The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer

This book taught me a lot about writing.

This really has nothing to do with the book per se, but it makes me happy to continue finding connections even 15 years later. I don't have the need to do so very often, but I know it this book that first introduced me to 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.' I was never smart enough to actually borrow her argument and use it for an assignment, but I think I understand the play better because I've read this book. Fleur's feminist critique of Hamlet in this book has come to my mind every single time I've been assigned to read the play.The school year after I read this book was the year I ditched said terrible friend - I don't think that was entirely a coincidence. I had a pretty crappy best friend when I was 14 and 15, but I don't think I realized it until I saw the way Ashley treated Kate in this book.I don't use it for anything now, but I loved the class and did well in it, and it was partly because I wanted to understand this book better. Because Kate's father is a linguistics professor and could detect Fleur's city of origin just by her accent, I made sure to take a linguistics class in college.These are just some of the ways in which this book has influenced and connected with my life: The cast of characters really serves to flesh out the novel and make it a really strong contemporary YA novel, with or without the romance angle. There is also Midgely, Kate's former English teacher, who is dying of cancer. But despite the fact that this is a romance novel, with all the sugary sweetness and cheesiness associated with that genre, it's also a well-written book with a strong female protagonist and lots of wonderful cultural references that taught me about everything from linguistics to classical music to the poetry of Dylan Thomas.Īlso involved in the story are Kate's parents, Nels and Becca Bjorkman, and her brother Bjorn, as well as Bjorn's wife, Trish, his friend Fleur, and Kate's selfish, backstabbing best friend, Ashley. Referring to the standard structure for a romance novel, as well as The Romance Writers' Phrase Book, she relates the events leading up to her falling in love with Richard Bradshaw, her older brother's best friend from childhood, who has come home to Minnesota for the holidays.

The premise of the story is that Kate, who is very tall and wears very thick glasses, is writing a romance novel based on a real-life romance that happened to her at Christmas.

Within two years, I owned a copy, and within ten more years, I had to replace that copy because the binding was broken and the pages were falling out. The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman was published in 1995, and not long after that, I borrowed it from the Wallkill Public Library.

The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer