Dear Enemy

Minty fresh childhood favorite:
Jean Webster is best known for the classic Daddy Long-Legs. While it is certainly a worthy little novel, I have always preferred Dear Enemy, its lesser-known sequel. Daddy Long-Legs is vanilla, sweet and smooth. Dear Enemy is more like mint chocolate chip, refreshing with nuggets of warmth, laughter, bittersweetness. You will be enchanted by the fiery-haired Sallie McBride and her orphans. Sallie has been asked by her college buddy, the Judy Abbott of Daddy Long-Legs, to run the John Grier Home, the orphanage Judy was raised in. A cheerful and unabashed socialite waiting for her Congressman boyfriend to propose, Sallie takes on the job on a temporary basis. Armed with her sense of humor and her firm brightness, along with her maid and her Chow doggie, she gets her heart stolen by the 100 sad-eyed charges. The book is modeled after Daddy Long-Legs, so it is entirely composed of Sallie's stick-figure-illustrated letters to Judy, Gordon (the boyfriend), and the Home's prickly visiting doctor, whose letters are soon addressed "Dear Enemy." Her letters catalogue her daily adventures with the sweet, colorful kids, a series of cooks and farmers, sexist trustees, and grumpy neighbors. In all of this, there sparkles a strong feminine spirit, blithe optimism, and clear-headed compassion. The letters read so naturally and sure, Sallie's charm radiates whether she is amusing us with a story of orphan mischief or seriously discussing the consequences of hereditary alcoholism. The pace of the novel also clips along due to the relative shortness of the epistolary style. As beguiling as the characters and story is, there are drawbacks that date the work (written in the 1910's) with its references to inherited behavior, social expectations, and nationalist stereotypes. A historical context is important for those. The overall voice is strong enough to carry the worthwhile messages - particularly, forging a future and identity for girls. I recommend this highly. There are books that you return to time and time again to comfort, entertain, and enlighten you - this is one of those I have treasured from my childhood. They need to bring this one back in print!

An excellent sequel.:
It's nice to see the characters we all so appreciated in Daddy Long-Legs in a different context; I loved getting to know the characters better. It is true that some outdated concepts are presented in the book, but I think it's important to note that Jean Webster seems to question most of those concepts. The characters ultimately seek love over "suitability" and what's right over what's appropriate. Even the concept of eugenics is repeatedly questioned by the main character, who doesn't quite believe the hype but is willing to let a man of science "educate" her. Yes, the book is dated (as was its predecessor, to some extent), but the story and characters it contains are timeless.

A Classic of a Young Woman Discovering Her Strengths:
Judy Abbot, the heroine of Webster's DADDY LONG-LEGS, has purchased her "alma mater," the unhappy John Grier Orphanage, and places it into the hands of her college roommate, Sallie McBride. Sallie considers herself as flibbertigibbet and arrives at the school with her pet chow dog and a personal maid, determined to stay only a few months until she can marry her fiancé, an up-and-coming young lawyer/politician. However, Judy is wiser about Sallie than she is about herself, and Sallie grows to love her position, releasing the children from the browbeating institutional regime that they have previously followed and devising all sorts of new schemes like camps for the older boys that will help the children when they eventually go out into the world. Sallie also runs afoul of the orphanage's dour physician, a Scotsman named Robin MacRae, but as the story progresses, they become each other's ally as well as antagonist (it is from her salutations to him in letters that the title of the book derives). The book contains, unfortunately, the unsettling and bigoted theories of eugenics as practiced in the early part of the 20th century. It's a bit startling and depressing today to hear college-educated adults like Sallie and Dr. MacRae talking about heredity as something that overwhelmes upbringing, so that an alcoholic's child will always need institutionalizing because he will "naturally" crave alcohol, and watching Sallie sending handicapped children away to asylums because they don't belong with "normal" children. But this was the prevalent attitude at the time, and it doesn't keep Sallie or MacRae from actually breaking from the trends of the time. In particular, there is a girl named Loretta who is what we would call today "mentally challenged." Instead of banishing her to an asylum, Sallie sends her to live with a kindly farm family who basically act like one of today's residential homes for people with Down syndrome. Loretta is treated kindly, blooms into a happy young woman, and learns to do many things rather than spending the rest of her life rocking back and forth in an institution. With all the eugenics twaddle disposed of, what a great story is left: spoiled college socialite finds a social conscience and career, helps children, and eventually finds love with a man who has had some tough times in his life. There is a appealing subplot about three children who have just become orphaned, and a couple want to adopt just the little girl, not her older brothers. Sallie and MacRae quarrel because she at first thinks having the little girl adopted without her brothers would be an accomplishment, but as the doctor protests, Sallie must weigh breaking up the siblings, who are very close, or losing the little girl a good home where she will be given all advantages. Sallie also grows emotionally, becoming dissatisfied with her fiance who merely expects her to be ornamental. A wonderful tale, told in a lively epistlatory format, with some heartbreaking moments.

more fun and humor than the DLL:
I am a fan of Judy Abbott and Daddy Long Legs, but I loved Sallie's letters more! Judy asks her to be the superintendent of the John Grier Home. And Sallie puts her reforms into the practice. The book is consist of Sallie's letters to Judy, to the asylum's doctor, and to her boyfriend. I find this red haired, fierce, Irish girl Sallie and her letters very exciting , funny and humorous. I enjoyed this book a lot, also it is nice to learn somethings more about Judy and Jervis's wedded life.

Great reprint, but where are the illustrations?:
I was pleased to see that this is back in print, but disappointed when I received my copy and discovered that the little drawings Sallie included in her letters have been left out.