Rating: 
Summary: Reread it before expounding upon it
Review: I've read it three or four times, and each time I recognize a few more quotes, see a few more things hidden in the plot. In brief, the book is about a very intelligent family, focusing specifically on the middle daughter, Gentian. Genny is fourteen and all her relationships are going through a lot of changes -- especially the one with her next-door neighbor, Dominic. I did not find the characters unrealistic; not to be egotistical, but they are rather like my group of friends and myself: interested in quotes, literature, and being intellectuals. I even have a friend named Becky who wants to be a writer when she grows up. (I, however, bear no resemblance to the Stephanie in the novel.) The most poignant parts in the novel, I feel, are those dealing with the friendship between Gentian and Becky.That said, I don't find it a perfect book. I continually compare it to _Tam Lin_, and it does fall short of that. They do have something in common, however; a very long exposition and rising action, and the entire plot of the ballad in the last forty to fifty pages. I happen to like it, because it gives the side-plots a much better chance to develop: the friendships, the maturing, the literary references. What I didn't like was that there simply wasn't enough about certain characters: Genny's parents, for two. I do adore the style, and the feel, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes any of the following: literature, intellegentsia, Pamela Dean, literary fantasy, coming-of-age stories, books with nifty purple covers . . . (Ok, the last was a joke.) But my point is taken. Buy it, but try _Tam Lin_, too.
Rating:
Summary: Reread it before expounding upon it
Review: I've read it three or four times, and each time I recognize a few more quotes, see a few more things hidden in the plot. In brief, the book is about a very intelligent family, focusing specifically on the middle daughter, Gentian. Genny is fourteen and all her relationships are going through a lot of changes -- especially the one with her next-door neighbor, Dominic. I did not find the characters unrealistic; not to be egotistical, but they are rather like my group of friends and myself: interested in quotes, literature, and being intellectuals. I even have a friend named Becky who wants to be a writer when she grows up. (I, however, bear no resemblance to the Stephanie in the novel.) The most poignant parts in the novel, I feel, are those dealing with the friendship between Gentian and Becky. That said, I don't find it a perfect book. I continually compare it to _Tam Lin_, and it does fall short of that. They do have something in common, however; a very long exposition and rising action, and the entire plot of the ballad in the last forty to fifty pages. I happen to like it, because it gives the side-plots a much better chance to develop: the friendships, the maturing, the literary references. What I didn't like was that there simply wasn't enough about certain characters: Genny's parents, for two. I do adore the style, and the feel, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes any of the following: literature, intellegentsia, Pamela Dean, literary fantasy, coming-of-age stories, books with nifty purple covers . . . (Ok, the last was a joke.) But my point is taken. Buy it, but try _Tam Lin_, too.
Rating: 
Summary: A Teen's point of view
Review: I've read review after review that complained that this book, which I thought bewitching, absorbing, and masterful, was entirely to pretentious and that no teenagers could ever possibly speak or know so many literary references. That is completely false, and it goes to show you that perhaps those small-minded people who are writing that are unused to intelligent youth. While I found a few flaws in the book myself, no book is perfect, and I personally am estatic when an author creates characters that are well-read, clever, and wise (perhaps beyond their years as some people would say). Lest some of you think I'm an antisocial minority, my friends and I are outgoing, well respected in school and delight in going to school functions. However we are still thrilled with the idea of a night of debating at home, or studying the constellations...perhaps this book isn't for everyone, but if you read it, do NOT think that it is idealistic and has impossibly bright characters. The youth of today are not as pitiful as some old geezers like to think.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange
Review: I've read several Pamela Dean books in the past, and so I was prepared for her style; it didn't bother me much that people quoted too often, or that the book was long on characterization and mood but short on plot, or that the ending swooped in out of the ether when I was least expecting it. I was ready for those things to be the case, so they didn't disappoint me. I opened the book hoping for a story like Dean's earlier _Tam Lin_, full of interesting characters, with a subtle but looming sense of the supernatural. I didn't like JG&R as much as Tam Lin, though. For starters, I didn't feel like we got to know Gentian and her friends and family as well as we got to know Janet's circle; I wanted to know more about these people, but I always felt a little like a spectator. Then, I couldn't understand why Gentian liked Dominic. Hormones or no, beauty or no, any self-respecting girl would have become annoyed with him when she noticed that he almost NEVER said anything but quotes (people say the other characters quote too much, but it was Dominic who truly crossed the line). And the annoyance would have turned to revulsion when he made the racist comments about her friend Alma. I just don't buy into Gentian's continuued fascination with him. I would have disliked him intensely. Finally, I agree with the reviewer below who says the ending is unfair to Gentian; she is the one who defeated the evil, but it seems like she is punished rather than rewarded for it. I had read the relevant ballad, "Riddles Wisely Expounded", before reading JG&R. I'm not sure whether that had a good or bad effect on my reading experience. On one hand, the denouement probably would have made less sense to me if I hadn't read the ballad; on the other hand, it was a spoiler of sorts. I would certainly recommend reading the ballad after reading the book, just to make sense of things. _Tam Lin_ contained a copy of its ballad; I wish this book did as well. One more comment on Dominic's quoting: Though it made him an extremely annoying character, I did like the possible implications of that move by Dean. If Dominic is in fact the mythological personage he is implied to be, it's tantalizing to think that he is just made up of the thoughts of human beings, accumulated over the years, and has no existence outside of the human imagination. That aspect of the story will definitely stick in my mind for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: I fell in love with this book
Review: If you consider yourself a literary person, you would probably enjoy this book. Gentian and her friends and family constantly refer to the wide variety of books they've read, and I enjoyed puzzling out the references. The ending does seem a bit rushed, and it would have been nice to have had a copy of the original ballad to refer to-I still don't know the original story. Nevertheless, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the company of these characters-I wish my own family was like theirs! Everyone should give this book a try. I've reread it several times since I bought it a few months ago.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Normally, I love Pamela Dean's works - the literary allusions always keep me thinking. However, this book while it still had the same flavor as Tam-Lin (my favorite book of Dean's), didn't have the same emotional impact. Also, although I won't spoil it for anyone, the ending seemed unfair the the main character and comes out of nowhere. It isn't a book that I would recommend to everyone unreservedly
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Normally, I love Pamela Dean's works - the literary allusions always keep me thinking. However, this book while it still had the same flavor as Tam-Lin (my favorite book of Dean's), didn't have the same emotional impact. Also, although I won't spoil it for anyone, the ending seemed unfair the the main character and comes out of nowhere. It isn't a book that I would recommend to everyone unreservedly
Rating: 
Summary: Quotations, allusions no substitute for plot
Review: Pamela Dean's works are an English teacher's delight, studded with quotes and always ready to go off on a literary tangent. Unfortunately, such tactics can interfere with the coherence of her narrative--Dean is at her best when she actually has a STORY to tell, as in *Tam Lin* and *The Dubious Hills.* The plot of *Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary* could probably be written on a matchbook, but here it's padded out into a novel of 200+ pages. Her characters--the Merriwether sisters and their friends--are also problematic. While it's always encouraging to read about thoughtful, intelligent young people, Dean makes her adolescents in this book impossibly literate and erudite, --you wonder irritably how many of them already have Ph. D's! Their precocity soon becomes precious and reminiscent of a bad Madeleine L'Engle novel. But the tissue-thin plot and glacial pacing, which accelerates only in last 30-40 pages, are the novel's biggest flaws. Quotations and literary allusions are a great supplement to plot, but they're no substitute for it!
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent heroine, portrait of great family life
Review: slips almost unnoticed into fantasy. I understand why people found it slow and were frustrated that things don't happen quickly for a long time, but I so enjoyed all the slow parts -- the rich, detailed sense of life in a busy family, the thoughts of a smart girl in high school, the schoolwork, the battles with siblings, that I didn't mind at all. The ending was a bit enigmatic for me, but if I could have given it four and a half stars I would have. Though I didn't think it totally worked, I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellant but not Dean's Best
Review: So short of perfection it's eerie, Dean has once again wrapped a world of literature and magic in her work. I flipped from allusion to qoutation breathlessly, starting to wonder if any of me and my "sophistacated" friends of youth had ever sounded half as elegant. The word play and word craft is as impeccable as Dean's other works - my notable favorites of Tam Lin and The Dubious Hills. The only thing lacking are the last few chapters where the intense, hallucination quality almost took over the story. Slightly hazy at times, the occasional lack of clarity is nearly made up for by the sheer poetry of Dean's writing.
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