“So Mom got the postcard today. It says Congratulations in big curly letters, and at the very top is the address of Studio TV-15 on West 58th Street. After three years of trying, she has actually made it. She’s going to be a contestant on The $20,000 Pyramid, which is hosted by Dick Clark.”
I loved The $20,000 Pyramid when I was growing up, so I was instantly hooked. Taking place during 1978-1979 in New York City, When You Reach Me is a unique, well-paced coming-of-age story, centering around Miranda, her mother’s quest to be on the game show and even more than that, around a series of mysterious letters Miranda receives. At first she doesn’t know what to do with them or what they mean.
I read this book very quickly, as it is only 197 pages. It manages to be sweet, interesting and humorous in parts without being too gimmicky. There’s enough going on plot-wise to keep the reader’s interest without getting too bogged down in extraneous detail. It was exactly what I needed. The past few books I’ve read have been sad, dystopian affairs, which while awesome, can take an emotional toll.
I have one quibble: I think Miranda was aged too young. She’s 12 in the book but to me, the story felt more like it had a 14 or 15 year old narrator. Miranda makes leaps that I didn’t feel a 12-year-old would make.
Another part I might have been able to do without was a plot point where Miranda & 2 of her friends work at a lunch counter during their school lunch breaks. It just didn’t work for me – it felt implausible & contrived, especially considering their age, even for the 1970s. However, given that I was born shortly before the setting of this novel(and not in NYC), perhaps that is an unfair assessment. I certainly don’t know what it was like to grow up in that time period or environment.
Overall, I would definitely recommend When You Reach Me and look forward to having a chance to read it again. It would make an excellent rainy day re-read or a wonderful crisp fall day first read. Just a suggestion.
