Oh wow! How fun it was to read this book! I read this for mostly nostalgic purposes. I loved Nancy Drew when I was younger and I wanted to go back and rediscover why... What started my love of the stories of the young sleuth? What sparked my everlasting appeal for mystery and suspense? Well, folks... I found it. Sort of...
While reading "The Secret of the Old Clock", I discovered something. Books written in the 1930s are very different from books written today. I enjoyed the book, I did, but my enjoyment was slightly overshadowed by the overwhelming "unbelievability" of it all. In the '30s, it very well may have been typical for a 16 year old girl and her friends and family to be absolutely perfect, but nowadays... Not so much.
I imagine Nancy Drew is the girl with whom many girls today would not want to be friends. Sounds harsh, I know, but hear me out. Nancy is too perfect. She'd be the girl I wouldn't want my parents to know about for it would produce far too many expectations. "Sweetie, if Nancy Drew can change a tire, repair the engine of a motorboat, and solve crimes in her perfectly ironed dress all while she is referring to Archimedes in order to prove what she has discovered to be true, surely YOU can too." Yeah right, Mom. Whatever, Dad... I'm a girl of the 21st century. Archimedes was smart and all, but I've got an iPad that'll tell me what I need to know. I'm just saying (with all due respect to my beloved detective), no 16 year old girl is that perfect and I think girls today relate better to characters who have obvious flaws yet are still awesome.
All that being said, I still love my dear Nancy Drew. The story is good... Not great, but good. It was a fun read that seriously made me wish that our world was more like hers. Sure you've got your crooks and your bad guys, but who cares? Nancy Drew will catch them eventually and everyone else is perfectly pleasant. I mean, c'mon... Nancy was invited to dine in the homes two different sets of strangers she had just met... In the same day. You think that happens here and now? Think again. If it occurs at all, it's very rare... And it's probably in the South. Anyway, as I was saying, reading this book made me wish that people were actually that friendly, that considerate, and that kind. It's a sad truth, but face it... Would you expect a perfect stranger to run through a thunderstorm out to her family's barn to check on the stranded driver who was caught in the storm with her convertible top down? And after that, would expect her to help get the water out of stranded girl's car and then offer dinner and a place to stay? Probably not... I think most of us would offer the use of our cell phones and maybe the extra cash stuffed in our pockets and then slyly back away, because in today's world we simply don't know if someone is actually in trouble or is just trying to take advantage of us. I think we have wonderful intentions, but we've also got to be crazy careful. It's a tricky rope on which we try to balance. Okay, okay... Enough of that rant. Sometimes, I get on something and then just keep going.
I apologize if it seems like I'm just bashing the book. I actually really enjoyed it and I think all young girls should read Nancy Drew... But make sure they begin before they reach their teen years or, trust me, I just don't think the books will go over very well. And, being completely honest, if someone tried to publish this book today, I can almost guarantee you it wouldn't have made it.
All in all, I still love the books for good reasons:
1) They are good, simple, wholesome stories. This is a book you can give your daughter and trust that there is nothing in it that is going to taint her perfect little soul.
2) I remember reading book after book when I was younger. I almost couldn't wait to finish one so I could turn around and start the next. (It was a good thing my mother already had most of them!) That fondness doesn't go away just because (at 23 years old) I now find the books a little farfetched for our day and time.
3) And, most importantly, it was Nancy Drew who led me to discover the Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes and the rest of the world of mystery-solving and suspense which is one of my very favorites. I'll never forget her for that.
And, now, just for fun... Check out the covers for this book through the ages. I just thought it was kind of neat to see how they've changed.
Alrighty, y'all... That's all I've got to say for now. I got a little behind on here so I have three more reviews that I have yet to write. Next, you'll find out my opinion of "Summer of My German Soldier", a book I have been saying I was going to read since I was in the 6th grade. I finally read it... If you want to know how I felt about the long-awaited story, stay tuned.
But, for now, go read something else! Adios!
I thought the book was a little boring and slow. There were very few parts that made me jump, or sparked my aniety.
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