Mount by Jilly Cooper - SPOILERS!

[MrsCampbellBlack]

So do not read this thread if you have not read the whole book.

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

Just finished

Yeah I couldn't get behind Etta's shagging - sorry I know that's ageist !

The editing ! A major boo was when she said taggies breasts were untarnished by breastfeeding - Taggie adopted so who let that slip ?

I quite enjoyed it - but nothing beats Riders , polo and rivals

And gala - didnt deserve a
Happy ending snake in the grass

I am so pleased everyone notices how she writes about nature I really enjoy that too

[AprilLudgateDwyer]

I saw the other day itv have purchased the rights to the books and are going to make a rutshire chronicles series based on all the books. I hope they get the casting right or it could be a disaster!

[MrsHathaway]

Happy to have this resurrected: I had had my copy delivered before the thread started but didn't have a chance to read it until December! Then devoured it in two days...

You have to read JC quickly. You can linger over the nature descriptions (YY to all praise for this - her sense of place is terrific) but for heaven's sake don't absorb detail. JC books are about how you feel and live and they accelerate in the last quarter so you can barely keep up with yourself.

I read it, then lent it to my equine vet friend, who also devoured it quickly and loved it.

I'm not proud of this but I am totally into RCB despite his obvious horrificness. I also despise myself for it. Making me every single female character that JC has ever written.

So much yes. Trouble with RCB's fidelity is that it would mean he wouldn't be able to shag me, so as much as we adore Taggie we can't possibly shut that door forever.

[AprilLudgateDwyer]

Sorry to resurrect old thread but I just finished this book and I need to talk about it.

So I'll have 3 fingers of whisky and drench myself in some scent in readiness.

I didn't dislike the book but it wasn't classic cooper. I agree there was too much technical talk about racing and I also fucking hate gala. Are we supposed to like her?!

I'm not let down by Rupert cheating as I think that men like him often have a lapse and return to type despite how much they might love their wives. I would have liked to have seen how Taggie dealt with it though. I feel like the cancer is a bit of a cop out!

It was obvious that Jan was the villain. I'd hoped it was a double bluff but alas no!

[Gatekeeper]

I first started reading Jilly Cooper books back in the early eighties and I re-read them on a regular basis, however Rivals is my favourite book

I read Mount last week and for the first time I was utterly bored with her writing. It had no soul or spark to it and I ended up missing out on a HUGE chunk- about 80% of it- and just reading the last few pages. Hugely disappointing and I certainly won't read the football one out next year

I missed the buttercunt reference so can someone explain (without retching) as the book has gorn back to the library

[RockNRollNerd]

It almost read like she was angry at some of the characters and wanted to rewrite them/destroy how they were. The changes in both Rupert and Taggie were horrid and didn't ring true to the way they've been over the last 20 years. I also didn't like the way Janey was portrayed, she was always rackety (such a Jilly word) but there was real hatred in the way she was written this time. Also, and it's a very minor point, but I didn't get why Trixie was so anti Tilda. The Trixie storyline was irritating all round, she was sort of parachuted into the storyline and then just seemed to disappear.

[NeonPinkNails]

I could hardly wait to finish Mount so I could read this thread and see what other people thought!

I agree with everything that's been said - LOVED reading about the familiar characters/settings again and her descriptions of nature and the seasons are beautiful but the rest was dreadful.

Awful, unappealing characters and way too many of them - agree wet Etta and Freddie Valent could have been written out and what was the point of the one in the red trousers and his stupid wife? Or the bitchy groom (except they're now called lasses) Sauvignon. Or Geoffrey's owners?

Old characters are pulled in but hardly get more than a name checkand most of the new ones are just rehashes eg Lark/Harmony = Kitty. Gala is a grade A bitch and Gav is sweet but basically Ricky FL without the good storyline. Too many animals with confusing punny names as well.

There are too many storylines that never get developed or are forgotten about half way through, more details about racing than was interesting or relevant and sloppy, repetitive writing with great chunks basically copied from earlier books eg Cosmo's orgy (TMWMHJ), the fancy dress party (Polo). The supposed main storyline (Leading Sire) never gets properly resolved and the ending is just a shit set-up for her next book. Loads of things don't add up like Gala fainting when she (massive and unbelievable coincidence) sees Mr Wang then after that she's absolutely fine around him.

I used to adore the way JC wrote but she is like a caricature of herself now - no subtlety or sympathy just terrible cliches and irritating bits like Jan calling Taggie 'mam', the ridiculous protest against poor old Bao (one of the only good characters despite his stereotyping) and of course the less said about buttercunt the better.

[dorabelvedon123]

I have just had to join Mumsnet just to be able to comment on this... I am Jilly's true number one fan in every sense of the word, she is my idol. Dont you love that so many of her surnames are from villages and towns in Gloucestershire - even France Lynch!
Anyway have started reading Mount, hating it, but can never leave a book unfinished. bring back the old style... but seems like there is no chance of that :(

[KathyBeale]

I remember reading an interview with Jilly Cooper when Leo was ill/dying in which she said she had to keep writing to pay for his treatment. I remember thinking then how strange it was that the NHS wasn't mentioned. Maybe people like Jilly and Alizarin don't use the NHS. Like how even when poor Garnie is on her uppers in Ballet Shoes and has to open her house to all sorts of waifs and strays, no one ever considers for one minute that the girls should go to a state school (or that they should get rid of poor Cook and Clara) ...

[MrsHawkley]

I was so excited to find this thread, as I adore Jilly Cooper and just finished reading Mount! I'm not sure what to say that hasn't already been said, except that it is so interesting to read the varying points of view.

[Temporaryname137]

just finished this. Rupert, noooooooooooooo.

also at buttercunt. why jilly, why?

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

In my head Abby in the orange satin bomber jacket looks just like Scary Spice circa 1996.

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

Jake was a twat! He slept with Marion the groom as his reward for a double first, and he only wanted Helen to get back at Rupert - he just sees her as a thing, a possession he can nick from Rupert. And he treats Tory like dirt for most of Riders.

[Trills]

He was faithful for twenty two years and I will not let it go.

[whattheseithakasmean]

Rupert was never going to stay faithful, let it go. I was never a big Rupert fan anyway, I always preferred Jake Lovell.

[Trills]

What is not to like?

She ruined the story of Rupert being a cad until he met the right woman and then being reformed.

That's all.

She would have made a very good Jilly heroine if not for that.

And I realise that in real life there are many things wrong with that statement, but this is NOT REAL LIFE.

[BestIsWest]

Lol at the orange satin outfit. I love Jilly's clothes. I always wanted to wear dungarees without anything underneath like Octavia.

[whattheseithakasmean]

I quite liked Gala. She had known immense tragedy, picked herself up, was a brilliant horse rider & could totally rock a skin tight leopard print dress. What is not to like? I always find Taggie a bit irritating, but then I have no patience with women who express love through food. I don't want to eat the results of your martyred day in the kitchen, I want to wear tight dresses & ride race horses

[Trills]

My unreasonablenesss about Taggie is such that I consider Gala to be worse than any of them.

Even bloody Emerald, who was an ungrateful brat.

[AntheaBelveden]

I know that JC has a tendency to have bloody awful heroines who get an undeserved happy ending (Perdita, Emerald, Gala, Tabitha etc) but Abby Rosen really has no redeeming features whatsoever.

Viking's a bit of a twat but even he doesn't deserve her.

Flora and Marcus are easily the best things in Appassionata.

Oh, hang on, I've found a redeeming feature. Abby's "wildly fashionable, very ostentatious orange satin bomber jacket, which she teamed with matching orange satin drainpipes and a black bra".

[CalmItKermitt]

Uh-LIZ-er-in.

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

Yes, Sophy tells Alizarin that Visitor died of old age...but sleeping out in minus 7 without enough money to buy dog food can't have helped.

[Trills]

Rupert being deliberately nice to Gertrude was the first sign that we had of him turning away from being a cad to trying to be a good person.

[Trills]

"All dogs are best dogs"

[Trills]

There was no need for Visitor to die. Damn Alizarin's pride! I don't believe for a second that none of his siblings were willing/able to take him in.