Murder by Death

I went into this adult-re-read expecting the story to feel, I don't know, overly simplistic?  Because it was written for 12-year-olds back in the 70's, I just knew this childhood favourite would now suffer my age - it would feel dated at the very least!

Boy was I wrong.  I closed the book amazed at how well the story has stood up over time. I found it very readable and the writing pretty incredible for a 12-year-old 1st-person voice written from a closer-to-middle-age author.  Nothing in the story felt overly dated either; there is either a clever avoidance for, or a coincidental lack of, anything that would obviously age the story.  The whole suburban feel of the neighborhood Margaret and her family moved to had a very late-20th century vibe in the lack of video games and TV.  Mothers all stayed home and two-car families were not a foregone conclusion. 

Religion and puberty are the major themes in this book.  I was never angsty over puberty myself, although I knew plenty of my friends that were, and I had my religion decided for me, so I can't say I ever identified with Margaret; still I found plenty to love in this book as a pre-teen, and plenty to appreciate as an adult.  Margaret's search for religion is rather ironic - she's searching out a connection to God, trying different churches and synagogues (she doesn't try Buddhism or Islam because she doesn't know anyone of these faiths) and never finding him, when all the time she's been talking to him in her head.  The need to conform in order to acknowledge what she already had.

If I had a daughter, I'd think this book still relevant even today; pubescent angst never really changes does it?  The religious questions may or may not suit some, but it's never a bad thing to try the view from someone else's seat, right?