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| Books: The Midnight That Didn't Come Off http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4177 |
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| Author: | jennifer [ Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:06 am ] |
| Post subject: | Books: The Midnight That Didn't Come Off |
A synopsis can be found here This short story features Sybil, Betsy and Blossom as juniors. What do you think of it? How does it compare to the other short stories? Any comments on the burglar plot? Next week: Hilda Annersley, Headmistress[/i] |
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| Author: | Elle [ Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:52 am ] |
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I have never read this. Is there a transcript available? |
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| Author: | Róisín [ Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:16 am ] |
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Elle wrote: I have never read this. Is there a transcript available?
Yes, there is a transcript on the transcripts site here (you need to log in first to download it), or I've hosted it temporarily here if anyone doesn't have access to the transcripts site yet. |
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| Author: | Alison H [ Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:10 pm ] |
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Thanks for the transcript link. It's OK as a short story - not very exciting but not bad. |
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| Author: | Amanda M [ Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:17 pm ] |
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Just read the transcript. I agree that it was OK as a short story, but not wonderful. I think it was a bit dramatic to say that Joyce almost died from the midnight she arranged. It's been a while since I read that book, but from what I remember Joyce was bilious, which I don't think was a life-threatening illness! On another note, what on earth are combinations? I've never heard that term before. |
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| Author: | Elbee [ Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:20 pm ] |
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I liked the planning of the midnight feast, but once the burglar arrived on the scene I thought it just got silly - why would a burglar be going through girls' cubicles, surely he would have concentrated on the downstairs rooms where there must have been more valuable items. |
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| Author: | Alison H [ Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:25 pm ] |
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Amanda M wrote: On another note, what on earth are combinations? I've never heard that term before.
Sort of vest and knickers combined! Usually preceded by the word "woollen" as they were meant to keep you warm, AFAIK. |
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| Author: | Sunglass [ Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:29 pm ] |
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What would have been done with the cakes intended for the midnight? Given back to Moira to eat legally at the tea table? Confiscated and distributed to the rest of the school but not the miscreants? Eaten by the staff in a secret after hours staffroom binge? |
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| Author: | Ela [ Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:08 pm ] |
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Sunglass wrote: What
would have been done with the cakes intended for the midnight? Given
back to Moira to eat legally at the tea table? Confiscated and
distributed to the rest of the school but not the miscreants? Eaten by
the staff in a secret after hours staffroom binge?
I doubt very much whether the miscreants would have been allowed to eat Moira's cakes, so I'd guess the second of Sunglass's three options! I like the idea of the staff scoffing the lot, though. I was recently reading "Juliet Overseas" in which Juliet confiscates tuck that has been brought illegally into school, but then allows the criminals to eat it - mainly because she is aware that the house food is so terrible that any fourth former would be driven to obtaining food illegally! I can't see that happening at the CS, but then, they always "have such lovely food". |
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| Author: | Sunglass [ Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:23 am ] |
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It just occurred to me that this story would be set during rationing, and the cakes were sent from Ireland (which had shortages etc. but was less straitened for many things than Britain), which would make the arrival of cakes more exciting, and the dilemma of what to do with them still more fraught, given the shortness of 'luxury' foods! |
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| Author: | Kathy_S [ Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:26 pm ] |
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That burglar must have been pretty inept. Burgling middles' rooms is odd enough, but not noticing the weight difference between combinations and Miss Wilson's rose bowl is a bit much. I'm curious about the size of the cakes. I'd pictured the "big cakes" as about the size of a standard 8" cake pan and the small ones as cupcakes (fairy cakes in the UK, I think) but find it hard to imagine Moira et al. even thinking that each could eat a large one and as many small as she could carry. Actually I may have the cake concept all wrong, given the things had to be sturdy enough to send from Ireland. What do you think EBD meant? |
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