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Books: The Chalet School Does It Again
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Author:  Róisín [ Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Books: The Chalet School Does It Again

There is a synopsis here. Prunella Davidson is a prim and prissy new girl who has rows all around her, especially one particular one with Len. There is a flu epidemic. This is the book where there is the trip to the Lucerne with Biddy O'Ryan as the escort, and Margot falls in, thus enabling herself to be rescued by Herr Doktor Courvoisier and providing an introduction to his future wife. Mary-Lou is appointed head of the middle school (the first since Margia?) and Julie Lucy is headgirl.

So, any opinions on this book? Do you feel that the title really says it all? :lol: How do you like EBD's exploration of Margot's 'devil' in this book - there is quite a lot of time devoted to it. Is Prunella's reformation into a jolly normal schoolgirl believeable? Did you feel a spark between Biddy and Eugen?

Please raise any issue you like to discuss, in relation to The Chalet School Does It Again below :D

Next Sunday: A Chalet Girl From Kenya

Author:  Alison H [ Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:55 pm ]
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I find the Prunella storyline pretty silly, really - and I don't know why EBD made a big deal about setting up a close friendship between her and Len when we hardly ever see them together after this book (the same thing happens with Josette and Jo in Kenya).

The title does say it all in that there are a lot of "stock" storylines, and the Biddy/Eugen rescue storyline is one of them, but Biddy and Eugen are both so nice that I like it! I love the conversation between Jack and Joey in which Jack says that he's sure Eugen's only interested in seeing the Platz because he fancies Biddy: it's such a nice normal conversation and there are very few of those in the books on the subject of romance. Also, although nothing's really made of it in the books, theirs is one of very few marriages in the series between people of different nationalities.

The "head of the Middle School" job did rather come and go, didn't it :lol: ?

Margot seemed to get away with a lot. OK, falling into Lake Lucerne was an accident, but she was old enough to know to be careful around a lake.

Author:  JayB [ Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:34 am ]
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This was one of the last CS books I read, when I was an adult - my local library didn't seem to have it when I was growing up.

The 'Margot falling into Lake Lucerne' incident is referred to so often in later books that I was glad to have finally read it, but the rest of the book isn't all that memorable. Prunella is one of those girls who virtually disappears after her own book - to the extent that EBD can't even get her name right, sometimes.

One thing I do remember (unless I'm inventing it) is Jo complaining about her girls' tendency to form friendships with girls older than themselves - Margot and Emerence, Len and Prunella. What does she expect, when they're in forms with girls as much as two or three years older than themselves? And at that stage of the CS's history, there were no other girls of the triplets' age for them to make friends with.

Author:  Lesley [ Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:19 am ]
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This is the book where EBD has Len 'losing her temper' - or at least that's how it's referred to in later books, as a way of trying to show that len has just as hot a temper as Margot - sorry, but this was when Len was ill with a high temperature, it's not evidence that she has a temper.

Author:  jennifer [ Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:33 pm ]
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I had a different interpretation of the Margot in Lake Lucerne incident. I don't see is as as heinous a crime as everyone else does. Margot is just over eleven years old, get bored and fractious on a school trip, plays tag with a friend, and falls in the lake.

That doesn't say to me that Margot is a horrible undisciplined, irredeemably naughty child. It says to me that she's a high spirited, slightly immature eleven year old who should be under close supervision on a class trip. I think the real problem is that she is in class with girls 1 1/2 to 3 years older than she is, and is expected to behave with the same maturity and supervision they do, and she's not capable of it, even though she's bright.

Len - it's about the only time we see the poor child stand up for herself against someone else, and the result is that she gets horribly ill, has a heart to heart with Joey and has to apologize for getting mad because someone deliberately and repeatedly used a name she didn't like. The friendship between her and Prunella isn't really all that close - it's nothing like Margot and Emerence's cross form friendship, more of an acquaintenceship.

Author:  Mrs Redboots [ Sun Jun 29, 2008 5:19 pm ]
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I think Margot's realisation that there is a darker side to her character, even if she does objectify it as "My Devil", is interesting, and does, I think, foreshadow the struggles we know she'll go through if she does test her vocation to be a nun. I do wonder whether EBD knew from as early as this book that Margot was going to experience a call, so that she tends to show rather more of her struggles with herself than her siblings (and if you can disentangle all the "shes" and "hers" in that sentence.....).

As for the falling in the lake, well, it is such a major incident (in terms of how often it is referred to in later books) that when my parents told me that they were going to visit Lucerne during a recent rail tour, I had to bite my tongue very hard not to say "Don't fall in the lake!", as they would not have taken the reference - nor would they understand why I was disappointed that they took pictures of the covered bridge from the new bridge, not on it!

Author:  Pado [ Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:06 am ]
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Quote:
Prunella is one of those girls who virtually disappears after her own book - to the extent that EBD can't even get her name right, sometimes.


:? What does EBD do with it?

But I do agree that the title says it all... :D

Author:  JayB [ Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:40 am ]
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She refers to her as 'Prunella Davies'. Can't say where; poor Prunella only gets passing mentions after this book, so the context doesn't stick in my mind.

Which would seem to indicate that even EBD didn't find Prunella very memorable, since she usually (not always) manages to keep her major characters straight, however much she mixes up the minor ones.

When I read the later books as a child, not having read this one, and kept coming across references to 'Prunella Davidson diving into Lake Lucerne to save Margot', my reaction was 'Who?' because she barely features. Whereas Jo Scott, for example, whose book comes next, continues to be around as a prominent secondary character for some time, and I knew who she was and her backstory even before I'd read Kenya.

EBD gave Prunella the uncharacteristic behaviour at the start of the book - then once that was resolved she either wasn't interested or didn't have space left in the book to develop Prunella's real personality. And there's nothing else about her that makes her unique and sets her apart from the other girls.

Author:  Aishwarya [ Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:09 pm ]
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The only reference to Prunella I remember after this book (besides her much-talked about and practically invisible friendship with Len) is in Kenya, when Jo Scott is awarded the Margot Venables/Josephine Bettany prize* and Miss Annersley tells the whole school that Prunella Davidson hadn't deserved it the term before! Was that really necessary?




*I wonder how Daisy and Primula felt when the prize named after their mother was renamed to honour Joey Maynard. :roll:

Author:  Lesley [ Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:39 pm ]
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That was actually very cruel, wasn't it? Why even mention it? And why wasn't diving into a lake to rescue a girl considered as worthy as stopping someone falling off a cliff?

Author:  Pado [ Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:00 pm ]
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Oh, thanks! For some reason, I had thought she'd mangled the "Prunella" part...

and I agree that Miss Annersley's remarks were Not Called For.

Author:  Chelsea [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:33 am ]
Post subject: 

Lesley wrote:
That was actually very cruel, wasn't it? Why even mention it? And why wasn't diving into a lake to rescue a girl considered as worthy as stopping someone falling off a cliff?


It wasn't that diving into the lake wasn't good enough. According to Hilda,
Quote:
...although Prunella Davidson fished Margot Maynard out of Lucerne last term, she did not fulfill others of the conditions.

Earlier in the same speech, Hilda says that the Margot Venables Prize (it still seems to be called this) is
Quote:
to be awarded to the girl who does her best to help other people.

I agree that there was no reason to bring Prunella up at all. It seems that she is brought up to explain why Jo is getting the award.
Quote:
...this year, the prefects asked me to give it to Jo Scott, partly to make up to her for missing her chances in the various competitions and races; partly because, although Prunella Davidson fished Margot Maynard out of Lucerne last term, she did not fulfill others of the conditions.

Why are the prefects deciding on the award? I thought that the whole school was supposed to vote? And, where in the rules of the prize, does it describe it as a consolation for not doing races? Frankly, it seems very bizarre that Jo Scott got the award her first term and under those reasonings.

Author:  Jennie [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:26 pm ]
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When was EBD ever fair?

Also, I think she believed that she would get more mileage out of Jo Scott in the future books than out of Prunella, who was useful as long as she was friendly with Len, but once she had gone into a higher form, she was almost forgotten.

Author:  Sunglass [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:42 pm ]
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The bit of Does it Again that really makes me grin and roll my eyes and think the title is correct is the fact that not only does yet another girl fall into water and get rescued partly by a plucky new girl whose circumstances are a bit odd, and partly by a passing doctor (as in Carola), but ALSO by a passing large dog, who saves the day by holding the water-logged girl's head out of the water (again, as in Carola)! What is it with EBD and these passing, carefully-trained rescue dogs?! It can't even be that she imagines Switzerland is full of helpful St Bernards, because she tells us this one is a Newfoundland, and the previous helpful canine lived somewhere in Wales!

I should also point out that I fell into Lake Lucerne while inter-railing in 1993, and no dogs or doctors appeared!

The thing that gets me about Margot and her trials with her devil is the emphasis on confession of sins to Joey, as though she's a priest or the Virgin Mary as mediatrix or something. Especially here, when the triplets are older, and have been going to actual confession regularly (one assumes) for years. I have a particular problem with the fact that here Margot 'confesses' in front of the other two, as they all share a room, and Joey arranges them like some kind of ceremony, with Margot in front and the other two off to the side, watching!

I also can't begin to say how much I dislike a not dissimilar scene near the start, where Charles smashes Joey's favourite statue of Saint Therese (or is it Teresa of Avila?) and is panic-stricken. Now, i can imagine that Jo is upset, as she's had it since she was at school, and has forbidden him to touch it, but not only does she make him go downstairs at night to confess to his father, but she then tells him that the saint will be displeased with him for disobeying his mother, which would, I think, be genuinely frightening to a small child, who's already upset. And he's clearly fairly devout, as the reason he smashed the statue is that he was kissing it.

If Joey commonly rebukes the children in this way (which I realise wasn't unusual for its time - the nuns were still telling us in the 1970s that Our Lady wept when we used immodest language), then it explains Margot's devil a bit, I think.

Author:  Kate [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:14 pm ]
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Sunglass wrote:
If Joey commonly rebukes the children in this way (which I realise wasn't unusual for its time - the nuns were still telling us in the 1970s that Our Lady wept when we used immodest language), then it explains Margot's devil a bit, I think.


We were told that in the 90s. And if you say a devout Hail Mary, it is like presenting Our Lady with a beautiful red rose; if you say it with disrespect, you give her a withered rose.

Author:  JayB [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:27 pm ]
Post subject: 

Quote:
I also can't begin to say how much I dislike a not dissimilar scene near the start, where Charles smashes Joey's favourite statue of Saint Therese (or is it Teresa of Avila?) and is panic-stricken. Now, i can imagine that Jo is upset, as she's had it since she was at school, and has forbidden him to touch it,


I think this is another instance of Joey (and other CS parents) expecting far too much of young children as regards discipline and obedience. Charles was, what, about seven, at this time? And Mike was younger and had a reputation for mischief, and the twins were toddling all over the place by this time. Accidents were bound to happen. If the statue was that precious to her, Jo should have locked it away in a cupboard or put it on a high shelf where the children couldn't reach it.

Author:  Róisín [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:44 pm ]
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JayB wrote:
I think this is another instance of Joey (and other CS parents) expecting far too much of young children as regards discipline and obedience.


Joey, and other CS parents, and EBD! :lol:

Author:  Caroline [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:44 pm ]
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jennifer wrote:
I had a different interpretation of the Margot in Lake Lucerne incident. I don't see is as as heinous a crime as everyone else does. Margot is just over eleven years old, gets bored and fractious on a school trip, plays tag with a friend, and falls in the lake.

That doesn't say to me that Margot is a horrible undisciplined, irredeemably naughty child. It says to me that she's a high spirited, slightly immature eleven year old who should be under close supervision on a class trip. I think the real problem is that she is in class with girls 1 1/2 to 3 years older than she is, and is expected to behave with the same maturity and supervision they do, and she's not capable of it, even though she's bright.


That is so right! And it's exactly the kind of daft thing Joey would have done at 12-13 (like when she jumps in the lake in Jo of). Joey even kind of says that at the start of her conversation with Margot - something along the lines of "I used to do things like you do, but then I found getting into messes all the time didn't pay".

But the leap she (EBD?) can't make is that Margot is 11 - Jo was still putting herself into danger and going off on one when she was 15 or 16. So expecting Margot to be better than Jo herself despite being four years younger is just crazy.

My feeling is that EBD was in such a hurry to get the triplets into the interesting part of the school / centre of the story by making them Middles and in a Fourth Form (think how few of the books feature proper Juniors at the centre of the story - not many, I think you'll agree), she has progressed them much further up the school than their real age and maturity level should allow.

The other crazy thing is that we think sensible and responsible Len and Con are the normal ones for 11 and Margot is the odd one out, when actually it's more likely the other way round.

Author:  JS [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:36 pm ]
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Sunglass wrote:
Quote:
I should also point out that I fell into Lake Lucerne while inter-railing in 1993, and no dogs or doctors appeared!


I suspect there's a story to be had here??

Author:  tiffinata [ Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:43 pm ]
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This is one of the ones I haven't read.
The title always reminds me of a Carry-on film!

Author:  Sunglass [ Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:17 am ]
Post subject: 

JS wrote:
Sunglass wrote:
Quote:
I should also point out that I fell into Lake Lucerne while inter-railing in 1993, and no dogs or doctors appeared!


I suspect there's a story to be had here??


Alas, no! I could sound coy and EBD and say I subsequently married the man who fished me out - but actually we've never married, though we've lived together ever since, and were in love before I ever fell out of the damn boat. Also, my devil had nothing to do with it, as far as I'm aware. I dried off, and we got perfectly happily on a train to Vienna through a thunderstorm, with no confessions or wiggings about untrustworthiness.

Author:  leahbelle [ Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:35 pm ]
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I'm not a great fan of this book. I read with great excitement when I first bought it when the paperback came out as I'd read all the books where the Lucerne incident was mentioned, but I was disappointed by it. I felt it was rather boring, and the whole Prunella storyline seemed very contrived and formulaic. I also could never understand why one of the girls has to stay back in Lucerne for doing little more than skinning her knee!

Author:  Lesley [ Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:48 pm ]
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Didn't Lesley need stitches because it was a deep gash?

Author:  Susan [ Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:39 pm ]
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Yes under an anaesthetic. I always assumed the cut was right across her knee giving mobility problems and possible burst stitches if she wasn't careful.

Author:  JayB [ Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:18 pm ]
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Didn't she have to keep her leg straight? She couldn't travel back with Jo and Jack when they came to pick up Prunella and Margot, because she needed the whole back seat of the car to stretch out on, if I'm remembering right?

Author:  evelyn38 [ Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:53 pm ]
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Sunglass wrote

Quote:
I dried off, and we got perfectly happily on a train to Vienna through a thunderstorm, with no confessions or wiggings about untrustworthiness


You mean you did n't get rolled in blankets and packed with hot water bottles, AND you did n't develop pneumonia. Wow

Author:  Sunglass [ Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:35 am ]
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evelyn38 wrote:

You mean you did n't get rolled in blankets and packed with hot water bottles, AND you did n't develop pneumonia. Wow


Not only that, but as far as I can remember, I didn't actually have any spare clothes, and I continued busking my way (very badly) around Europe for another three weeks, living on air and loose change - and I still didn't have a deathbed experience from which I was drawn back by the Robin singing 'The Red Sarafan'. Clearly tough as old boots by CS standards, and therefore totally uninteresting.

Author:  Dreaming Marianne [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:38 pm ]
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Just re-read this and EBD really went all out for drama didn't she - instant hospitalisation for falling in a lake - and a GA plus night sedation for suturing. :shock:

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