Ruey Richardson: Chaletian
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#1: Ruey Richardson: Chaletian Author: Rachael PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 10:31 am


There is no summary for this book Fave/Worst scenes? How well does Ruey settle in, given her "head start"? Do you sympathise with Francie at all? What do you think about the re-introduction of lacrosse? How are the triplets developing in this book? Anything else?

 


#2:  Author: JennieLocation: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:25 am


I thought the episode of the pen and spraining her finger was rather contrived, and the chapter of coincidences afterwards! I think Ruey settles in pretty well, considering her background of going to bed when she pleases. If staying with the Maynards didn't give her a head start, nothing would! In some ways, Ido sympathise with Francie, it is dreadful to feel that you are not wanted! BTW, how many more women die in the peri-natal period? Does EBD not know any other way of getting rid of them? I thought the reintroduction of lacrosse was a bit overblown. It's just not a strong enough topic or a big enough change to take the weight of the amount of pages devoted to it it's not as though they were going co-ed! I thought the triplets were beginning to mature in this book, surprisingly enough, I couldn't understand why Margot didn't have one of her devilish fits over the introduction of three more into the family.

 


#3:  Author: VikkiLocation: Sitting on an iceberg, freezing to death!!! PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 1:40 pm


But Margot had just had her major wake up call hadn't she? After all the fuss in Theodora I don't think she'd have DARED to have a hissy fit over Ruey and co........

 


#4:  Author: JennieLocation: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 4:58 pm


That's a very valid point, Vikki, and I would agree that Margot might not have made a fuss over a friendship, but three more in the family might have brought out the worst in her.

 


#5:  Author: Amanda MLocation: Wakefield PostPosted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 11:12 pm


I've always thought that Ruey settles in a bit too easily. I would have thought there would have been more arguments about the times for bed and prep, etc. I did feel a bit sorry for Francie, although she didn't exactly help herself by keeping the others at arms length (as it were). The reintroduction of lacrosse was good, but it seemed to take up a lot more space in the book than I thought it warranted (maybe it was just an exceptionally quiet term!) Just my thoughts Star Wars

 


#6:  Author: RuthLocation: Lincolnshire, England PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 8:29 am


I think Ruey makes a good start at the school. I was glad that lacrosse was re-introduced. I don't like Francie Wilford but I can understand her feelings at bein excluded. My favourite scene would have to be when Ruey sprains her finger!

 


#7:  Author: JennieLocation: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 12:50 pm


It seems that most of think that 'Ruey' is a bit of a non-event as far as the books go!

 


#8:  Author: LulaLocation: Midlands, UK PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 1:29 pm


Jennie wrote:
It seems that most of think that 'Ruey' is a bit of a non-event as far as the books go!
I have to agree there. I got it from the school library a few years back, and found it so nondescript that I didn't remember reading it until I found a book review I'd done of it.

 


#9:  Author: Lisa_TLocation: Belfast PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 5:45 pm


*g* Ruey is very non-descript in PB but I think that the HB (which i only have in transcript boo hoo) is much more interesting. It also shows awareness from the staff about how attitudes are changing- so does Leader (also in HB)- but those interesting bits are always chopped.

 


#10: Re: Ruey Richardson: Chaletian Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 7:59 pm


I read the transcript for this just this afternoon, so it's all nicely fresh in my mind. Sorta! Fave/Worst scenes? I think the worst scene is probably the prefects' arrival at the Auberge - it's so completely jarring that Barbara would be that rude and that un-prefectlike. Actually ALL the early scenes with the prefects seemed to be fairly jarring. Don't think I've actually got a fave scene, although the Lacrosse match was very nicely written. How well does Ruey settle in, given her "head start"? I think she does pretty well. Do you sympathise with Francie at all? Totally, having been there and been in a similar position. I also think that it's nice to finally, actually see a reason for the WHY of the attitude that she's shown in various books prior to this one. What do you think about the re-introduction of lacrosse? I'm going to buck the trend here and say that not only did I actually like it, I think it was worth the devotion it got. I'm of the sporting persuasion (though I've never played lax) and it was, I think, a refreshing change to see sports actually portrayed as they're played as opposed to as a plot device (thinking of Challenge here where Evelyn cracks someone on the shin with a hockey ball, though there are other occasions, too). How are the triplets developing in this book? They're growing up. I particularly like Margot's struggle with what she should do/say to Francie - it's a shame, in a way, that she didn't solve the problem herself, on the other hand, had she done so I guess it would have been fairly unrealistic - but I did also like the fact that Len wasn't keen on being dormie prefect. I was amused by the minorish EBDism of defining Len as the tidy one I'd SWEAR in Prefects Matey has to call Headgirl Len out of prep to tidy her drawers! I think the only one who didn't really develope 'nicely', as it were, was Con, and here not because she didn't get any development, she did it just, to my mind, seemed to turn her into a less than nice person. Anything else? I think the big thing that I liked was seeing the relationship between the group - seeing the way that Ted, Rosalind, Ricki, Sue and Odette are also growing. I particularly liked that Odette found the courage to point out to Con and Margot that they were talking in English rather than French. I also loved Margot's reaction to being the form prefect second. I think, overall, I don't think it's a book I'm going to rush and try and find my own copy of, but I think, given the same-ness of a lot of the Swiss books, it does stand out as being a little bit different, which is nice, and the fact that it does conclude a thread of story that had been running for at least six books up to that point, off and on, also gives it a satisfying feel. Ray *getting a plot bunny*

 


#11:  Author: claireLocation: South Wales PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:10 pm


Also to be fair Len could be the tidiest member of the Maynards and still be very messy - it's all relative

 


#12:  Author: ChelseaLocation: Your Imagination PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:13 pm


I think you are right Ray, in earlier books Len's besetting sin is her untidyness (she takes after Joey). In one of the books (for the life of me I don't know which one), when EBD is describing the Maynard kids, everything about Len is positive and then EBD says something to the effect of "but Len wasn't perfect, she was very untidy"

 


#13:  Author: RayLocation: Bristol, England PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 8:20 pm


*nodding* Yup, it's consistantly said she's untidy. REMARKABLY consistantly said, given this is EBD we're talking about (!!) in fact, this is the first time that she's said otherwise about Len! Claire: I never got the impression Len was supposed to be the tidiest of the Maynards. I sort of thought that was Con but you're absolutely right, these things are all relative! *grins* Ray *would not have been Matey's blue-eyed pet in the tidiness stakes*

 


#14:  Author: Lisa_TLocation: Belfast PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:41 am


For a wonder, EBD seems to have picked this up. In the HB of Leader, (in a cut bit) Len tells Margot (during their half term chat) : '"..you know how untidy I am by nature. I hate having to take time to put things away decently. It's so much easier to cram them in anywhere." [hear, hear!] Margot gasped. "But you're the tidiest of us all!" she cried. "Only because I've made myself, and even now it isn't easy." "Gosh! What a shock!..."' pp 114-115.

 


#15:  Author: MiriamLocation: Jerusalem, Israel PostPosted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 11:54 pm


The amount of time devited to lacrosse never bothered me - when I first read it, I had never heard of lacrose, and I spent half my time figuring it out. Also, when you compare it to the amount of tennis in Wrong CS, it seems very reasonable, since at least there is someting new here, and we are not dragged through the games minute by mminute. THis was the first CS book I read, and in retrospect, I'm not sure how it got me hooked onto the series, since there was so much that seemed very obscure - Her relationship with the Mayvards (who were they anyhow?), the background of her father, what was the whole deal with Peggy's wedding, and why were the teachers going to wedding anyway? It does seem to have been a remarkably quiet term for the CS, but somehow the girls very much appealed to me, and it was enough to spark an affection (addiction?) for the CS, which has left my mother regretting thatshe ever brought me that first one. I can't think of any particular scene that was my favourite, but I still have a special affectoin for the book. I still find it haed to look at character development in this book, because I still look at the characters as the snapshot that I got at that time without any context.

 


#16:  Author: Lisa_TLocation: Belfast PostPosted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:11 am


RE ruey and the finger episode and someone saying ti was contrived- did you mean the fainting and subsequent fuss? That didn't bother me at all. I once fainted in the middle of a woodwork lesson for something much less- the vice thing pressed (not too hard!) on a particular spot on my hand- and I was out. That made quite a fuss. Especially when 20 minutes later i did a good job of sawing off the top of my thumb. You should have seen the blood and panic cos they were all convinced I was gonna go out again. I didn't! Laughing so... that could well happen!

 


#17:  Author: claireLocation: South Wales PostPosted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 3:22 pm


Jennie wrote:
BTW, how many more women die in the peri-natal period? Does EBD not know any other way of getting rid of them?
Kathie Ferrar's mother dies in childbirth, I think and what about Lavender's mother - do we ever know WHY she lives with her aunt?

 


#18:  Author: JennieLocation: Cambridgeshire PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 3:15 pm


I think there are several more, including Francie Wilford's mother.

 


#19:  Author: Sarah_LLocation: Leeds PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 5:22 pm


And Jacynth Hardy's mother.

 


#20:  Author: GemLocation: Saltash/Aberystwyth PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:24 pm


Does anyone know where I can pick up an hb transcript? I have the paperback, but I'd like to read the hb before commenting on it.

 


#21:  Author: claireLocation: South Wales PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:31 pm


as always - Raya's site (on the links page)

 


#22:  Author: AllyLocation: Jack Maynard's Dressing Room!! PostPosted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:32 pm


The HB is available on the transcripts website here It's on the second page, so not immediately obvious.

 


#23:  Author: GemLocation: Saltash/Aberystwyth PostPosted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:04 pm


Thank you!

 




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