AIBU To Think That The Plots Of The Chalet School Books Were Really Improbable

[TheShellBeach]

.................................such as Prince Cosimo, the endless kidnappings, all the train crashes/bus crashes/car crashes/plane crashes/boat sinkings hang on a minute, were there any boat sinkings

Okay, I've just remembered that there were a couple of near misses with boats when the CS was on the island. Joey was nearly flung overboard once (a missed opportunity for EBD to get rid of her IMO) and there were probably others.

Anyway - all aboard and ahoy there.

I can thoroughly recommend Prosecco with soda water and a little Aperol.
On ice.

She was anticipating a school girl reader out for a good time not a long time when she threw together those plots.

And that is how many of us came to love these books. We read them eagerly as 10 year olds, and then never stopped enjoying them - but as we grew up and carried on re-reading, we acquired a more realistic perspective about the events and characters - and, if anything, realising how delightfully bonkers much of it was only made us appreciate the books more.

As I mentioned on the previous thread, to build such an incredibly detailed world and write so many books in one universe is an incredible achievement, and the fact we are still talking about them more than 50 years after EBD's death really says all there is to say.

Absolutely.

I didn't read the previous thread but that makes sense. Changing the goal posts, sniping at them for every reason under the sun and expecting more of the books than they were ever meant to be is something else entirely.

It's literary criticism.

As a literary critic myself, I can assure you that it is not :) There are many possible readings, interpretations and possible research areas in connection with CS books but this doesn't tick any of the boxes, sorry.

Literary critics train for years. Their opinions have to be justified, contextualised and measured. There is a lot more to it than "Aren't the plots improbable?" as "Does anyone else hate Margot?". That's personal response and usually highly biased.

Zzzzzz

I was thinking Daenerys Targaryen would fit right into the CS world.

my evidence (in no particular order)
Her name conveniently shortens to a male name Dan/ Danny (Dani)
she’s an orphan
she is expected to marry young
she is fluent in another language
she has large, loyal ‘pets’
she isn’t a spineless jellyfish
she likes to travel

they may have to tone down her hairstyles though. Matey may consider them ‘artistic’

Whatever

AIBU to think that DD's school safeguarding policies need to be overhauled.
DD and friends sent to stay with random man and his equally random wheelchair-using wife when they got on the wrong train.
CF school also demanded additional money for fares. DH refusing to pay. WWYD?

Ah, but did she marry a doctor the moment she left school, and have a multiple pregnancy?

She did sort of give birth to triplet dragons though, didn’t she? Joey would’ve been jealous.

I don't have any bias against lovers of writing for children whatever their age. But there does seem to be a 'fan' (hater?) contingent for whom it makes perfect sense that schoolgirl fiction is their chosen literary habitat. What a pity. Do you all belong to some kind of club? How deep does this go?

Ooh. I didn't know that, not being a qualified literary critic.

For a 'literary critic' you don't seem to understand much about readers and their relationship with books.

Well, this is a first, my friends.
Trolling on a CS thread, b'gad. Whatever next?

It makes me think of The League of Gentlemen ("what's all this shouting - we'll have no trouble here!")

May I suggest that we scroll on by?

YABU - you should have read the prospectus before sending her

I'm finding it hard to understand the point you're trying to make. I like discussing any books I've enjoyed, whether children's books, literary fiction, commercial fiction, non-fiction - I'm not fussy.

I don't believe that to discuss a book you have to qualify as a fan of the author, nor that discussion should be confined to academic-style literary criticism - at least, not on a general forum like Mumsnet.

It's perfectly OK for people to post their entirely personal thoughts and reactions to books, whether favourable or unfavourable, without having to justify those reactions. As it happens, EBD is no longer around to read our thoughts, but anyone who publishes books should be prepared for them to receive varying reactions - that's the danger/joy of putting your work out there.

Everyonesinvited, you seem to be treating this thread rather as if it's a book review you've read in The Times that you think is unfair; or perhaps as a discussion on a specialist EBD site that is specifically a fan site.

This is just a general conversation amongst people who are fond of the books, who have read them many times, and find some elements of them amusing.

The staff were actually a tiny bit put out IIRC.

To be fair, what were the alternative solutions? I suspect staying with family man, father of school-girl of same class would have been more acceptable at that time than bedding down at random railway Inn, if that was even an option.

Happy with that ☺️ I 'm currently reading Bride Leads (the transcript) and if all suggested themes for all the sales there ever were, this one takes the biscuit - or should I say fancy bread twist?!

What was it again?

My copy of Bride Leads is missing some pages (8 maybe - never gathered in when it was printed) so I've never known the full story of Diana at the scripture lesson and the bloke without thumbs. Lifelong frustration.

I think that was the sale of learning based on The Crown of Success by A.L.O.E.

For all the lack of consistency in the Chalet School education, there are some very odd pockets of things everyone knows/has read.