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Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School
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Author:  Róisín [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Synopsis here.

First of all, do you like the characters of Samantha and of Samaris? Which one are you most drawn to, and why? Is it likely that these two would strike up that close friendship? What about the big car accident - is this one of the more anxious moments in the series for you? This is the book where the triplets rule the school as the top prefects - what do you think of the job they are doing, and is the burden being shared equally by all three? There are quite a few references to Biddy and to Hilary in this book - they are living nearby sharing a big chalet between their two growing families; what do you think of this situation and can you imagine any difficulties that would arise from it! Perhaps it's better *not* to raise the issue of the 'newly discovered relationship' between the two Sams at the end?! :lol: (But please do discuss if this is a bone of contention for you or if you found it delightful...)

Please join in the discussion below :D

Next Sunday: Althea Joins the Chalet School

Author:  Alison H [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

I like both Samantha (which I gather was quite an unusual name before Bewitched) and Samaris. I think I prefer Samaris, but I find Samantha refreshingly different in that she says straight out that she doesn't want a career - the first person in CS years to do so. I'm certainly not saying that that's a good thing, but it makes her different. It's interesting to see the effects of Phil Maynard's illness explored more closely, too.

I also like the reference (although it's in the same scene as her appallingly rude remark about Samaris's parents only having had one child) to Joey's visit to the inner city parish in Innsbruck to which the school sends clothes and money.

I'm very uncomfortable about the comment about it being for the best that the man injured in the car accident died, given that his mother had also died. I can quite understand "for the best" comments if someone is seriously ill and in severe pain, and I could possibly just about take it if one of an elderly couple who might find it hard to cope without each other had died and someone was talking about the other partner, but in this context it makes me uneasy.

Unfortunately, I have to say that the book is spoilt for me by the ridiculous long-lost cousin thing at the end: I know that that storyline's been used by many, many authors, including Charlotte Bronte, but by that stage in the series there've been so many discoveries of long-lost relatives in a short space of time that it just seems stupid.

Is this the book in which Con mistakenly tells a junior that it's OK to ski in a particular area? I don't read the later Swiss books that often so get them mixed up sometimes :oops: . If so, could I say that I find it extremely disappointing that, after all the talk about Con maturing, EBD reverts to portraying her as someone who is always in a daydream and irresponsible as a result :( .

Author:  Sunglass [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Alison H wrote:

Is this the book in which Con mistakenly tells a junior that it's OK to ski in a particular area?


Yes, it is, only it's one of the Sams. I sometimes think EBD feels that, as Con can't presumably write a critically-acclaimed first novel while still at school, the only trait she has that distinguishes her is 'dreaminess', so it has to keep being referred to, even after she's supposedly reformed! I actually think Con gets a rough deal over the ski incident. It really needs to be a staff concern that see that girls who aren't able to ski well don't use the advanced slopes - it's hardly fair to give that kind of serious safety responsibility to people who are still schoolgirls.

I've less of a problem with the Incredible Coincidence of the two Sams being related (at this stage in the series, I've come to expect it!), and more with the Heavy Hints all the way through - people keep wondering, on no basis of physical resemblance or shared nationality, whether they are related! OK, the Sams are in different forms and are different ages, but they're the only two new girls this term and meet on their first day when they're feeling disoriented - surely there doesn't need to be any other explanation of why they like one another?

It interests me in this one that more than one CS mistress isn't presented as perfect - although these are very minor characters. But it's still one of the first or only times I can think of that actual CS mistresses, not substitutes or new staff, are seen critically, without their behaviour explained away by toothache or something.

Miss Smith makes it plain she's annoyed by having to go and escort one of the Sams individually. Miss Stone is presented as having a tendency to mock people's efforts at reading aloud, and not being good at motivating an underperforming form. Kathie Ferrars takes over, on the grounds that she is a 'live wire' and good at games, which somehow, according to Hilda, gives her a hold over a games-mad form that Miss Stone, who is uninterested in games, doesn't have. I never get that piece of logic, given that neither teaches games (or do they?) and that Miss Ferrars' first act is to cancel games for her new form for a fortnight to fit in extra lessons - surely Miss Stone could have done the same?

I'm also amused by the innovation of celebrating St Patrick's Day, complete with having to magick several hundred green prizes out of thin air - pity it wasn't done, though, when there were more prominent Irish mistresses and girls! (How likely is Miss Burnett to be able to dance a jig?) And it kills me to imagine the CS staff singing 'Phil the Fluter's Ball'!

Author:  Maeve [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

I enjoyed hearing about Nina again and learning something about how her life had progressed -- we hear so little of Margia Stevens by comparison.

Like Alison, I was rather taken with Samantha's being so uninterested in a career. Most CS girls don't say they want to
Quote:
Have a good time and get married while I’m still young enough to enjoy it.
Maybe she hoped for a passionate Dick and Mollie Bettany romance :)

I found the other CS girls kind of -- whiney, for want of a better word, in this book. Samantha's form being so annoyed at her friendship with Samaris who is younger; Samaris' form being upset because she studies hard, making them look bad; the upset because both Sam's are taken to visit Nina in hospital -- they (the others) don't come off very well.

I'd have to conclude that while I like both Sam's well enough, I think they deserved a better book.

Sunglass wrote:
Quote:
And it kills me to imagine the CS staff singing 'Phil the Fluter's Ball'!

Absolutely! :rofl: :rofl:

Author:  MJKB [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Sunglass wrote:
I'm also amused by the innovation of celebrating St Patrick's Day, complete with having to magick several hundred green prizes out of thin air - pity it wasn't done, though, when there were more prominent Irish mistresses and girls! (How likely is Miss Burnett to be able to dance a jig?) And it kills me to imagine the CS staff singing 'Phil the Fluter's Ball'!

I enjoyed the Paddy's Day celebrations, although I don't accept for a moment that Miss Burnett could dance an Irish jig not having Irish feet! As for a CS performance of Phil the Fluther's Ball, well, the term 'a rush of blood to the head' springs to mind, though I'm quite impressed that EBD even knew it. Hard to imagine Miss A singing "With the toot of the flute and the twiddle of the fiddle o Hopping in the middle like a herrin on the griddle o!"
.
I liked both Sams, particularly Samaris. Samantha comes across abit uppity at times, but I felt sorry for the way she was treated over the skiing accident. Poor girl ditches her shoulder, a most painful injury and instead of sympathy she gets the sobriquet 'Silly Sammy'. Somewhat harsh.

Author:  Kate [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Sunglass wrote:
Miss Stone is presented as having a tendency to mock people's efforts at reading aloud, and not being good at motivating an underperforming form. Kathie Ferrars takes over, on the grounds that she is a 'live wire' and good at games, which somehow, according to Hilda, gives her a hold over a games-mad form that Miss Stone, who is uninterested in games, doesn't have. I never get that piece of logic, given that neither teaches games (or do they?) and that Miss Ferrars' first act is to cancel games for her new form for a fortnight to fit in extra lessons - surely Miss Stone could have done the same?

Yes, she could have but it could have looked to the girls that she cancelled them because she was being nasty and/or didn't want them playing games. Whereas Miss Ferrars was known to like games and so this excuse wouldn't apply and they wouldn't be able to explain a punishment away. I might be explaining that adly but it makes perfect logical sense to me. I think Miss Ferrars did some gams coaching though she didn't teach officially.

Author:  Sunglass [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Maeve wrote:
Most CS girls don't say they want to
Quote:
Have a good time and get married while I’m still young enough to enjoy it.
Maybe she hoped for a passionate Dick and Mollie Bettany romance :)


I realise, looking at it again, that I was reading what Samantha says the wrong way round - she's not actually saying 'have a good time while I'm young enough to enjoy it, and get married' but that she wants to 'have a good time and get married when I'm still young enough to enjoy it.' I was assuming the good time would precede the marriage, but it doesn't. Is this evidence of a now old-fashioned sense that a young married woman would have more freedom and fun (wipe your minds!) than an unmarried one, who (at least in Samatha's own projected future) didn't work and still lived with her parents? It feels the wrong way round to modern girls' sensibilities - you 'settle down' after you've had your single fun etc - but it's true that lots of period novels have the 'young marrieds' as the dashing socialites...

Author:  Tor [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

I'd say Miss Ferrars canceling games made the punishment carry more weight because the girls would feel didn't devalue their importance. And the added incentive that she'd be keen to rescind the punishment as work improved would help too - with Miss Stone, it might seem like she was taking advantage of the situation to implement a change she'd been wanting to do for a while (cut games) and would like to see continue for as long as possible.

And yes, I read that 'having my married fun whilst young enough to enjoy it' exactly as you put it, Sunglass - being married meant being able to do all sorts of things independently. It seemed like it also allowed you to go to lots of parties, travel, indulge in all kinds of (innocent or otherwise) flirtations - as long as you married the right sort of rich husband. Probably outmoded for a lot of pople even at that time - but *not* for nice girls!, at least in EBDs book!! :wink:

Author:  MJKB [ Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

I vaguely remember an authorial comment in Good Wives to the effect that young married women become cloistered in America having led an independent life up to that point. LMA compares this to the situation in Europe which is the exact opposite, namely that unmarried girls are closely chaperoned but once married have a 'gay' (obviously in the old fashioned sense of the word) old time of it.

Author:  Cat C [ Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

I have just been re-reading this today, and a couple of things jumped out at me:

At the beginning we're told that Samaris can speak German, having been at school in Innsbrook for the past 18 months, fair enough, but isn't so good at French, also fair enough. However, when she's later discussing her nationality with Jo, en route to the San, she says she's partly Welsh, although her father's from Australia and her mother is French Canadian. Now, apart from not seeing how Australia + French Canadian = Welsh, surely in EBD world, having a French Canadian mother would automatically confer prettily accented French on Samaris? Samantha, incidentally, can speak French due to her mother having had French maid...

The other thing was that after the car crash, why is it Joey rather than cousin Yvonne who tells Nina about the man who died and her (Nina's) hair having been cut off? I appreciate cousin Yvonne was injured, but only in a minor sort of way, and I really would have thought that the doctors, or even one of the nurses could have broken the news of a medically-enforced haircut!

On a side note, is it really just me that thinks Joey kissing Nina's lips (during the bit about the man who died) is a bit odd?

Author:  JayB [ Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Alison H wrote:
I'm very uncomfortable about the comment about it being for the best that the man injured in the car accident died, given that his mother had also died. I can quite understand "for the best" comments if someone is seriously ill and in severe pain, and I could possibly just about take it if one of an elderly couple who might find it hard to cope without each other had died and someone was talking about the other partner, but in this context it makes me uneasy.


I can accept Joey saying that to Nina in order to try to prevent Nina from fretting about it.

But if what Jo said was true, surely young Dwight's relationship with his mother was verging on unhealthy:
Quote:
He and his mother were everything to each other.

I can understand them being particularly close as Mr Dwight senior had died when he was a baby. But young Dwight was an adult - he should have had some kind of life apart from his mother. Didn't he have friends? A girlfriend? A career?

Author:  Mia [ Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Wanna bet EBD had gone to the flicks to see Psycho?! LOL

Author:  JB [ Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

I like both girls and I feel that as with others of the later books, there’s a good book in here trying to get out. Samaris’s form is almost interesting but, earlier in the series, Lysbet would have been better drawn and we’d have seen why she behaved as she did.

In Samantha, it’s good to see a slightly older pupil who questions some of the Chalet School assumptions but who isn’t a “difficult” pupil.

I like Hilda’s plan for Kathie to take over the form from Miss Stone. I think they would have had more respect for a teacher who shared their interest in sport but still expected them to work

I agree with Sunglass about Con’s treatment after Samantha falls while skiin, and the staff’s attitude towards Samantha. How on earth was the poor girl supposed to know she shouldn’t try the run if she’s told it’s ok? If the run is that difficult/potentially dangerous, why isn’t a member of staff in charge of it?

Most irritating EBD-ism – Samantha is told she won’t be able to ski for the rest of the term and the a few chapters later she’s skiing to the san.

Long-lost relation? Yawn So unnecessary.

Cat C wrote:

Quote:
Now, apart from not seeing how Australia + French Canadian = Welsh, surely in EBD world, having a French Canadian mother would automatically confer prettily accented French on Samaris?


And also neatness in the way she dresses, natch

Author:  hac61 [ Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Cat C wrote:
I have just been re-reading this today, and a couple of things jumped out at me:
Now, apart from not seeing how Australia + French Canadian = Welsh,


She says she's partly Welsh, that could be anything up to an 1/8th or less. Plenty of Welsh people have emigrated to Australia.


hac

Author:  Sunglass [ Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

It seems a bit confused. She says
Quote:
, “I’m part Welsh. Some of Dad’s folks came from Australia and Mam is Canadian – French Canadian.


But we're told her father is the British representative for a manufacturing firm in Innsbruck, so I'm assuming that means he isn't actually Australian himself, and then she also says, in the context of how people address their parents, that
Quote:
'I’m Welsh, so I’ve always called my mother ‘Mam’

which sounds to me like her father must actually be Welsh himself?

Still not sure why she would necessarily call her non-Welsh mother 'mam' (do we know whether they lived in Wales before Innsbruck even?) - I mean, you might expect her to use a Welsh usage for the Welsh parent but probably not the non-Welsh parent - or why she wouldn't have learned French from her mother? Or, as someone said, have that whole 'dainty French fingers settling her clothes' thing - or does that not apply to French Canadians? It seems a bit unfair, as Len, with no French blood at all, somehow in Althea has
Quote:
fingers that had all a Frenchwoman’s gift of elegance.
Though maybe Simone gave her lessons or something... :wink:

Author:  Cat C [ Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

It all just struck me as a bit unnecessary - Jo guesses she's Welsh because of her surname (from her father), so why complicate the whole thing with Australians and Canadians? Could her father not have been a Welshman who did some globe-trotting resulting in an Australian wife? It would still have left room for Sam's mother to have been descended from American Samaris (twin of Samantha).

And I know it's a very minor point, but why does the Armada cover show a dark-haired girl in a tree resucing a cat, when that was Samantha, whom we're repeatedly told is bonde? I sometimes get the impression the Aramada cover-illustrators delighted in perversity.

Author:  JB [ Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Cat C wrote:

Quote:
I sometimes get the impression the Aramada cover-illustrators delighted in perversity.


Jo in short denim pinafore burning her book (first Armada paperback). I rest my case.

Author:  hac61 [ Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Armarda may not have actually given the accurate information to the illustrator.

My cousin who is an illustrator says that quite often all he is given is a synopsis of a plot.


hac

Author:  Fiona Mc [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

I really liked this book as I really liked both Sam's. I always felt sorry for them as they seemed to get a rough deal from their respective forms. I thought it was really nice having a pair of friends who were friends outside of school a la Clem and Mary Lou or Len and Prunella rather than because of the convinience of being in the same form. I thought Samaris was geared to being a furture Head Girl. I thought it was good to see Sam stand out in her form where most follow Jack like sheep and even here, Jack doesn't stop her form from bullying or being nasty with a new girl but rather ignores it which I thought was a bit weak. Val Gardainer shows up well here instead as she stands by Sam.

Author:  jennifer [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Maeve wrote:
I found the other CS girls kind of -- whiney, for want of a better word, in this book. Samantha's form being so annoyed at her friendship with Samaris who is younger; Samaris' form being upset because she studies hard, making them look bad; the upset because both Sam's are taken to visit Nina in hospital -- they (the others) don't come off very well.


A good point. The other students are pretty bratty here - very sulky and resentful about anything done by other people without consulting them. They certainly aren't presenting anything like the classic CS friendliness and cohesiveness.

The skiing incident bothered me too, because people are being blamed all over the place for not following a procedure that doesn't exist. They don't appear to tell new students about the rules for skiing, but simply assume that they'll know to go to a prefect or mistress to be evaluated before taking certain runs. There's no procedure for the prefects to check girls before allowing them on the run, and no one with the responsibility of policing the run. Apparently, the prefects are expected to remember who has been approved in the past and/or grill anyone heading for the run. In the early days, when the school was small, this would work. With 400+ students, they would need something more formal.

Author:  Mel [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

That is so true about the safety aspect of skiing. Also the prefects generally get into more trouble than Con who is the culprit here. She just gets the gentle Maynard 'keep on trying' talk. Incidentally where do they ski? The garden miraculously seems to sprout ski-runs every Winter. There never seems to be a great trek to the skiing area.

Author:  Tor [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Quote:
Incidentally where do they ski? The garden miraculously seems to sprout ski-runs every Winter. There never seems to be a great trek to the skiing area.


In this book it seems to be in nearby meadow, which has runs through the trees (here I read this as these are the same paths they would go on walks through in the summer) which they are allowed to use once Gaudenz has made sure there are no branches to fall on their heads etc.

Samantha is disappointed at the lack of good long runs, hence wanting to try the more difficult slope. Even that isn't very big - but as there are no ski-lifts and they have to haul themselves up under their own steam, I guess none really would be.

What gets me is the telling of Sam gets for not guessing there would be a test she had to pass. Again, here EBD gets her reaction just right I think. She fumes, thinks it is ridiculous, and notes that at home she would have been told her injuries were her own fault for being too cocksure of her abilities, but says nothing. Another quiet rebel, a bit like Ruey. So much more realistic than a self flagellating Len who is quick to take on her blame in any situation! It's pne of those little ambiguous deatils that makes you think, 'Hang-on! EBD can't actually be suggesting the powers of the CS are in the wrong....?" She certainly doesn't follow up Samantha's internal monologue with any condemnation, or statement that she would soon learn. She just leaves it. I for one fully agree with Samantha!

Len and her entire prefect body are a bunch of damp squibs here. The cheating in prep chapter, which has an exciting sounding title along the lines of Len delivers justice or something, is a weird interlude that doesn't really add to the plot, nor does it seem to show Len as anything than a common or garden prefect. I hadn't even worked out she was definitely head-girl by this point!

Oh - and the occasions where Samantha snaps at Jack are rather fun. If you read this book before Jane, or Leader, you would not get the impression that Jack was anything other than a slighty irritating engineering bore and ineffectual form prefect.

Edited to remove libelous accusations of Sam biting Jack :wink:

Author:  Alison H [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

The school really struggles for effective leaders in the later years.

Whilst Mary-Lou sometimes seems officious to the point of being annoying, she helps to sort out the Margot/Ted situation which Kathie either doesn't notice or else ignores on the grounds that mistresses shouldn't interfere in girls' friendships, and she and the other prefects also deal effectively with the lost property prank. Dickie Christy and her fellow prefects (admittedly with some help from Joey) deal with Eilunedd's campaign against Peggy. Gisela & co find it necessary to speak to Madge when Juliet is causing problems, but the point is that they take action. Louise Redfield & co deal with the Middles' drama society. Mary Burnett, whilst I don't like her way of handling it, tackles the problems being caused by Eustacia. There are umpteen other examples too, from School At up to and including Theodora.

After that, even with serious problems like the feud between the CS girls and the St Hilda's girls and Jack's bullying of Jane, the head girls and prefects just don't seem to offer any real leadership at all.

Author:  Fiona Mc [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Alison H wrote:
After that, even with serious problems like the feud between the CS girls and the St Hilda's girls and Jack's bullying of Jane, the head girls and prefects just don't seem to offer any real leadership at all.


But then it's a weak group of Prefects. It was the same with Maeve's group cos Inter V was formed and most girls stayed down or had a double remove. We've hardly heard about most of these girls and all the others whom the triplets were friends with have all left except for Ted. It's weird but I did like the Inter V form in New Mistress and could see a number of them being good leaders for all their faults and it was also made up of groups of girls, where there was no one stand out leader like Mary Lou, except for Jo Scott who had left by then. I like Len, but she never stood out as an exceptional leader. I think someone like Heather Clayton or Primrose Trevaose could have been stronger or brought more into the fore, especially as Primrose had been a strong leader of the Middles.

Author:  Alison H [ Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

I've just waffled about this in the "Big 3" category, but I think the series suffers badly from the focus on Mary-Lou at one end and the triplets on the other, with the people in between being neglected.

It went wrong partly because the triplets ended up in a form with people much older than them due to the timing of the move to Switzerland, and partly because EBD decided to put various characters of different ages together to create an interesting Inter V - which worked brilliantly from New Mistress to Theodora, but caused problems later. Having said which, there was no reason why we couldn't have seen Jo, Primrose, Heather and the others as a strong group of prefects backing up Josette, Maeve or Ros. It just seemed that EBD wasn't all that interested in the older girls in the period between Mary-Lou leaving and Len becoming Head Girl.

Author:  Sunglass [ Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Alison H wrote:
The school really struggles for effective leaders in the later years.
Whilst Mary-Lou sometimes seems officious to the point of being annoying, she helps to sort out the Margot/Ted situation which Kathie either doesn't notice or else ignores...


Yes, or it's more a problem that EBD has already decided who the effective leaders are, and, rather than showing them to be effective in the context of other ordinarily competent people, she seems at times to be deliberately weakening other characters in order to make her chosen ones look their best.

Whether that's by simply ignoring/omitting the potential leaders who intervene between Mary-Lou and Len, or the potentially interesting co-leader characters who surround them both. Plus it's not restricted to the girls - I think she also operates a version of the same thing with the staff in the later Swiss books. Miss Annersley is shown to be extraordinary by comparison with the more ordinary acting Head Miss Wilmot, the minor Miss Stone is shown to be a less effective teacher than EBD's established favourite Miss Ferrars - and Matey has to force Miss Wilmot to take action on the Evelyn Ross situation, in the interests of showing that Nancy is not Hilda.

Even, slightly shockingly to me - Miss Wilmot is shown to be lacking in compassionate leadership by sending Evelyn Ross back into lessons after telling her about her mother's relapse, because apparently all Miss W can think of is sending for Joey, who isn't at home - and Mary-Lou is the one who arrives on a white charger to rescue the situation. That's always read very falsely to me, and completely out of character with Nancy's normal kindness and competence as a teacher that she would do something so apparently heartless and out of line with the CS ethos. But it makes sense if you think of it as adding to the Mary-Lou prestige by weakening Nancy.

Author:  Tor [ Fri Apr 03, 2009 4:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

On the subject of leaders, I like the way Samaris is described as a 'real live-wire' by one of the staff (either Miss Ferrars or Miss Annersley), with the suggestion that she might fill the empty leadership gap in Upper IVb. I agrre with whoever it was that said Samaris looked like a good candidate for being a future head-girl.

Mostly, however, I like the fact that for once in the later books, Samaris' personality and EBDs description of that personality match - she is a live wire! I just love the way she enthuses about things: the ballet, music etc. As a character she makes me smile!

The silliness of the scene in the nursery is a highlight for me too - I can just picture Geoff rolling on the floor in hysterical giggles - I have seen so many little boys and girls do just that when something tickles them. Although I am not convince EBD had actually ever used a flute. Samaris doesn't seem to have to put it together, and I really can't imagine a first-time user making screeching noises with such consistency. But I like that scene, nonetheless.

Author:  Emma A [ Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Reading this for second time, I realise that I do like both Sams very much (though I notice that by the end of the book, EBD is using 'Sam' for Samaris and 'Sammy' for Samantha). If pressed I would say that I prefer Samaris, who is so puppyish and enthusiastic, though I do also like Samantha's relative sophistication: she compliments Wanda on her looks, saying “You’ll be having them chasing you in rows before you’re much older.” Wanda is young enough to find this idea "horrid", but I find it interesting that no-one rebukes Samantha for saying it.

I agree with those who commented about Len administering justice on Fredrika's cheating effort - she acts efficiently enough (as any prefect would) to the disturbance, but lets almost the whole prep go past before determining that Brigit is the innocent party. She's obviously not that much of a feared party, or Fredrika would have been quaking in her boots and dying to confess long before the fingerprinting suggestion.

With respect to the skiing incident, isn't the accident mostly a result of Samantha being too tired to cope properly with the run? Otherwise it's implied that she would have coped adequately with it. I do think Miss Annersley's reaction was out of proportion - I think from what's written earlier "The experts were thankful to know that there was no need to worry about them. There were plenty of girls who had come to the school the previous term who were complete tyros..." that the two Sams considered that they had been passed fit. The rule about asking permission from a mistress is not mentioned in the rules which EBD actually states in the text!

In the study scene: "No girl was ever supposed to try that particular run unless one of the experts on the staff had given permission..." and Miss Annersley amends this to, "In future, anyone wishing to try the run may only do so when a mistress who is qualified to judge a girl’s ability to use it is with you. And this must apply to all the prefects." Which doesn't sound to me all that different, considering that there were four members of staff with the girls anyway, and some mistresses from the Junior School, even if they were mostly attending to the beginners away from the run. I think Miss Annersley is being less than fair to the three prefects.

In this book are other examples of Miss Annersley's highly-strung and sensitive nature - we know that she can be very compassionate (particularly if you're a Maynard), but there are several places here where she turns pale - for example, when the shed at St Mildred's catches fire. While Rosalie is being calm and brusquely telling Joey that she should have more sense than to wake her children, the Head is anxious and "pale", and it seems to me that she's rather over-anxious, considering nobody is hurt and the fire is soon extinguished.

I really dislike the way Joey tells Nina about Mr Dwight's death in the accident. I know she wanted Nina not to brood on the situation, but I'm not sure that saying someone is "better off" dead, because he's been saved a lot of grief, and had no family, is very healthy (though possibly to a devout Christian, waking up with God is the best thing that could happen). If EBD had made it Mr Dwight's wife who had died, it would sound less wrong, I think.

One other thing - there's mention, at the start of the book, about a new school opening in Thun, against whom the school will play matches, and share skiiing, but no mention of it is ever made afterwards!

All in all, though, this is an entertaining book, and I do like Joey in it: she's genuinely concerned about Phil's health, and that's very well portrayed by EBD. You feel sorry for her, which is quite unusual at this stage in the series!

ETA Sorry it's such a screed!

Author:  MJKB [ Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Books: Two Sams at the Chalet School

Emma A wrote:
ETA Sorry it's such a screed!

Don't apologise. Your 'screeds' are always great.
Emma A wrote:
though I do also like Samantha's relative sophistication: she compliments Wanda on her looks, saying “You’ll be having them chasing you in rows before you’re much older.

How didshe get away with that comment? I expected one of the prefects or mistresses to point out coldly that "CS girls don't talk about such things!"

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