AIBU To Think Joey Maynard (Of Chalet School Fame) Was Insufferable

[TheShellBeach]

.............with her eleven children, infuriating husband and bizarre tendency to move house (and country) to live next door to the school her sister inexplicably started when Joey was a child.

She also managed to write (at least) two books a year, have a series of multiple pregnancies and poke her nose into the Chalet School's business on a daily basis.

[Laineythenomad]

@TheShellBeach

And here's the new thread. I am not sure if anyone even wants a new thread. You may all be sick to death of the CS now.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4748730-aibu-to-think-that-the-plots-of-the-chalet-school-books-were-really-improbable

Ohh a new thread! Thank you xx

[TheShellBeach]

And here's the new thread. I am not sure if anyone even wants a new thread. You may all be sick to death of the CS now.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4748730-aibu-to-think-that-the-plots-of-the-chalet-school-books-were-really-improbable

[TheShellBeach]

Confession Time, Everybody!

Which book do you dislike the most, and why? For me, it's a toss-up between Princess and Barbara, the former because of the ridiculous plot and the latter because of its terminal dullness.

TBF most of the books have ridiculous plots but I cannot cope with Evil Uncle Cosimo at all. Or with the thought that Joey would just bugger off, whistling, to go and rescue Elisaveta, Rufus following insouciantly, and not spare a thought for Madge and her nerves.

[TheShellBeach]

@MargaretThursday

Perhaps a better way of putting it was I felt the author was laughing at the books and the fans, whereas when we're sending the books up we're laughing with the books and the fans.

Yes, agreed. Although there are some very dedicated fans on the FB pages who will not tolerate anything remotely critical about the books.

You'd think EBD should have received the Nobel Prize for Literature they way some of them go on.

[MargaretThursday]

Perhaps a better way of putting it was I felt the author was laughing at the books and the fans, whereas when we're sending the books up we're laughing with the books and the fans.

[MargaretThursday]

I'd agree it made me feel dirty.

What I feel about it is when we take it off on here (of the Fb site) or criticise we're doing it in the way you gently rib your dbro for wearing socks with holes in again. It's a sort of in joke that you're all chuckling at because you're fond of the person (or books) and no offense meant nor taken. It's done because they're familiar and you love them.

The Chalet Girls Grow up felt as though it was by someone who was deliberately trying to spread malicious gossip because they hated it.

It felt of a bullying nature rather than friend's banter.

[KohlaParasaurus]

I finished it dreading that Len was actually going to hook up with the deadbeat stalker Tony Barras. I mostly enjoyed it, though, all the Maynard offspring playing out the hands they'd been dealt by their parents but remaining a tight family unit.

[TinselAngel]

I found it all a bit unecessarly miserable.

[smileladiesplease]

Grizel stayed a bitch though snd glad rozamund lilley had a nice marriage snd garden :)

[smileladiesplease]

Oh my good that book made mt feel dirty!

She completely changed the characters! Poor Len snd as if Reg Would with Mary Lou or she with him. Jack would never shoot him self

The only true one mind you was Tony barras. Hid dad should have been jailed for child abuse

Horrible book I thought

[TheShellBeach]

@Laineythenomad

Ladies....I have a terrible confession to make - I've just finished the dreaded Chalet Girls Grow Up. There's no hope for me is there? 😃

None at all. You're doomed now.

I enjoyed the story lines, especially where Joey s books were concerned.
What I found difficult to cope with was the bad syntax.

[Laineythenomad]

@StitchesInTime

Depends!

Did you enjoy it, or did you think it’s an abomination that should be destroyed? 🤔

I read it years ago, and from what I recall, while it’s definitely not something EBD would have written - not in the spirit of the series etc - the directions the characters go in aren’t totally implausible.

It’s a much less reverent fanfic than the fill-ins published by GGBP, essentially.

I couldn't put it down until I finished it, so I suppose I did enjoy it! At the same time I found it shocking in parts but, what made it so compelling was its plausibility (is that a word?!), as you said. I have to admit, Joey going for a little spin in the car made me chuckle, and the hint of a happy(ish) ending for Len made me wonder if there will be a sequel 😊

[StitchesInTime]

@Laineythenomad

Ladies....I have a terrible confession to make - I've just finished the dreaded Chalet Girls Grow Up. There's no hope for me is there? 😃

Depends!

Did you enjoy it, or did you think it’s an abomination that should be destroyed? 🤔

I read it years ago, and from what I recall, while it’s definitely not something EBD would have written - not in the spirit of the series etc - the directions the characters go in aren’t totally implausible.

It’s a much less reverent fanfic than the fill-ins published by GGBP, essentially.

[Laineythenomad]

Ladies....I have a terrible confession to make - I've just finished the dreaded Chalet Girls Grow Up. There's no hope for me is there? 😃

[crumpet]

Thank you @TheShellBeach and @Yugi- really helpful - not yet cracked actually sharing with the kindle app, but somehow managed to get a kindle folder on Dropbox and can access them all there

[Yugi]

@crumpet

I don’t suppose anyone can help me navigate Dropbox via my iphone can they? I successfully stored/opened one book, but now I have saved the zip file into drop box which I don’t seem to be able to open. Any pointers would be appreciated!

If you are using a phone or tablet, download the kindle app. Then, in Dropbox, click the three dots next to the book you want and choose share and then kindle. It will then download and you can view it in the kindle app.

[TheShellBeach]

@CrackedLookingGlass

Doesn’t Lawrie make a pass at Con Maynard in that? Well, in fact they may have had a full-blown relationship and ended up getting married, but I think I stopped reading and forgot about it when things were just getting flirty.

Yes. It was very well done.
And I loved the way the author of the fanfic denigrated Con's feeble abilities as an author.

[TheShellBeach]

@crumpet

I don’t suppose anyone can help me navigate Dropbox via my iphone can they? I successfully stored/opened one book, but now I have saved the zip file into drop box which I don’t seem to be able to open. Any pointers would be appreciated!

I am anything but a techno-wizard but I found I could only open the books on the dropbox by clicking on "Open with............"and then choosing my browser from the drop-down menu (Opera in my case).

I expect that's all bollocks though because I am usually a technofuckwit.

[crumpet]

@Yugi

You can access our Dropbox here www.dropbox.com/s/3ppto6rasup0h8o/Chalet%20school%20books.zip?dl=0

I don’t suppose anyone can help me navigate Dropbox via my iphone can they? I successfully stored/opened one book, but now I have saved the zip file into drop box which I don’t seem to be able to open. Any pointers would be appreciated!

[CrackedLookingGlass]

@TheShellBeach

And nobody else comes close to having girls with boys' names. They just keep the old characters.
The fanfic where Mary Lily marries Giles is good. The Marlows take the piss out of the CS mercilessly.

Doesn’t Lawrie make a pass at Con Maynard in that? Well, in fact they may have had a full-blown relationship and ended up getting married, but I think I stopped reading and forgot about it when things were just getting flirty.

[Talia99]

Somebody once posted (can’t remember who or where) that having read books out of order with some missing, it took them literally years to realise the fairly nice (with some character flaws) child Joey Bettany was the same person as the pushy, arrogant, always right adult Jo Maynard. I can see why.

[ConfusedNT]

Joey is okay for the first few books, it's after she has the triplets she goes off the rails for me

There's a line in one of the war books about how she doesn't have time for gardening like the unmarried gardening teacher does and for me that really marks the start of Joey as a sneery married lady who has to one up everyone and poke her nose in when it's not needed or wanted

[TheShellBeach]

@sueelleker

I read that after seeing it mentioned on here. I like the bit where Mary-Lou is doing her "raising her eyes to the mountains" and Nicola wonders to herself if she's seen a 'plane!

I am especially glad to read all the Marlows' thoughts about Joey Maynard.

They clearly think she's bonkers. Which she is. And annoying.

And despite her claims to Christianity she rides roughshod over loads of people's feelings. For over sixty books.

Argh she pisses me off so much.

I now need only twenty books to complete my GGBP collection. It has not escaped my notice that most of the ones I still need have "Jo" in the title.

[sueelleker]

@TheShellBeach

And nobody else comes close to having girls with boys' names. They just keep the old characters.
The fanfic where Mary Lily marries Giles is good. The Marlows take the piss out of the CS mercilessly.

I read that after seeing it mentioned on here. I like the bit where Mary-Lou is doing her "raising her eyes to the mountains" and Nicola wonders to herself if she's seen a 'plane!

[TinselAngel]

I've got some of the fill ins I buy them if they fill a gap or a back story that I think will be interesting, but having said that I'm not sure I've read any of them more than once.

The recent one about Elisaveta was good.