Ex-library copy

Hallie is the top mover and shaker in her small, East Coast high school. She organizes the spirit club, and as senior year wraps up, is deeply involved in all of the banquets and celebrations. She's awarded for being such a good worker and given a huge bouquet of flowers. Because of her fondness for high school, despite the fact that she does not excel academically, she's trying hard not to think about what the future brings. All of her friends are going off to college and want to distance themselves from being "townies", and worry that if Hallie stays, that's what she will become. After a summer of partying and lazing about on the beach, despite her mother's nagging that she needs to go get a job, it's crushing when her friends all leave, especially the love of her life, Jaz, who gives her a roll of stamps in a ring box hoping she will write him letters. Her parents want to go on a cruise but don't want to leave her home alone with no job, so try to pack her off to her older brother's house, but she just isn't making any progress on "getting a life". By happenstance, she falls into a job at the marina as an office manager, using her rusty typing skills and love of organization. She enjoys the job, and is even offered a place to live in exchange for taking care of it while the owner is away. She feels good about her choices, but her friends aren't nice about them when they are home for Thanksgiving. Will Hallie be able to reconcile the reality of her adulthood with the glory of her high school past. 

Strengths: This is certainly reflective of the time when I grew up; I graduated six years before Hallie. In my circle, it was assumed that you would go to college. I don't really know what everyone else did. I do know that several of my friends dropped out and went to a local college, and even that seemed pretty scandalous. Considering that only about 25% of the population graduates from college, this is very narrow thinking. There should be a lot more YA books about students in vocational schools or who are looking at technical schools or jobs right out of high school. Cooney is a great writer; Driver's Ed was a book I remember reading in graduate school. She captures a particular place and moment in time brilliantly. Parts of this do feel timeless to me, and Hallie's parents are particularly well drawn. Alarming, but well drawn. I enjoyed this.
Weaknesses: The world is such a different place now that it isn't very relevant any more. 
What I really think: I feel like this should have been made into a television movie with Kristy McNichol. I could see it all unfolding in my mind. Meredith Baxter Birney would have played the fitness obsessed mother who wants Hallie out of the house so she can go on her cruise.