Riders - Jilly Cooper Book Club

[JillyCooperBookClub]

It was a perfect spring day. Thickening crimson buds fretted a love-in-the-mist blue sky. The banks were draped with crocuses of the same Lenten purple as the altar cloth. A host of golden daffodils, retarded by the bitter winter, had just reached their prime and nodded their pale heads in approval.

Thus Helen falls for Rupert, and I fell for Jilly Cooper: against our upbringing and our better judgement, and despite every single red flag.

Riders wasn't my first Jilly Cooper, but the first I sought out, after a few stolen pages of another under dappled sun on Guide Camp as a teenager.

It starts deceptively happily, with gymkhanas and very proper sexless dates. But we mustn't be fooled: at every point every character is being judged by every other, and found wanting. Character flaws, damaging childhoods, trauma and tragedy: frankly it's a wonder any one of them made it to adulthood.

Rupert's friendship with Billy predates the neglect and misery of his childhood, so unsurprisingly it is the only healthy and unconditional human relationship he has.

There couldn't be much wrong with Rupert if he inspired friendship like this.

Rupert shivered, suddenly reminded of the desolation of Sunday nights at school, summoned by bells to Evensong, followed by cold ham and bread and marge for supper, and everyone else coming back feeling homesick from days out with their parents. Rupert had never really had a proper home to feel sick about.

And indeed it will be some years before he finds one.

We discussed on the general thread that Rupert is a bit, well, rapey. In Riders he has precisely zero respect for any woman's body autonomy (the very first time he and Helen meet he thrusts his hand into her jumper) and once he has any declared rights over a woman he takes absolute possession of her body.

With a colossal feeling of triumph he pushed her back on to the bed and began to move downwards, kissing her ribs, then her belly.

"No," she gasped, grabbing his head.

Firmly he removed her hands. "Shut up. You're mine now, to do exactly what I like with."

The foursome in Kenya is deeply, deeply troubling. Billy doesn't seem to realise how unwilling Helen is until he has raped her; Rupert is more concerned with how his friends will perceive them, and his response to finding her as dry as a marathon runner's throat is to declare her "useless"; Janey is so turned on by Rupert she doesn't stop to think about it. All three of them assault her together, until she escapes.

Any minute she expected an enraged Rupert to appear and drag her back to the torture chamber.

But the others were enjoying themselves. [...] Playing games of their own, they carried on till morning.

Days later, she falls for Jake: physically and romantically the exact opposite of Rupert. It was inevitable, surely, and as little as I like her I have the greatest sympathy. But I'll never forgive Jake as long as I live.

When I first read Riders I identified strongly with Tory. Poor unloved Tory - considered a fat failure, whilst in truth neither fat nor failing. Jilly is horribly judgemental about an ounce of spare fat on anyone, but she shows us that however miserable Tory might be, she is beautiful and perfect:

She was tallish and big boned, with a huge bust that bounced up and down as she walked. However she stood on the scales, she weighed eleven stone.

(Note: at 5'8", "tallish", that's a BMI of 23.4, and she promptly loses nine pounds when she falls in love, taking her to 22.5)

Actually she was much less far without her clothes on; rather splendid, in fact.

Tory is capable and loyal and loving and stoic and all the characteristics of a balanced human being. She doesn't expect Jake to love her; it's enough that she loves him.

"She loved you," said Fen bitterly. "Isa, Darklis, me, the horses, Wolf, were only extensions of how much she loved you. She knew you didn't love her, but she felt you needed her. That made life easier, that was enough."

"Oh, Christ," Jake groaned, putting his head in his hands. "I only realised in LA how much I loved her. [...] She always seemed so strong that she could cope with anything. I didn't realise I meant so much to her."

[...]

Frantic, he took her in his arms, trying to warm some life into the frail body.

"Don't die," he pleaded for the thousandth time. "Please don't die."

"Jake," came the faintest, faintest whisper.

I was going to talk about snobbery and class, and the animals, and the culture of celebrity, and the freedom of wealth, and Billy, and Malise, and political marriages, and fidelity, but I can't, because tears are streaming down my face yet again and my nose is running. So to cheer myself up, and to evidence Jilly's brilliance, I'll leave you with my favourite exchange:

"Will it be very fancy tonight?"
"Not particularly."
"Shall I wear pants?
Rupert's eyes gleamed. That was getting somewhere. "Certainly not," he said.
[...]
"Chicken, you are wearing pants. What's this?" he pinged the elastic."
"Panties," said Helen quickly. "You thought I'd go to a party without panties?"

[Feenie]

Janey, ffs.

[MrsHathaway]

Good thoughts.

I agree that it flows beautifully in Riders (I've not reread Rivals in full for a year or more so I can't comment on the comparison) but we're always focusing on that podium ("a cripple, a schoolgirl and an imbecile").

[JillyTheDependableBoot]

kelpeed Yes, interesting thoughts.

I think in Rivals the difference between Rupert's relationships with Taggie and with Cameron is that Cameron is more needy of him in a way that he's not able to meet, whereas Taggie actually offers him the safety and nurturing he craves. So while on the face of it Cameron is the stronger, more successful woman, Taggie can support Rupert better and he can nurture and cherish her in a way Cameron doesn't allow or need.

The writing process JC went through with Riders is so interesting. It took her 15 years to write and at one point she left 50,000 words of longhand in a taxi and never recovered it - I cannot imagine how hard it must have been to come back from that! Rivals does seem a far more structured, sensibly plotted book, and was written in a fraction of the time. I think the same is true of Polo, and they're much better for it.

I think Maud, like Janey, is JC channelling the worst of herself, and so they're unsympathetic characters. Maud and Declan's relationship is maybe most like JC and Leo's? Or like JC as she would like herself to be?

Valerie is a bit of a lazy stereotype - if you've read Class you'll know that JC despises lower-middle class arrivistes most of all the groups she looks down on (see also Anthea in Pandora).

[BalloonSlayer]

What do you mean about eating disorders kelpeed? Do you mean the way she talks about Tory as hugely fat when she's only 11 stone, or them always seeming to be on crash diets (including Rupert) or the way in Jillyworld if you're miserable you stop eating and suddenly become thin and beautiful?

I am still half-way through re-reading Riders and had a bit of a marathon yesterday. The hyperbole can be exhausting though. Everyone has always "not slept for 36 hours" "not eaten all day" "has 120 miles to drive before supper" [which they seem to do in an hour and a half, in a knackered lorry]. Or they drink four bottles of champagne and are "a bit tight" then get drink even more yet still propose driving to London and the only objection is "it's a long way and you'll have to drive back again." Drink driving was definitely a crime in the 70s! I just think "can't someone just get up, work their horses, have three sensible meals and a few glasses of wine with their dinner and go to bed like everyone else. Or make themselves some bloody sandwiches!"

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

I've finished Riders.

Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers follow...

I'd forgotten so much of it. It is riveting and a great read I think, still, albeit with some er issues, as we've discussed. The drink driving is shocking, I agree. It's of its time...

I was in Penscombe whenever she described it, I love The Cotswolds. And I can picture The Mill House and Jake's yard and the Olympics.

I hated the rape scene, I mean, obviously, and I really don't know why it's there - titilation? We've already seen how cruel Rupert can be so she didn't need to show us that again. Maybe she couldn't think who else to use to get a group sex scene in? (That's being generous though).

Helen gets more and more unsympathetic as the books goes on. I don't think you're allowed to be an unhappy wife with a happy ending in Jillyworld although of course we know she ends up with Charles Dance Malise, who is much more her type. The Jake / Tory ending doesn't feel terribly believable to me.

I still love, love, love Jilly.

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

Which is the next book, chronologically?
Can we read that next?

[Feenie]

Rivals is next.

[MoggieMealAl]

It always amuses me that unattractive men (unattractive according to Jilly anyway) like academics always force their attentions on someone 'goatily'. What does that even mean?!

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

Doesn't Maud betray them because she's been hurt? I can't remember but I do remember it was shocking. I agree that's she's maybe a harsh self portrait.

Is anyone up for reading Rivals next?

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

I didn't know it took get 15 years to write, that's interesting. 50,000 words left in a cab, how awful must that have been?

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

Oh I love 'goatily' when used by Jilly, it conjures up an old roué who's a bit past it but sexually excited by the (almost certainly young) woman in question. He probably smells a bit too, is bound to be leering and possibly whiskery and yet thinks he's god's gift to women.

[JillyTheDependableBoot]

Kelpeed, it's interesting, isn't it? JC "lets" her characters get away with a huge amount of selfishness, especially if they are good looking and/or talented.

Emerald in Pandora, for example, is absolutely vile. So is Perdita in Polo, Viking in Appassionata etc. With the younger girls some sort of childhood damage is generally given as the excuse (I get the sense that JC's adopted daughter was a hideously difficult teenager and she kind of wrote her way through it).

Declan excuses Maud's behaviour by saying she can't help herself, and compares her to Maud Gonne, who gave Yeats the runaround. But I actually quite like that their marriage is clearly so dysfunctional, but it somehow works.

The difference between Freddie and Valerie is that Freddie doesn't have pretensions - he's working class and proud of it, whereas Valerie tries to social-climb, and JC hates that.

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

Whereas Rupert is 'Mecca to most women' iirc

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

Jilly does hate social climbers, absolutely. Maud and Declan's marriage works because he understands her and adores her and so will forgive her almost anything because he knows why she does the bad things she does (haven't read it for a while though)

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

Agree re good looking talented characters getting away with more. True in life though sometimes, no?

[JillyTheDependableBoot]

Yes, it's definitely true in life although becoming less so. Imagine what JC would have made of Ched Evans and Adam Johnson?

And yy to "goaty" - particularly used about bearded men, isn't it?

[BeautifulMaudOHara]

Jilly describes Hilary as 'goaty' in Riders too. I find it surprising that Rupert has a fling with her tbh, she doesn't sound his type at all. Although he's not particularly discerning, let's face it.

[ChessieFL]

Have just finished Riders. I'd forgotten quite how much description of showjumping there is. And the sexism - as others have already said, very much of its time. I also find it very odd that couples meet/get together and immediately decide to get married. Did they not have dating in the 70s?!

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

I was going to post about the amount they drink - it is always quadruple measures or two bottles of wine with lunch and then more again.

The rape scene doesn't get any easier to read - Janey is such a bloody show off and Rupert is horrible at that point.

They are all off to the Olympics in a minute

[SoddingPufflers]

Marking my place as I've just finished Rivals.

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

Jilly's maths is bloody awful, isn't it? Amanda Hamilton has just said to Rupert, in 1984, 'You're thirty one'. Helen meets him in 1973, so he would be 20 then - but apparently he didn't come out of the army until he was 21, which is when Eddie made Penscombe over to him, and he has built up the estate over four years - making him 25 in 1973 by Jilly's reckoning.

He must have been bloody precocious to shag Daisy in the late 60s to conceive Perdita. And if he is thirty seven/thirty eight when he meets Tag, that would put Rivals in 1990 - which is when TMWMHJ starts....

Over-invested much?

[ChessieFL]

It's in 1980 that Rupert is 31 ( the book finishes shortly after the 1980 olympics). This would put his date of birth in 1949 so feasible for him to sleep with Daisy in say 1967 when he was 18, and he would then be 25 in 1974 so Jilly may be slightly out making him 25 in 1973 but not by much and of course it depends what month of the year all these things happen!