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\\Bruce's Story;
Janitor Two: OK. For Bruce's story...plot summary: Bruce's grandfather shows up and brings into question who should be the majority shareholder for the Patman family company when Henry retires: Bruce or Roger. To find a solution, he assigns them the task of "growing money," which neither thinks is fair, and which neither is particularly good at. After many fightings and contentions, they end up learning a valuable lesson, as does Grandpa Patman. There are a few love interests and water balloons thrown in for good messure. Janitor One: And we get a good deep look at Bruce and how immature he really is. Janitor Two: Yes. But plot first. Did we like it? Janitor One: I like the plot. It was interesting and we got to see a lot of Bruce-Roger squabbling, which is always fun. It wasn't very well written, though. Janitor Two: I liked the plot because of its entertainment value and the character developement it invited, but for itself, the plot wasn't.....I don't know. There was something that just felt off to me. Janitor One: It moved very quickly. Janitor Two: Yes, it did. It didn't feel rushed, exactly, but they could have taken their time with it more. I think whoever wrote it waited til deadline day to turn on their typewriter. Janitor One: Or they were just trying to cram it into 212 pages. Janitor Two: Yeah. Either way, there were peices that needed more time. There was a severe lack in minor character developement that I think should have been there. Janitor One: The narrative was very dry. It was like: Bruce did this... He thought this... Bruce did that... Janitor Two: A lot of it was telling, I noticed. They didn't show them doing as much as they told about them doing it. Some parts sounded more like an essay than a story. Janitor One: Yeah, that's what I mean. Which is unusual for an SVH book. Janitor Two: Yeah, it is unusual. Janitor One: SVH books are mostly dialogue and this is an exception. Janitor Two: There were some good character interactions, however. I like the Bruce and Roger scenes. As always. (I'm a Roger freak.) Janitor One: Of course. We definitely got more insight into Bruce than Roger, but I enjoyed it. Janitor Two: Well, it's Bruce's story...but a few more trips to Roger's brain would have been nice. ^_^ Janitor One: Roger could've used more screen time though. At the end he says, "And I found it hard to compete against a relative." And that's never really foreshadowed in the book except when he decides not to unplug Bruce's freezer. Janitor Two: And even then, I would have attributed his lack on wanting to kill Bruce's ice cream to having to do with his decency, not Bruce's status as cousin. They hadn't been "related" for very long when this happened, and Bruce wasn't being very endearing. I think it would have been easy for Roger to forget that he was related to Bruce. Janitor One: Yes. Janitor Two: The charity twist to the plot was interesting. Janitor One: Yeah. That was a genuine surprise. You saw that coming with Roger but not from Bruce. Janitor Two: Not at all. I honestly thought he was going to turn in his money to Grandpa Patman, then feel guilty and give the charity a ton of cash from his savings account. The fact that he didn't really surprised me...the first time I read it. And even now, having known the ending, it felt like it could have--dare I say should have--been different. Janitor One: Yeah. I think he felt guilty about Roger and Tracy. Janitor Two: Let's go on to character real quick, then look at their individual "get rich quick" strategies. Janitor One: OK. Janitor Two: Main characters: Bruce, Roger, Tracy, and, in name, Grandpa Patman. Roger first. I love Roger. Janitor One: Yeah, I do too. Not as much as you, but he's cool. He should've been in more books. Janitor Two: From the first time he's mentioned in the series...I like that he's not perfect. I like that he is(was) poor. His character is so completely un-Sweet Valley that he's a welcome change. And even after he becomes rich, he's still the same old Roger, bad fashion sense and all. If having other characters like him wouldn't ruin his unique lovability, I'd say there should have been more. And this book just highlights a lot of him that I realy like. His naivety in certain social situations... Janitor One: He's more real than most the characters. And he wears glasses. Or, wore, glasses. Janitor Two: Yeah...That sort of got to me...But that's a different book....So anyway, I think his character developed well. What little bit we got to see was realy well done. The only thing, like I said, was his reasoning for not pulling the plug on the ice cream. It didn't sound right. And on to Bruce. A lot to say there. Janitor One: A lot of development with him. I liked how he scratched his car while girlwatching Tracy. Janitor Two: Hehehe. Yeah. That was perfect. Janitor One: He's so immature and, well, Bruce in this book. This is the Bruce I feel in love with. Janitor Two: Yes. I love him in this book. The best part is, he is Bruce. He's selfish, and stuck up, and doesn't think things through; and then you get to see his nice side for a few minutes (but it's not a corny nice); and then it all wraps up with his competetive ego showing back up. You get to see his range without feeling like he's changed a great deal. In a long-running series like this, permanant major character alterations can kill...They handled him very well, I think. Janitor One: Yeah. He's been handed life on a silver platter. He's spoiled and selfish and doesn't realize how lucky he is. He's Bruce, things always go his way. And that naivete is cute. Janitor Two: Very cute. With everything he did in this book, you sort of get the feeling that he'd do it even if we weren't watching. You know how some characters do things and you know they just did them to move the plot along? There was none of that here. Bruce was purely himself. Janitor One: Yeah. Janitor Two: Tracy....an interesting character in that she's also rare for the series. Janitor One: She's poor, shy, not in the popular crowd in the least bit, and with a handicapped brother. Very real. And a character I really can relate to. Janitor Two: Yes. She's Bruce's foil in every way. Janitor One: Yeah. Too bad she never showed up again. Janitor Two: And I like that she didn't fall over herself for Bruce. Janitor One: And he acts like a fool for her. ^_^ I think had she and bruce stayed together, he would've treated her decent because she would never put up with his crap. Janitor Two: Yeah...she was a keeper. Of all the minor that have waltzed through, she should have been given a salary and kept on the cast. Oh well. Bruce is very cute for her. Going back to scratching his car...I think it was funny seeing him have a cruch on someone. Espeially someone who wasn't dying to go out with him. Janitor One: Yeah. That was great. I think the only other time you got to see that with him was with pamela in the Margo series. Janitor Two: Yeah. It's nice to see him have demention. And Tracy is just the girl to bring it out of him. Janitor One: Exactly. Janitor Two: Now, on to their schemes. First Bruces. His plan for getting rich: spend seventy-five percent of his money, play poker, sell books, sabotage Roger, and make ice cream while crouched in a dark basement, locked in paranoid psychosis, rocking back and forth, clutching a baseball bat, waiting to swing at anything that moves. (Well, not really....but Bruce in the baseent was a funny scene to me.) Verdict: very Bruce-like, but not very effective. Janitor One: I loved "The Bruce Patman Guide to Dating." I'd pay five bucks for it. ^_^ Janitor Two: I liked the dating guide, too. If he could have gone farther with that, he may just have won. Janitor One: That showed a sense of humor about himself, which you never, ever get to see. I bet winston keeps it on his night stand. Janitor Two: Hehe. I bet Winston still quotes from it... Normally, something like that would have felt out of character because it never comes up in any of the other books. But, once again, you get the feeling that this is exactly what Bruce would have been doing over that month, even if a book weren't being written about it. Very natural. Janitor One: Yeah. Janitor Two: And Roger's plan: conserve money, play the stock market, do painted caps, pretend he's going to sabotage Bruce to make him paranoid (hehe, it was all part of his scheme to win...), and sell pictures. Verdict: un-Roger (I think) and surprisingly ineffective. I can't see Roger, who understands more than most the value of good, honest work, resorting to someting like stocks. But aside from the stocks, his plans for making money were very good. Janitor One: I think it was Roger in the way he wanted to be a Patman. Patmans know their business. He thought it was something his grandfather would do. And yes, his other plans were very good. If only Bruce hadn't sabotaged his caps Janitor Two: Yeah. As for wanting to be a Patman...I still can't see him going to such a high gamble to impress Grandpa Patman. It wasn't so much that he tried it, but that he didn't sell when he was advised to. That just doesn't seem like him. Janitor One: I think he was trying not to be himself at first. He was trying to be a Patman, and that's what a Patman would do, (so he thought). Then, after he lost all the money, he went back to doing things his own way. Janitor Two: Hmm...true. I see your point. Favorite scene? Janitor One: Oooh, I have to think about that for a moment. Janitor Two: Mine would be Bruce bursting into the meeting and talking to Tracy while Liz was trying to hold a meeting. At first he was all smooth and cool. "Oh, you guys are here?" Then, as soon as he got into the room, Tracy was all he could see. Janitor One: That was funny. I liked it at the fair where he got that ten year old to start a water balloon fight in front of Roger's booth. Janitor Two: Oh, I almost forgot about him! Another great minor character...that kid was cute. What was his name? Janitor One: Brian Janitor Two: Somehow, I can see him kicking Bruce in the shins at a club social.... Janitor One: Yeah. I really liked how Bruce's books were a big success, and then he goes to see Roger, who's writhing in the agony of defeat, and lets him know in his oh-so-subtle way exactly who sabotaged him. I bet he was smiling all through dinner that night. That, "I did something and got away with it, and you can't do anything about it," sort of smile. Janitor Two: Yes. Bruce is very smooth that way. He's just the right mix of of evil and perfection. If you could bottle him, you'd make a fortune. Janitor One: Yes. L'eau de Bruce. Janitor Two: Hehe. Yeah. Janitor One: But the best part of the book PRACTICALLY NO LIZ AND JESS! Janitor Two: Yay!!!! So, final ratings...how many Bruce heads? Janitor One: Four. It would be five, but for the sucky writing. Janitor Two: And I concure in Todd heads. Four. |
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