Nina Rutherford
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#1: Nina Rutherford Author: JosieLocation: London PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:19 am


Please discuss Nina here...


#2:  Author: tanLocation: London via Newcastle Australia PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:47 pm


This is one of the first Chalet books I owned, so read it many times.

I felt a little bit sorry for Nina, going from Italy to the middle of winter in England!

I found it amazing about all the special 'well she is a genius so that excuses her' attitude of a lot of the staff.


#3:  Author: NinaLocation: Peterborough, UK PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 9:18 am


Well, obviously I like Nina! Very Happy I did feel sorry for her, she seems to have been brought up to regard music, and her playing, as the main thing in life and it must have been hard for her to adjust to the fact that other people didn't see it like that, especially as she was thrown so suddenly into a new life. I think she tried hard most of the time, and did, eventually, begin to see that there were other things worth doing as well. She was my inspiration for learning the piano, although I only got as far as Grade 1 Embarassed , and the only CS story I tried to write as a kid was a blatant rip-off of Genius Confused


#4:  Author: GabrielleLocation: Near Paris, France PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 10:43 am


I like Nina.
I do sometimes wonder if she was as much of a genius as EBD claimed though. Confused She was a good pianist but then she'd been practicing every day for six hours or so since she was three! I would hope with that much practice you would end up being quite good! She is an interesting contrast to Jacynth Hardy who picks up the cello at 14 and then ends up being good enough to play professionally in about four years!


#5:  Author: BessLocation: Cambridge UK PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:01 am


I think Nina was 'as good,' because she loved it - passionately. If I'd been made to practice 6hrs a day since I was 3, I bet I'd be a brilliant pianist. But it'd be forced - I'd be a Grizel, not a Nina! Nina seemed to even love practising. I love playing the piano and practising is Ok, in moderation... and I know what Nina means about yearning to feel the cool ivory notes under your fingertips. Just occasionally it gets you that way if you haven't got a piano. I guess she felt like that all the time.

I was quite over-awed and impressed by all the talk of geniuses and how by learning more about other people, and how by her own loss Nina would become a better interpreter of music... when I first read this book when I was about 10. It makes much more sense to me now. Especially Joey's 'mountains' lecture. Confused Rather passed me by at first. It's got some quite grown-up points.


#6:  Author: KBLocation: Melbourne, Australia PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 5:42 am


Bess wrote:
Especially Joey's 'mountains' lecture. Confused Rather passed me by at first. It's got some quite grown-up points.


Which may have been the reason it never appears in the hardback edition - that EBD felt it was too grown-up for her readers. As Genius was first published in paperback in 1969, it is possible that EBD wrote the extra chapter that appears in the pb version, although that probably isn't something that will ever be known for sure.

For those who don't have the hb, here is what it has:
(Chapter 'Joey Puts A Finger In The Pie' is omitted)

Chapter IX - "Beauty and the Beast"

Nina duly went to have "English tea" with Mrs Maynard on the Sunday. No one ever knew what really occurred, but when the young woman returned, the first thing she did was to hunt out Hilda who had cheered up a little by this time.
"Hilda," she said shame-facedly, "I'm so very sorry I was so unkind to you. Please forgive me if you can."

Chapter continues as in the paperback.


#7:  Author: LizBLocation: Oxon, England PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 6:09 am


I think a lot of parallels could be drawn between Nina and Eustacia, Eustacia is a brilliant scholar, Nina is a brilliant pianist; both lost parent(s) suddenly, both unable to cope with being pitchforked into family life with relatives they don't know; both sent to school because it is thought it will help them; both finding it really difficult to settle down to school-community life; both having misunderstandings with people, getting angry and holding a grudge; both finding it difficult when they don't have the time to do what they feel a driving need to do.

However, even allowing for differences in character, the way they are treated at school is completely different.

Liz


#8:  Author: SquirrelLocation: St-Andrews or Dunfermline PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 8:08 am


thinking about it, I've always classed this book with Eustacia - probably because I never read them in order. The starts of the book were so similar, and while neither girl was treated very sympathetically, Nina certainly had an easier time of it than Stacie did.


#9:  Author: PatLocation: Doncaster PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 11:39 am


I had the impression that Eustacia was written as a character that the reader wouldn't like, and that Nina was written sympathetically. That would colour the whole of each book!


#10:  Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:16 pm


Bess wrote:
I think Nina was 'as good,' because she loved it - passionately. If I'd been made to practice 6hrs a day since I was 3, I bet I'd be a brilliant pianist. But it'd be forced - I'd be a Grizel, not a Nina!


That's a good point. If someone is naturally brilliant, but doesn't practice, you don't get a concert pianist, you get a talented amateur. If someone isn't paricularly gifted, but is forced to work, you get a Grizel - brilliant technically, but with no soul to her music. If you have both, plus some luck along the way, you can get Nina.

It does emphasise early in the book that Nina's father was careful not to exploit her talent. She was singularly monofocussed, but hadn't been pushed into performing as a child prodigy. It's interesting to contrast her with the other professional musicians. Margia and Jacynth are very talented and hardworking, but no one has ever told them that music is the sole focus of their lives. They're much more balanced people than Nina is at the start.

I actually really like the school's way of dealing with her. She's given the opportunity to train seriously for music, but also gets a broader view of the world, exercise and social interaction with other girls. They also point out why - she can't always be at the piano, and may need other hobbies to occupy her time, and broader experiences and interactions with people will add an emotional depth to her music that pure practice wouldn't. I bet she really appreciated this while recuperating from her car accident.

I have philosophical problems with children being specialised too quickly and too narrowly in a particular area, even if they are talented at it. I think you need as broad a base of knowledge and skills as possible, to support you in later years. Having a child practice six hours a day to the exclusion of all else may make them a brilliant musician, but I'm not sure it will make a happy, well adjusted person.


#11:  Author: Tiffany PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:23 pm


I've just found this discussion, and it's fascinating - thankyou all! I've always liked Nina, perhaps since she was one of the first Chalet books I read.

I think her father was sensible to make her practice, but to not let her be "exploited" or to get conceited - that's one of the differences between her and Eustacia; Stacie thinks she's the bees' knees and looks down on everyone who's different. Nina doesn't understand the other girls, true, but she doesn't look down on them, and she never boasts about her ability in music, just takes it for granted.

I'm surprised, given that she's never been to school, that Nina can keep up with the work in Va with Mary-Lou et al.; though that might be because she doesn't take a lot of the classes.

 




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