While reading Seventeenth Summer, I was reminded of what it’s like to be 17 again…when you’re growing up in the ‘40s. The novel focused on a love affair between recent high school graduates, Angie and Jack. When Angie wasn’t waiting by the phone for Jack to call, their love affair consisted of sailboat rides, drinking cokes together (occasionally they held hands), and picking vegetables. Steeped in gender roles, racial slurs (including “Chinaman”), and classism, Seventeenth Summer left this reader wanting.

However, the ending of the novel left some hope for Angie. Specifically, she is not married, she goes on to receive her education, and she moves away from home. Angie’s final actions send a powerful message to young girls reading the novel; in that, a first love does not have to end in marriage and education is more important than settling down. For all its flaws, the final message of Seventeenth Summer is actually (relatively) positive for teens growing up in the 1940s.