The main thing that caught my eye when trying to decide if I was going to read 32 Candles or not is Davie’s love of the movie Sixteen Candles. That fact instantly sold me on reading the book. Like Davie, I love Sixteen Candles and like every girl who watched that movie, I wanted my very own Jake Ryan. Who didn’t dream about catching the eye of the most popular boy in school and sitting on a table with a birthday cake in the middle and experiencing your very first kiss with your dream guy? I know I did. I replayed that final scene over and over in my head after I watched Sixteen Candles the very first time. Like Davie, I think every girl who grew up in the 80s wanted their life to have a Molly Ringwald ending.Davidia Jones is dark-skinned and ugly. She started living with her mother, Cora, when she was 5. Cora is a drunk and the town whore. She is also abusive and negligent. When Cora, beats her for pretending to be Tina Turner and wearing her red high-heeled shoes, Davidia stops talking. At first, it’s weird for everyone that Davidia just all of a sudden stopped talking. But as she gets older, everyone accepts it as part of who Davidia is. Not only is Davidia the girl who doesn’t talk but she’s also teased because of her dark skin and nappy hair. The kids call her Monkey Night; the name sticks and she’s no longer referred to as Davidia. Things change once Davidia is in high school and she starts crushing on new student James Farrell. Could he be the key to her Molly Ringwald ending? But in typical John Hughes movie fashion, a cruel prank is played on Davidia and she runs away from Glass, MS determined to never return.I read 32 Candles while on the road for a 9 hour drive to Detroit. I never read while in the car, but to help pass the time, I started reading 32 Candles. I could not put it down. The story is told from Davie’s POV and from page 1, you sympathize with her character. I love how she escapes from her unhappy home life by watching John Hughes movies. Thanks to those movies, Davie believes that happy endings are possible. When Davie ends up in Los Angeles, her transformation truly begins. Davidia “Monkey Night” Jones becomes Davie Jones, a beautiful, confident singer. With this transformation, I knew that she would have to run into her “Jake Ryan” eventually. It wouldn’t be a John Hughes-esque story if she didn’t run into the boy she crushed on back in high school so that he could see the new and improved Davie Jones.I thoroughly enjoyed reading 32 Candles. Davie’s character is relatable and sympathetic. At one point when you think Davie has moved on from what happened to her in her past, she does something that totally shocks me. At that point, my sympathy for her waned and I couldn’t believe she did what she did. I know there’s a need to get revenge on those who wronged you but I thought, or least it appeared, that Davie had moved on and had let the hurt and the hatred go. Wrong! She truly crossed the line and even though she makes amends eventually, I couldn’t fully get back on board with Davie’s character. What she did make her no better than the kids that called her Monkey Night.32 Candles is a story that will have you rooting for Davie from start to finish. Some aspects of the story felt rushed and the resolution was too quick and pat. I wanted more when Davie returns to Glass and confronts her mother. That conversation was long overdue and felt that it was not fully fleshed out. For such a messy mother-daughter relationship, the face-off was too neat. I also felt that James and Davie’s romance progressed from dating to love really fast. They hadn’t seen each other in almost 15 years. James doesn’t even remember Davie from high school. Davie is pretty much a bitch towards James during their first couple of dates. I could never figure out what James saw in her. I could understand her attraction but couldn’t quite grasp what he saw in her.32 Candles is a story about never giving up. Davie could have easily let life continue to beat her down but she didn't. Thanks to surrounding herself with people who wouldn't let life get her down, Davie pulled herself up. Although she stumbles along the way to finding herself and leaving Monkey Night behind, Davie manages to get her Molly Ringwald ending -- at least, we hope so.A-
