Lashings and lashings of cringeworthy xenophobia

[ailbhe]

Well, I just read six Malory Towers books in about ten minutes flat, and thoroughly enjoyed them₁₅₅, and hated them intensely. They are rollicking good reads (I like a good rollick) but my word they are frightfully up themselves.

Still. They were jolly rollicking.

Comments

[mrs-warwick.livejournal.com]

We started to read 'The Magic FarAway Tree' with Rhiannon last summer. The girls did the housework with Mum, and the boys worked in the garden with Dad. I can't remember exactly what else happened, but there was some sacrifice made by the girls so the boys could have an easier life.
Rhiannon lost interest so we didn't finish it.

I was thinking about looking out for the St Clare's and Malory Towers books for Rhiannon. I think my sister has the copies we had as children. I know she has all our Chalet School books.

[gioiaverdi.livejournal.com]

The Chalet School are better books than the others, I think. Jo isn't such a prig as Darrell or as smug as the twins. I still quite like reading the Blyton books, but I never passed them on the Megan.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Malory Towers is one of my guilty pleasures. Unfortunately I have misplaced one of them.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Too much jolly-hockey-sticks-what-what? Or something else?

[ailbhe]

Stupid comical French teachers, stupid boastful over-flamboyant Americans, stupid common dishonest lazy feckless, er, commoners who drop their aitches, stupid...

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Augh. *headdesk*

[gioiaverdi.livejournal.com]

And of course there's Claudine, who's fench and therefore doesn't understand that it's wrong to ... whatever the English girls would have instilled into their bones.

[taimatsu]

Is it cheating or snitching or something?

The Chalet School has a *little* bit of 'these foreign kids don't understand Proper Behaviour until they've been at school a little while' but it also shows some British characters assuming all the non-British characters don't know how to behave and then everyone else being horrified at them, so it's not so bad on that front.

[nicolap.livejournal.com]

I think it must be January- I'm just coming to the end of a St Clare's readthrough, which was alternately gripping and excruciating, as you say.

Still, I'm all rollicked out now, which has to be a bonus...

[nicolap.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, I'd picked them up in a charity shop thinking big daughter might enjoy them, but having refreshed my memory, I now can't quite bring myself to expose her to such... rollicking...

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I found that too, when I reread them as an adult. Now I mainly read them when I am ill, so I don't have the energy to throw things at the walls but nevertheless the anger makes me want to get up.

[batswing.livejournal.com]

Poor gwen. :(
I read a GREAT fan fic where she went and transferred to Chalet School from MT and she turned out much better outside of that very English upper class cliquey nastiness.

[ailbhe]

*giggle* really?! Gosh. Wizard.

[kindermord.livejournal.com]

Tis a fine school yarn English, but 'tis no Stalky & Co or Tom Brown's Schooldays.

[ailbhe]

Well, there is that in their favour.

[divulge.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. I have a small section of similar books for comfort reading - but they are painful as well as pleasurable!

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Speaking of books, would you be interested in a large box of children's books that Richard's sister gave us? Supposedly they are all of Richard's old books, but in practice she has gone through them and picked out all the ones she wants, and Richard barely recognises most of them. I thought I could send over the ones that are age-appropriate for your kids.

[ailbhe]

If we can't use them I can surely find people who could! But it might be cheaper for you to donate them to your local library.

[merryhouse.livejournal.com]

When Rob told me he didn't see much difference between MT/StC and Chalet School, I realised *why* he got a C in English Lit...

"Show, don't tell" is something Enid should have been hit with a bit more.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

i tried rereading the 'naughtiest girl' books a few years ago, and i just couldn't. blyton gets extremely priggish at times, in a way that gets on my nerves.