Marly the Kid

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

During her sophomore year Marly greatly affects her life by acting on two decisions--to live with her father instead of her mother and to refuse to take insulting remarks from her history teacher.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult

137 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Susan Beth Pfeffer was an American author best known for young adult and science fiction. After writing for 35 years, she received wider notice for her series of post-apocalyptic novels, officially titled "The Life as We Knew It Series", but often called "The Last Survivors" or "Moon Crash" series, some of which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Reviews

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure I read this book too. I am pretty sure that Marly in the title is the younger sister of Kit in The Beauty Queen. I don't recognize the book cover picture, but that doesn't mean I haven't read it. The plot summary is vaguely familiar, but I'm just not positive...

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book about awkward kids who don't fit in. A good book about having a crush on an older guy. A good book about high school politics. I think it's one of the few YA books you could read as an adult and still get something from it.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

C. contemporary fiction, YA, mom's stash, discard

[Sandy Carmichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read for young teens about growing up and into adulthood.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of Pfeffer's books, when I was young I read About David and The Year Without Michael, so I had this idea of her as writing really serious, sad/tragic books, which are not the kind I really enjoyed. When I saw her name on books, my gut-reaction was not positive, and I didn't seek her out.

Now I shall seek her out. I love Marly. I love her dad and stepmom--they really mean it when they want her to stay.

I cringed a little at another teen in love with her English teacher, but that story line was really nice, actually. And THEN, she stands up to her obnoxious, sexist history teacher! And doesn't back down and will not apologize. Not because she sees herself as an activist, but because it's simply right. I relate to that so hard. (I had an obnoxious history teacher and I wrote him a letter and it turned into a whole thing. Then I got a degree in history, so there; I learned things in spite of him.)

I found Colleen, the best friend, a little contradictory and hard to follow at times. But they're fifteen, so that's fine.

It's sad that Marly is referred to as "plump" or "fat" so often--and that those are negative attributes--because when we look at the (awesome!) cover art now, she's just a normal-looking kid. But her "ugliness" is a constant in her life, as the opposite or her sister's beauty.

I miss Marly already. Wouldn't it be great if Pfeffer wrote another book about Marly? College in the 80s--I'd read it!

[Pumpkin+Bear · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won't award five stars to any book that contains fatphobic remarks, but I did really like this book. Marly has that kind of weird vibe that I associate with the teen protagonists in pretty much any YA novel written in the 1970s--slightly gritty, matter-of-fact, more intellectual than you'd expect--and it's so different from the way teens were written both before and after that I'm really into it, although I don't see it as particularly realistic.

I had NO idea where this book was going for 90% of the plot, but I happily followed along, although I still don't know what was supposed to be up with Marly's mother--what an asshole! I loved her father and stepmother, however, and really like that we also got those characterizations.

My favorite line in the book is when Marly and her father are required to make small talk at a dinner party: "Sally was fine, though, and the guests didn't seem to realize that Marly and her father were dying small deaths in their presences." That is EXACTLY how speaking socially to other adults feels, lol!

[Karah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute, innocent story about self-advocacy. I identify with Marly's frustration of habitually receiving disregard. This will not be the only book I read by this author.