Book Title: Think Again
Author: Jacqueline Wilson
Genre: Adult Contemporary
First Published: September 2024
Publisher: Bantam
I heard that Jaqueline Wilson had written an adult book, Think Again. I’ve read a lot of her books as a teenager. They’re very dyslexic friendly based on how they are written and the language that is used. The book follows on from the lives of three past characters: Ellie, Magda and Nadine.
To be honest, the original book series, where these students were in secondary school isn’t one that I read. Or if I had, it doesn’t stick at all). That didn’t matter, there was enough references to the book to let me know what I needed to know.
Think Again Synopsis
Adulthood isn’t what Ellie Allard dreamed it would be when she was 14 years old. Her love-life is non-existent and she feels like she’s living on aitopilot. On her 40th birthday, things begin to change whether she wants it to or not. She’s about to discover that life will never stop surprising you – if only you let it
Language Level of Think Again
I got to be honest, I was wondering if the language level would be upped as this is a book for adults, not children 13 and below. However, Jacqueline Wilson’s style is the same. From the first page, you can hear her voice as it matches that of her children books. This might be an issue if someone doesn’t realise it’s an adult book as it does contain some spice and a lot of adult themes.
As a dyslexic person, I am glad that the language level is easy to read. I do read adult books, but some of them I have to trudge along, fighting dyslexia with hard to pronounce words. The easy language level has made it so that I could move quickly through this book as I did her children’s books.
Although I like that it is easy to read, there is also a balance of making sure it doesn’t sound too childish. Majority of Jacqueline Wilson’s readers are adults now. There should be a balance of being able to read it and have the content aimed at adults. She does do this a little bit with the adult themes, such as sex; even then, it’s more approaching 16-17 as an audience than 25+.
Some of the phrases seemed like they were meant for a younger audience. I think it’s just about reaching the correct balance and she just misses the mark. If all the sex references were taken out, this would just be another children’s book but with an adult protagonist. But it is her first book in the adult genre, if there’s a second, maybe… maybe she’ll improve on that.
Theme issues
There’s a lot of theme issues in Think Again. You have a stalker, a creepy middle-aged man, one of the characters participating in BDSM with strangers. Although the BDSM is only mentioned with Nadine having a bruise on her thought. I don’t think BDSM itself is an issue (not my cup of tea though) but I think a bit more on the dangers, especially with strangers, was warrented. It just felt thrown in to give a sense of who Nadia had become rather than anything that needed to be there.
Because of the language used, none of the themes come across as a horror but just something that is happening. BDSM I can kinda put that aside because the character does at least says she’ll be safer from now on. But the stalking and the creepy man… more needed to be done there.
The stalker
The stalker is discovered to be someone that Ellie is related to who, for some reason, thinks she has a crush on him. She is his cousin for gods sake. I don’t remember his age but I think it’ll be around the 30s-50s mark. How many braincells must this character have if he thought his cousin had a crush on him?
And after the stalker is discovered, nothing happens. She just blows him off with: oh, well you got it wrong because I am actually a lesbian. Like, ok, he’s her cousin and she was able to brush him off… but what happens the next time this brainless character thinks a woman has a crush on him?
It’s all taken too lightly, and I think it’s because Wilson is so used to writing for children that she didn’t dare to resolve it by getting the police involved. If this was a real life situation, it would be scary. Cousin or not, I would want to get the police involved for my safety and for others.
The creepy middle-aged man
Fans of the book series will probably remember the teacher Mr Windsor. According to the many references, he was the only male teacher in the all-girl school and the three girls had a massive crush on him. Well, he’s back. He hasn’t seen Ellie in 30 years.
I think my take on on this would be different if Gary (Mr Windsor) had randomly met Ellie, didn’t recognise the connection and their relationship started there, with the pair of them realising who the other is slowly. This is not what happens. Instead, Gary gives another teacher his contact details to pass to Ellie during Ellie’s birthday party. He had heard about her success as an journal artist and wanted to get in touch… not as a: ‘oh lets have a catch up’, but as a ‘let’s have sex’.
He first met Ellie at 14 and probably last saw her probably at 16. I don’t know, I haven’t read the series. His immediate want is to get in touch with her so that he can have sex? No. That’s not right. As I say, it would be different if they had just ran into each other and had no recognition at the start, but he actively wanted to date and have sex with one of his ex students? Just doesn’t seem right to me.
Character in Think Again
There’s a lot to explore here in terms of characters, and I got to say, not much of it is positive. Majority of the Think Again characters are toxic jerks. You can kind of get away with it in a school environment. Kids can be the most vile people on the planet, especially with other kids. But again, we’re talking about adults here. While adults can also be just as vile, they are often also more mature, or their toxicity manifests in other ways. But not every adult will be toxic and honestly, most of the characters are.
Let’s start of with the teacher.
Gary Windsor
Gary Windsor was the only male teacher in Ellie’s all-girl school. Why he was the only male teacher, I don’t know, I haven’t read the children’s series. He apparently oversaw all of Ellie’s art school work and complemented her on it when she was a child. For nearly 30 years, they haven’t been in touch but Ellie has been successful as an artist for a news journal. He gets in contact with Ellie through another teacher passing his details to her but he doesn’t want a simple catch up. He wants to have sex with her.
And Ellie allows it?Their whole relationship is red flag after red flag. They meet at art museums where Gary will constantly belittle Ellie by talking to her as if she was the 14 year old girl. Each art piece explained as if she couldn’t possibly know.
When Ellie wants to hang out with the women of her life, Gary turns up. He knows she wanted to just spend time with her friends but crashed it anyway. Then there’s this conversation when they talk about Gary having favourite girls when they were in school. Just ewwww.
Gary comes across as someone whose mindset is in the 1950s. Only I’m pretty sure he was born in the 60s; his mindset should be more 80s-90s at a minimum. He wants to change Ellie and becomes extremely clingy. He makes decissions for her without asking. I can’t remember where, but he decides to spend several hundred pounds on a trip without asking her if she wants to go and when. It is clear that Gary sees her no more than a school girl and that’s concerning.
Eventually, she sees the red flags and chooses the other love interest.
Other Men
Wilson seems to have an issue with men. No. Not men. Straight men. All of the straight men, every single one of them are douche bags. We’re not talking about mean school girls and naughty school boys now. These are grown ups, and while you can get jerks in all walks of life, there are going to be many who have mallowed out. Especially as these men are between 40-60.
However, any straight man in this book is a straight-up creep, with one cousin even stalking Ellie because he believed Ellie had a crush on him. Like dude, she is your cousin.
Throughout the book, every man was telling Ellie what to do and attempting to dictate her life as if it is the 1950s. Her father wanted her to move from her flat. The issues with Gary. Others telling her she should get a husband. I think many 40-60 year olds in the 21st century understand women can make their own decision and don’t try and dictate what we do.
The women
Magda and Nadine are meant to be Ellie’s friend, but they’re self-centred. I don’t know what they were like in the children’s books. Maybe they were self-centred then too, but after 30 years, they would be less so, surely?
There’s no development with Magda and Nadine, and they really don’t add much to the story other than to gossip about Ellie’s love-life. One of them getting into risky danger (I think it was Nadine) and one about to become a step-mom/mother. There’s no character development.
Honestly, there’s only three decent characters in the narrative. Alice, who Ellie meets on her birthday, Ellie, and her adult daughter, Lottie.
—Side note, I have a feeling Lottie is Wilson’s favourite name as it is mentioned a lot in other stories.
Alice
Alice is another love interest for Ellie. It is Ellie’s first proper LGBT relationship. The problem is, Alice has a partner. Her relationship with the other woman is off-page but from what Alice says, there is a lot of red flags that Ellie picks up on. Eventually, Alice and her partner, Wendy, split up (unambicibly) and this helps Ellie to explore the feelings she has for Alice.
Overall thoughts
Think Again was too juvenile in language to take some serious themes to the next level. Wilson also made an odd decision by adding Gary Windsor into the picture. She could have made a completely new man. He could have had the same red flags and it would be less concerning than a secondary teacher wanting to date his ex-pupil nearly 30 years on. The fact that Ellie also wants this is just as concerning and the two characters should seek therapy as to why they want to fantasise about a student/teacher relationship to the extent they’ll make it a reality.
Wilson’s view that all straight men are red-flags also needs to be looked into. There should at the very least be one or two men who are decent. None of them are. If there’s another adult book, or a sequel, I hope this is addressed, but I don’t think it will be. I loved following Ellie, but none of her already existing relationships seemed worth her time. As a 40 year old woman, I don’t know why she didn’t ditch any of them ages ago.
There are not many stories about a middle-aged mother, so I loved that this adds to that. Ellie kept me entertained enough, and it was an easy book to follow.
I find Jacqueline Wilson books a hit and miss, either I love them or I hate them. Mostlty, I think it depends on the theme and how she handles it. If you’re interested about that, have a look at my friend’s essay on Jacqueline Wilson and how she handles death and grief in her books.