feather_ghyll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feather_ghyll) wrote2009-06-28 04:08 pm
feather_ghyll) wrote2009-06-28 04:08 pm
REVIEW: Red Herrings Unlimited
To break up the blanket Wimbledon talk, here's a review of a book I read last week.
Red Herrings Unlimited: Winifred Norling
I'm too lazy to check the publishers, and I suspect no date was given).
Most of the Winifred Norling books, if not all, that I've read have been school stories of a certain ype. This is a mystery that a gang of village children solve, led by a girl named Lyntie, who came together to solve a previous mystery. All I could find out from Google was that Winifred Norling was a pseudonym of Winifred Mary Jakobsson (1905-1979).
I don’t love to read a series midway, but sometimes these things happen. The Octocats have a bit of the Lone Piners about them, and a bit of Blyton’s bands of child detectives and adventurers too, although at some points I wondered how much the writer’s tongue was jammed in her cheek. All the chapter headings are the sort of proverb that sounds as if it’s been translated from another language, that is, you can understand the metaphor, but it doesn’t sound right. They’re lifted from sayings used in the chapter by various characters.
There’s a cast of dozens, but one heroine, who everybody is supposed to love – except me. Lyntie is a schoolgirl, and although we’re never told her age, it’s suggested that she’s starting to grow up and think of her future and feel a distance from the younger members of her gang, who came together to solve a mystery in the previous book that I haven’t read (called The Allerdyce Adventure). The fact that she lives life to the full is highlighted and part of the reason is that she and her older sister used to live in a small cottage with very little means until their great uncle, Sir Bernard, a retired judge, found them and adopted them to all intents and purposes. Everyone thinks she’s marvellous, she bosses them around cheerily, which is the closest that Norling comes to giving her a fault, but she’s always right, and she wants to be a writer.
Lyntie is home from boarding school for the Christmas holidays, a Colonial long-lost nephew has come to take over the neighbouring manor and a heap of suspicious characters seem to have turned up in the area. Well, strangers in the countryside (it’s set in Sussex) aren’t going to go unnoticed, and the Octocats (it sounds like something from anime, doesn’t it?) scent a mystery. Eventually, enough happens to make the older members feel they should tip the police off to some of what they’ve discovered, and when Vanessa, Lyntie’s older sister, is kidnapped after interrupting a burglary they’re glad they did, although it’s childhood explorations, a parrot, the Octocats' loyalty and the local character who save the day.
The plot is decent, though I wouldn’t say the red herrings keep up with the title's claim. There’s a bit of undirected romantic tension going on, partly because all these young men seem to really like and admire schoolgirl Lyntie, although her age is unspecified. Besides, although she likes them all back, her chum is Desmond. Some of these young men are very chivalrous towards Vanessa her sister – and if there is a further sequel, I really would expect resolution of the romance that develops for her, but it’s Vanessa’s friend Valerie who ends up being the blushing bride. And yet, it’s definitely a children’s book, but with the shadow of growing up, things changing and people growing apart, despite the comedy parrot and the penchant for giving nearly everyone a nickname. Still, one almost wishes it wasn’t a children’s book and that Norling was writing overtly for adults because there wouldn’t be so much bewildering subtext.
There’s more than the usual racism – Charles, who’s come over from Australia, refers to someone he’s sure is decent as a ‘white man’ (among other unPC sayings that you’re likely to find in early to mid twentieth century storiebooks) and snobbery. For all that the servants’ grandchildren and offspring and farm hands in training are Octocats, Lyntie is always Miss Lyntie to them and Desmond always Mr Desmond. It's not just because they're the eldest that their word is law. Possibly my favourite member of the Octocats as a reader was August, who nearly always thinks with his stomach, and comes out with 'Wizard Bangs’ for anything that pleases him. Bless. Overall, the book's not as funny as it thinks it is.
Edited for clarity 30/5/10.
Red Herrings Unlimited: Winifred Norling
I'm too lazy to check the publishers, and I suspect no date was given).
Most of the Winifred Norling books, if not all, that I've read have been school stories of a certain ype. This is a mystery that a gang of village children solve, led by a girl named Lyntie, who came together to solve a previous mystery. All I could find out from Google was that Winifred Norling was a pseudonym of Winifred Mary Jakobsson (1905-1979).
I don’t love to read a series midway, but sometimes these things happen. The Octocats have a bit of the Lone Piners about them, and a bit of Blyton’s bands of child detectives and adventurers too, although at some points I wondered how much the writer’s tongue was jammed in her cheek. All the chapter headings are the sort of proverb that sounds as if it’s been translated from another language, that is, you can understand the metaphor, but it doesn’t sound right. They’re lifted from sayings used in the chapter by various characters.
There’s a cast of dozens, but one heroine, who everybody is supposed to love – except me. Lyntie is a schoolgirl, and although we’re never told her age, it’s suggested that she’s starting to grow up and think of her future and feel a distance from the younger members of her gang, who came together to solve a mystery in the previous book that I haven’t read (called The Allerdyce Adventure). The fact that she lives life to the full is highlighted and part of the reason is that she and her older sister used to live in a small cottage with very little means until their great uncle, Sir Bernard, a retired judge, found them and adopted them to all intents and purposes. Everyone thinks she’s marvellous, she bosses them around cheerily, which is the closest that Norling comes to giving her a fault, but she’s always right, and she wants to be a writer.
Lyntie is home from boarding school for the Christmas holidays, a Colonial long-lost nephew has come to take over the neighbouring manor and a heap of suspicious characters seem to have turned up in the area. Well, strangers in the countryside (it’s set in Sussex) aren’t going to go unnoticed, and the Octocats (it sounds like something from anime, doesn’t it?) scent a mystery. Eventually, enough happens to make the older members feel they should tip the police off to some of what they’ve discovered, and when Vanessa, Lyntie’s older sister, is kidnapped after interrupting a burglary they’re glad they did, although it’s childhood explorations, a parrot, the Octocats' loyalty and the local character who save the day.
The plot is decent, though I wouldn’t say the red herrings keep up with the title's claim. There’s a bit of undirected romantic tension going on, partly because all these young men seem to really like and admire schoolgirl Lyntie, although her age is unspecified. Besides, although she likes them all back, her chum is Desmond. Some of these young men are very chivalrous towards Vanessa her sister – and if there is a further sequel, I really would expect resolution of the romance that develops for her, but it’s Vanessa’s friend Valerie who ends up being the blushing bride. And yet, it’s definitely a children’s book, but with the shadow of growing up, things changing and people growing apart, despite the comedy parrot and the penchant for giving nearly everyone a nickname. Still, one almost wishes it wasn’t a children’s book and that Norling was writing overtly for adults because there wouldn’t be so much bewildering subtext.
There’s more than the usual racism – Charles, who’s come over from Australia, refers to someone he’s sure is decent as a ‘white man’ (among other unPC sayings that you’re likely to find in early to mid twentieth century storiebooks) and snobbery. For all that the servants’ grandchildren and offspring and farm hands in training are Octocats, Lyntie is always Miss Lyntie to them and Desmond always Mr Desmond. It's not just because they're the eldest that their word is law. Possibly my favourite member of the Octocats as a reader was August, who nearly always thinks with his stomach, and comes out with 'Wizard Bangs’ for anything that pleases him. Bless. Overall, the book's not as funny as it thinks it is.
Edited for clarity 30/5/10.