Sweet Valley High #2 - Reissue

[desertvixen]

So, I picked up the second one, Secrets.  This one originally dealt with how ,secrets from the past can cause trouble.  Enid Rollins, Elizabeth's best friend, has a past record of doing drugs and being delinquent, but has cleaned up her act.  No one at SVH knows until she confides in Liz.  Now that the world has been re-established, this one goes more into people.

1. The device has been changed from letters to emails, but the device loses a little.  In the original (it's packed up), one of the letters fell behind a desk or something.  In this one, Liz has the emails in a folder on her desktop, and leaves her computer on standby.  Despite the fact that she refers to her twin as "eternally two-faced".  It's hard to believe that Liz wouldn't have it locked down with a password.

2. More things have been updated - the drugs are E (ecstasy) and pot, there are way more "current" references: Heroes, describing someone as "tall blond and Abercrombie hot", refs to A&F, Juicy Couture, Maxim, Prince William, Shakira, 24.

3. A lot of the characters seem more malicious, especially the gossipy people. 

4. They've upped the crunchy factor on Olivia Davidson, "Oh My Goddess" (ha ha, people).

5. Winston Egbert is treated much more nastily.  Maybe it's my own filter, but Winston always came across as the goofy but lovable guy, maybe a beanpole, but very likable.  In the original (as in the remake), he's had a crush on Jessica forever.  In the original, she found it embarrasing but occasionally useful.  In the remake, she comments on his halitosis and gets all creeped out by him.  It turned me off, personally.  Jessica is not as likable in the remake.  Liz has more backbone, finally, but Jessica seems bitchier.

6. One of the nasty tricks is updated to Photoshopping someone's head on a porno pick.

7. A HS website listing all student emails?  A HS giving students email accounts?  is this realistic?  We had them, but I went to a special tech-oriented HS.

Still readable, but definitely oriented at teens, not tweens, I would say.

Comments

[darksakura.livejournal.com]

I know this is OT for SVH, but I know you like Nancy Drew, and there were two of the 80s books I had and can't remember the names of, but one is where she pretended to be an opera singer, and the other...something about being in a car underwater.

Sound familiar?

[betray802.livejournal.com]

If I had Jessica for a sister, the Pentagon wouldn't be able to get into my laptop.

I have an SVH upstairs, in which the twins' cousin Kelly comes to visit. She's their age, and looks so much alike that she pretty much turns twins into triplets. You *have to* read the pages where they dress alike to see which girl is wearing what colored T-shirt when they go out deliberately trying to blow Jess & Liz's friends' minds. Because that's the cover picture; it's very Patty Duke Show.

The premise, IIRC, is that Kelly is staying with the Wakefields so her mother can get her away from the abusive father. Unfortunately, Kelly meets SVH's abusive jerk, even though both Liz *and* Jess warn her away from the guy. She's also in denial about her father's abuse.

Another one I have involves an Asian-American girl wanting to be a dancer, which her tradition-minded father refuses.

I'm almost afraid to find out how those two will be updated.

But a Jeep, hey. Now Liz won't have to complain that Jess "is so generous with *other* people's laps," when they try to squeeze themselves and Cousin Kelly into the Fiat.

Music of the Moment: Maybe He'll Notice Her Now by Mindy Mcready w/Lonestar's Richie McDonald