2021 EDIT: A beautiful, heartwarming book. All I'll add on my reread of this LBGTQA classic is that I now think I know where the lyric, "Running though my head", from the tATu song, 'All the Things She Said', came from: It's on pages 223 and (repeatedly on) 225 of 'Annie on My Mind'. Was the song directly inspired by this book? It really seems so.
It's absolutely adorable how Liza calls Annie, "unicorn", or "my unicorn"; as well as "my love."
Remember, always, that love is love. It is a wonderful human thing we have.
Thank goodness there are more queer books - more mainstream and popular queer books - out now than ever before. We have come a long way.
Final Score: 4/5
Original Review:
In local libraries and even when shopping online, it isn't exactly a follow-the-yellow-brick-road search when it comes to books about the LBGTQ community, with homosexual people as the main characters. In my experience it's even more hard-pressing to find GOOD books with gay protagonists; good books that actually explore the thoughts and feelings of two people who love each other (or are going to), while also facing the external challenges that come from that love - which may be unconditional to them, but to others it's viewed as wrong and immoral.
'Annie on My Mind' is the first genuinely heartfelt and heartwarming story I've read about two girls who are in love. It is also one of the most realistic love stories I've ever encountered; it shows that author Nancy Garden drew much of her own experience of falling in love and finding out who she is into this novel.
Seriously, anyone who still thinks that homosexuality is a disease or something that can be "cured", read this book. Anyone who's not interested in reading about gay people or thinks that their love and who they are is wrong in any way, read this book. Anyone who thinks that homosexual love is somehow abnormal or a thing to be intensely (meaning: ridiculously) studied about, read this book.
As Liza points out, "People's biological sex doesn't matter when it comes to love [...] there have always been gay people [...] there are even gay animals and many bisexual ones." - page 161 of my copy.
Although published in 1982, 'Annie on My Mind', in my opinion, is as relevant today as it was back then. When reading books that had been banned, I'm surprised by how many have turned out to be rather tame, at least by today's standards.
Set in the early 1980s, the book is told from the point of view of seventeen-year-old Liza Winthrop. She is the student council president of Foster, an old private school in desperate need of funding. One day she meets public schoolgirl Annie Kenyon at a museum, in a classic meet-cute moment when Liza hears Annie singing in a lone exhibition. Stoic and hardworking Liza finds herself being drawn to Annie, and she takes part in her childlike games of make-believe and role-playing in public places, just for fun. But Annie isn't a whimsical Manic Pixie Dream Girl, even if she comes across as one at first. She has a family - including an awesome Italian Nana - and invests in dreams and talents of her own.
These two different-yet-similar girls grow fond of each other and start wanting to see each other every day, every minute. A love that cannot be denied or feel wrong grows, and they quickly realise that they have become closer than they'd originally thought they would.
Annie has thought that she might be gay before, while Liza hasn't. And so starts a story of first love between two awesome young people.
I think that the key to writing a good love story is to write interesting main characters, and have their love for one another grow from there. Yes - characters first, romance second. Because it won't work well if the two main leads are either so boring that the readers don't care if they end up together, or are so unlikeable and badly-written that the readers don't want them to get together; because they don't deserve a happily ever after. Readers - at least readers like myself - want to see a well-developed and three-dimensional character who is good as his/her own person, and so with another well-written character, they fit together. Thus the reader is rooting for them. A bad romance should be a tragedy - at best a cautionary tale - while a good romance should be just as well-written as any drama and/or adventure plot, with good characters and relationship development. I'm not saying that all defined good love stories should have a happy ending, but they should have a point that the author wants to address. Romance for the sake of romance is annoying and distracting.
And this should apply to any romance, gay or straight. I have come across too many "stories" involving homosexuals where the couple have sex just like that, with no development, no believable attraction or even an engaging plot. There is one scene in 'Annie on My Mind' where Liza looks up the definition of homosexuality in an encyclopaedia. She finds that in its description, the word "love" isn't mentioned once. This is a real eye-opener. Being gay isn't all about the sex. They fall in love and develop on their relationships just like straight people do; they are not exempt from love in all its meanings.
Liza and Annie as a couple work very well together. While being from opposite sides of the pond, so to speak, they are so sweet and compelling together. Their love is natural, regardless of their gender. They have their own lives and interesting personalities - which are not at all stereotypical - and they exchange presents, including plants and rings that symbolise their devoted love for each other. They also get into arguments and suffer from doubts. Just like a heterosexual couple would. I for one was rooting for them all the way. Other characters, such as the girls' families and Liza's headmistress Mrs Poindexter and her teachers (most notably Ms Stevenson and Ms Widmer), are also memorable and serve their individual parts strongly.
There are a lot of truths in this novel about attitudes towards gay people that still go on even now. One of them being that homosexuality in young people isn't seen as natural and is "just a phase" (oh how I hate that phrase with every fibre of my being); or is the result of abuse and depression or adult "influences". Another attitude that rings true is that some people say - and even think - they are openminded and tolerant towards gay people, however when faced with the possibility of a close family member being gay, they cannot accept it and pass it off as something else entirely.
Of course 'Annie on My Mind' has its flaws. Like many romance tales its conflict unfortunately doesn't actually happen until its last quarter. It contains the cliché where as soon as the couple have sex, everything goes to shit. And I found Liza, despite her talk of courage and love conquering all, to be a right coward near the end. Even when keeping in mind that yes, she is seventeen, she lives in the 80s, she is scared, and is only trying to think of others and what jeopardy could come out of everyone knowing her love for another girl. While 'Annie on My Mind' gets a huge plus for being a gay love story with a happy ending, that ending still comes at a price (but at least Liza and Annie still get to follow their dream careers), and it is not until the very last page that the reader is sure the girls will definitely stay together.
Maybe this is the author's way of conveying these messages about love, and human companionship in general:
1. There is always a hope that things will turn out alright for those who are guilty only of the crime of being in love.
2. Love conquers all, but life sure isn't easy on it.
'Annie on My Mind'; a wonderfully-written, sweet love story. Highly recommended to everyone - and I mean everyone.
Final Score: 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment