Books We Forgot We Loved: Anywhere But Here, by Mona Simpson

by Matthew Gallaway

For our next Pin Reads: Books We Forgot We Loved, we’re going back to 1987 and the novel Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson. We haven’t read it in a lonnng time, but in our collective mind it looms large as creating (or certainly perfecting) what’s now maybe an archetype (or stereotype?) of the sassy, intelligent teenage daughter with parents (or in this case, a totally zany, self-centered mom) who like most adults don’t really “get” her. We’re thinking Anywhere But Here paved the way for amazing classics like My So-Called Life, Daria, and [choose your own response], where we root for precocious/awesome girls who grasp the inherent stupidity of the world and somehow transform their understanding of it into something subversive and magical. But we could be wrong. Also, did anyone see the movie? (It looks prettty mediocre, sadly, or at least not as good as the book?) Let’s read and discuss in early/mid July!