Product Description

Thirteen-year-old Nina has grown accustomed to spending part of the week with each of her divorced parents until she discovers the real reason for the breakup of their marriage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3341896 in Books
• Published on: 1989-08-01
• Released on: 1989-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback

From Publishers Weekly
Nina is a J.C.K. (joint custody kid) who spends part of the week with each of her parents. Her father edits a medical newsletter, while her mother is an administrative assistant at a toy company. Nina, shy and unadventurous at 13, is best friends with sexy, precocious Dara, who (along with her divorced, sexually active mother) encourages Nina to loosen up and open herself up to boys. Nina tries to change both herself and her mother, but is sidetracked when her father admits that he is gay and plans to have his friend Greg, a gourmet chef, move in permanently. Klein's usual territorydivorced families, teen sexuality and growing up in New Yorkis combined with themes regarding parental responsibility and the woes of joint custody. Homosexuality is not the issue as much as Nina's reactions to the discovery that her father is gay; Klein treats this with sensitivity. But the title seems to imply that this discovery is the thrust of the entire book, when in fact it is just one facet of Nina's anxiety over parents and peers. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 8-10 Nina, a bright and well-organized ninth grader, is a ``joint custody kid,'' who spends half of the week with one parent, half with the other. This seems a comfortable arrangement until her father reveals that he is gay and plans to have his lover move in with them. This is a highly charged situation, yet readers are never drawn emotionally into the story. Nina's reaction to discovering that she has a gay parent is more intellectual than emotional. She verbalizes, but she isn't convincing in her reactions. There is no strong feeling from Nina, no likely adolescent concern for what others might think. Nina grapples more with the fear that she'll be displaced in her father's affections than with his sexual preference, and she never sorts out whether her temporary avoidance of her father is because he is gay or because she is jealous of this relationship. Unusual for a YA novel, the adult characters are given more dimension here, while the teenagers remain somewhat flat. Nina's mother is cynical but vulnerable, disappointed with her life; her father is an honest and caring man, comfortable with what he has discovered about himself, but fearful of losing his daughter's love. A sensitive subject is handled too matter-of-factly here to be convincing. Deborah Locke, Westbrook Library, Me.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Norma Klein Knows
This sophisticated young adult novel centers around ninth-grade Nina, a shy, precocious girl who lives part-time with each of her divorced parents. Though fairly well-adjusted to her parents' divorce, and even her father's homosexuality, Nina fears that closeness with her father will be sacrificed if her father's boyfriend, Greg, moves in. Nina and her father contend with their needs and feelings, and the situation results in some significant discoveries for Nina.

A Good Novel
I don't know why so many of Norma Klein's novels are out of print, because all of the ones I have read are very well written and explore complex and important issues. "Now That I Know" is the story of 13 year old Nina whose life seems to be getting increasingly more complicated as she gets older. She has to deal with her loving but strained relationship with her divorced mother and feels like she is lagging behind her boy crazy best friend. Then she finds out that her father's relationship with his best friend isn't what she thought it was. Her discovery that her father is gay and that his partner is moving in with them is handled in a realistic fashion. I strongly recommend this book to young teens, especially those who have dealt with a parent's coming out at a time when their own sexuality is just beginning to emerge.

Norma Klein Knows
This sophisticated young adult novel centers around ninth-grade Nina, a shy, precocious girl who lives part-time with each of her divorced parents. Though fairly well-adjusted to her parents' divorce, and even her father's homosexuality, Nina fears that closeness with her father will be sacrificed if her father's boyfriend, Greg, moves in. Nina and her father contend with their needs and feelings, and the situation results in some significant discoveries for Nina.