Sep

Karen’s Pity Party

Karen Brewer is not a fan favorite. In fact, I would go so far as to call her a fan unfavorite. As I was working my way through my little sister ebay lot, however, my opinion on Karen began to change. It seems to me that it’s not only the fans who hate Karen and think she’s obnoxious, it’s everyone else around her too. While in the BSC books, Kristy seems like the perfect big sister, in the LS books she often seems impatient with Karen. It is interesting to contrast how characters are portrayed in LS v. BSC. Andrew is more bratty in LS, as is Hannie. You definitely feel sorrier for Karen in LS than in BSC.

What are your opinions on character differences in BSC and LS?

4 Responsed To This Post

cpennylane said, September 5th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Well, in the main series, Karen is a sitting charge. In the LS books, all the other characters are there to serve her wacky schemes and such. It’s almost as if the other characters are there solely to make Karen sympathetic. Also, she seems to be self-centered. In “Karen’s Little Sister” I felt so bad for her — until I remembered that everything is told from her perspective. She’s narcissistic and controlling. She’s not going to tell the reader everything - only the parts taht make her look good.

matamgirl said, September 6th, 2007 at 5:09 am

I haven’t read many LS books but I do like the fact that Kristy is portrayed as being a little impatient with Karen. The idea that Kristy is the perfect big sister and never impatient grates a bit. On the other hand Karen is loud, inquisitive and has an overactive imagination so she comes across as bratty a lot of the time.

DSharpe113 said, September 6th, 2007 at 8:47 am

ahhh i always liked Karen, but then again I started reading the LS books before the BSC books, but… I dont know. I guess they’re just so different perspectives.

wanderingfrog said, September 6th, 2007 at 10:18 am

It’s been a while since I’ve read a lot of LS books, so I’d have to think about that. One of the reasons Karen can seem so annoying is that she’s a high-spirited seven-year-old for about twelve years, and while in real life, she’d grow the hell up at some point, in the books, she has an awful long time to do every kind of seven-year-old hijinks imaginable. I’m sure that if I was seven for eleven or twelve years, I’d have time to do a lot of obnoxious things, too.

About

Stoneybrookite is a Baby-sitters Club blog written by Greer. It has been online in one form or another since 2002. Greer has been reading the BSC since 1993. She was also stamped as "Stacey" at BSC Stamped. Her geographic location is hard to pin down, as she has lived in seven cities in two countries in past five years, but a part of her is always in Stoneybrook. Hence "Stoneybrookite," the official term for residents of Stoneybrook.