≡ Read Gratis Hey Dollface Deborah Hautzig 9780394820460 Books

Hey Dollface Deborah Hautzig 9780394820460 Books

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Hey Dollface Deborah Hautzig 9780394820460 Books

Book was in decent condition but would have rather had the seventies vintage edition


Tags : Hey, Dollface [Deborah Hautzig] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The budding friendship between transfer student Valerie Hoffman and irreverent individualist Chloe takes on a troubling new dimension when the girls confront their mutual sexual attraction,Deborah Hautzig,Hey, Dollface,Borzoi Sprinters,0394820460,General,Friendship;Fiction,Friendship;Fiction.,Children: Grades 4-6,Fiction,Friendship,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Fiction General,Non-Classifiable

Hey Dollface Deborah Hautzig 9780394820460 Books Reviews

Grade C+ (as historical fiction or a period piece)

In 1978, sophomores Val and Chloe are new to their private school. Val questions whether the friendship might be something more, in a time when homosexuality was thought to be abnormal.

HEY, DOLLFACE should be viewed as a period piece, because the attitudes about homosexuality are so antiquated, otherwise teens today won't be able to relate to the story. Like narrator Val, I was a sophomore when HEY, DOLLFACE was released. I remember having similar questions, not about a friend, but about my sexuality. It wasn't considered "normal". As a contrast, an adult male hitting on a teenage girl was considered "normal". Like Val, when it happened to me, I never thought to tell an adult, but unlike her, I was too ashamed to tell anyone. What could have been a brave foray into the story of two girls exploring their sexuality confused me as a teen, and felt like a cop out in 2015. I wonder if censors made write Deborah Hautzig change the ending or tone down the lesbian angle.

HEY, DOLLFACE would be a good novel discussion in a history of the LGBT movement or as part of a discussion of then and now. I'm not sure I'd recommend the book to teens if they weren't interested in the how far gay rights have evolved.

THEMES friendship, homosexuality, history, inappropriate adult/teen interactions
This novel isn't going to be for everyone. It's not the fast paced, action packed, magic/superpower/dystopian filled world of YA books that we typically see today. A lot of that has to do with the fact this book was written three decades ago, but still it's the realism of every day life and struggles that may not be a draw to young (or older like me) readers. The story of Chloe and Val isn't filled with starting revolutions, spaceships, or struggles to survive while on the run. It's one of self-discovery, figuring out love, and figuring out life.

Val is a new student in 10th grade at a prep school in New York City. She meets another new student, Chloe, who like Val doesn't exactly feel like she fits in with the other students. They quickly bond, and by Christmas are the best of friends. They're obsessed with clothes, girl talk about other girls, a desire to become artists, and about sex. While most girls their age have daydreams about boys, Val has them about Chloe. Problem is, this is 1978, not 2015, and Val doesn't have the benefit of Google to find out if her feelings about her best friend are normal. Her mom isn't much help when Val has questions, and Val isn't sure if Chloe has feelings for her. Though they both go on dates with boys, Val still thinks about Chloe. The book follows their journey to discover what love - and each other - mean to them.

Wow is all I can really say about this book.This was a wonderful but tragically short read for me. A lovely little story about friendship and levels of love. I had no idea this book was written over 35 years ago and then re-issued recently, especially with the subject matter. I was born in 1975, and I remember reading "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" when I was in middle school in the 80's and even then THAT book was controversial. People just didn't talk about (or read about) those things. That for me makes this book and it's subject even more remarkable. When Val realizes she has feelings for Chloe, she wonders if she's "perverted" rather than "lesbian" or "gay". The characters have a sweet but noticeable naivety about them when compared to the hypersexualized children of today. Val turns to her mom for advice first, then a teacher, trying to figure out if she loves her best friend or LOVES her best friend. All of this happens in a time when homosexuality was never talked about, rarely acted upon, hidden from family and friends for fear of persecution and being ostracized. Anyone with "these" kinds of thoughts were pushed to be straight whether they truly were or not, and in the end we even see that from Chloe's mom when she thinks Chloe could be THAT kind of girl. Even though the setting is outdated, the struggles Val and Chloe go through are timeless.
This book was first published in 1978, which I didn't realize when I ordered it. It reminded me very much of books by Norma Klein, which I read growing up in the eighties (they also featured upper-crust Jewish teens who have interactions with liberal adults). However, it has aged gracefully, due to the fact that there are almost no pop culture references and the focus is on two adolescent girls' friendship and the narrator, Val's, confusion when she starts wondering if she feels anything more for her best friend, Chloe. The girls' activities gossiping about classmates; hanging out in coffee shops and thrift stores; and indulging in minor adolescent mischief, are pretty much the kind of things teens have done for decades. Some of the attitudes could be described as dated, but I think that would depend on where you live.

Val and Chloe bond over being the new girls at their private single-sex school. They feel like outsiders among their debutante-to-be classmates, although gradually, they're revealed to be pretty well off. They both want to be artists when they grow up, and they both have a lot of curiosity about sex and romantic relationships. Over the course of the book (it's quite short), they will deal with the death of a loved one, attention from much older guys, and their mutual attraction. Val is lucky enough to have sympathetic adults to turn to, in order to help sort out her feelings, but she finds that they aren't as comfortable about giving her advice as she expected. In the end, it's up to her to decide what to do.

I really liked Val's relationship with her mom, though because of the time period, Mom is smoking like a chimney while she and Val have their heart-to-hearts. I thought the friendship, with all its ups and downs, was very believable. However, I was hoping for more of a plot; it seemed like things just randomly happened to the characters, rather than their having goals they wanted to accomplish. Also, while it was a relief not to have a "Mean Girls" character whose sole purpose is to make the protagonist miserable, it seemed odd not to portray the reaction to these two girls by their peers. Still, it was overall, a sweet book.
Book was in decent condition but would have rather had the seventies vintage edition