CANDY KANE by Janet Lambert

I got to listen to CANDY KANE this summer read by the inimitable Lady Chardonnay as we cut cross country. She is a wonder at reading aloud and before she began she told me that many people she knows consider this one of Lambert's weaker outings. However, she said she loves it because to her it shows how an emotionally abused girl overcomes the expectations of others through her innate kindness. With that in mind, I fell in love with Candy as well.
There was some silliness in the reading - we cussed out Barton for his baby-man shenanigans, we saluted Major Kane every time his rank was mentioned, we bonded over our loathing of Leigh and Marcia. But ultimately we enjoyed this trip into a world where problems can be solved with a permanent wave and some singing talent and where matchmaking is always a good idea.
Last week, when I was rereading this, I annotated my copy with all my opinions about the goings on and someday I may make those amazing insights public. But for now I will talk about those covers. 
Holy cow!
The paperback cover looks downright salacious! Candy looks like a girl on the make. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, she learns a bit how to work those feminine wiles by the end. But our Candy is really a stalwart little soldier with a heart of gold. 
The other two covers are more in keeping with the book. She has her braids and her sensible shoes, but those braids are neat, and she is cute, and she even has the option of two different outfits!
The story is that Candy is the daughter of a successful businessman who gets called up to active duty in the early days of WWII. Her mother is a trophy wife of epic proportion and her older sister is a shallow socialite. 
Candy and her dad move to Georgia to a military post while mom (who is never called mom, but rather Marcia because she is a cold bitch who is obsessed with her beauty) and sis (the less said about her the better) stay home and close up the apartment and farm. 
Candy meets the family next door - warm, loving mom who shows Candy what good parenting looks like, new best friend Anne and whiny mansplaining Barton. 
There is also Cleoretta, the friendly cook/housekeeper and Nana, Candy's childhood nanny who is a source of love, comfort and wisdom.
Candy meets a soldier (with whom she shares NO romantic interest) and fixes him up with the pure-of-hear Jane. When sister Leigh finds out that he is richie-rich-rich she tries to steal him away, but good sense and true love prevail and Candy ends up singing at a talent show and in the process learns how to be more "grown up", alas...
The emotional abuse Candy suffers from her mother is real. There is no love there, only nagging and and real fear. I honestly don't know if Lambert was aware of how vicious Marcia is to her daughter. (Don't worry, in WOAH MATILDA she is a changed lady and things seem to be going well. Barton is the problem in that book. Well, Barton and war...) It is a bit too easy how quickly Marcia begins to appreciate Candy when Candy becomes more feminine and shows a talent for singing. It is really her kindness that makes her worthy of having a book named after her. But, whatever...
I loved this book. I am a Candy fan and I loved having the opportunity to have the book read to me and then go back again and make sure it was just as good as I remember. It was!

GLORY BE! by Janet Lambert

You guys, I have some terrible news... And it is a big old spoiler so stop reading now if you are going to read this for the first time later...

Carol's dad buys the farm. And it isn't the kind of farm buying he did in the last book where he bought an actual farm. He expires. He is an ex-character. It was heartbreaking, but ultimately a better fate than I thought he was lined up for. At one point I really got the feeling that Louisa was going to make a play for hime and I was HORRIFIED! Although a little impressed, way to go all in, Louisa.

But I digress...

The book opens as Penny is turning 18 and she is all angsty about having to start her "career" on the stage. She was a little moody and irritating, but it was actually fascinating how it was a BIG DEAL, a girl having a career. And when you juxtapose that with Carrol saying to David, "Oh, please forget that one of the things that first drew you to me was my desire to get an education and have a career because I have found love with a man now so I don't need that bullshit anymore." Or something like that.

So Penny meets up with Lieutenant Hayes again. When she was 14 or 15 he thought she was a cutie but now that she is 18, his lust is inflamed and he must have her! Well, in a Lamberty way. He plagues her (as they used to say) and she gives back as good as she gets. 

Dad goes to Europe as an observer and I know it is war and this changes EVERYTHING for the Parrishes, like the teenager I inwardly am, it means very little to me. He was a nice fella, but no Carol's dad with his riches and charm. I do love the way the he and Marjie talk about presenting a united front. It is a really loving, if old fashioned, marriage. 

The upside of Dad's dangerous mission is that the rest of the family gets to move to Gladstone - the farm where Carrol and her adorable dad live. Except Bobby who goes to the military school he so richly deserves. 

Penny breaks a date with Michael (I am almost sure he is going to die in the war because somebody has to and we like him but ultimately don't care what happens to him. But I could be wrong) to go out with Lieutenant Hayes.  He has tickets to the new Janice Ware play so Mike is SOL.

SO they go to the play and at one point Terry says, "Pen, you're the first girl I ever knew who had something on her mind besides clothes and lipstick and a line of patter." OUCH! I think Lt. Hayes needs to get out more. But he encourages her to write to Janice Ware and, glory of glories, Janice writes back and invites her for a visit. 

But it all goes to shit when Terry horns in on Penny's big dinner with Janice and she clams up and gets mad a him because he ruins everything and then it gets pointed out that he was trying to help, but it is still kind of manipulative and mansplainy and she gets him back later trying to fix him up with the dreaded Lorraine and that messes up his work life and it's just a big thing with these two trying to control one another and not communicating at all. 

You bet these crazy kids are going to get together someday. And it is a credit to Janet Lambert that even though they are terrible at getting together, I am kind of rooting for them.

Back to Janice Ware - she decides to mentor Penny. Yay!

So then there is the event where Penny decides to fix Terry up with Louise and it is terrible for many reasons. 

First, Louise swans around looking like a vamp and acting all "mature" and I really thought she was setting her cap for my beloved Mr. Houghton. (We find out later it is a Terry's commanding officer and hilarity ensues when she plays Terry off of him. If by hilarity I mean almost screwing up Terry's career.) 

The grossest thing is when Terry comes in and asks Penny, "Got a kiss for Daddy?" Oh, Terry, no... Too close to the truth you cradle robber. Keep that shit out of my head!

So everything is going great at Gladstone and then Langdon Hughes dies. And it's really sad. Lambert does a good job with grief, I'll give her that. And LH sets up the Mr. Parrish as the person to handle his stuff assuring that the families will remain connected. 

Some other stuff happens - Bobby and Tippy FINALLY redeem themselves by giving Carrol their most cherished possessions to help her through her grief - a doll and a knife. Frankly, Bobby, that knife thing could have gone really badly if things had played out differently.

David proposes, she says yes, there is a wedding, blah blah blah...Goodbye Carrol's career!

OH MY GOSH - the most horrifying thing in the whole book is in the chapter when Carrol and David get engaged. They have a picnic and Carrol is cleaning up "she stuffed the papers and her cup into the sack and whisked through her housekeeping by TOSSING THE SACK INTO THE RIVER!!!" (caps and exclamation points, my own) This girl is a litter bug of the highest order. Alas, it was the times... 

Penny and Terry have a feud. Whatevs... Then David graduates and Carrol pulls herself out of her sadness like a champ and goes through the ceremony and dance and Mr. Parrish shows up 2 seconds before David gets his diploma and then the wedding...

And it closes with Trudy saying wise things in offensive dialect and I tell you I am dreading MISS TIPPY...

So we close the book on the Parrish family for awhile. I am currently re-reading CANDY KANE and WOAH MATILDA is about Candy, too. But I know Penny and Tippy and the gang will be back and I can't wait to see them!

DREAMS OF GLORY by Janet Lambert

First of all, if this is what the cover is supposed to look like, mine is VERY faded!

Well, I still love Penny Parrish. I truly thought she would be annoying by now, but I just adore her. She is a little flighty, but she is so good-hearted and kind, but she has backbone too. She will cut a bitch if she needs to, Lousie!

So the premise her is the that Parrish family has moved (conveniently) to West Point where eldest son David is a plebe. There is a LOT of West Point jargon here that I didn't necessarily get. (Although the lighthearted look at hazing was bonkers.) But I did get the gist and danged if it didn't make me want to visit the Point again.

(I went to a wedding there when I was in high school and I remember it being rather fancy - they had real wine for communion! What kind of protestants put up with that nonsense, I ask you??)

Carroll's dad has bought a farm (mansion) nearby and the girls have a grand time there. She is in school in New York, and Penny goes down to visit. At one point there is some nonsense with a football game and people just missing each other and Penny meets a famous actress, spends the day in a theater watching her play and then goes out and meets a bunch of movie stars. You know, as one does.

There are dates and dances and misunderstandings and David goes blind from studying too hard. (Let that be a lesson to you - take it easy on the studying!) There is a chaste kiss at the end and it is HOT STUFF! (Just kidding, but it is sweet and romantic and adorable.)

There are still black characters talking in dialect, and every time it happens I feel that sound of a needle scraping across an album, taking me out of the happiness of the book.  There is some very pointed anti-communist talk that firmly sets this in it's time. But other than that, I barely took any notes on this because I was just enjoying it as a read. There was one stupid section that featured the abhorrent Tippy and dreadful Bobby - but other than that it was charming.

There was a nice section where Carroll's dad (who I think is HOT!) and Penny are talking about how small everyone looks from the New York penthouse balcony and Langdon Houghton says "We are quite little people when we get down into it. But each one of us is important. Without us [the world] couldn't be so big." and Penny says how strange it is that everyone has a life of their own. And for some reason this just stuck with me. I sometimes look at people in wonder that they see the world as their story, just the way I see it as mine. (I mean, predominantly, not in like a completely self-obsessed way.)

It made me appreciate that a happy story like this can have an impact and that everyone's story has value and that sort of thing. It made me thinkier than I expected. That is all.

On to GLORY BE which looks like it might have a plot twist or two. Will Louise wind up in the penitentiary? Will Dick be kicked out of the Point? One can only hope...