Norma Fox Mazer
Norma Fox Mazer passed away 17 October at the age of 78, at her home in Montpelier, Vermont.
I first read her - and her husband's books - through my sister, who had a copy of Silver; it wasn't the sort of book I'd pick up on my own, and at first reading (probably at the age of 13 or so), I was slightly disturbed. By then I'd already read 1984, Flowers in the Attic (and all the other books in the series, as well as the Dawn series and My Sweet Audrina) and Cynthia Voigt's novels, so I'm not sure why Silver should have bothered me at all. Perhaps it was the realism of the book - VC Andrews, especially, was so much of a soap opera that it could hardly count as real, and 1984 felt very adult and political (though the final scene has haunted me to this day). By contrast, Silver was about people my own age, having true-to-life conversations, and the characters felt much more immediate.
Then I read Bright Days, Stupid Nights and I was hooked. Mrs. Fish, Ape, and Me the Dump Queen, Dear Bill, Remember Me?, When We First Met... There are many others I have yet to read; next up on the wishlist is Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers, edited by Judy Blume.
RIP
I first read her - and her husband's books - through my sister, who had a copy of Silver; it wasn't the sort of book I'd pick up on my own, and at first reading (probably at the age of 13 or so), I was slightly disturbed. By then I'd already read 1984, Flowers in the Attic (and all the other books in the series, as well as the Dawn series and My Sweet Audrina) and Cynthia Voigt's novels, so I'm not sure why Silver should have bothered me at all. Perhaps it was the realism of the book - VC Andrews, especially, was so much of a soap opera that it could hardly count as real, and 1984 felt very adult and political (though the final scene has haunted me to this day). By contrast, Silver was about people my own age, having true-to-life conversations, and the characters felt much more immediate.
Then I read Bright Days, Stupid Nights and I was hooked. Mrs. Fish, Ape, and Me the Dump Queen, Dear Bill, Remember Me?, When We First Met... There are many others I have yet to read; next up on the wishlist is Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers, edited by Judy Blume.
RIP
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