Nobody's Family Is Going To Change (1986) - Plot & Excerpts
4 and 1/2 stars (Not 5 only because I can't bear to give it as many stars as I did "Harriet the Spy")I can't count how many times I read Fitzhugh's "Harriet the Spy" when I was a child and yet I didn't come across any of her other books then. I'd never heard of this one until I deciphered the clues in Lemony Snicket's Who Could That Be At This Hour? and it's no wonder Lemony loved this book -- it even has a secret organization integral to the plot.Books like these were filed under Y (for Youth), not J (for Juvenile), at my local library when I was a kid. I'm not sure when the YA label came into existence, but this would fall under that category. Perhaps the YA label is more recent, but anyone who thinks the YA genre was invented fairly recently, need only look to the "Y" novels of the early 1970s, where there was no 'political correctness,' with a smattering of words that kids knew and said no matter what their parents thought. And if these kids weren't familiar with the topics, if they were sheltered, as I was to a certain extent, their themes prepared me for a wider world that I encountered as soon as I got just a little bit older. This book would've fallen into that category for me if I'd encountered it at the 'right' time, and one I remember that did do that was Kerr's Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! (which came out just a few years before this one) with its drug references (but no drug use). I remember being nervous about carrying it around because of its title, but I worried for nothing. I don't think my parents had a clue at the time as to what it meant, as neither did I before reading it.This novel encompasses such a lot in such a relatively short amount of pages, it's amazing, and Fitzhugh does it with sympathy and humor. The dialogue among the family members had me chuckling and almost crying, sometimes within the space of a few paragraphs. One can only feel how strong the main character (an 11-year-old girl) has to be and will be beyond the pages of this story. Perhaps the gender issues aren't exactly the same now as when the novel was written, but how to cope when one feels a parent doesn't accept who you are--and never will--is.
I won't say this is one of the best books I've ever read, but I do think it is a great book for people -- especially young people -- who have basic philosophical differences with members of their families to read. Eleven-year-old Emma wants to be a lawyer. Unfortunately for her, it's 1974, and her father isn't having any of it. Nor is he willing to allow Emma's seven-year-old brother Willie to pursue his interest in dancing. Their mother, though she sympathises with her children, does not take them very seriously, and often seems unwilling to stand up to her husband. A great deal of verbal head-butting takes place before Emma has the epiphany from which this book takes its title. She realises that she can no more change her parents than they can force her and Willie to think the way they do. With this realisation comes a certain feeling of liberation, if not joy. I enjoyed the realism of the characters and their relationships to one another, given their time, place, and background. I understand where the father is coming from, and why he feels the way he does, even as I want to scream in frustration at him along with Emma and Willie. As for Emma herself, there are certain aspects of her relationship with her brother that I found troubling. He is much younger and much smaller than she is, and her actions towards him at times border on the physically abusive and emotionally indifferent. I do, however, like the fact that she is completely unapologetic or ashamed about her weight, or the fact that she loves to eat, and I enjoyed the little courtroom drama fantasies that took place in her head from time to time. Also, I think it's great that Emma is not shy about calling herself a feminist. Not your typical happily-ever-after YA novel, but one I think a lot of people could take comfort from.
What do You think about Nobody's Family Is Going To Change (1986)?
Yep. I only caught the first 20 minutes of the show, but the excerpt from the book sounded unlike anything I've read before. Let's form an action committee to solve our families problems. Is this serious? Anyway, my interest was piqued. I'm going to the live show they are broadcasting to movie theaters. Broads don't belong in broadcasting...
—dirt
Mostly this book was middle of the road good for me - I probably would have liked it more when I was a kid, because I use to get lost of Louise Fitzhugh in a major way that I can't really replicate as an adult. But this book has one of the greatest all time moments/ends/messages. Spoiler alert: NOBODY'S FAMILY IS GOING TO CHANGE. ! Part of me wonders if I'd read this at age 10, or whatever, my whole life would be different, but another part of me thinks probably that would have been true for maybe a week and then, you know how things get. But! I can't! It's like the most empowering thing EVER, and I hate saying empowering because it makes me think of idiots, but I am serious about this one. ! Nobody's family is going to change! The secret to happiness is right here, folks.
—Roxanne
This is a book that every kid should read, perhaps without the knowledge of their parents. Its message is a startling one to find in a bildungsroman (of realistic, unsensational fiction) aimed at a preteen audience, because it is a harsh one. Sometimes the most brutal reads are where the things that happen are mundane in summary, on paper.Fitzhugh does an incredible job with her characters. The Sheridan family is honestly depicted, warts and all. There is real, eleven-year-old rage (Emma the protagonist, with her numerous and varied murderous indignations), and there is real, seven-year-old despair (Willie at the prospect of No More Dancing). There is a bad guy, but the bad guy is a father who is a hardworking professional who had a terrible childhood, wants what he thinks is best for his kids, and has his own baggage regarding institutionalized racism. He is also a manipulative, domineering, misogynist jerk with a guilt-tripping habit and a lame temper. But Fitzhugh especially nails Emma's voice, crucial to making her realization by the end of the book (see title) poignant, despite all the banal brutality. Truthful, unsentimental, and deeply perceptive.
—Janey
