The Coming of Age of the Chalet School
Select messages from
# through # FAQ
[/[Print]\]

The CBB -> Formal Discussions

#1: The Coming of Age of the Chalet School Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2006 2:43 am
    —
For the next of the series:

Here we have lots of news of old girls, the reintroduction of the Primrose and the Dawbarns, Miss Bubb again, a pantomime and a sale, the Prefects and Joey go to the Tiernsee and a sports day to finish up.

Opinions, comments and thoughts? Any theories on series chronology that could possible make this the 21st year of the school's existence?

#2:  Author: Alison HLocation: Manchester PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2006 7:40 am
    —
Re chronology - the triplets are 13 1/2, and they were born when Joey was nearly 22 (I think), which would mean that Joey was 14 1/2 when the School was founded, even though she was 12. I've given up worrying about that Laughing Laughing !

I really like this book because I get very nostalgic for Tyrol when I'm reading the Swiss books. It annoys me that Joey & co leave most of the prefects to look after themselves (they were meant to be showing them round) to go off and see Frieda's parents with Elinor, Sybil and (why??) Mary-Lou, but otherwise it's great to see the Tiernsee come back into things - if that makes sense! &, of the Swiss books, the ones I prefer are the ones around this time - New Mistress, Excitements, Coming of Age etc.

#3: Re: The Coming of Age of the Chalet School Author: AllyLocation: The land of the fording oxes PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2006 8:16 am
    —
jennifer wrote:
Any theories on series chronology that could possible make this the 21st year of the school's existence?


Personally I think it's because EBD obliterated two years out of her time line. The extra year before Exile and another year between Rosalie and Island. If you go through the chronology from start to finish they should be there, but once you go past them and you look back they should be removed, as that's what EBD did to change the age of some of her characters. (Then it actually makes sense, as so many peoples ages are about 2 years wrong in the Swiss books)

You just have to cope with the idea of two timelines (maybe even three) at once... Wink

#4:  Author: MichelleLocation: Near London PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2006 1:07 pm
    —
There are lots of things in this I like, but I have a feeling the book might be suffering from its very major cuts. It's very interesting to see Miss Bubb back, but I've always felt that storyline doesn't go anywhere, and then she just seems to disappear at the end of term. It's good to see Primrose and the Dawbarns back, and it is funny when Primrose talks about telling some Juniors off for using slang (I have got the right book and the right incident, haven't I?), but with a well-behaved Primrose and a reforming Priscilla, we've lost some great characters. It's good to see Doris Hill back too - although she never made much impression on me as a character, it was sad when she couldn't go to Switzerland. I don't think EBD really used her as a character again.

The part where Mary-Lou, Jo and some of the others go to the Tyrol is interesting. It's good to read about the Tyrol again, and to meet people like Eigen, but I really do think it's cheeky of Mary-Lou to ask to use the first names of Jo, Marie, Frieda, and Simone. I think the idea really ought to have come from Jo. But the main reason this annoys me is because only Mary-Lou could have got away with asking that - I think even Sybil would have been sat on good and proper, and I think she calls all of them "aunt", anyway.

The incident with Jo and Mary-Lou on the lake is kind of annoying because it excludes the others - ML shouldn't have extra rights.

Quote:
jennifer wrote:
Any theories on series chronology that could possible make this the 21st year of the school's existence?


Well, it's nothing to do with chronology, exactly, but I do have a theory. It's Joey who realises the school is 21 years old. Doesn't EBD make it pretty clear that we can't trust her maths?

Michelle

#5:  Author: macyroseLocation: Great White North (Canada) PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2006 5:57 pm
    —
Michelle wrote:

Quote:
I have a feeling the book might be suffering from its very major cuts.


This book comes under the heading of Very Major Cuts on the following site: http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/ebd.html - there's a whole chapter cut from the hardback called "Joey Retails the News" where Jo and Madge talk about Carla von Flugen being rescued from waitressing by Marie von Wertheim, Maria Marani getting engaged, and sharing news of Sophie and Berta Hamel, Bianca di Ferrara, Anita and Giovanna Rincini and Gertrud Steninbruke.

I found this an enjoyable book in most ways though one thing that puzzled me was why was there no blanket invitation given to all the girls from the Chalet School at Glendower House in England? Also there were some bits that irritated me such as when Joey tells Mary-Lou that she doesn't want to be accused of favouratism after she allows the prefects to call her and her friends by their first names. To me, that accusation would be justified since I think they were favouring Mary-Lou and Co. and Jo just didn't want to be found out. Plus there's the bit where Phil Graves is proudly telling about the birth of his ten pound baby girl, Lois, and Jo has to go one better and tell him that Stephen weighed ten and a quarter. Couldn't she just have said "Congratulations" and left it at that?

But all in all a good book.

#6:  Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2006 8:15 am
    —
Oddly enough, this book is not one of my favorites.

There seems to be a lot of filler in it - a long discussion of sports prospects, a complete meeting to decide on the sale, a complete sale description, a pantomime description and a sports day description, so the whole book seems rather bland to me.

The Tyrol trip is a bit too much Joey and Mary-Lou - Joey in particular is at her most frenetic in this book, running around and regaling every one with minute stories about her school days which everyone seems to find hysterically funny.

The substory with Jessica and her step-sister is nicely done, however.

I did wonder about packing all the St Mildred's girls into the main school - if I had paid masses of money to send my daughter to an exclusive finishing school in Switzerland, I'd be a bit miffed if one of the terms were spent packed in with a boarding school, interupting their normal curriculum.

This is the book where the Margot Venables prize is renamed the Josephine Bettany prize, which always seemed rather sad to me, wiping Margot's name from the list of school prizes. There are already Josephine Bettany scholarships for both the main school and St Mildred's.

#7:  Author: KathrynWLocation: London PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2006 10:09 am
    —
I think I've said before how much this book annoys me because it could have been so good but ends up disappointing. I hate the way that some characters are singled out for favouritism and I would have liked much more nostalgia in the Tyrol bits...

I love the theory that it was Joey's maths that was wrong Very Happy

Kathryn

#8:  Author: TiffanyLocation: Is this a duck I see behind me? PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2006 4:04 pm
    —
I like this for the old characters that have come back - not just Marie/Frieda/Simone, but people like Gertrud Steinbrucke who had disappeared without trace but are now back on Planet Chalet. Carla von Flugen - I'm glad she was OK and I'm sorry she was widowed, but how is being a nursemaid (and being patronised by Joey) better than being a waitress? She's about the same age as Joey, isn't she, and should be treated as an equal, but doesn't seem to be.

The Joey-and-Mary-Lou thing at the Tiernsee is very silly. What a splendid missed oportunity to drown them both... seriously, I don't see why Mary-Lou should be so 'privileged' or Joey so unfair.

I like the way the Dawbarn twins are so different in their views - they're well-drawn, you get the idea that they're separate people who happen to be twins and very fond of each other, but disagree on everything.

#9:  Author: Kathy_SLocation: midwestern US PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2006 5:32 pm
    —
Coming of Age isn't a particular favorite, but it's a nice, pleasant read, particularly all the reminiscence and the Tyrol trip. I didn't find the oar-losing, cliff-climbing part particularly engaging, but liked the rest of it, and had no problem with the quartet opting to act their old selves for the duration. The giggling over memories seemed perfectly normal to me, especially given the presence of those who'd been there!

The Dawbarns were also particularly good in this one, very realistic interactions between the two of them. I got involved enough even on the nth read to feel relief that both of them got to go on the excursion. Smile

I'm not sure why the Carla von Flugen bit seems so upsetting to people. Even before reading her conversation with Joey in Trials, I imagined her as overwhelmingly glad to be back among friends, out of a city with bitter memories, and no longer worried about barely scraping rent together. I'm sure the stay with Marie was very pleasant, but remaining a visitor indefinitely would be far harder to swallow than the "mother's help" position. The fact that she was replacing Maria Marani would have gotten across that the job wasn't entirely makework, and would allow her to accept congenial surroundings for a longer period without feeling overwhelmingly beholden.

#10:  Author: MelLocation: UP NORTH PostPosted: Fri May 19, 2006 10:46 pm
    —
I liked the book and enjoyed the Tirol trip and would have liked more of it. I wonder why Joey needed to take Mary-Lou on the lake to tell her about why they were all allowed to be on first name terms? A plot device I presume so that Jo could have an adventure and meet Herr Thingy and get a chalet. I find the Frieda worried about Gretchen theme a bit lame. Surely Gretchen wasn't more delicate than Margot in her early years? Surely not.

#11:  Author: RóisínLocation: Gaillimh PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:42 am
    —
This isn't one of my favourite books and would tend to be one that I only read in a read through. First time round I was very disappointed with it. For a start, 21st and 25th celebrations are very close to each other. I think they should have chosen to make a big deal of either one or the other. And I think I would have gone for the 25th and left the 21st out of it altogether. Was 21 the age of voting then? Or being allowed to drink alchohol? Or have sex? What exactly did 'coming of age' signify in Chaletland? It seems arbitrary to me - the girls are of a class of society where they are dependant on their families/fathers until they get their own allowance - in Grizel's case this didn't happen til she was 30(?). I never got the feeling that 21 was a big birthday for any of the characters themselves and celebrating that the school has reached this magical number seems a bit hollow to me.

I was so geared up for returning to the Tirol and all! A skelp of Swiss books and suddenly we were promised a return to the golden thirties - of course this couldn't have happened. Tirol in this books seems like a black and white version of the original. And it's funny - because it doesn't seem like this in Joey & Co.

The Joey/Mary-Lou thing doesn't bother me because it's so in tune with both of their characters to do something like that. What does annoy me about this book isn't even particular to this book - it's the triplets being in Inter V at so young an age. It always bothered me that they were in a class with people older than them. Elinor Pennell seems to be a doorstop for Mary-Lou - just keeping the place of headgirl open long enough for OOAO to get there.

The Jessica/Rosamund/ML storyline is really beautifully done. Very Happy

#12:  Author: LottieLocation: Humphrey's Corner PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:52 am
    —
21 was a major birthday in the UK when the book was written. It was the age at which you could vote, marry without your parents' consent, and generally were deemed to be an adult rather than a minor. So I can see some (a very little) sense in choosing that as a theme for the book. But you're right, Róisín, it is very close to 25, and I really would have thought that an institution like the school would just have celebrated a silver jubilee. After all you can hardly give a school the key to the door because it has grown up, can you? I presume EBD &/or the publishers just wanted an excuse to bring back lots of old girls and also to re-visit the Tiernsee, and it did provide Joey with Bie Blumen, and hence an excuse to go back there for the holiday stories later on.

#13:  Author: Loryat PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:39 pm
    —
I recently got this on Amazon but was quite disappointed with it. Maybe it was only because it was the paperback, but the whole story seemed very rushed as though EBD (or the editor) only wanted to get from chapter to chapter without much detail. Excitements is a far more satisfying book and also conveys much more of the thrill of coming of age than the actual book itself does.

Also, what happened to Inter V's play?

EDIT I was also disappointed with the lack of Old Girls after so much fuss was made about them in the previous book.

#14:  Author: MiaLocation: London PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:48 pm
    —
This, and Ruey, are the two most hacked of the series, in my opinion. Have you checked out the transcripts site?

#15:  Author: Loryat PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:26 pm
    —
Mia wrote:
This, and Ruey, are the two most hacked of the series, in my opinion. Have you checked out the transcripts site?

I have but most of the books I haven't read are the ones that have been removed since they were issued by GGB. I didn't realise Ruey had been hacked. I just read it and really enjoyed it!

#16:  Author: KateLocation: Ireland PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:45 pm
    —
What happened to Joey going to the Tyrol with the Triplets as she promised them in Excitements? I'd be crushed if I were one of them.

#17:  Author: MiriamLocation: Jerusalem, Israel PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:25 pm
    —
They do get plenty of holidays there with her later on though. I t wasn't an absolute promise from Jo, only a hope, and I think they hsometimes had to accept that they were part of the school, and needed to fit in with it, even if it wasn't ewhat they ideally wanted.

Of course there is always the option thaqt EBD just forgot she had ever mentioned it. Rolling Eyes

#18:  Author: MiaLocation: London PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:53 pm
    —
Loryat wrote:
Mia wrote:
This, and Ruey, are the two most hacked of the series, in my opinion. Have you checked out the transcripts site?

I have but most of the books I haven't read are the ones that have been removed since they were issued by GGB. I didn't realise Ruey had been hacked. I just read it and really enjoyed it!


I tend to mix the two of them up in my mind, but I think in Ruey hb/transcript you get a chapter of a lacrosse match, one of the seniors being quite ill and Evadne's randomly turning up at the airport explained. In Coming of Age you get a lot of the Miss Bubb illness story.

I think Ruey was when I first twigged the pbs were abridged, wondering why Evadne seemed to spend her life hanging round ports and airports!

#19:  Author: macyroseLocation: Great White North (Canada) PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:42 pm
    —
Loryat wrote:

Quote:
I was also disappointed with the lack of Old Girls after so much fuss was made about them in the previous book.


The chapter about the Old Girls was one of those removed from the paperback. I don't have my books with me right now so can't tell you what the chapter was called but there were mentions of quite a few of them (though not so many as I would have liked).

#20:  Author: JustJenLocation: sitting on the steps PostPosted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:12 am
    —
I was sooo disappointed when I read this book.

I would have liked to read about Joey going to Tryol with her daughters instead of the snotty Prefects.

The whole losing the oar, climbing the cliff being rescued by what's-his-'name and then finding out that his chalet was up for sale and buying the house so they could spend 5-6 weeks ayear on a holiday is just too much.

I did like the Jessica/Rosamund sub story however.

#21:  Author: skye PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:37 pm
    —
[quote="Alison H"]Re chronology - the triplets are 13 1/2, and they were born when Joey was nearly 22 (I think), which would mean that Joey was 14 1/2 when the School was founded, even though she was 12. I've given up worrying about that Laughing Laughing !
[quote]

If you look at The Chalet School in Exile, when Janie Lucy comes to call on Joey, she says,

"Shall I bring Nan? I'd like you to get to know her. She must be quite near you in age - she's nearly nineteen"
"I'm twenty-one - that is I shall be in November." pp118-9

Later in this book the trips are born and if I remember correctly Joey's birthday is at the end of November and the trips are born on November 5th, so she would still be just 20 when they were born. That fits with the chronology, and allows Joey to be 12 at the time of School at the Chalet.



The CBB -> Formal Discussions


output generated using printer-friendly topic mod. All times are GMT + 1 Hour

Page 1 of 1

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group