REVIEW: The Head Girl of St Bee's
Mar. 24th, 2018 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllThe Head Girl of St Bee’s: Alys Chatwyn, The Epworth Press
If Chatwyn had been happy to stick with ‘St Bee’s College’ – a school characterised as a hive, and its girls ‘bees’ ‘drones’ etc – that would be one thing. But the head girl of the title, its ‘Queen Bee’ is called Beatrice Buckland.
Yes, she is. And note the alliteration.
Furthermore, her doppelganger moves into town, startling everybody and mysteriously avoiding Beatrice when she tries to clear matters up. Meanwhile, Beatrice’s father has business connections in Ruritania, I mean Uraglia, where rival factions are battling for supremacy, and its princess, who happens to be named Beatrice, is in hiding, because she doesn’t want to be married to some Duke.
Yes, this book does end up in sub The Prisoner of Zenda territory, as written by Baroness Orczy, but at her most tedious. For instance, no explanation is given as to why English Bee looks so much like Princess Beatrice.
Most of the book takes place at St Bee’s, where Beatrice dispenses justice and is wonderful at sports (see how many sports I've tagged) and acting. Although Janet Parker is a rotter, I could understand why she did not love the Queen Bee.
I didn’t love the writing. In fact, I thought that even the most word-loving girl would have to reach for a dictionary (a few words threw me). Chatwyn feels like a thesaurus botherer, rarely putting something in plain English. The result is arch, affected and irritating.
Here are some examples, from all over the book:
‘She hated the idea of having to stultify herself with the malcontents.’ (p. 44)
‘Her selection of comestibles was extensive, and price no object.’ (p. 97)
‘Sub rosa, not a few of the wearers themselves came under review, their races extolled, their shortcomings ruthlessly exposed with true feminine perspicacity.’ (p. 140)
It’s a little better in the dialogue, and I liked the idea of each form counting as a house, named after its housemistress, but this isn’t particularly good. Having said that, I own a couple of other books by Chatwyn, and I think I must have rated her, because I’d put the equivalent of a star by her books on my ‘books to look out for’ list. Well, tastes change, and I’ve removed the star now.
I've slightly updated my icons at Dreamwidth and Livejournal.
The next book I intend to (re)read is 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society' in preparation for watching the film adaptation, coming out next month, I believe. I didn't know about the film until I saw the trailer.
If Chatwyn had been happy to stick with ‘St Bee’s College’ – a school characterised as a hive, and its girls ‘bees’ ‘drones’ etc – that would be one thing. But the head girl of the title, its ‘Queen Bee’ is called Beatrice Buckland.
Yes, she is. And note the alliteration.
Furthermore, her doppelganger moves into town, startling everybody and mysteriously avoiding Beatrice when she tries to clear matters up. Meanwhile, Beatrice’s father has business connections in Ruritania, I mean Uraglia, where rival factions are battling for supremacy, and its princess, who happens to be named Beatrice, is in hiding, because she doesn’t want to be married to some Duke.
Yes, this book does end up in sub The Prisoner of Zenda territory, as written by Baroness Orczy, but at her most tedious. For instance, no explanation is given as to why English Bee looks so much like Princess Beatrice.
Most of the book takes place at St Bee’s, where Beatrice dispenses justice and is wonderful at sports (see how many sports I've tagged) and acting. Although Janet Parker is a rotter, I could understand why she did not love the Queen Bee.
I didn’t love the writing. In fact, I thought that even the most word-loving girl would have to reach for a dictionary (a few words threw me). Chatwyn feels like a thesaurus botherer, rarely putting something in plain English. The result is arch, affected and irritating.
Here are some examples, from all over the book:
‘She hated the idea of having to stultify herself with the malcontents.’ (p. 44)
‘Her selection of comestibles was extensive, and price no object.’ (p. 97)
‘Sub rosa, not a few of the wearers themselves came under review, their races extolled, their shortcomings ruthlessly exposed with true feminine perspicacity.’ (p. 140)
It’s a little better in the dialogue, and I liked the idea of each form counting as a house, named after its housemistress, but this isn’t particularly good. Having said that, I own a couple of other books by Chatwyn, and I think I must have rated her, because I’d put the equivalent of a star by her books on my ‘books to look out for’ list. Well, tastes change, and I’ve removed the star now.
I've slightly updated my icons at Dreamwidth and Livejournal.
The next book I intend to (re)read is 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society' in preparation for watching the film adaptation, coming out next month, I believe. I didn't know about the film until I saw the trailer.
