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My Darling, My Hamburger
Four friends,
Two couples,
One year that will change their lives.
Liz and Sean, both beautiful and popular, are madly in love and completely misunderstood by their parents. Their best friends, Maggie and Dennis, are shy and awkward, but willing to take the first tentative steps toward a romance of their own. Yet before either couple can enjoy true happiness, life conspires against them, threatening to destroy their friendships completely.
Two couples,
One year that will change their lives.
Liz and Sean, both beautiful and popular, are madly in love and completely misunderstood by their parents. Their best friends, Maggie and Dennis, are shy and awkward, but willing to take the first tentative steps toward a romance of their own. Yet before either couple can enjoy true happiness, life conspires against them, threatening to destroy their friendships completely.
163 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
About the author
Paul Zindel
90 books295 followersPaul Zindel was an American author, playwright and educator.
In 1964, he wrote The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, his first and most successful play. The play ran off-Broadway in 1970, and on Broadway in 1971. It won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was also made into a 1972 movie by 20th Century Fox. Charlotte Zolotow, then a vice-president at Harper & Row (now Harper-Collins) contacted him to writing for her book label. Zindel wrote 39 books, all of them aimed at children or young adults. Many of these were set in his home town of Staten Island, New York. They tended to be semi-autobiographical, focusing on teenage misfits with abusive or neglectful parents. Despite the often dark subject matter of his books, which deal with loneliness, loss, and the effects of abuse, they are also filled with humor. Many of his novels have wacky titles, such as My Darling, My Hamburger, or Confessions of A Teenage Baboon.
The Pigman, first published in 1968, is widely taught in American schools, and also made it on to the list of most frequently banned books in America in the 1990s, because of what some deem offensive language.
In 1964, he wrote The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, his first and most successful play. The play ran off-Broadway in 1970, and on Broadway in 1971. It won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was also made into a 1972 movie by 20th Century Fox. Charlotte Zolotow, then a vice-president at Harper & Row (now Harper-Collins) contacted him to writing for her book label. Zindel wrote 39 books, all of them aimed at children or young adults. Many of these were set in his home town of Staten Island, New York. They tended to be semi-autobiographical, focusing on teenage misfits with abusive or neglectful parents. Despite the often dark subject matter of his books, which deal with loneliness, loss, and the effects of abuse, they are also filled with humor. Many of his novels have wacky titles, such as My Darling, My Hamburger, or Confessions of A Teenage Baboon.
The Pigman, first published in 1968, is widely taught in American schools, and also made it on to the list of most frequently banned books in America in the 1990s, because of what some deem offensive language.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 174 reviews
July 3, 2020
“The speeches! They were filled with borrowed things--borrowed over and over again until the words were nothing more than a series of clichés.”
― Paul Zindel, My Darling, My Hamburger
A favorite from childhood. Review to follow.
I heard from someone that Paul Zindel commented on how he did not write good books in the time period this came out.
I cannot confirm he said this. I hope he didn't.
He needs a reality check if he did.
It is difficult to explain how much this book meant to me and how beloved it is to a great deal of readers. I am not sure any writer has so accurately portrayed teenagers and that is the beauty in this little gem of a book.
It isn't happy. It is bitingly cynical, brutal in its tragedy and seamless in getting into the heads of the four individuals in this story.
It covers some pretty heavy subjects..suicide, abortion, sex, dating in general, friendship..all the things teens worry about.
It is a capsule in time. I often wonder about Liz and Sean and Maggie and Dennis.
I was in Elementary school when I first read this book. Actually I did not read it. A family member who was big into theater did an oral reading for myself and my whole family. I fell in love with the book then and have reread many times since.
So as for Paul Zindel....he wrote a masterpiece. A masterpiece of feeling and bittersweet pain, the kind that we all feel as teens. A book of loneliness, alienation and yearning. A book that stands as a gr eat novel and a classic that should be read by any constant reader who favors the Literary Young Adult novel. You won't get happily ever after but you will get a book that may resonate deeply and one you will never forget.
― Paul Zindel, My Darling, My Hamburger
A favorite from childhood. Review to follow.
I heard from someone that Paul Zindel commented on how he did not write good books in the time period this came out.
I cannot confirm he said this. I hope he didn't.
He needs a reality check if he did.
It is difficult to explain how much this book meant to me and how beloved it is to a great deal of readers. I am not sure any writer has so accurately portrayed teenagers and that is the beauty in this little gem of a book.
It isn't happy. It is bitingly cynical, brutal in its tragedy and seamless in getting into the heads of the four individuals in this story.
It covers some pretty heavy subjects..suicide, abortion, sex, dating in general, friendship..all the things teens worry about.
It is a capsule in time. I often wonder about Liz and Sean and Maggie and Dennis.
I was in Elementary school when I first read this book. Actually I did not read it. A family member who was big into theater did an oral reading for myself and my whole family. I fell in love with the book then and have reread many times since.
So as for Paul Zindel....he wrote a masterpiece. A masterpiece of feeling and bittersweet pain, the kind that we all feel as teens. A book of loneliness, alienation and yearning. A book that stands as a gr eat novel and a classic that should be read by any constant reader who favors the Literary Young Adult novel. You won't get happily ever after but you will get a book that may resonate deeply and one you will never forget.
June 8, 2016
Liz assuring boyfriend Sean of her homemaking skills: "I can cook and wash clothes."
Read
March 14, 2008Oh, this booked soothed my adolescent soul! I just love Paul Zindel...all of his books are so quirky and warmhearted. Can I get an Amen?
June 24, 2020
I don't know if any author has ever more poignantly or perceptively captured the essence of what it means to be a teenager than Paul Zindel has done in My Darling, My Hamburger. The specific crisis situation that this book revolves around perfectly recreates the atmosphere that many teenagers nearing graduation from high school face in their own personal ways, the feeling that all of the sudden their life has started to move a little bit too quickly after seeming to have traveled at a snail's crawl up until then, and they're scared of what's coming next and not at all sure how to make the right decisions as a long series of life-altering choices suddenly swoop down and demand to be made right now. Sure, some of those decisions could be seen coming by the student with good foresight, but how easy is it to be lulled into the false sense of security of thinking that you have forever at your disposal to decide the course of your life when you're still inside the safe walls of the primary school domain? When faced all of the sudden with the "real world", it can feel as if no choice is right, and everything you do is only going to get you in deeper. That's the feeling of helplessness that My Darling, My Hamburger captures to such sobering perfection. It's a feeling that I know assaults many teenagers when they find themselves on the brink of legal adulthood. What can you do when you're not ready for your own life? What remedy is available when it feels as if your future is wrecked before your dreams can ever even get off the ground?
Two senior couples, Sean and Liz and Dennis and Maggie, are the focus of the book as it begins. Sean has become bold in pushing the boundaries of physical intimacy, and Liz isn't afraid to push back, which has created some hostility between the two in recent days. Sean can't understand why Liz clings so stubbornly to the belief that he won't respect her in the same way if they give in to their carnal desires; he loves her and she loves him, so why not take their relationship to the next level and see how far they really might be able to go together? Liz finds her own reluctance to grant Sean's request for intimacy a difficult stance to articulate. She does believe that he loves her and vice versa, but she knows that if they cross that line before a permanent commitment is made, then he's not going to have the same respect for her; he just won't. Liz doesn't want to antagonize Sean but she sees no other way to maintain her personal dignity, and Sean's unrest grows with each time that she politely refuses his advances.
Maggie and Dennis, the other main couple of the book, are just beginning their relationship, and neither knows how far they want it to go. Dennis has issues with insecurity over what he considers to be a lack of handsomeness on his own part, but like anyone else he wants to be in a relationship. Maggie, for her part, isn't sure if Dennis is the right one for her. A series of planned dates with Dennis that Maggie has to call off at the last minute in order to help Liz—who happens to be her best friend—out of some tough situations, stirs up Dennis's unhappiness, and his deeper issues of insecurity about his physical appearance flare up and form a barrier between himself and Maggie. Why is it, he wonders, that his unattractiveness cuts him off from the chance to experience normal happiness in the world? Why does this same problem keep knocking him down again and again?
Shortly before graduation, Liz reveals to Maggie the shocking secret she has known about for the last two months. It will rock their future plans and change their lives forever, and nothing will be the same when Liz makes an enormous decision that will affect everyone involved in the deepest way possible.
I don't want to talk much more about the specific issues that are brought up in this book, so as to guard against spoiling the plot for future readers, but I do want to say that the subtlety of this story's emotional undertow is incredible. My Darling, My Hamburger feels way more like real life than it does like a fictional story. Not everything becomes resolved by the end of the book—not by a long shot—and the deconstruction of the feelings of immortality of the four main characters as they begin to realize that their personal Shangri-La of high school life is not as impenetrable as it had seemed is masterfully and honestly written, showing all the nuanced work of a prodigious painter. This is the kind of book that one reads and emotionally identifies with so closely that it's a challenge to describe exactly why it's so moving. One only knows that it is, and that the experience of reading the book is a uniquely special one. I would give three and a half stars to My Darling, My Hamburger.
Two senior couples, Sean and Liz and Dennis and Maggie, are the focus of the book as it begins. Sean has become bold in pushing the boundaries of physical intimacy, and Liz isn't afraid to push back, which has created some hostility between the two in recent days. Sean can't understand why Liz clings so stubbornly to the belief that he won't respect her in the same way if they give in to their carnal desires; he loves her and she loves him, so why not take their relationship to the next level and see how far they really might be able to go together? Liz finds her own reluctance to grant Sean's request for intimacy a difficult stance to articulate. She does believe that he loves her and vice versa, but she knows that if they cross that line before a permanent commitment is made, then he's not going to have the same respect for her; he just won't. Liz doesn't want to antagonize Sean but she sees no other way to maintain her personal dignity, and Sean's unrest grows with each time that she politely refuses his advances.
Maggie and Dennis, the other main couple of the book, are just beginning their relationship, and neither knows how far they want it to go. Dennis has issues with insecurity over what he considers to be a lack of handsomeness on his own part, but like anyone else he wants to be in a relationship. Maggie, for her part, isn't sure if Dennis is the right one for her. A series of planned dates with Dennis that Maggie has to call off at the last minute in order to help Liz—who happens to be her best friend—out of some tough situations, stirs up Dennis's unhappiness, and his deeper issues of insecurity about his physical appearance flare up and form a barrier between himself and Maggie. Why is it, he wonders, that his unattractiveness cuts him off from the chance to experience normal happiness in the world? Why does this same problem keep knocking him down again and again?
Shortly before graduation, Liz reveals to Maggie the shocking secret she has known about for the last two months. It will rock their future plans and change their lives forever, and nothing will be the same when Liz makes an enormous decision that will affect everyone involved in the deepest way possible.
I don't want to talk much more about the specific issues that are brought up in this book, so as to guard against spoiling the plot for future readers, but I do want to say that the subtlety of this story's emotional undertow is incredible. My Darling, My Hamburger feels way more like real life than it does like a fictional story. Not everything becomes resolved by the end of the book—not by a long shot—and the deconstruction of the feelings of immortality of the four main characters as they begin to realize that their personal Shangri-La of high school life is not as impenetrable as it had seemed is masterfully and honestly written, showing all the nuanced work of a prodigious painter. This is the kind of book that one reads and emotionally identifies with so closely that it's a challenge to describe exactly why it's so moving. One only knows that it is, and that the experience of reading the book is a uniquely special one. I would give three and a half stars to My Darling, My Hamburger.
April 13, 2011
I read this when I was a kid & would have given it 4 stars then. I liked it much more then but I still think the same things about the characters now as I did then. Liz is an idiot, her boyfriend's a jerk, Maggie needs to get it together & know her worth, & the guy she goes on a date with was ok. Reading this a s a kid I was alot more sympathetic to Liz going through the whole abortion ordeal. Reading this now I'm impressed & surprised that Paul Zindel wrote a book that dealt with sex & abortion & birth control & all that jazz way back in 1969. Kudos to Mr. Zindel for doing that.
April 17, 2010
Somehow I missed this book when I was growing up, and I don't really know how frankly.
This is the story of two best friends, seniors in high school, Liz and Maggie. Liz is glamorous and beautiful and has a boyfriend, Sean. Maggie isn't as pulled together, is a little more bookish and reserved. Liz sets her up with Dennis, a friend of Sean's. As Maggie starts feeling a little more confident and her relationship with Dennis gets off the ground, Liz starts to spiral out of control. Her bad home life with her controlling,mean step-father and non-entity mother pushes her into getting more involved with Sean, until she's in trouble.
It's amazing how Mr. Zindel was able to get into the heads of two teenage girls so accurately. While in some ways this book does have some Afterschool Special themes and lessons (which I normally don't like), it does handle it fairly, not manipulatively. And the ending was realistic. I think most readers will identify with Maggie. She was a very good friend. While initially she was the lucky one, to have a beautiful popular girl be her friend, in the end she was a better friend to Liz, even with the consequences. That's the true lesson (not the potential bad consequences of sex, which superficially seems to be the lesson) of this novel,and that's what I just loved about it. In our lives, we will be in situations with friends where we have to make choices, and Maggie proves a good model to all young women.
This is the story of two best friends, seniors in high school, Liz and Maggie. Liz is glamorous and beautiful and has a boyfriend, Sean. Maggie isn't as pulled together, is a little more bookish and reserved. Liz sets her up with Dennis, a friend of Sean's. As Maggie starts feeling a little more confident and her relationship with Dennis gets off the ground, Liz starts to spiral out of control. Her bad home life with her controlling,mean step-father and non-entity mother pushes her into getting more involved with Sean, until she's in trouble.
It's amazing how Mr. Zindel was able to get into the heads of two teenage girls so accurately. While in some ways this book does have some Afterschool Special themes and lessons (which I normally don't like), it does handle it fairly, not manipulatively. And the ending was realistic. I think most readers will identify with Maggie. She was a very good friend. While initially she was the lucky one, to have a beautiful popular girl be her friend, in the end she was a better friend to Liz, even with the consequences. That's the true lesson (not the potential bad consequences of sex, which superficially seems to be the lesson) of this novel,and that's what I just loved about it. In our lives, we will be in situations with friends where we have to make choices, and Maggie proves a good model to all young women.
February 12, 2024
An unexpected win for me! I borrowed this from my friend solely because of the funny title. It was short and I thought, what’s the harm in reading it?
At first I thought it was just gonna be a silly time, but I ended up being rather invested.
Not only is it classically teenage, it’s also funny, bittersweet, and touches on quite a few serious topics such as self-loathing, insecurities, suicide, abortion, etc.
I was truly transported to 1968 (1969, maybe?) and I FELT those teenage feelings we all know too well. There were many perceptive passages that actually struck my soul.
The characters were believable and I was genuinely interested in their lives. Plus, the ending was good. I was expecting a classic, wholesome wrap-up, but what I got was even better.
BEING A TEENAGER IS DIFFICULT!
At first I thought it was just gonna be a silly time, but I ended up being rather invested.
Not only is it classically teenage, it’s also funny, bittersweet, and touches on quite a few serious topics such as self-loathing, insecurities, suicide, abortion, etc.
I was truly transported to 1968 (1969, maybe?) and I FELT those teenage feelings we all know too well. There were many perceptive passages that actually struck my soul.
The characters were believable and I was genuinely interested in their lives. Plus, the ending was good. I was expecting a classic, wholesome wrap-up, but what I got was even better.
BEING A TEENAGER IS DIFFICULT!
October 30, 2013
I enjoyed "My Darling, My Hamburger" by Paul Zindel, because I could relate to the characters. All of the characters are teenagers or very young adults. In this book, Liz is an average girl who falls for an average boy, Sean. The two have many problems in common, leading to their love for eachother. They take their romance too far, and Liz becomes pregnant. Liz's friend, Maggie, is there for her with whatever decision she makes. Sean and Liz talked about moving away, having the baby, and getting an apartment. At last second, Sean hands Liz money for her to get an abortion. Liz saves herself and does so. While Liz is having troubles with Sean, Maggie is having troubles with Sean's friend, Dennis.
The book is told in third person. Each character is described in detail, which gives you a mental image, and creates an idea for their personalities. Liz is faced with a major life changing event that she doesn't know how to handle. Her attitude is care-free, yet she knows her surroundings very well. Liz's friend, Maggie, is self-conscious. Maggie is always worrying what her boyfriend, Dennis, is thinking of her. Dennis is Sean's best friend, who thinks of himself as ugly. Each character has their own flaw in themselves.
"My Darling, My Hamburger" takes place in a small town. The setting is important, because the events that take place have an effect of the story. Liz has troubles at home communicating with her parents, as does Sean. This makes it difficult for Liz to get help with her pregnancy. Sean can't get advice from his father. At school, Liz doesn't go to the dances with Maggie and Dennis, because she tries to save her money for an abortion. Many issues of today with abortions and teens relate to this book.
The main theme of "My Darling, My Hamburger" is sex and the consequences. Liz struggles with deciding on what to do with her pregnancy, and making the right decision for everyone involved.
I would recommend this book to young adults. "My Darling, My Hamburger" does not have graphic details about sex, or anything of that nature. This book could relate to many young adults. It gives a different view-point about making the right decision. I enjoyed reading "My Darling, My Hamburger."
The book is told in third person. Each character is described in detail, which gives you a mental image, and creates an idea for their personalities. Liz is faced with a major life changing event that she doesn't know how to handle. Her attitude is care-free, yet she knows her surroundings very well. Liz's friend, Maggie, is self-conscious. Maggie is always worrying what her boyfriend, Dennis, is thinking of her. Dennis is Sean's best friend, who thinks of himself as ugly. Each character has their own flaw in themselves.
"My Darling, My Hamburger" takes place in a small town. The setting is important, because the events that take place have an effect of the story. Liz has troubles at home communicating with her parents, as does Sean. This makes it difficult for Liz to get help with her pregnancy. Sean can't get advice from his father. At school, Liz doesn't go to the dances with Maggie and Dennis, because she tries to save her money for an abortion. Many issues of today with abortions and teens relate to this book.
The main theme of "My Darling, My Hamburger" is sex and the consequences. Liz struggles with deciding on what to do with her pregnancy, and making the right decision for everyone involved.
I would recommend this book to young adults. "My Darling, My Hamburger" does not have graphic details about sex, or anything of that nature. This book could relate to many young adults. It gives a different view-point about making the right decision. I enjoyed reading "My Darling, My Hamburger."
June 24, 2008
In preparation for the course on Young Adult library users I am taking this summer, I started reading Jezebel's "Fine Lines" column, and this book was featured at one point. I've never read Zindel, despite a hefty appetite for this kind of junk.
This book could not be written today. Zindel writes so expertly about the ambivalence that kids feel - towards relationships, towards themselves - and a confusion that is so real. I hope more YA authors today will be inspired by Zindel, and write more honest tales that aren't so concerned with what the character is wearing and where they are shopping.
This book could not be written today. Zindel writes so expertly about the ambivalence that kids feel - towards relationships, towards themselves - and a confusion that is so real. I hope more YA authors today will be inspired by Zindel, and write more honest tales that aren't so concerned with what the character is wearing and where they are shopping.
May 15, 2013
I must be an idiot or something because I did not find this book charming like everyone else. Yes there was teen angst that we can all relate to but it all revolved around sex. The entire story does.
I could not relate to any of the characters or feel compassion for any of them. They started out flat and ended flat. The book takes over the course of a school year, but there were no changes in them.
Then ending was awkward and left a lot of unanswered questions. While I realize that life may not make sense all the time and the author was trying to show that, too many questions were left hanging in the air.
I do not recommend this book.
I could not relate to any of the characters or feel compassion for any of them. They started out flat and ended flat. The book takes over the course of a school year, but there were no changes in them.
Then ending was awkward and left a lot of unanswered questions. While I realize that life may not make sense all the time and the author was trying to show that, too many questions were left hanging in the air.
I do not recommend this book.
August 24, 2020
I was honestly horrified by this book. I didn't think the representations of teenage characters were accurate at all, nor were the characters well-developed or written in a way that made sense. The thing that really got me, however, was the implication that a girl is obligated to satisfy her boyfriend sexually under all circumstances and that he reserves the right to be angry and persuasive if she doesn't. I'm so upset that this is the sort of thing marketed towards actual teenagers. It's very scary to think that this is the example they're seeing.
June 3, 2015
I found a copy online, because all I remembered from my youth was the title, and I wanted to read or re-read it after all these years. It's very well-written, painfully true to life, and in the end, rather devastating.
July 4, 2015
Really liked it when I read it back in the seventies at the appropriate age to be able to really identify with the characters and their issues. It's a good "coming-of-age" book and I think it has a timelessness about it that will lend it to modern day YA must-reads.
February 15, 2010
Favorite book from high school. Led Paul Zindel to be my favorite YA author.
June 17, 2011
great story about the complexities of love and relationships in the teenage years
November 28, 2022
i was not the target audience for this
December 21, 2023
I didn’t read a lot of young adult novels. Went pretty rapidly from children’s books to adult books but in the brief time I read them I think this was my very favorite one.
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October 27, 2022Here's a book I've forgotten everything about except its title. And based on this review I wrote for my Young Adult Lit class in 1990, there's not much memorable about it. I do remember this, though: back in the '70s when this teenage abortion book was a big deal in American junior highs, angry parents didn't get worked into a lather about what their kids were reading and act like total asses at school board meetings, threatening to have school librarians arrested. So, how's about you neo-fascist fuckups in Moms for Liberty and the Proud Boys and whatever else, stop worrying about the books in your kids' school libraries and start thinking harder about what anti-American douchebags you are.
+++++++++++++++
Liz and Sean and Maggie and Dennis are the two high school couples in Paul Zindel's novel about teenage pregnancy and abortion, My Darling, My Hamburger. Liz and Sean are the glamorous pair; Maggie and Dennis are the dorky couple. The novel tells the story of these two relationships though the course of the characters' senior year in high school. Liz and Sean begin have sex which ultimately leads to Liz becoming pregnant. They initially decide to get married and have the child, but after Sean has a roundabout conversation with his father about teenage pregnancy, he changes his mind and tells Liz that he won't marry her. Liz has an abortion, which is arranged at a doctor's house (this being 1969 and pre-Roe versus Wade.) When Liz starts bleeding later, Maggie panics and tells Liz's parents, which ends their friendship. The novel concludes with graduation, and with Maggie saying goodbye to Dennis.
My Darling, My Hamburger doesn't really measure up to the success of Zindel's earlier The Pigman, in matters of either style or substance. Although he takes a rather straightforward view of teenage sexuality, there's also a sort of byzantine undercurrent running though the novel implying that teenagers who engage in sexual relationships will be punished. At graduation, Maggie sees Sean and thinks, "He'd have his punishment...He'd have to remember Liz and something he couldn't be very proud of." Of course, there isn't anything for Sean to be proud of in the matter of the abortion, but he didn't treat his girlfriend badly, either. The argument could be made that he should have been with her after she had the abortion, but by that time, Liz didn't want to spend any time with him after he told her they couldn't get married. But there really isn't anything he should be "punished" for. Zindel seems to be saying that there is something wrong with teenagers having sex. Rather, he should be encouraging teenagers to take more responsibility in their relationships; Liz and Sean's only real mistake is a lack of foresight.
Written in easy English, this novel could be read by students from sixth grade up, although most high school students would be rather bored by it, even though the characters are high school seniors. I would find little use for this novel in the classroom and would not readily suggest it to students for outside reading. There are many better novels that this one which deal with relationships and sexuality at the teenage level.
+++++++++++++++
Reviewed for Literature for Young Adults course, February 1990
+++++++++++++++
Liz and Sean and Maggie and Dennis are the two high school couples in Paul Zindel's novel about teenage pregnancy and abortion, My Darling, My Hamburger. Liz and Sean are the glamorous pair; Maggie and Dennis are the dorky couple. The novel tells the story of these two relationships though the course of the characters' senior year in high school. Liz and Sean begin have sex which ultimately leads to Liz becoming pregnant. They initially decide to get married and have the child, but after Sean has a roundabout conversation with his father about teenage pregnancy, he changes his mind and tells Liz that he won't marry her. Liz has an abortion, which is arranged at a doctor's house (this being 1969 and pre-Roe versus Wade.) When Liz starts bleeding later, Maggie panics and tells Liz's parents, which ends their friendship. The novel concludes with graduation, and with Maggie saying goodbye to Dennis.
My Darling, My Hamburger doesn't really measure up to the success of Zindel's earlier The Pigman, in matters of either style or substance. Although he takes a rather straightforward view of teenage sexuality, there's also a sort of byzantine undercurrent running though the novel implying that teenagers who engage in sexual relationships will be punished. At graduation, Maggie sees Sean and thinks, "He'd have his punishment...He'd have to remember Liz and something he couldn't be very proud of." Of course, there isn't anything for Sean to be proud of in the matter of the abortion, but he didn't treat his girlfriend badly, either. The argument could be made that he should have been with her after she had the abortion, but by that time, Liz didn't want to spend any time with him after he told her they couldn't get married. But there really isn't anything he should be "punished" for. Zindel seems to be saying that there is something wrong with teenagers having sex. Rather, he should be encouraging teenagers to take more responsibility in their relationships; Liz and Sean's only real mistake is a lack of foresight.
Written in easy English, this novel could be read by students from sixth grade up, although most high school students would be rather bored by it, even though the characters are high school seniors. I would find little use for this novel in the classroom and would not readily suggest it to students for outside reading. There are many better novels that this one which deal with relationships and sexuality at the teenage level.
+++++++++++++++
Reviewed for Literature for Young Adults course, February 1990
June 9, 2021
i picked this book up because the name and cover really intrigued me and i’m into collecting books from the 60’s specifically but! my copy had no description and i didn’t look it up and wowie this book was ,,, not what i was expecting at all. basically a 1960’s degrassi / after school special but actually i really loved it!
and the ending was really good and captured the kinda bittersweet nostalgia / frustration that you have as you grow, kinda watching your life unfold and looking back at the different iterations of yourself from the past compared to whoever you may be right in this moment (and whatever choices / events have happened to have created those changes) for example:
“-and at that moment it seemed as if all life was nothing but seeing more of the things that were always right in front of your nose. everything in her life that had ever upset her seemed silly when she looked back at it. she felt a slight chill run through her when she realized she was always looking back at a silly, foolish girl. she wondered if in a short time she’d remember how miserable she was on this graduation night and whether it would all seem naive and idiotic. was that what life was going to be? just going from one year to the next feeling slightly less ridiculous?”
i really did dig this quite a bit!
and the ending was really good and captured the kinda bittersweet nostalgia / frustration that you have as you grow, kinda watching your life unfold and looking back at the different iterations of yourself from the past compared to whoever you may be right in this moment (and whatever choices / events have happened to have created those changes) for example:
“-and at that moment it seemed as if all life was nothing but seeing more of the things that were always right in front of your nose. everything in her life that had ever upset her seemed silly when she looked back at it. she felt a slight chill run through her when she realized she was always looking back at a silly, foolish girl. she wondered if in a short time she’d remember how miserable she was on this graduation night and whether it would all seem naive and idiotic. was that what life was going to be? just going from one year to the next feeling slightly less ridiculous?”
i really did dig this quite a bit!
December 23, 2022
I have stared at the cover of this book for many years, curious about what it was all about, as I think one does when "hamburger" is in the title. Well, it turns out, going to get a hamburger is what you do in 1969 when a guy is horny and you don't want to/can't sleep with him.
What I expected:
Outdated and offensive language
What I didn't expect:
Serious issues playing out. It must have been quite progressive for an author in the 60s to discuss abortion.
Overall, I started the book disliking most of the characters (except Maggie) and I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. But I read the book in one day and genuinely enjoyed it by the end. I still disliked almost everyone, but certainly softened toward Liz. She's bitchy and mostly a terrible friend, but understanding her home life helped.
Understanding Sean's homelife initially made me feel for him. His father is a gross man and hypocritically judgemental when it comes to women. He is allowed to find his sons girlfriend attractive, but heaven forbid she fall pregnant to his stupid ass son.
I do hope when this book was released people saw the cruelty in Liz's banishment from society, and Sean's right to graduate and move on. While everything that happened clearly affected him emotionally, he has privileges as a man in the 60s that Liz can't even imagine.
As for Dennis, I found him a bit of a nothing character. I suppose he was meant to be flat and existing to move the plot forward for the rounder, dynamic characters.
What I expected:
Outdated and offensive language
What I didn't expect:
Serious issues playing out. It must have been quite progressive for an author in the 60s to discuss abortion.
Overall, I started the book disliking most of the characters (except Maggie) and I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. But I read the book in one day and genuinely enjoyed it by the end. I still disliked almost everyone, but certainly softened toward Liz. She's bitchy and mostly a terrible friend, but understanding her home life helped.
Understanding Sean's homelife initially made me feel for him. His father is a gross man and hypocritically judgemental when it comes to women. He is allowed to find his sons girlfriend attractive, but heaven forbid she fall pregnant to his stupid ass son.
I do hope when this book was released people saw the cruelty in Liz's banishment from society, and Sean's right to graduate and move on. While everything that happened clearly affected him emotionally, he has privileges as a man in the 60s that Liz can't even imagine.
As for Dennis, I found him a bit of a nothing character. I suppose he was meant to be flat and existing to move the plot forward for the rounder, dynamic characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2023
Finished it in under 12 hours. It was an ok book, definitely would have preferred it if I was a young teenage but I'm not so it was just.. ok.
To be honest the story was actually quite sad if you think about it, with everything that happens, with Liz falling pregnant, and getting told by her boyfriend Sean that he'll marry her and then him going back on his word and her ending up having an abortion, and don't even get me started on how Liz is such a self centered friend, she doesn't even care that she ruined a lot of maggies plans which led to her and Dennis not ending up together, and the ending is just really sad because they all just end up not being friends anymore.
To be honest the story was actually quite sad if you think about it, with everything that happens, with Liz falling pregnant, and getting told by her boyfriend Sean that he'll marry her and then him going back on his word and her ending up having an abortion, and don't even get me started on how Liz is such a self centered friend, she doesn't even care that she ruined a lot of maggies plans which led to her and Dennis not ending up together, and the ending is just really sad because they all just end up not being friends anymore.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2024
In late 2011 I concluded a book report of sorts (I believe it was called a "reading response journal") on The Pigman with "I think I will be reading some more of Zindel’s books." Well, now I have.
January 30, 2021
Vintage ya is elite. Short and vibey.
April 1, 2020
Ridiculous title, very little character development, full of tropes, and eminently predictable.
2020 Catch Up Challenge: library book
2020 Catch Up Challenge: library book
July 29, 2022
My Darling, My Hamburger is about two best friends—Liz who has golden blonde hair, is a stylish dresser, and has a figure to die for. And Maggie who has dull brunette hair, wears clothes that look like she made them (because she did) and has a dumpy figure. There’s a bit of pretty-girl-with-an-ugly-best-friend dynamic between Liz and Maggie that remains a constant undercurrent to their friendship.
Liz is dating handsome but sensitive hotshot Sean and she sets Maggie up with Sean’s best friend Dennis—a socially awkward, nerdy looking guy who wears the same green sweater every day. Dennis is as mortified as Maggie over being set-up but they soon forge an awkward relationship through feelings of obligation to their friends. Across the course of their senior year of high school, Liz navigates increasing pressure from Sean to have sex and Maggie explores her reluctant feelings for Dennis.
Alongside The Pigman I would say My Darling, My Hamburger is easily Paul Zindel’s most popular novel—and for good reason. Written in 1969, it frankly tackles the topics of teen pregnancy and abortion (which wouldn’t be legal until 4 years later and has recently become illegal again in numerous states). So, this was sophisticated and controversial fare for a young adult novel. Zindel attempts to be objective in his approach to the subject matter and character's choices but with a heavy-handed undercurrent of morality. I mean, really heavy handed.
I do like that it’s told in a partially epistolary manner. So, the notes Liz and Maggie pass between classes, the flyers, the class assignments, and the memos make you a bit closer to each character and what they’re feeling. Zindel deftly handles the ever-changing dynamics between friends as they begin their separate paths to adulthood. It’s really poignant.
With that said, I was left with a few head scratching moments. . Those moments aside, My Darling, My Hamburger is one of the better young adult novels. Even though it’s dated in places, the story itself is still relevant and universal.
Liz is dating handsome but sensitive hotshot Sean and she sets Maggie up with Sean’s best friend Dennis—a socially awkward, nerdy looking guy who wears the same green sweater every day. Dennis is as mortified as Maggie over being set-up but they soon forge an awkward relationship through feelings of obligation to their friends. Across the course of their senior year of high school, Liz navigates increasing pressure from Sean to have sex and Maggie explores her reluctant feelings for Dennis.
Alongside The Pigman I would say My Darling, My Hamburger is easily Paul Zindel’s most popular novel—and for good reason. Written in 1969, it frankly tackles the topics of teen pregnancy and abortion (which wouldn’t be legal until 4 years later and has recently become illegal again in numerous states). So, this was sophisticated and controversial fare for a young adult novel. Zindel attempts to be objective in his approach to the subject matter and character's choices but with a heavy-handed undercurrent of morality. I mean, really heavy handed.
I do like that it’s told in a partially epistolary manner. So, the notes Liz and Maggie pass between classes, the flyers, the class assignments, and the memos make you a bit closer to each character and what they’re feeling. Zindel deftly handles the ever-changing dynamics between friends as they begin their separate paths to adulthood. It’s really poignant.
With that said, I was left with a few head scratching moments. . Those moments aside, My Darling, My Hamburger is one of the better young adult novels. Even though it’s dated in places, the story itself is still relevant and universal.
September 21, 2022
Made me nostalgic for the YA books I read in middle school. Timely read with what happened with Roe v Wade, but keep in mind this was written in 1969...
October 4, 2018
Good Lord. If it was possible to leave negative stars, I would.
I realize this was written in 1969 and a different time, but how was this ever recommended as young adult lit? It's horribly written and so boring i had to skim through most if it in about 15 mins. The characters were caricatures of disturbing stereotypes: the fat girl, the blonde, the good guy with nasty dad, bad stepdad, geek, and boy with a bad reputation. The story was hard to follow and i really didn't care about the characters. Writing was choppy and like it was written with those word magnets at random like we used to get in the 90s. The title is also stupid. I get what it is supposed to mean, they hammer it home enough, but i think most would pick it up because of the lame title and be disappointed. We weren't "allowed" to read this at my catholic school so i found it on open library all these years later. The content is hardly shocking, i have no idea how crap like this gets published.
I realize this was written in 1969 and a different time, but how was this ever recommended as young adult lit? It's horribly written and so boring i had to skim through most if it in about 15 mins. The characters were caricatures of disturbing stereotypes: the fat girl, the blonde, the good guy with nasty dad, bad stepdad, geek, and boy with a bad reputation. The story was hard to follow and i really didn't care about the characters. Writing was choppy and like it was written with those word magnets at random like we used to get in the 90s. The title is also stupid. I get what it is supposed to mean, they hammer it home enough, but i think most would pick it up because of the lame title and be disappointed. We weren't "allowed" to read this at my catholic school so i found it on open library all these years later. The content is hardly shocking, i have no idea how crap like this gets published.
August 17, 2010
This is the book I was so excited to review. I had so many thoughts when reading it and when I finished I just could not wait to get them down. Essentially, My Darling, My Hamburger is a book about first love, but it is more than that, rather it is a book on how teens deal with sexuality. Two couples are featured, Maggie and Dennis -- testing relationship waters for the first time, and Liz and Sean who engaged in sex.
Read the rest of my review here
Read the rest of my review here
August 30, 2016
As great as I remember it from over 40 years ago. The only difference was that when I read it for the first time I was younger than the characters in the book and had yet to have some of the main experiences of the teens. Looking back all those years and having gone thru all of them, I can see their situation thru the eyes of a 55 year old, who remembers doing the same things and having the same things happen when I was much younger and understand how they felt as I felt likewise.
Highly recommended ! A+++++++
Highly recommended ! A+++++++
December 12, 2021
I read this book when I was 13. This book was old when I read it. All I had remembered is that a girl got a botched abortion. This book is very misogynistic. Back when this was written this was considered normal behavior. It's upsetting to me that a lot of the books I read as a pre-teen and young teen were like this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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