No More Saturday Nights

by Norma Klein

A seventeen-year-old unmarried father wins the rights to custody of his son in court; goes off to college in New York City, where he finds an apartment with three girls as roommates; and improves his relationship with his own father, always knowing his baby is the most important thing in his life.Seventeen-year-old Tim discovers that his former girlfriend is pregnant, and rather than putting up the child for adoption, he takes on the responsibility of parenting, despite his impending committment to a difficult college program

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Coming Of Age, Childrens, Teen, New York

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Norma Klein was born in New York City and graduated cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard College with a degree in Russian. She later received her master's degree in Slavic languages from Columbia University.

Ms. Klein began publishing short stories while attending Barnard and since then she had written novels for readers of all ages. The author got her ideas from everyday life and advised would-be writers to do the same -- to write about their experiences or things they really care about.

Ms. Klein died in 1989.

Reviews

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites when I was in high school.

So after the trainwreck of a solo teen father book I read back in December, I decided to re-read my favorite teen father book from high school.

I decided it held up well and it can retain it's five-star rating. Whew. First, this book is about Tim (in fact, the baby isn't even born until halfway through). There's no secret journal wild goose chase mystery. It actually starts with Tim going to court to try and get custody of the unborn child that was truly conceived accidentally. Maybe not smartly, but there were no lies or ulterior motives.

Second, as in the other book, the baby is more of a secondary character, but honestly, this baby seems a bit more lifelike. Also, the descriptions of what new parenthood is like seemed a whole lot more spot-on.

Finally, let's face it, Tim is at least 10 years more mature than Ryden, despite the fact that both of them are 17. Probably because the book was written thirty years prior, but still. Read this one instead.

[Kelly]

I've never written "WTF" in the margins more than I did reading this book. There were so many reviews noting how funny it was and it was more, err, cringeworthy than laughworthy. Definitely doesn't hold up.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on a mission to read all of Norma Klein, and I've been searching out her books since I was a teenager myself. Some of them are quite weird. I really enjoyed this one!

The blurb is a bit misleading. I was hoping we'd follow Tim through college, raising Mason. But Mason isn't born until 100 pages into the book, and the rest of the story takes us through winter break of freshman year and that's it.

But, it's still just good. Her characters, the dialogue. It's always complex and layered and there's no tying everything neatly with a bow. I love the conversation Tim sits through on his first night with his three female roommates. Vivian is intense--the way she swears she's not going near the kid, even if the building is on fire. The way they argue about feminism and talk about women going through a shredder.

It's a lot about Tim and his relationship with his dad, and that was good too.

It's interesting that this one and That's My Baby were both published in 1988.

[Taylor Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It juxtaposes the modern ideas, ie single parenthood, looser gender roles, homosexuality, and feminism, with more "traditional" values, like 50's housewives and emotionally absent dads. However, it just sort of cuts off. It seems like there should be another book of this length added to the end of the book. I'd love to have seen more about the relationships as they bloomed, and Mason becoming a child instead of a baby.

[Lo · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's those pesky saturday nights that got them in this mess in the first place.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! (in 1993). Especially that it was from the guy's perspective. It almost made teen parenting seem cool.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huh, that felt super dated, like something written in the 70s. Weird.
2.5 stars

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I great book. That I keep reading over and over

[Agnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sounds so mean to say - I was surprised I like this.
Was it dated? sure, but she makes all the characters so sympathetic
and I admire her for tackling taboo subjects.

[Manda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to rate this book yet. I really liked the clashing of generations that happen in the story and dialogue; the expectations and assumptions of the older generation in comparison with their children. The story centers around Tim, a high school senior who decides to pursue being a college bound single father. Throughout the book we get Tim's perspective as he first tries to win custody of his unborn child and then struggles to raise his son while going to college and living in NYC.
I appreciated the...turning of the trope on its head but I also realized I've never actually read any YA about a teen mom and now I'd like to, just for comparison. I'm curious if I found something written around the same time period would I feel the teen mom gets more negative judgement from society and shrinking of opportunities than Tim got? I felt like there wasn't as much of that as I was expecting; more surprise/bewilderment than the "well, this and only this is what your life is now". I felt like he continued to have more options...or just options period, when I suppose I expected a bit more push back from society. Perhaps as I explore this nook of YA more I'll be surprised; we'll see.
While reading, I would find myself wondering at different parts if a particular character had acted differently how that would change the message of the story as well as trying to parse out the actual message being presented. There was so much going on in the book besides just teen sex, pregnancy & parenting. There's a lesbian character that's introduced early and then later in the story comes out to her parents, others who've experienced parental death, step parents, and one character who talks about a step parent's suicide via drug overdose. There's also a court battle over the unborn baby. A married couple want to raise the child and the mom agrees to basically sell the baby to them for thousands of dollars, but also tells Tim in an argument that if she could abort the baby right that moment so he couldn't have it, she would. It left me wondering about the actual legality of a situation like that. What rights does each parent have? What rights do a couple that want a child that appear to have a stable home have? What responsibility does the court have to make sure the baby is placed in a healthy, stable environment over parental rights?
**Huge spoiler alert** I really wish there were additional chapters or a sequel because in the LAST. CHAPTER. the baby's mom is engaged and she and her fiancé come over and basically tell Tim that they're planning to try to get custody of the baby. WHAT?!? YOU CAN'T END IT LIKE THAT!!! I mean, yeah I was wondering about all that custody and the permanence of it and stuff but...but what HAPPENS?!?

Hence, I don't know how to rate this book. I'm just...processing it all I guess.

(Also, the baby looks super creepy in my edition; like the artist just drew the face of his uncle on a baby's head or something.)

[Janette Guillen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine being pregnant and the baby's father wantsto take full custody of the baby while going to colledge! You course do not mind , you were going to sell your baby for a couple of dollers just to help your family out. This book is a perfect example of the picture you just imagined. The typical girl ends up going out with the guy she wants. He is in a higher class than her but they fall in "love". As usual she ends up pregnant and being from a poor family she knows a baby is a bad idea right now. Her baby's father decides to take care of the baby on his own. While still going to colledge! His father obviously doesn't agree at all and puts up fits every day to try and convince him to no go trhough with his decicion. He doesn't care, he prefers to take and raise the baby himself than to have the baby sold or up for adoption and never see him again, like the mother has it planned.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was fascinated by Norma Klein books as a teenager. The characters seemed so sophisticated and smart. As an adult, however, I can see that they're as full of it as normal teenagers, just more verbose and neurotic. This particular story about a college senior who gets his girlfriend pregnant, then decides to take the baby to college and raise him alone, is kind of fun. The ending felt flat and uninteresting to me as a teenager, but now that I'm a parent, it gave me a little bit of sweet satisfaction.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A twist on the teen pregnancy trope, as this time we see what it's like for a single father. And not just any teenage father, but one trying to balance his first year at college, and who took on parenthood seriously rather than having the baby just dumped on him. I loved reading about his roommates, but beyond that, it was refreshing to see a mature and responsible character. There are frustrations, of course, but there is also a great deal of love for his son that shines through the page.

[elissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't think of another teen father book before this one, even though there are a few now. And Klein did it so well! This was one of the first books I read and loved as a new YA librarian in the Bronx.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked how the book was from a guy's perspective. It was nice to see him take on taking care of Manson. The way he progressed through-tout the novel was nice too, but I think Vivian could have been cut out. None the less lovely!

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. I love the way this young man takes responsibility for his actions.

[Mom2jngncna~ Stephannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was the geek shelving books in the library in 8th grade. Had to borrow this on as opposed to shelving it. To this day it sticks in my mind.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of those books that I read at least twice. I think at the time the characters were just so alive to me. I was fascinated by the way this teenage dad just made everything work.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nowhere near as cheesy as I expected. Things maybe fall into place a bit simply at times but on the whole, it wasn't bad. And on a topic that isn't widely touched, too, as far as I know.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

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