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Domestic Arrangements
The paradoxes set up between love and sex in contemporary American life are explored with subtle insight and brilliantly incisive humor in Norma Klein's breakthrough adult novel.
Domestic Arrangements is about a recognizable family facing a recognizable dilemma—how to respond to their daughter's first affair. Not everything about the Engelberg's of Manhattan's West Side is ordinary, however: Mom is Amanda, a flaming redhead and a highly paid actress whose specialties are TV commercials and soap operas; Daddy is Lionel, whose intellectually somber TV documentary won an Emmy; Tatiana, or Rusty, is the fourteen-year-old narrator, who has just starred in her first full-length motion picture, which included a "tasteful" nude scene. Finally there is Cordelia, Rusty's acerbic and sharp-witted sixteen-year-old sister, facing her own crisis of self-image.
Norma Klein's new novel addresses itself to a multitude of readers who will empathize with the foibles of our time in every scene of this penetratingly honest literary entertainment.
Domestic Arrangements is about a recognizable family facing a recognizable dilemma—how to respond to their daughter's first affair. Not everything about the Engelberg's of Manhattan's West Side is ordinary, however: Mom is Amanda, a flaming redhead and a highly paid actress whose specialties are TV commercials and soap operas; Daddy is Lionel, whose intellectually somber TV documentary won an Emmy; Tatiana, or Rusty, is the fourteen-year-old narrator, who has just starred in her first full-length motion picture, which included a "tasteful" nude scene. Finally there is Cordelia, Rusty's acerbic and sharp-witted sixteen-year-old sister, facing her own crisis of self-image.
Norma Klein's new novel addresses itself to a multitude of readers who will empathize with the foibles of our time in every scene of this penetratingly honest literary entertainment.
285 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
19 people are currently reading
466 people want to read
About the author
Norma Klein
70 books112 followersNorma 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
October 21, 2020
The story of a sexually active fourteen year old starting a career as a film Lolita and living with two idiot parents who are too busy having affairs of their own to care and an even more idiot sister who is completely toxic to her little sister in a real dangerous way was a very cringey read for me. Kudos to the author for writing in the voice of her protagonist 100% credibly. Really, it was so heartbreaking to delve into her mind which is still so immature yet sensitive and so attuned to the people around her that she endures real pain. As for the self-centered, selfish parents and the cynical celebrity-machine including slimy, exploitative directors and producers, P.R. persons, and paparazzi, it was a very well-done satire that really hasn't aged at all. Despite all the me too movement etc., it feels like the same old same old when it comes to exploiting children for profit nowadays YUCK. Great writing but I need to go bleach my eyes now.
January 30, 2015
I first read this book in the early 80s when I was a young teenager and I adored it then. It's about Tatiana, a 14-year-old New Yorker, who stars in her first movie and is navigating her blooming sexuality. I loved all of Norma Klein's books and so it was interesting for me to read Domestic Arrangements again as an adult and a writer. Keep in mind that sex positive books for girls were just coming out, which was a revelation because as a society we were just emerging from the "don't talk about sex at all" era and the "make birth control a dirty secret"epoch. Still, if you wanted to check this book out of the school library you had to have a note from your mom. (I think I bought my copy from Walden Books in the mall with my babysitting money.) Norma Klein had a way or normalizing sex, taking away the stigma for young readers, and that was so important.
This book is a great peek back into a time when AIDs did not yet exist and second-wave feminism was at its peak. It's available on Kindle and I highly recommend it.
This book is a great peek back into a time when AIDs did not yet exist and second-wave feminism was at its peak. It's available on Kindle and I highly recommend it.
January 23, 2021
This book is off the wall. If I'd read it when I was 14, I would have a completely warped view of the world. Look, Norma Klein books were great to read as a teenager, because they feature smart, sophisticated teens living in New York City in the '80s, getting all kinds of liberal, laissez-faire advice and outlooks from the adults in their lives. Which is refreshing. But this one, man. Let me break it down: it starts off with the 14-year-old narrator in trouble because her dad caught her having sex with her boyfriend in the bathroom at 3 a.m. But she's not really in trouble, because that's what teens do, and they're really in love. Also, she's so beautiful that everyone wants her, her older sister is mean to her because she's jealous, oh, and by the way, last summer she was the star in a movie her dad's friend directed, with a nude scene. No biggie. I can't even.
*on re-read, with a totally different perspective, I can see how cleverly the author depicted what it's like to be a girl on the cusp of womanhood, wanting to be taken seriously and given room to grow and develop, while being condescended to, taken advantage of and pigeon-holed by people threatened by her who want to keep her small and compliant to bolster their own insecurities and wants. Fascinating. It's still messed up, though.
*on re-read, with a totally different perspective, I can see how cleverly the author depicted what it's like to be a girl on the cusp of womanhood, wanting to be taken seriously and given room to grow and develop, while being condescended to, taken advantage of and pigeon-holed by people threatened by her who want to keep her small and compliant to bolster their own insecurities and wants. Fascinating. It's still messed up, though.
November 13, 2015
WARNING: This review contains liberal use of the F word, which was necessary in order to quote the 14-year old protagonist.
So back in the day I loved me some Norma Klein, but my library must not have carried this one, and I'm pretty sure I know why.
Judy Blume's Forever might have been risque, but this book took it to another level. This was the young-teen's version of Jackie Collins and Harold Robbins.
This book was originally published in 1981 and contained some funny dated references. Her boyfriend has a machine that you can set up to record tv while you sleep or are away and watch later! Her father has a machine that answers the phone and people can leave messages!
I found it a bit jarring that the 14 year old protagonist was constantly casually mentioning all the "fucking" she does with her boyfriend. She nonchalantly mentions it to friends, her sibling, and both her parents.
But I did like that:
1. Birth control is discussed (though only in terms of pregnancy, and this was pre-HIV/AIDS), and she asks for a diaphragm for Christmas, and (naively? Stupidly?)believes her boyfriend when he tells her that she can't get pregnant with one non-use of birth control.
2. Sex wasn't presented romantically. (sensually?). They did it because they liked each other and it felt good. The language was matter-of-fact descriptive....none of the "I felt liquid fire deep down in my core" spiel that NA is famous for.
3. THE MC explores her sexuality. Do I really want to do this, or am I expected to? Is there something wrong with me if I don't orgasm during intercourse? Does my boyfriend "love" me just for sex, or are there other things we can do? This culminates in her being able to relax, address her own needs, and telling her boyfriend that sometimes she doesn't want to have sex.
Whereas these are good messages, I was somewhat troubled that it was a 14 year old exploring them, and found myself too often siding with the Dad (who was supposed to be the stuffy old-fashioned one whose just out of touch.)
This book also explored a little bit nudity and sexuality of young girls in terms of ART (In this case films and photos). This was weird to me, because in our current society, the scene where she appears partially nude in the movie would have been illegal.
Overall, it was interesting to see how the genre of "YA" has evolved, and interesting that something that was pushing the envelope 35 years ago, is still a little bit shocking today.
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the amusement/irritation I got from a particular turn of phrase the author used. The MC was constantly saying things similar to ' Did you come over just so you could fuck with me?' or mention how her boyfriend used to 'fuck with other girls'. Perhaps in the early 80's the proposition with following the F-word simply meant that it was an activity you shared. However to my modern brain, her boyfriend spent a lot of time being mean to / playing jokes on her and other girls. (According to Dictionary.com the phrase "Fuck with" meaning to mess around with dates from 1940+, so maybe this was just the authors bad...but seriously, it got annoying!)
So back in the day I loved me some Norma Klein, but my library must not have carried this one, and I'm pretty sure I know why.
Judy Blume's Forever might have been risque, but this book took it to another level. This was the young-teen's version of Jackie Collins and Harold Robbins.
This book was originally published in 1981 and contained some funny dated references. Her boyfriend has a machine that you can set up to record tv while you sleep or are away and watch later! Her father has a machine that answers the phone and people can leave messages!
I found it a bit jarring that the 14 year old protagonist was constantly casually mentioning all the "fucking" she does with her boyfriend. She nonchalantly mentions it to friends, her sibling, and both her parents.
But I did like that:
1. Birth control is discussed (though only in terms of pregnancy, and this was pre-HIV/AIDS), and she asks for a diaphragm for Christmas, and (naively? Stupidly?)believes her boyfriend when he tells her that she can't get pregnant with one non-use of birth control.
2. Sex wasn't presented romantically. (sensually?). They did it because they liked each other and it felt good. The language was matter-of-fact descriptive....none of the "I felt liquid fire deep down in my core" spiel that NA is famous for.
3. THE MC explores her sexuality. Do I really want to do this, or am I expected to? Is there something wrong with me if I don't orgasm during intercourse? Does my boyfriend "love" me just for sex, or are there other things we can do? This culminates in her being able to relax, address her own needs, and telling her boyfriend that sometimes she doesn't want to have sex.
Whereas these are good messages, I was somewhat troubled that it was a 14 year old exploring them, and found myself too often siding with the Dad (who was supposed to be the stuffy old-fashioned one whose just out of touch.)
This book also explored a little bit nudity and sexuality of young girls in terms of ART (In this case films and photos). This was weird to me, because in our current society, the scene where she appears partially nude in the movie would have been illegal.
Overall, it was interesting to see how the genre of "YA" has evolved, and interesting that something that was pushing the envelope 35 years ago, is still a little bit shocking today.
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the amusement/irritation I got from a particular turn of phrase the author used. The MC was constantly saying things similar to ' Did you come over just so you could fuck with me?' or mention how her boyfriend used to 'fuck with other girls'. Perhaps in the early 80's the proposition with following the F-word simply meant that it was an activity you shared. However to my modern brain, her boyfriend spent a lot of time being mean to / playing jokes on her and other girls. (According to Dictionary.com the phrase "Fuck with" meaning to mess around with dates from 1940+, so maybe this was just the authors bad...but seriously, it got annoying!)
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July 18, 2016This was excellent, and it was incredibly edgy for a book published in 1982....and incredibly edgy by today's standards.
Rusty is a super interesting character, one that would definitely be more about wish fulfillment for teen readers than realistic. But she's very open and honest about sex and sexuality, which was refreshing and also made me realize how rare it is to see that in YA today.
The middle sagged a bit for me, but the ups and downs of family relationships, of romance, and of the way fame can impact all of those things was really well-done and kept me going.
Rusty is a super interesting character, one that would definitely be more about wish fulfillment for teen readers than realistic. But she's very open and honest about sex and sexuality, which was refreshing and also made me realize how rare it is to see that in YA today.
The middle sagged a bit for me, but the ups and downs of family relationships, of romance, and of the way fame can impact all of those things was really well-done and kept me going.
March 20, 2018
Teenaged sex! Diaphragms! 14 year olds doing nude scenes in art films! Smoking pot at your dad's 50th birthday party! Photo exhibits of a guy's junk! Of all the Norma Klein books in the world, Domestic Arrangements is the Norma Kleiniest. And that's a wonderful thing.
December 3, 2009
This is where Norma Klein really jumps the shark. She fell from being the queen of portraying realistically normal teenage girls in relatable situations to the depths of the worst kind of teenaged girl fantasy malarky.
"Tatiana" is a 14 year old of other worldly beauty and blatant pre pubescent sexual attractiveness. She is adored to the point of worship by her parents and her parent's friends. Her dad is especially agog over his perfect daughter's attributes. She is faultless. A Brooke Shields like beauty of monumental proportions but at the same time innocent and sweet to the bone, a great student, a good daughter and a talented actress. She is chosen out of the thin air to star in a major movie, where she proves herself to be talented as an actress but more importantly as a burgeoning film star nymphet. She even has a "nude" scene which she carries off with tastefulness, sincerity and aplomb.
To top it off, although she is portrayed as childlike and without affect, she is having a full blown sexual relationship with her boyfriend. At FOURTEEN. Fully sanctioned by her parents and by the world in which this book devises to revolve around it's fantastical main character. Even Brooke Shields stayed a virgin until an adult. This is a departure from Klein's earlier books, wherein the young girls stay true to type and are almost exclusively not sexually active or at least they are conflicted about it. Tatiana is just in a fully fledged adult relationship, then skips off to school in her pigtails.
The other egregious part of this book is the fact that Tatiana has an older sister, Delia, who is ugly and therefore completely unimportant to their parents or anyone else in the book other than her dad reminding his pretty daughter that her ugly sister is pitiable so treat her kindly. Poor Delia is described as having glasses, a huge nose, cystic acne (which is untreatable even by the top doctors in NY), and frizzy tufts of mousey brown hair. Tatiana has a perfect complexion, a chimeric mane -unparalleled in life or fiction - of crimson hair, giant, wolflike gray eyes, a tiny nose and a perfect body. Unbelievably, Delia is not even a better student than Tat, she doesn't even have the ugly yet smarter sister thing going for her. She has nothing. Needless to say Delia is not the parent's favorite and is largely ignored. She is, rightfully, resentful of her sister but not to the point of slashing her face and hacking her hair, which no one reading this book would fault her for.
This book reads like the author's fantasy, and is ridiculous, creepy and irresponsible.
"Tatiana" is a 14 year old of other worldly beauty and blatant pre pubescent sexual attractiveness. She is adored to the point of worship by her parents and her parent's friends. Her dad is especially agog over his perfect daughter's attributes. She is faultless. A Brooke Shields like beauty of monumental proportions but at the same time innocent and sweet to the bone, a great student, a good daughter and a talented actress. She is chosen out of the thin air to star in a major movie, where she proves herself to be talented as an actress but more importantly as a burgeoning film star nymphet. She even has a "nude" scene which she carries off with tastefulness, sincerity and aplomb.
To top it off, although she is portrayed as childlike and without affect, she is having a full blown sexual relationship with her boyfriend. At FOURTEEN. Fully sanctioned by her parents and by the world in which this book devises to revolve around it's fantastical main character. Even Brooke Shields stayed a virgin until an adult. This is a departure from Klein's earlier books, wherein the young girls stay true to type and are almost exclusively not sexually active or at least they are conflicted about it. Tatiana is just in a fully fledged adult relationship, then skips off to school in her pigtails.
The other egregious part of this book is the fact that Tatiana has an older sister, Delia, who is ugly and therefore completely unimportant to their parents or anyone else in the book other than her dad reminding his pretty daughter that her ugly sister is pitiable so treat her kindly. Poor Delia is described as having glasses, a huge nose, cystic acne (which is untreatable even by the top doctors in NY), and frizzy tufts of mousey brown hair. Tatiana has a perfect complexion, a chimeric mane -unparalleled in life or fiction - of crimson hair, giant, wolflike gray eyes, a tiny nose and a perfect body. Unbelievably, Delia is not even a better student than Tat, she doesn't even have the ugly yet smarter sister thing going for her. She has nothing. Needless to say Delia is not the parent's favorite and is largely ignored. She is, rightfully, resentful of her sister but not to the point of slashing her face and hacking her hair, which no one reading this book would fault her for.
This book reads like the author's fantasy, and is ridiculous, creepy and irresponsible.
December 29, 2013
Wins the award for the worst book cover designed by man.
There are some books that read like:
"How did the interview go?" said Joshua.
"Okay. I hope I didn't come off too silly," I said.
Joshua rubbed my breasts. We had sex. Then we curled up in blankets in front of the fire.
I really didn't know how I felt about all this. Dad was clearly wrong. Our relationship wasn't all about sex. We talked about lots of things.
Next day I....
Does that give you the idea? (This thing reads like stereo instructions!)
I was just curious enough that I wanted to skip to the end and be done with it...but it's part of the 100-book Challenge. And it wasn't quite bad enough to give up on.
Or so I thought. For a book that was primarily concerned with sex, contraception and love, the only thing vaguely interesting was the narrator's desire to be a "doctor who delivers babies" some day. She's only fourteen--I guess she never heard of the term obstetrician.
There are some books that read like:
"How did the interview go?" said Joshua.
"Okay. I hope I didn't come off too silly," I said.
Joshua rubbed my breasts. We had sex. Then we curled up in blankets in front of the fire.
I really didn't know how I felt about all this. Dad was clearly wrong. Our relationship wasn't all about sex. We talked about lots of things.
Next day I....
Does that give you the idea? (This thing reads like stereo instructions!)
I was just curious enough that I wanted to skip to the end and be done with it...but it's part of the 100-book Challenge. And it wasn't quite bad enough to give up on.
Or so I thought. For a book that was primarily concerned with sex, contraception and love, the only thing vaguely interesting was the narrator's desire to be a "doctor who delivers babies" some day. She's only fourteen--I guess she never heard of the term obstetrician.
July 31, 2014
Liberal use of the word "fuck", teen sex, gay besties, New York upper west side early eighties Jewish intellectuals? This hit just about ALL my sweet spots! If only someone had been sent to a psych hospital, I'd give it six stars!
February 7, 2021
Wow what a treat this one was. I’m blown away by this book, even more so by the fact that this was published as YA in the 80s. Wtf? If this were published today it’d be published as a high literature debut by a cool young hipster author type exploring female sexuality and all that jazz, and yet at the time, it was just your run of the mill YA book. Hilarious.
It avoids so many tropes and cliches that books about young women written today seem to not be able to avoid, it is so natural in its characterisation and the way it explores sex in teenage relationships. It’s never exploitative or gratuitous, it just is what is is, very natural and normalised. If written today it’d have a certain controversy and stigma around it.
Lizzie Skurnick books are finding the best books to republish for new audiences, I’ve read 2 now and am going to sift through the rest of their catalogue to find some more gems.
It avoids so many tropes and cliches that books about young women written today seem to not be able to avoid, it is so natural in its characterisation and the way it explores sex in teenage relationships. It’s never exploitative or gratuitous, it just is what is is, very natural and normalised. If written today it’d have a certain controversy and stigma around it.
Lizzie Skurnick books are finding the best books to republish for new audiences, I’ve read 2 now and am going to sift through the rest of their catalogue to find some more gems.
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May 26, 2019Second read, this time for Hey YA: Extra Credit. I'm...blown away how manipulative all of the adults are in this book.
https://bookriot.com/2019/05/22/norma...
https://bookriot.com/2019/05/22/norma...
December 19, 2014
As a general rule I hate YA books where the author makes the protagonist a beautiful girl who can eat anything and never gain weight, while her sister is frizzy and pimply and overweight. (This is actually the first Norma Klein I've read, and I've heard it's not characteristic of her other books.) But honestly, I will read anything set in New York in this time period, and it was an enjoyable airplane read. Good normalizing GLB inclusion, especially for this time period.
July 24, 2018
Ugh!
I could barely get through this book! I used to read Norma Klein as a teenager in the 80's and I was excited to see one of her books on kindle. What a terrible purchase! Not only was the story boring but confusing. The main character has more than one nickname so I didn't always know who was who. Also, there were so many typos. I had more fun trying to decipher some of the words than actually reading this book. This is not one of Ms. Klein's better books. Torture!
I could barely get through this book! I used to read Norma Klein as a teenager in the 80's and I was excited to see one of her books on kindle. What a terrible purchase! Not only was the story boring but confusing. The main character has more than one nickname so I didn't always know who was who. Also, there were so many typos. I had more fun trying to decipher some of the words than actually reading this book. This is not one of Ms. Klein's better books. Torture!
January 18, 2018
Ok book. Seems very dated and does not stand the test of time.
August 7, 2025
every single one of the adults in this book need to be locked up
September 3, 2021
I don't know how I missed this when I was 14, but I would have loved it. Norma Klein was the Judith Krantz of YA fiction back in the day. I would have been captivated by the exciting New York/actor life that Rusty was living. As an adult, I'm mildly horrified by how little parental supervision she's getting, and thus it is not as fun. But still kind of fun. Three stars!
January 18, 2016
It's so interesting as an adult to reread Norma Klein's YA novels. I picked this one up because it was the first Norma Klein book to be republished by Lizzie Skurnick's imprint at Ig Books. It wasn't my favorite when I was a teen. I think it was one of the later ones I read and I might have been a little too old. I tended to read up with Ms. Klein's books, so when I was 14, I loved the books where the characters were 17. But this book's main character, Rusty, is 14, and that's not as interesting for a 17-year-old who is only reading these books in order to identify with the main character and get some advice for how to deal with potentially tricky situations in the future. I also didn't identify with Rusty's situation--she was in a movie with a semi-nude scene and the publicity and reputation that goes with that isn't what she expected. Not super-relatable.
But, what I missed the first time around was how that wasn't really the story. Ms. Klein is not someone who normally writes about fame, and the title of the book should have clued me in. It's about Rusty's family. Her kind of prickly older sister who is less experienced than Rusty and is resentful, her mother who is an actress who never achieved the fame she wanted and is considered past her prime at 39, and her father who didn't want Rusty to do this in the first place, is worried Rusty is doing this in order to live out her mother's fantasies, not really her own. Not to mention Rusty's own relationship with her on-again-off-again boyfriend Josh. Over the course of the book's many months, we find out that both of Rusty's parents are having affairs. Rusty and Josh's relationship is pretty volatile, with serious trust and jealousy issues, and his lack of respect for her choices. (Ah, only 16-year-olds can truly have the earnestness to dis any movies other than Ingmar Bergman's as trash.) I'm particularly impressed with the subtle way Ms. Klein writes every character's dialogue in their own voice. You never have to wonder who is talking. When Rusty's mother is talking, her lines are filled with italics and exclamation points. Her father's language is formal with bigger words and it's more thoughtful. I also loved that while Rusty says "ironical" a couple of times, her mother uses the word "ironic" correctly, as I, and I'm sure many other teens, did pick up some SAT words in her books' sophisticated language. But that specificity of character is really skillful, even more so when it's done with such a light hand that it's unnoticeable to an average reader.
I'm so glad I reread this book as it exceeded my expectations this time around! With rereads, you've always got to worry about being disappointed, but instead I was pleasantly surprised. Not everyone will identify with Rusty or with the superficial problems she has regarding sex and fame, but they will understand navigating difficult relationships and how sometimes things don't work out.
But, what I missed the first time around was how that wasn't really the story. Ms. Klein is not someone who normally writes about fame, and the title of the book should have clued me in. It's about Rusty's family. Her kind of prickly older sister who is less experienced than Rusty and is resentful, her mother who is an actress who never achieved the fame she wanted and is considered past her prime at 39, and her father who didn't want Rusty to do this in the first place, is worried Rusty is doing this in order to live out her mother's fantasies, not really her own. Not to mention Rusty's own relationship with her on-again-off-again boyfriend Josh. Over the course of the book's many months, we find out that both of Rusty's parents are having affairs. Rusty and Josh's relationship is pretty volatile, with serious trust and jealousy issues, and his lack of respect for her choices. (Ah, only 16-year-olds can truly have the earnestness to dis any movies other than Ingmar Bergman's as trash.) I'm particularly impressed with the subtle way Ms. Klein writes every character's dialogue in their own voice. You never have to wonder who is talking. When Rusty's mother is talking, her lines are filled with italics and exclamation points. Her father's language is formal with bigger words and it's more thoughtful. I also loved that while Rusty says "ironical" a couple of times, her mother uses the word "ironic" correctly, as I, and I'm sure many other teens, did pick up some SAT words in her books' sophisticated language. But that specificity of character is really skillful, even more so when it's done with such a light hand that it's unnoticeable to an average reader.
I'm so glad I reread this book as it exceeded my expectations this time around! With rereads, you've always got to worry about being disappointed, but instead I was pleasantly surprised. Not everyone will identify with Rusty or with the superficial problems she has regarding sex and fame, but they will understand navigating difficult relationships and how sometimes things don't work out.
October 15, 2020
This must have broken conservative brains when it was published in the 80s, and it's probably still breaking conservative brains today. At 14, Tatiana (nicknamed Rusty for her long red hair) is one part all grown up and one part deeply naïve. Her parents mean well but have opposing ideas of what growing up should mean for Rusty, success from an unexpected movie role has led to changes that she's not prepared for, and for all that she enjoys sex with her boyfriend she worries that sex is his primary focus in their relationship.
It's fascinating. I can understand why this might have caused a stir in the 80s: Rusty is so frank about her sexuality, so open and unashamed, in a way that...well, would probably still cause a stir if published today. Part of me could do with a little less emphasis on sex and a little more emphasis on the rest of Rusty's life, but it's not even that the rest of Rusty's life is neglected here, and—well, props to Klein for tackling it so head-on. I love that none of these characters is perfect (what a far cry from the would-be perfect boyfriends of YA today Joshua is!), and Rusty doesn't have everything figured out, and her parents don't have everything figured out, and Rusty's able to make some mistakes and learn from some of them and still have a ways to go at the end. (Only—if there's going to be so much detail about diaphragms and birth control and so on, I'd strongly have preferred that it be correct information; I don't mind so much that Rusty and her boyfriend get it wrong sometimes, because they're young and I don't expect them to know everything, but the casual 'eh, I'm sure having unprotected sex once is no big deal' is not great, and neither is them relying solely on the diaphragm without spermicide at least once. Would have been nice to see that sort of thing casually corrected at some point.)
Is it just me, or is Family Secrets basically the book version of the movie Rusty is in? I'm now quite hoping I can find a copy.
It's fascinating. I can understand why this might have caused a stir in the 80s: Rusty is so frank about her sexuality, so open and unashamed, in a way that...well, would probably still cause a stir if published today. Part of me could do with a little less emphasis on sex and a little more emphasis on the rest of Rusty's life, but it's not even that the rest of Rusty's life is neglected here, and—well, props to Klein for tackling it so head-on. I love that none of these characters is perfect (what a far cry from the would-be perfect boyfriends of YA today Joshua is!), and Rusty doesn't have everything figured out, and her parents don't have everything figured out, and Rusty's able to make some mistakes and learn from some of them and still have a ways to go at the end. (Only—if there's going to be so much detail about diaphragms and birth control and so on, I'd strongly have preferred that it be correct information; I don't mind so much that Rusty and her boyfriend get it wrong sometimes, because they're young and I don't expect them to know everything, but the casual 'eh, I'm sure having unprotected sex once is no big deal' is not great, and neither is them relying solely on the diaphragm without spermicide at least once. Would have been nice to see that sort of thing casually corrected at some point.)
Is it just me, or is Family Secrets basically the book version of the movie Rusty is in? I'm now quite hoping I can find a copy.
January 1, 2015
This book was ok. It's about a family the mother is an actress that finds work in commercials and soaps but wishes that she could do t.v. or movies. Her husband who makes films, documentaries, actually and there 2 children. The older one wants nothing to do with acting or the profession whatsoever and then there's our main character, Tatiana, as it turns out we learn in the 3rd chapter that she just finished acting in a movie. In this movie she did a nude scene and when the movie is released the only thing that most people want to talk about is the nude scene. This book follows this family while they try to deal with the fact that there youngest member is the most famous in the family. This book was kind of slow for me although it did have it's funny parts. Tatiana does an interview, her first, and tells the woman interviewing her that her family wanders around in there house nude much of the time. She clearly needs direction as to what is ok to tell the world and what is not!
September 2, 2018
This book was hella weird. I picked it up because it had a foreword by Judy Blume and because frankly, I wanted to know why this 14-year-old girl thought she was ready for the active sex life described in the summary on the back.
Almost every interaction the women in the book had with the men in the book was creepy. I was having a hard time getting through this book until there were a couple of Woody Allen references and a plot point involving Lolita that made it feel a little more self-aware. Remembering that this book is set in the 80s is important in not throwing it across the room.
That said, this book was surprisingly satisfying overall in the end. It was a good challenge start to finish.
Almost every interaction the women in the book had with the men in the book was creepy. I was having a hard time getting through this book until there were a couple of Woody Allen references and a plot point involving Lolita that made it feel a little more self-aware. Remembering that this book is set in the 80s is important in not throwing it across the room.
That said, this book was surprisingly satisfying overall in the end. It was a good challenge start to finish.
June 21, 2014
I love Norma Klein, books written both before and after this one, but oh my God, every character here was so stupid. I mostly aligned with Lionel but even he was ridiculous. Tatiana, newly turned 14, stars in a movie that includes a nude scene and she is flawless and adored by critics and America alike without any acting experience ever. Also, her Dad is the only one disturbed by her sex life with her 16 year old boyfriend, but he also thinks she'd be a wonderful Lolita, so. Basically teen fantasy porn? Maybe I would have liked this when I was 14? Ugh, I need to go read Love is One of the Choices or something to remember why I like her so much.
December 14, 2017
YA novel by one of my childhood favorite writers (but not my favorite of her books). I suspect that she was somewhat exaggerating the highly active sex lives of all her teenage characters, but it's still amusing to see her views on love, marriage, divorce, and sexual freedom in the 1970s, all packaged for young readers. The unexpected-movie-star theme in this one is a fun element to go alongside Klein's usual themes.
February 26, 2018
I found these free wheeling characters to be very
unrealisitic. It might be construed as entertaining
(I did read it after all), but it was just too
unbelievable.
The ending was too convenient, too pat.
If I take the whole novel as just a philosophical
expression then it becomes palatable. Otherwise,
skip it.
By the way I read this because GOODREADS "recommended
it to me. I guess that's something else I need to
perhaps take a little more lightly.
unrealisitic. It might be construed as entertaining
(I did read it after all), but it was just too
unbelievable.
The ending was too convenient, too pat.
If I take the whole novel as just a philosophical
expression then it becomes palatable. Otherwise,
skip it.
By the way I read this because GOODREADS "recommended
it to me. I guess that's something else I need to
perhaps take a little more lightly.
April 30, 2019
I thought the writing was very good, other than a few odd turns-of-phrase that made me think the author’s first language wasn’t English. I didn’t really understand the characters but I did find them intriguing to read about. They all seemed too matter-of-fact about things that most people just aren’t. Maybe I was just raised more puritanical, I don’t know, but I would never dream of having the conversations with my family that these people were having. 😂
September 15, 2009
I think I appreciated this book more than I actually enjoyed it. It was sort of ahead of its time in terms of teenagers and sex, and some parts were really great, but it came across so dated at times that it was distracting and the dialogue didn't always flow. Love Norma Klein though, I just wish I'd read it earlier.
December 13, 2009
I read this over 20 years ago. I loaned it to a friend who never returned it. For some reason, I never forgot this book. Over the years, I would recall this book, but I could not remember the title or author. I did; however, remember the name of the sister- Cordelia. Now I just have to find a copy so I can re-read it and see what captivated the mind of a 13-14 year old girl.
July 27, 2016
I was in so much trouble when I read this book. My mom found it and read it and obviously said it wasnt fit for a 12 year-old, which was right. Although it captivated me, most of all because of the sex scenes, which werent any good but still, a 12 year old has questions. I would like to re-read it but probably my mom burned it or something
April 15, 2019
Please alert me to any cranky parents complaining about sex in modern YA, and I'll send them this 1981 book where a 14-year-old does a nude scene in a movie, has regular sleepovers with her boyfriend and whose parents buy her a diaphragm upon request. (It's a very entertaining book and I enjoyed it quite a bit!)
August 31, 2011
A family's response to the teenage daughter's film career and first love.
April 26, 2018
I enjoyed the experience of reading this book more than the plot line.
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