Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson

[Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot]

I know she gets very mixed reviews on mumsnet but I was wondering if there are any other 36 year olds (or similar!) out there who are just so excited to read this? I’ll be first in the queue! I’m going to an author event on Wednesday and I have even re-ordered the other four ‘girls…’ books in the series to refresh my memory and get stuck in.

The extent of my excitement is really surprising to me. I am very much a ‘proper’ grown up these days. I roll my eyes at Disney adults, can’t bear Harry Potter and rarely have the time or inclination to feel nostalgic about anything at all. But FUCK ME, next weekend will be spent on my sofa, wrapped in a blanket of 1999 feelings, reading about Ellie, Nadine and Magda. I can’t wait!

I feel like her books were always a nice bridge between very old fashioned books (such as Enid Blyton etc) and more modern books. The way she writes some of her dialogue is curiously eccentric and old fashioned, and it even seemed that way in the 90s - random teens in the 90s did not speak the way Ellie, Magda, Nadine and Russell spoke to each other! Think Again was actually no different (I actually really loved that about it as it really did remind me of reading the original series, and I guess that is just the way JW is).

I agree with pp that the book tried to do too much. Nadine and Magda barely got any airtime at all but had quite complex stories - we should have had more from them! I also didn’t understand bringing back Russell and his wife for the party - when they were asking about speaking to Nicola Sharp for advice I thought they were going to try and monetise the elephant cartoons again and that would be a whole big drama… but no they just disappeared.

I love the fact it was written though. I saw JW speak in the early 2000s, and again at the author event earlier this month. She is exactly the same as she was when I was 11! ❤️

I just finished it and I wasn't the biggest fan tbh.

Spoilers ahead

I think she should have cut:
Most of the party
The weird cousin plot
The Dad's heart attack
Lottie's boyfriend
Dad giving the money (which was never mentioned again, I assumed there was going to be something to spend it on, but no, poor Lottie didn't even get her car!)

I wanted more Magda and Nadine and more Alice and Wendy and Lottie.

I can't imagine that dad or Anna would have been ok about Ellie being with someone who groomed her at school.

(Although, I read love lessons so who knows!)

Guy is a much sexier name than Gary.

I don't think Jacqueline Wilson uses a phone much at all. They also 'called' for a deliveroo as well as all those Ubers.

It would also have been more plausible to have "met" all the throwback characters through a session of fbook stalking as who in their right minds would invite their yr 9 teacher to their birthday party?!

I think Jacqueline Wilson must have had a mega hot art teacher as it's always the art teachers getting some.

I thought the self satisfied 'easter eggs' were a bit blatant.

@User478 -spot on!
Omg the cousin plot - such a weak story line!
Why would Russel and his wife go to her party as well?
Yeah the money thing was also quite odd- felt unfinished.

post contains spoilers

Thank you for the thread @Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot i just finished it, I was away when it came out and I wanted to save it for when I could enjoy it at home and was so excited for all the nostalgia! I’m 40 and still love to re read my childhood books (and yearn for the simplicity of the 90s!)

I really wanted to love it but it felt a little rushed and I have far too many questions. Overall I did enjoy seeing what they were up to but unlike the original Girls series I don’t think I’d read it again.

The continuity errors were frustrating, I could have written @MaybeBaby2024 post word for word! Especially about mr windsors predecessor who Ellie really liked, she wasn’t an old woman.

I kept thinking Gary’s name change would be addressed like ‘oh my ex dumped me when she found out I lied about my name being Guy’ or something, I couldn’t work out if it was deliberate or not given both names began with G but was never explained.

I’m most intrigued about Magda and her relationship and why Ellie kept saying she didn’t understand why Chris was the love of her life. He obviously tried to change her and it seems she went back to being the old Magda but we didn’t hear if anything was said about that.

I didn’t get the money thing either as Ellie was supposedly worried about only being on her teachers income now.

I would have liked to have found out why Gary was being like he was, did he have some weird schoolgirl fetish that he wanted to act out or was it just the teacher in him wanting to lecture all the time? I didn’t really get why he’d be so in love with Ellie all of a sudden when he clearly didn’t see her like that in school. Him having a relationship with Magda now she’s grown up would have been more believable.

I wonder if all the loose ends will be explored in another book? 😃

@MaybeBaby2024 I agree with your assessment. It's a shame, I did expect better. In the 70s and 80s Jacqueline Wilson wrote some brilliant suspense novels for adults as well as some very edgy books for teenagers. I love Tracy Beaker etc but her earlier writing is the best, IMO.

Oh how is the book?? I forgot about it!! I’m due in hospital next week and came in this board looking for book suggestions, this is it I think!! Was it as good as you hoped??

I saw this half price in The Works today and considered it but from a flick through it looked a bit too forced-inspirational-quirky in tone - am I misjudging?

I used to enjoy JW's young adult books in the 80s (e.g. Waiting For the Sky to Fall, Amber, This Girl - before she hit it big with Tracey Beaker and started writing for younger children/tweens) and was hoping it might be a return to this sort of tone but it didn't look like it.

Anyone read picture imperfect?

Yes! Got it from the library this time based on paying full price for Think Again and it was also crap! No spoilers but suffered a lot of the same problems in introducing lots of new boring characters, unnecessary romance and very little of the characters we actually cared about.

Just finished it! Such a strange book. The summer camp job storyline was bizarre - felt quite Tracey Beaker! I think it was a bit better edited than Think Again - less obvious mistakes but that's not saying much. Her language is so old fashioned - no 30 year olds talk like that! Sex scenes were uncomfortable again!