Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson

2 out of 5 stars

I was really interested when I heard JW was writing sequel to the Girls books taking place 22 years after the last book was released and 27 years after the release of the first Girls book. Having read the original Girls books when I was 12, I was particularly interested and excited to see what the girls were up to now all these years later, looking forward to a trip down memory lane.

However, I definitely have to agree with a lot of reviewers here who have critiqued the book for its lack of development, depth and closure, among other things. My main problem to be honest was that there was far too much of Ellie's relationship and sex with Gary (Mr Windsor from the previous books), which just got really repetitive, as I felt myself getting more and more frustrated with their sex scenes which just kept getting more and more repetitive which was insanely annoying, like how many frigging times did they have to be shown having sex, like okay we get it they have a great sex life!! It really annoyed me just how much her relationship and romance with Gary took up most of the book, when so much of this time could have gone to exploring aspects like Nadine and Magda's own lives now which were only mentioned a few times by themselves, rather than being shown or explored at all, as well as Ellie discovering her sexuality, which could have been a perfect chance to have Ben and Simon feature more, with Ben sharing his own experience about discovering his sexuality and coming out and falling in love with someone of the same sex, with Ben and Simon having been one of the many characters who were criminally underused, with Lottie also hardly having featured in the story despite the fact she is meant to be Ellie's daughter and a new character yet she only actually appears twice, and her storyline with her meeting her long-lost dad having not had any closure, which was also very much a lost opportunity. It would have for instance been great to see Ellie confronting her baby daddy for lying to Lottie about having walked out on her, or just in some way not having left that whole storyline of Lottie's dad lying to Lottie and getting away with it, suddenly finding his way back into Lottie's life undeservingly, as that just made me so mad. This had great potential in the story for having Lottie finding her father and trying to build a relationship with him, and how complicated this felt for both Ellie and Lottie, with Ellie feeling indignant and insecure, as well as struggling with the whole situation of separated parents who share a kid who has a relationship with both of them, with Lottie also feeling conflicted. Ellie's dad and Anna were also hardly in the story and could have had the potential of having larger roles, with Anna for example having been there for Ellie to confide in, having given her advice about her love life, with her dad also having been given the chance to show some character development by finally accepting Ellie's life and supporting her with her career transition. Not to mention like a lot of people are saying here that as soon as Ellie saw Alice for the first time in the communal changing rooms and started commenting on how attractive she was and was worried that she might think she fancied her early on in the book I just KNEW that she was going to be her new, surprise, unexpected love interest who she ends up with (though it wasn't really a surprise in the end of course). It also seemed a bit weird the way they literally hit it off and become close straight away, I mean who the hell goes out with a stranger who they've been talking to for like 2 minutes to have breakfast and get a tattoo?! Also the way they connect with all the in-jokes, realising they speak their own "secret language" seemed a bit unrealistic and contrived to me, as while people can connect with people early on it's unlikely they would just happen to be able to communicate in this "secret language" full of in-jokes and get all the references they make to each other like that. Like a lot of people are also saying I did find it weird the way their relationship wasn't given the chance to develop over time, like surely the most obvious option would have been to have them developing a friendship with each other then throughout that friendship, later on, realising they feel and want more than a friendship. But instead this gets pushed aside for Ellie and Gary's relationship and sex life which was honestly the most frustrating, grating and infuriating thing ever. Oh and seriously-how many times did their frigging sex life have to be referred to, as if it wasn't annoying enough that is was constantly shown repetitively?!

Speaking of Gary (Mr Windsor), I honestly could not stand and hated him with a passion- he was annoying from the outset but not unbearable, only to get worse and worse to the point he becomes completely unbearable and honestly her relationship with him just dragged on far too long and really that whole storyline should have ended much sooner than it did. The fact that her main love interest and serious relationship throughout the book had to be with her former teacher was just very contrived and weird, I mean she couldn't have met anyone new could she?! It had to be with a character from the previous books, and the way she just suddenly meets up with her former teacher and suddenly starts having sex and gets into a relationship with him just seemed forced and unrealistic to me, not to mention really weird. Their whole relationship was really weird, I mean he taught her as a teenager, and the fact that he still clearly sees her as this same teenager is really creepy and weird. I feel as well that he could have been toned down a little bit, not just to make me less angry, but because at times he could come off as a bit of a caricature and I felt that it went a bit too far when he actually started mansplaining childbirth to Ellie (was he seriously thinking of having a baby with her at frigging 50?!), as well as just how increasingly and ridiculously clingy to and possessive he was of Ellie, being a total manchild at times. It really annoyed me how Ellie kept having doubts about their relationship yet kept putting off breaking up with him, as I was just getting more and more impatient and was just like "OMG can you just break up with him already and get this damn storyline over with already?!" It was so repetitive and going round and round in circles, which was ridiculous. What annoyed me most though was that she literally didn't have anyone to go to and confide in about this clearly mentally abusive relationship she was in, having no support network whatsoever, with her two "best friends" Madga and Nadine not understanding or sympathising with her at all and just being like "Who cares, he's gorgeous!" and was also very much a missed opportunity, as this might have been a good opportunity for her to confide in Anna or Ben for instance who could have given her wise advice about how unhealthy the relationship was and that she should break it off, which also could have been the perfect chance to extend their roles, which like I've said were very small in this book! The fact she has literally nobody to confide in and support her in this toxic, unhealthy relationship was just ridiculous, especially considering the supposed support network she already had, and was supposed to send a heartwarming message of the meaning of friends and family, was ridiculous.

That's another thing, the three main girls in this book, Ellie, Nadine and Madga still came across as teenagers or maybe 20 somethings here, despite the fact they are supposed to be 40, as I just couldn't imagine them as 40 year olds, due to them still behaving, acting and speaking more or less the same as they did when they were teenagers. The scene where they all sleep in the same bed together and the actions that take place such as Magda ruffling Ellie's hair and the way they're all gossiping while having this sleepover together just seemed a pretty unbelievable and unrealistic portrayal of 40 year olds, I mean seriously?! The way Ellie is still self-conscious about her appearance and the way Nadine is still being naive when it comes to dating guys who she gets into dangerous situations with and falls victim to abuse also showed that there was just no character development for these girls, and again made it hard to imagine them as 40 year olds, to the point it was all just a bit jarring to be honest. Another example of this is when Ellie, Nadine and Magda meet up in the pub and Gary suddenly appears uninvited, and they both tell Ellie after she's expressed her concerns about him and his controlling behaviour to her that she shouldn't dump him because he's "gorgeous", I mean surely this is not the way 40 year olds act and speak?! Also given how Nadine and Magda could sometimes be pretty crappy friends to Ellie and were shown here to clearly still not be totally real friends by not being sympathetic of her relationship troubles why were they even still friends after all these years? Also like others have said would they really still have been friends after all these years when they were so different and their friendship was not always the strongest, like in reality I feel they would have drifted apart, with their friendship clearly only still existing for the sake of nostalgia for fans/readers.

Oh and like many people here it really annoyed me that all straight men were dismissed as being complacent, controlling, mansplainers, but gay guys were sweet and understanding, which is a most ridiculous and juvenile misconception. This is when Ellie tells Magda and Nadine that she doesn't like the way Gary is so controlling and pushy with her, and their response is that all men are like that, and if she feels that way then what she wants is a woman. Seriously?! So if a woman does not like the way her boyfriend is controlling and domineering her then it must mean she likes women instead, rather than you know, having a normal, natural, reasonable, human reaction to what is an abusive, toxic, unhealthy relationship? Honestly, this was particularly ridiculous and infuriating, and simply dismisses toxic relationships by normalising such abusive and domineering behaviours from men in relationships as "just what all men are like", and that she must like women instead, rather than addressing how wrong it is and how toxic and unhealthy the relationship truly is.

I feel as well that Ellie could have done with reflecting and thinking more about her submissive attitude and realising how she needs to work on this for putting her foot down and standing up to Gary, which again was a missed opportunity for one of the characters who was demoted to having a small role like Anna or Ben, or maybe another female friend like the one from her art school. This would have been an interesting way to explore her inner monologue of her thoughts and feelings as part of her character development. I also feel there was no point in the secret admirer part with her cousin, like it just didn't really add anything to the story. Also, like others have said, Ellie's bisexuality could have been addressed more, rather than just viewing it in black and white, as honestly I feel like she was clearly bisexual, as she seemed to be genuinely attracted to Gary while also being attracted and falling in love with Alice, but instead it was just like "Oh she either likes men or women". It did seem weird to have the main character fall in love with a woman only to not even properly address or explore her discovering her sexuality and the complications of discovering this at a later stage in life, while in a serious relationship with a man as well.


I also felt like Ellie's career transition could have been explored more, with that also not having been resolved properly. Like many of JWs books I've read lately, the ending was too abrupt with many loose ends not being tied, which was a real disappointment.

Honestly, despite how much I've critiqued here, it was still good to read, simply as it kept me hooked, wanting to find out what happens as well as of course being a good nostalgia fest. I really admired the message Ellie establishes at first of not needing a man to feel fulfilled, a message which really is not depicted enough, especially for this day and age, yet it didn't really deliver these wise kinds of messages in the end. Maybe Ellie didn't need to be in a relationship, whether it was with a man or woman. But honestly, I did enjoy it despite all this, I just think that much like with the My Mum Tracy Beaker and We are the Beaker girls, JW fails when it comes to revisiting series she last published many years ago, with everything becoming too contrived, cringey and unrealistic, like she should just quit while she's ahead and leave well enough alone really and is milking it out a bit too much. In a nutshell, it was just full of missed opportunities and far too much sex with an unbearable mansplainer which was very disappointing to be honest