To be really annoyed at Jilly Cooper

[bettybigballs]

Re-reading my jilly's from teenage years. I am not entirely enjoying Ridesrs. how had I missed:

1. Tory - totally written off as 'heft' as she is, god forbid 11 stone. She only becomes of value once she's lost loads of weight and poisoned herself because she's heartbroken.
2. Helen. Oh god, Helen I hate you. You give up ALL of your values to get with rupes, then holy mother of schizzle you put up with infidelity and him hating your child, BLAMING YOURSELF, and carrying on the norm for years.
3. Billy. You're a totally twat for going back to janey.

I hadn't read it that Daisy was gang raped. I thought she had consented, but was all high (it being the 60s and all).

That said, one of the main reasons I hated 'jump' was the casual way one of the characters being raped was treated.

I loved Billy

I loved Luke & how rescued Perdita when she went to the party naked on a horse

I love rupert when he's being lovely to Taggie

But hated him when he got Janey to unfreeze frigid Helen

pmsl at Pixel

Well given that she was so "out of it" she couldn't remember anything, then she certainly was not able to give consent to every man who then "had a go" < shudder > Which is what we call rape these days. But of course Daisy thought it was all her fault for getting into that situation in the first place - classic bit of victim blaming.

I didn't realise she couldn't remember anything, I honestly thought she had consented and then regretted it. That's grim - especially because Rupert then blames her later on.

There is an awful lot wrong with them As an independent educated woman in my 40s I know that But...... After coming across this thread I got straight on to my Kindle and downloaded Riders/rivals (£3.99) and am so looking forward to reading them next weekend when DH is away on a stag !

I loved Riders at the time, haven't read it for a while - maybe I will have again now.

I watched the tv adaptation and have had a crush of Michael Praed since - lush!

oh and back to the OP, Tory is indeed 11 stone at the start of Riders. Later in the book she is heavily pregnant and "the same weight as when she met Jake," indicating that she has lost weight and gone up to 11 stone when about 8 months pregnant.

Well - let me tell you... I am considered slim and I was 10½ stone when 9 months pregnant with all of mine, I am 5'4½ (shorter than Tory) and was never particularly huge when pg either.

They really don't stand up to re-reading do they?

The bit that really struck me was when Daisy - she of the blue velvet knickerbocker wedding outfit - is thrilled when the wife of the married man she's having an affair with gives birth - because this means she's in hospital for the night and he gets to stay over

Oh yes, and all feminists are hairy of armpit, sweaty and breastfeeders of course?

She gave an interview to the Irish Times on Saturday and defended Rolf Harris and Jimmy Tarbuck, saying they were 'sweet' and 'lovely'.

I just re read Lisa and Co funnily enough, in a very retro 70s way it was quite sweet!

The books are codswallop but, in defence of the real-life Jilly, I met her in what must have been very stressful circumstances for her and she was charming and not at all "Do you know who I am?".

what's the earliesh one where, at the end, they go to Slimbridge, which was filled with dreadful lower class people and the heroine, who is, unfortunately, lower class herself, realized how lovely toffs are. or am I imagining it .
anyway, the sexism is dreadful, but what really put me off was she is such a fucking snob

I named one of my sons after a Carlisle twin .

She's a massive cunt but I love the books (except wicked, all those adults copping off with schoolkids was a bit much for me. Feral is 18, right?)

I am gutted nobody has mentioned Flora yet. I love her!!!

Strikethrough fail!!

What about pandora?

I know there're all terrible anti-feminist rubbish, but I love them all. I can't help liking it.

Glad you all think so highly of me!

YABU

Almost all her characters are exaggerated for comic effect.
So Valerie Jones is not just a social climber but " a social mountaineer".

Rupert doesn't just have a big cock, " he could bat bread roll across the dinner table with it"

Rannaldini is not just a master conductor, he can analyse a score, field phone calls and perform oral sex at the same time etc

Even when she does create a total monster she usually gives them a feasible back story.

Go with it

She's an awful snob but in a kind of daffy, harmless way - totally out of touch with the real world of course but the kind of person who'll be described as a 'national treasure' when she dies.

In the intro to the reissue of "How to stay married " this year JC apologised for some of the outright chauvinism of her 70s and 80s books. She said they were very much of their time and she herself was aghast at some parts now too. She did say though she hoped nobody took the roles too seriously and that her one aim had always been to amuse.

I know some heroines ( Taggie and Daisy) are awfully wet but in JC's defence, for every dishwater/ doormat there is 1 absolute cracker - Fen, Caitlin, Lizzie Vereker (who I think crossed with Janey is JC in disguise) and 1 fire breathing ball breaker - Cameron, Perdita, Galena

I was staying with my mother recently and found my old teenage copy of Prudence in the bookcase. It's very dated but quite funny in parts and a good, lighthearted, escapist read.
All of the women are 'ravishing' and the hero is very bossy and manly and the only American character is pushy, anal and has no sense of humour.

To be fair they were written some time ago. I loved Jilly Cooper's books and would scour the pages looking for all the raunchy sex scenes.