I found this to be a quick read, mainly because Wittlinger (again) does a great job with the voice of her characters. Sandpiper is the third of her books I've read and they are all compulsively READABLE and cover important issues without being heavy-handed or didactic. They are real.
Oral sex is addressed without vulgarity, open and honestly, though I was a little surprised to have that in my face BOOM! so soon on page two. Piper is aware of her sexual power -- and how it changes her relationship with her dad, his inability to deal. I've never read that in a book before.
Piper's poems were believably from a teenager's pen and relevant. Not syrupy. I liked the nods to other poets.
The only thing that irked me were Derek's corny lines. The note he left: "It's your turn now, Sandy. See you soon!" He talks like a Soc from The Outsiders.
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This book left me feeling very flat [insert joke about Sandpiper's heaving bosom here]. I can't really put my finger on why. For most of the book, I felt like I was reading a dinky middle-grade novel that was pretty light on the surface, not developed, not full, pretty flat. Granted, the oral sex theme was not very middle-grade (although it probably is more so today than I'd like to think), but still.
I'm not really sure why I feel this way, though. I liked Sandpiper fine. I guess I didn't really buy her whole relationship with Walker, before it was even a relationship and then after it became one. The mom's wedding stuff seemed pretty contrived. And I agree, Derek's comments were a little over the top. I was scared when she was nearly raped, but other than that he seemed so juvenile and petty and useless.
I did like Sandpiper's poems. A lot. She had great insight and style within those poems.
I remember not loving Hard Love either, so maybe I'm just not a huge Wittlinger fan. I did peek at her website, though, and she seems like a really neat, dynamic, interesting woman.
Ohhhh, I suck, sorry -- I totally read this last Monday and meant to post, but I really didn't have all that much to say about it. Maybe bullet points will help me.
-- I liked Piper as a character, in general; I believed the way she sort of fell into being "the girl who gives blowjobs," I liked the realism of her frank attitude towards sex, I liked how incredulous she was about the possibility that the boys she was with might ever be hurt by her. I liked the treatment of her losing her best friends -- I could relate to that, since something similar happened to me at about the same age. All quite real and understated. I liked that.
-- I also thought Derek was a little overblown, but essentially plausible. I wished he had been more restrained, or that we had been given a bit more history on him so we could understand why he out of everyone reacted the way he did to Piper.
-- I liked the idea of Walker, in that I sort of had a crush on him while I was reading, but I felt like he was curiously one-dimensional for such a seemingly complex character. It felt like his big tragedy, plus attendant consequences/reaction was basically the only interesting thing about him, and I always hate that.
-- Bottom line, I liked it and thought it was well-written and important but it didn't make me think particularly hard.
-- I thought Piper's poems were believeable as a teenager's writing too. Unfortunately, that made them kind of hard to read. ;-)
Too much of a problem novel?
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