The Sarah Dessen Drinking Game (Non-Alcoholic Discussion Version)

[Madeleine]

Okay, I accept my fate. I am going to dive into my big Sarah Dessen rant, and then everyone is going to kill me. I accept this.

I was, hopefully still am, a huge Dessen fan through eighth grade/early high school, and I have all her books. Read them all. Several times. I did my research. I am not getting massacred by Dessen fangirls without a proper damn fight.

How can I describe her? Formulaic. So so, formulaic, if you're as familiar with her work as I am, the patterns are just like a brick to the head every time.

I read Whatever Happened to Goodbye about a year ago, and I remember next to none of it. So, go through this list if you remember reading and see if I've managed to get most of the idea down.

*DISCLAIMER* I do not drink. This is making a statement about themes in Sarah Dessen's work, not my substance abuse problems. This is meant to generate discussion.

[Madeleine]

To simplify, let's play the Sarah Dessen drinking game, take a shot if:

-Book takes place over summer vacation (That Summer, Whatever Happened to Goodbye, Keeping the Moon, The Truth about Forever, Along for the Ride, This Lullaby)

-There are at least two wacky side characters that teach the narrator to be normal (Isabel and Morgan, Kristy and Bert, All three girls in Along for the Ride,

-Redheads, one shot for every redhead mentioned in the book (there's like eight random ones that turn up every book)

-Love interest fits "Bad Boy" archetype, extra shot if they've been arrested. (Two shots for Rogerson, Wes, and Owen)

-*lifts mask* The love interest was actually old Mr. Jenkins the whole time! Just kidding, meddling kids. If the Love interest turns out to be an irredeemable asshole that we spent a whole book waiting for the narrator to leave, take a shot (That Summer, Dreamland, Someone Like You, technically the Truth about Forever can count)

-One parent is Dead/absent/clueless (This is every book. Let's just be honest.)

-Other parent (usually mother) is overbearing/controlling (Someone Like You, Truth About Forever, Along for the Ride, and I remember this about Whatever Happened to Goodbye)

-Cameo of a character who is still in the same town five to ten years after their story ends

-Parents aren't together (nearly always, excluding Someone Like You, Dreamland, or any book where a parent is dead)

-Girl finds herself through a minimum wage summer job (Keeping the Moon, Truth about Forever, Along for the Ride)

-My older sister was a slut who cleaned up (Truth about Forever, That Summer)

-My older sister ruined my life (Lock and Key, Dreamland)

-Love interest has abusive parent (Dreamland, Lock and Key)

-Pot ruins lives. If pot is portrayed as the devil, take a drink. (Lock and Key, Dreamland, Someone Like You)

-Losing your virginity to the wrong person RUINS LIVES. I would say Just Listen counts, even if it was rape. also, Truth About Forever, A year of dating and your high school boyfriend really has no interest in sleeping with you? He’s gay Macy. Also counts towards Remy just kind of lying there and not saying no. This is what ruins Remy’s life. She just wasn't feeling it at the time, but didn’t say anything. Clearly this character has been through such turmoil. (Someone Like You, Truth About Forever, Just Listen, This Lullaby, Dreamland)

-Love interest is a large, clumsy, or dopey but lovable oaf (This Lullaby, Just Listen, Whatever Happened to Goodbye)

[Madeleine]

That's all I got for now.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Haha, so true. I enjoy Sarah Dessen's books, but after I'd read like 3+ of them I started to realize exactly what you said ... SO FORMULAIC. They're not bad, but she uses so many of the same plot devices and character types over and over again.

[Madeleine]

Her books are fun, summery books. Sometimes I feel that when she tries to handle heavier subjects (any book taking place during a full school year) she flounders a bit. But The Truth about Forever was my favorite book for years.

[Sarah]

should i read her books now?

[Madeleine]

Haha they're fun, but not incredibly deep. I liked them in eighth grade, and they kind of suite that age group's idea of high school. But I would read the Truth about Forever and Keeping the Moon. She writes what i'd call "Beach Reads" and don't require too much thought or effort, you fly through them. So yeah, they're good books, but they can all seem the same after a while.

[Sarah]

will you recomend them for me?

[Madeleine]

Yeah. Despite my ranting, I don't hate them. I like them a lot, especially the earlier ones.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Yeah, I liked The Truth About Forever and Just Listen the best, I think. And like Maddie said, they're fun and entertaining and whatnot, just not particularly thought-provoking. And once you read two or three of them, you've pretty much read them all. XD

[Sarah]

Thanks!!!

[EJ]

Can I recommend drink every time that minimum wage summer job also involves food? Or a major setting is some place that sells food? (I feel like that's a lot of them)

I read Keeping the Moon and The Truth About Forever and couldn't bear to finish the rest. I tried to read a bunch of them but I just couldn't get into them.

Oh, and drink every time there's a huge blob of back story within the first few chapters.

I think I also read What Happened to Goodbye, which I bought my sister as a joke gift. It was pretty much the same book as Along For The Ride.

[[deleted user]]

We should make drinking games for all sorts of books.

[Julian]

Agreed. But my question with drinking games is, what to drink?

[Madeleine]

Oh yeah, food service industry, take a shot of... pudding. I feel that pudding shot would be acceptable.

Oh, and A shot for every time said blob back story mentioned in the first few chapters is dramatically revealed to the love interest in the last few chapters.

Oh and Whatever Happened to Goodbye? Her tragic backstory was she had like five myspace accounts. And had an identity crisis because of it. That book was ridiculous.

[EJ]

Oh my god. The fake identities. It's all coming back to me now. That was almost painful to read.

[Madeleine]

And then she writes it all down in a convenient journal entry so her family reads it and they finally understand her suffering! Oh god!

[Elliott]

YES PUDDING PLEASE

[Madeleine]

Pudding it is! Best drinking game ever!

[Julian]

Or or or Jell-O shots? ;)

[Elliott]

NO ALCOHOL FOR YOU.

[[deleted user]]

Emmie wrote: "Agreed. But my question with drinking games is, what to drink?"

If you want to be healthy, you could always go for water, lol. But I find that rootbeer or sprite shots can be quite fun.

[Madeleine]

I'm a coca-cola lady myself. I can't drink. I'm out-of-control enough while sober.

[Elliott]

Maddie wrote: "I'm a coca-cola lady myself. I can't drink. I'm out-of-control enough while sober."

*high fives* That is my main reason for avoiding drinking.

[Julian]

Lav wrote: "NO ALCOHOL FOR YOU."

Who said anything about alcohol?

[Julian]

I WANNA TRY TO MAKE JELLO SHOTS WITH SODA APPARENTLY YOU CAN DO THAT

[Elliott]

DUDE THAT'D BE SUPER COOL. If you figure it out, hook me up with a recipe.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

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[EJ]

^ That's seriously almost what I wrote on my health project the other day before I realized how stupid I sounded. So I changed it to something along the lines of "I don't want to rely on substances to be happy" or something.

Admittedly though, jell-o soda shots do sound pretty cool. Although I've never really liked soda.

[Madeleine]

Everyone in my school thinks I'm on crack anyway, so no one offers at this point.

[Amreen]

I just read The Truth About Forever but it was the first one I've read by Sarah Dessen so I think I'm only going to read 2 more (thinking Just Listen and Keeping The Moon) if there all basically the same idea in different variations because I mean that gets super boring.