The Love Letters of J. Timothy Owen by Constance C. Greene
"The Love Letters of J. Timothy Owen" by Constance C. Greene explores the life of sixteen-year-old Tim, a romantic teen who navigates the complexities of adolescence, family dynamics, and unrequited love. Tim presents himself as a quirky intellectual with a penchant for poetry, but beneath the surface lies a heartfelt desire for connection, particularly with Sophie, a girl he idolizes. The narrative unfolds as Tim attempts to win her affection through an anonymous love letter, drawing inspiration from famous romantic figures from the past.
As Tim grapples with his feelings, he also deals with the changes in his family life, including his parents' divorce and his mother's new relationship, which adds to his emotional turmoil. The story juxtaposes Tim’s romantic ideals with the realities of teenage life, including awkward social interactions and the bittersweet nature of growing up. Throughout the book, themes of love, self-reflection, and the search for identity are highlighted, making it a relatable coming-of-age tale for young readers. Greene's work encourages an appreciation for romance and the enduring relevance of love letters in an increasingly modern world.
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The Love Letters of J. Timothy Owen by Constance C. Greene
First published: 1986
Type of work: Domestic realism
Themes: Emotions, family, and love and romance
Time of work: The late twentieth century
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Locale: A mid-sized American town
Principal Characters:
J. Timothy Owen , a romantic sixteen-year-oldMaddie Owen , his motherAndrew Owen , his fatherJoy , his father’s neighbor and sometime girlfriendKev , his mother’s business partner and sometime boyfriendPatrick , his best friendMelissa , Patrick’s younger sisterSophie Feeley , Tim’s secret love
The Story
Though he hides behind big fake eyeglasses and pretends to be a weird intellectual, sixteen-year-old Tim is actually a hopeless romantic who calls himself “J. Timothy Owen,” memorizes bits of poetry, and loves his parents, dogs, and small children. When a long-legged sophomore, Sophie, is babysitting next door and the children lock her in the bathroom, he saves her and develops an instant crush on her. He idealizes his fair maiden and dreams of being her knight in shining armor and slaying dragons for her. Yet she remains aloof and unattainable, and tells him to “buzz off.”
A strange group assembles around the dinner table at his home one evening. His father, who now lives in a nearby condominium, has brought along his next-door neighbor Joy, who is “thin and 32” and not one of Tim’s favorite people. His mother has invited Kev, her partner in her antique business, who Tim believes has the attention span of a two-year-old.
Tim’s mother has purchased some old books, and he picks up one that contains “One Hundred of the World’s Best Love Letters,” written in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by such romantic figures as Beau Brummell, Edgar Allan Poe, and Lord Byron. On a romantic impulse, Tim decides to copy one of the letters and mail it anonymously to the fair Sophie. He waits in vain for his letter to have an effect upon her, but when he encounters her at church she gives him only a perfunctory greeting, and he overhears her laughing with her girlfriends about the strange love letter she has received.
While playing pool over at his friend Patrick’s house, Tim is cornered by Melissa, Patrick’s eighth-grade sister. She needs a date for her graduation tea-dance. His sense of chivalry touched, he agrees. At the dance at St. Raymond’s parochial school, he and Melissa gamely experiment with slow dancing and, after some disastrous false starts, find that it gets easier.
The parallel story line of his divorced parents’ uneasy truce is enough to try even Tim’s belief in romance. His mother considers following the restless Kev when he prepares to depart for parts unknown. Tim advises her to stay home, and she follows his advice, but now he must act as his mother’s helper in the antique store for the summer.
Tim finally gets the nerve to approach Sophie, and one day at school he invites her for a game of pool at Patrick’s house. She publicly labels him as weird and indicates that she knows that he is the “sicko” who wrote the letters to her. When he sees her at the mall later, he bravely strides up to her and rebukes her for her cruelty. He feels better for having finally closed off that chapter of his life.
Near the end of the summer his curiosity is aroused by a tall young woman babysitting next door. He is surprised to find out that it is Melissa, back from a camp where she lost twenty-two pounds. He finds that he cannot keep his eyes off her now that she has turned fourteen and blossomed into a beauty. She tells him that she is going off to boarding school soon and asks whether he will write to her. For a romantic with a book on how to write love letters secreted under his pillow, the future suddenly seems very promising.
Context
During the course of the story, Timothy identifies with some of the pioneer figures of the Romantic movement. The author includes quotations from their most florid writings and brief summaries of their lives. Composer Franz Liszt seems very human in his letters to the Countess D’Agoult, and as Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes to Countess Sophie D’Houdetout, he becomes a man that even a bicycle-riding American teenager can care about. Constance Greene has said of this book: “It seemed to me that love letters had gone out of style, as had romanticism. I wrote the book to tell people that romantics still live.”
The main character, while fascinated with a past era of history, clearly lives in the contemporary American milieu. He is particularly influenced by his own Catholicism. Tim speaks of an “epiphany” when he realizes that his parents will not be remarried. When he encounters Sister Mary Teresa, who gave him religious instruction before his First Communion, he is delighted with the opportunity to discuss his theories on the human soul: He is convinced that his own soul resembles a laser beam. Attending Mass one Sunday morning, he turns to greet those around him with “Peace be with you” and encounters Sophie sitting right behind him; he proclaims it a miracle.
The Love Letters of J. Timothy Owen is Greene’s first novel for young adults, following her series of children’s books starting with the popular A Girl Called Al (1969). Her stated goal as a writer is to amuse and entertain children while teaching them to laugh at themselves and at the vagaries of life.