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#1: Books: Althea Joins the Chalet School Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:45 pm
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The second last book in the series proper. There is a synopsis here. The school is run by the triplets - Len is headgirl, Con is editress of the Chaletian and Margot is games prefect. Althea Glenyon has never been to boarding school before but is delighted to be going as she has always wanted to go. She starts off happily enough but trouble arrives in the shape of Val, though it is all sorted out by half term, thanks to Miss Annersley. Althea makes a special friend of Samaris, who starred in the book previous to this one. Margot's nunly future is hinted at heavily in this book, as are Len's prospects with Reg. Sophie Hamel turns up. The main accident is the motorboat incident where Miss Ferrars saves the day with her clear thinking.

So, what are your opinions on this book? Do you think Val's jealousy was justified? Was the motorboat incident realistically portrayed? Do you think that EBD had *quite* decided on Margot's and Len's futures at that point, or was she just still thinking about it? And why don't we hear of Con's? Please join in, with anything else you would like to throw into the pot about this, our second last book Very Happy

#2: Author: Fiona Mc, Location: Bendigo, Australia

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:56 am
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I think Althea was a bit of a relief after all the problem girls being so reasonably normal if a little boring. I was glad to see some more of Samaris as I really like her as a character.

Regarding the hints of Margot becoming a Nun I think EBD was decided about it mainly cos she had been hinting at it since Theodora (see HB version). The main thing with Con's future was although it wasn't mentioned here she did state quite catergorically in Triplets that she would hate being married young and wanted to write and so not much has changed from that whereas Len it's more of a continuation on what has been hinted at since Reunion.

Was glad to see more of Sophie Hamel again as I like catching up with the old girls especially from the Tirol days and thought she and her father were extremely generous.

All in all not bad but not brillant

#3: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:07 am
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This one's OK but not great IMHO. The motorboat thing always strikes me as an attempt to make things sound more modern - not sure it works but at least it's a change from the usual falling in the lake/getting stranded up a mountain mishaps.

There seem to be a lot of younger characters in here whom I've never heard of before, but maybe that's just me! I quite like Althea herself, although she's not a particularly strong character.

I think EBD'd pretty much decided that Margot was going to be a nun and that Len was going to end up with Reg at this point. I do wish she'd made Reg seem more appealing though. I know it's a school story and not a Mills and Boon, but comments like "for the past two years Len had been his favourite" (of the triplets) and the comment - not sure if it's in Althea or one of the other books - about wanting to "make sure that no-one else took his place" just don't make him seem very attractive!

And why did EBD have such a thing about sleepwalking? Con did it umpteen times and here we get Lucy Peters sleepwalking. And was it really necessary to mess up the domestic staff's routine by "ordering" them to make breakfast an hour later than usual, and to cancel everyone's music practice, so that everyone could have an hour longer in bed because they'd been woken up in the night?! I wish I could get up for work an hour late every time I woke up in the night Laughing

#4: Author: Tiffany, Location: Is this a duck I see behind me?

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 12:48 pm
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I don't remember thinking anything much about this when I read it: not brilliant but not feeble either. I like Althea, she's a plausible understandable schoolgirl, not extreme in any way. Seeing more of Samaris is good - too often the featured girl of a book vanishes or loses her character.

I do think EBD was certain about Margot's future, but she hasn't done a great job of rationalising that decision to the reader. I'd like to see more discussion of that, as she's a more interesting, and opaque, character than Len. It's sad that no mention is made of Con's future - the other triplets seem to generally feature more heavily than her - but it's reasonable for her not to know what she's going to do.

#5: Author: jennifer, Location: Taiwan

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:56 am
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The impression I get from this is bland - not bad in any particular way but not particularly memorable either. Althea is a very prototypical new girl - delicate girl needs to go to school because her parents are away, discovers random connection with Chalet school (father's sister's fiance's niece went to the school), has an episode with random jealousy, makes friends, fits in.

I don't understand why Althea couldn't have gone on the sea voyage with her parents - she doesn't go to school anyways, and her poor health would presumably be helped by that.

I find it interesting that this is the only term where more than one book is used to cover it, and it is certainly not because of the amount of plot.

I agree that there are a lot of random girls in this one - new characters in Althea's form who we haven't seen enough of to really be more than names.

With Len and Reg - ick. I'll expound more in the discussion for Prefects, though. Razz

For Margot, the whole nun thing never really made sense for me. Robin, sure - she's naturally saintly, and has finished university and worked for a few years, and has a solid idea of what she wants. I get the feeling that Margot is trying to atone for her badness, and that she can't trust herself to manage her own behaviour. Consequently, she turns to taking orders to provide an external check on her behaviour and temper, and to control her 'devil'

#6: Author: Tan, Location: London via Newcastle Australia

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:16 am
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I quite liked Althea. Apart from her ill-health, she was not really a problem pupil. I did find it a bit odd that she wasn't able to travel on the cruise as I felt that would have made more sense.

I am not sure if it was just me, but I did find the whole Val jealousy thing a bit hard to follow. I did not see why both Copper and Len had to get involved in this, as well as Miss Dene. OK, Val was a bit slack in her sheep-dogging but it wasn't done with malice. I am sure that there were other occasions when sheepdogs weren't up to par. As an effective plot device Confused

I had had suspicions since Theodora about Margot becoming a nun, although it did not seem an obvious career choice for her. I would have liked to have learnt more about Con, I always felt she was a bit over-shadowed by her sisters.

As for the whole motor boat plot - while it might have been an attempt to modernise the book, and I can see that two young boys might get into this situation, I really felt that this was a James Bond stunt sequence! As mentioned previously, it did make a nice change from the runaway/lake/mountain scenario.

I know we are doing Prefects soon, but I found it incredibly hard to believe that this book and Prefects covered the same term!

#7: Author: Caroline, Location: Manchester

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:01 am
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Tan wrote:

I am not sure if it was just me, but I did find the whole Val jealousy thing a bit hard to follow. I did not see why both Copper and Len had to get involved in this, as well as Miss Dene. OK, Val was a bit slack in her sheep-dogging but it wasn't done with malice. I am sure that there were other occasions when sheepdogs weren't up to par. As an effective plot device Confused

I just found it really badly written. It was like there were several sections missing from the story. We seem to jump in time at various points, there are several non-sequiteurs, and in some passages EBD seems to be referring back to events that we haven't actually been told about / seen happen. I'm guessing she was pretty ill when she wrote this book.

It's the one EBD book that I would really like to see re-written so that it actually makes sense.

#8: Author: Fiona Mc, Location: Bendigo, Australia

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:49 pm
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One thing I never liked about this book was Hilda putting so much pressure on Joey to take Althea in. Joey states very reasonably (I think) that she has had enough and yet Hilda more or less black mails her into it. (It's on par though with all the times Mary Lou is blackmailed into helping out with Jessica and Joan by Joey and Jack). I just think if I had a very ill daughter who was finally getting better then perhaps I needed a break or my other children needed some time with me not some strange new girl who could have gone to Biddy, Phoebe or Hilary. It's probably one of the few time adult Joey has ever said no to taking on a new girl

#9: Author: Clare, Location: Liverpool

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:46 pm
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Caroline wrote:

I agree with you Caroline. There are hints about things that may happen but they never come off. I did think Val was harshly dealt with over sheepdogging. One thing that sprung to mind was surely not all girls were brilliant at looking after new pupils - surely there had to be some process of trial and error to finding 'good sheep-dogs', and in this case the girl chosen wasn't quite up to it. There had to be a better way of dealing with her!

#10: Author: Loryat,

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:05 pm
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This book and Prefects I felt to be somewhat lacking in exciting incident. There are some events which are fairly boring and yet get whole chapters. I'd've liked to have seen a lot more with the prefects in both books, with the trips especially talking to each other about their career plans. I know they do a bit, but I'd've liked more, the way we see the Quartette discussing the future.

Apart from this I found Althea okay, and was glad to see Samaris back as she is a really nice and likeable character. Poor Val though - the new Bad Girl. I can't really remember what happens but I certainly didn't like Val in this book, so I imahine I didn't think she was harshly treated.

#11: Author: Hannah-Lou, Location: Glasgow

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:42 pm
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Not keen on this one. There is clearly a whole chapter missing, and even without that the whole situation with Val and Althea seems to blow up out of nowhere, and the book seems uneven. I can't quite explain what I mean, it just doesn't read smoothly. I quite enjoyed the motorboat incident though.

This is the only book that I've felt the style was different. I know it's a widely held belief (or fact?) that Prefects wasn't written by EBD, but it reads ok to me. This one doesn't.

I can't really say much more - it's not that long since I read this, but very little of it has stuck in my mind. I think I might have been disappointed by this book if I hadn't read so much on here that prepared me for it!

#12: Author: Loryat,

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:02 pm
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Quote:

There is clearly a whole chapter missing, and even without that the whole situation with Val and Althea seems to blow up out of nowhere, and the book seems uneven. I can't quite explain what I mean, it just doesn't read smoothly. I quite enjoyed the motorboat incident though.

Yes, I had forgotten that but I remember being wildly confused by the factthat suddenyl Val and Althea were a loggerheads. I thought it was a mistake in the transcipt - is it actually like that in the printed book???

#13: Author: Clare, Location: Liverpool

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:42 pm
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Yes it is. I remember reading the passages discussed above, looking at the number of the chapter and skipping back to the chapter before to check I hadn't got a dodgy book!

#14: Author: Tara, Location: Malvern, Worcestershire

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 10:33 pm
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Caroline wrote:

It was like there were several sections missing from the story. We seem to jump in time at various points, there are several non-sequiteurs, and in some passages EBD seems to be referring back to events that we haven't actually been told about / seen happen.

Exactly! I was so confused when I first read it and kept looking back for what I'd missed, and finding it wasn't there.
I find it such a disappointing book, the only bright points are Althea swearing (only 'damn', but nevertheless ...) and asking to go to the loo (at least I think it was Althea herself, it's one I've never wanted to re-read).

#15: Author: Caroline, Location: Manchester

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:40 am
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Loryat wrote:

Quote:

Yes, I had forgotten that but I remember being wildly confused by the fact that suddenyl Val and Althea were a loggerheads. I thought it was a mistake in the transcipt - is it actually like that in the printed book???

Yep. It's such a frustrating read. Every time I try to read it I find myself thinking variations of 'hang on a minute, when did that happen?' and 'what are they talking about'. It's exactly like there is a chapter in the Val / Althea storyline missing, plus a few other things present in the wrong order.

And I actually really like Althea herself, and the general atmosphere of the book, it's just that it's been so poorly executed. It reads like it's been stuck together from a set of early drafts, and then no one has bothered to read it to check the whole story is there.

I reckon this was the last title that EBD actually finished and submitted herself, and that she was too poorly by this stage to finish it properly, and this is partly why I suspect Prefects to have been finished by someone else - basically, it's too well done in comparison to Althea. I don't reckon Prefects was actually written by Phyllis M, but I certainly think it was put together and tidied up by her, and quite possibly at EBD's request.

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