REVIEW: Secrets at St Jude's book 2
Dec. 24th, 2013 07:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllSecrets at St Jude’s – Jealous Girl: Carmen Reid. Corgi, 2009
I used the word 'breezy' to describe the first book in the Secrets at St Jude's series, New Girl reviewed here and the same word came to mind for its sequel. We start with Gina Peterson about to leave California after the summer to return to St Jude’s, her boarding school in Edinburgh despite her oldest friends’ pleading. She'll be sharing Iris dormitory with Amy and Min, but not Niffy, AKA Luella, who is staying at home with her sick mother. Feisty, shopping-mad Amy has to deal with her nemesis Penny and with Rosie, a younger girl with whom she got friendly over the summer, but who thinks that everything Amy does is cool and eminently imitable. Meanwhile, Gina is battling homesickness and doubts as she gets to know Dermot, the guy who made her laugh last term - are they just too different to be boyfriend and girlfriend? And swotty Min is acting mysteriously.
Boys are a big deal in this junior chick-lit book. Obviously, the boarding school setting is crucial to the story, with the girls trying their best to circumvent their housemistress and school rules, but it's mainly because of said boys. The book also does try to address the glaring fact that these label-obsessed girls can afford their labels, which most of its readers wouldn't be able to do. By dating the son of a man who runs a cafe and a midwife who live in the suburbs, Gina comes to the realisation that she lives quite a privileged life, really, and not everyone lives in big houses with plenty of rooms and all that comes along with it. The story shows Gina and friends fighting snobbism when they realise it’s happening, but nonetheless, they're all at a private school, the 'haves' in most cases.
But they’re mainly teenage girls: thin-skinned, neurotic and a bit mad. Actually, I felt that the characters and the story missed Niffy, who is an insider in a way nouveau riche Amy and foreigners Nim and Gina aren’t, but also friendly and a more solid influence. Gina gets herself tangled up in knots because she’s seen something she shouldn’t have about Dermot, her first real boyfriend – she won’t seek advice because she knows what the others (well, blunt Amy) would say, but she can't ask him what's going on, because what if he rejects her? Nim causes a lot of worry by making Gina keep a secret and not heeding her advice. And Amy, well, she has a stalker in the making and engages in stalking herself, because she’s fallen for a boy who makes her more confused than happy. And a little crazy. And with a temper and an impulsive nature like Amy’s, that’s not a good mix. Niffy might have steadied the ship by being an easier confidante for them all, but then, the ‘secrets’ part of the title wouldn’t apply and there would be less of a story.
There are a few traditional school story tropes going on – most notably a competition for each house to put on a one-act play, which leads to plagiarism and a chance for a wannabe (screen)writer to shine. The girls are constantly trying to get around ‘gatings’ because they’re off school grounds for longer than they were supposed to be (usually because of boyyyyys). And they lie and break schoolgirl honour a little too easily to be truly sympathetic for an old-fashioned reader like me.
But look, it’s an attempt to bring the boarding school story up to date. Even though their problems are heightened - a missing gift from a parent is a very valuable gift - at heart, their uncertainties are relatable. If it is slightly more influenced by St Trinian’s than the Jane Willard foundation, well, I’m sure that the target readership is lapping it up, although I have no desire to pick up one of Reid's books for adults.
I DO hope that Niffy will be back at St Jude’s full time in the next book and that force of nature Amy will grow up a little more then too.
Polished at 29/7/14.
I used the word 'breezy' to describe the first book in the Secrets at St Jude's series, New Girl reviewed here and the same word came to mind for its sequel. We start with Gina Peterson about to leave California after the summer to return to St Jude’s, her boarding school in Edinburgh despite her oldest friends’ pleading. She'll be sharing Iris dormitory with Amy and Min, but not Niffy, AKA Luella, who is staying at home with her sick mother. Feisty, shopping-mad Amy has to deal with her nemesis Penny and with Rosie, a younger girl with whom she got friendly over the summer, but who thinks that everything Amy does is cool and eminently imitable. Meanwhile, Gina is battling homesickness and doubts as she gets to know Dermot, the guy who made her laugh last term - are they just too different to be boyfriend and girlfriend? And swotty Min is acting mysteriously.
Boys are a big deal in this junior chick-lit book. Obviously, the boarding school setting is crucial to the story, with the girls trying their best to circumvent their housemistress and school rules, but it's mainly because of said boys. The book also does try to address the glaring fact that these label-obsessed girls can afford their labels, which most of its readers wouldn't be able to do. By dating the son of a man who runs a cafe and a midwife who live in the suburbs, Gina comes to the realisation that she lives quite a privileged life, really, and not everyone lives in big houses with plenty of rooms and all that comes along with it. The story shows Gina and friends fighting snobbism when they realise it’s happening, but nonetheless, they're all at a private school, the 'haves' in most cases.
But they’re mainly teenage girls: thin-skinned, neurotic and a bit mad. Actually, I felt that the characters and the story missed Niffy, who is an insider in a way nouveau riche Amy and foreigners Nim and Gina aren’t, but also friendly and a more solid influence. Gina gets herself tangled up in knots because she’s seen something she shouldn’t have about Dermot, her first real boyfriend – she won’t seek advice because she knows what the others (well, blunt Amy) would say, but she can't ask him what's going on, because what if he rejects her? Nim causes a lot of worry by making Gina keep a secret and not heeding her advice. And Amy, well, she has a stalker in the making and engages in stalking herself, because she’s fallen for a boy who makes her more confused than happy. And a little crazy. And with a temper and an impulsive nature like Amy’s, that’s not a good mix. Niffy might have steadied the ship by being an easier confidante for them all, but then, the ‘secrets’ part of the title wouldn’t apply and there would be less of a story.
There are a few traditional school story tropes going on – most notably a competition for each house to put on a one-act play, which leads to plagiarism and a chance for a wannabe (screen)writer to shine. The girls are constantly trying to get around ‘gatings’ because they’re off school grounds for longer than they were supposed to be (usually because of boyyyyys). And they lie and break schoolgirl honour a little too easily to be truly sympathetic for an old-fashioned reader like me.
But look, it’s an attempt to bring the boarding school story up to date. Even though their problems are heightened - a missing gift from a parent is a very valuable gift - at heart, their uncertainties are relatable. If it is slightly more influenced by St Trinian’s than the Jane Willard foundation, well, I’m sure that the target readership is lapping it up, although I have no desire to pick up one of Reid's books for adults.
I DO hope that Niffy will be back at St Jude’s full time in the next book and that force of nature Amy will grow up a little more then too.
Polished at 29/7/14.
