I went out for lunch today. To my dismay, I'd brought the wrong book with me, so I had to dig to the bottom of my bag for Britannia so I could read something. Britannia is carried up the stairs by Jake, who diagnoses a sprained ankle (which is confirmed by X-ray the next day). So he keeps her at his house for the next few days, even though she was on the point of going home. She persists in believing that he doesn't love her. Because it's St Nikolaas, his family comes, so he meets his sisters. One of them doesn't like Madeleine, either.
Was this recap boring? Yeah, so was the chapter.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Britannia All at Sea, chapter 5
Yes, it took me a week to muster the willpower to read another chapter of this. This was tiresome, as expected: Britannia and Jake have two farewell dinners, because her holiday is almost over. She wears a lovely pink dress each time, which Jake appreciates. He even says kind things, and kisses her, but it doesn't matter because of Britannia's unaccountable obsession about Madeleine.
On her last afternoon, she rides her bike over to his house, to look at it again. She falls off the bike, and gets a mild concussion and a sprained ankle as a result. The bike falls on top of her - and yes, I know bicycles were heavier back in the day, but I still have a hard time taking this seriously. I'm not impressed with her inability to save herself; she just keeps fainting and crawling a bit until Jake comes and saves her. He somehow knows where she will be - must be a handy skill to have.
Well, at least something happened this chapter!
On her last afternoon, she rides her bike over to his house, to look at it again. She falls off the bike, and gets a mild concussion and a sprained ankle as a result. The bike falls on top of her - and yes, I know bicycles were heavier back in the day, but I still have a hard time taking this seriously. I'm not impressed with her inability to save herself; she just keeps fainting and crawling a bit until Jake comes and saves her. He somehow knows where she will be - must be a handy skill to have.
Well, at least something happened this chapter!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Britannia All at Sea, chapter 4
I have a dim memory of disliking other Bettses in the past. Dim, I tell you, because everything is pale compared to my contempt for this particularly stupid Betts heroine. First off, Jake is arrogant (p. 65), and she thinks: "Such arrogance...but she could alter that." Seriously, doesn't she read anything in the paper from Agony Aunts? People don't change because you love them.
Then, after Jake takes Britannia on a tour of the hospital, he rushes her away without her coffee. So he brings her home. He pulls into the gates, and drives down the long driveway to his home - I'm picturing something like Manderley here. It's a long enough driveway that Britannia can't see the house at first, and thinks he has taken her to a park without the owner's permission.
She's an idiot, seriously.
When she finally realizes she is at the house she admired a few days before, she says, "well, you might have told me" (p. 69). With great forbearance, he doesn't point out that this was a mystery most children could have solved, handily, and merely replies that he didn't see any readon to tell her.
She meets his mother, and the lovely Madeleine (the woman Jake had been in church with the other day). Britannia feels - and is - underdressed, because she had been starting a bike ride when Jake hauled her off to the hospital. So the timing could have been better for Jake to kiss her, and to say he's halfway in love with her, and to say she'd be a fine wife for him (I'm paraphrasing here).
But Britannia is so stupid that she latches on to his admission that he's forty, and if he hadn't met Britannia he might have married Madeleine, just to keep the family going. She ignores the part where he says that now that he has met Britannia, he'll never marry Madeleine. She even ignores Jake's surprising admission that "I find that without you my life and my heart are empty" (p. 74). She ignores all calls to her good sense, and decides that she's not of the same class as he is, and they can never marry.
This is tiresome because it's demonstably untrue - both of them are upper-middle-class (Britannia less so, but still), and also because there are still five more chapters to go. I just don't know if I can take it.
Then, after Jake takes Britannia on a tour of the hospital, he rushes her away without her coffee. So he brings her home. He pulls into the gates, and drives down the long driveway to his home - I'm picturing something like Manderley here. It's a long enough driveway that Britannia can't see the house at first, and thinks he has taken her to a park without the owner's permission.
She's an idiot, seriously.
When she finally realizes she is at the house she admired a few days before, she says, "well, you might have told me" (p. 69). With great forbearance, he doesn't point out that this was a mystery most children could have solved, handily, and merely replies that he didn't see any readon to tell her.
She meets his mother, and the lovely Madeleine (the woman Jake had been in church with the other day). Britannia feels - and is - underdressed, because she had been starting a bike ride when Jake hauled her off to the hospital. So the timing could have been better for Jake to kiss her, and to say he's halfway in love with her, and to say she'd be a fine wife for him (I'm paraphrasing here).
But Britannia is so stupid that she latches on to his admission that he's forty, and if he hadn't met Britannia he might have married Madeleine, just to keep the family going. She ignores the part where he says that now that he has met Britannia, he'll never marry Madeleine. She even ignores Jake's surprising admission that "I find that without you my life and my heart are empty" (p. 74). She ignores all calls to her good sense, and decides that she's not of the same class as he is, and they can never marry.
This is tiresome because it's demonstably untrue - both of them are upper-middle-class (Britannia less so, but still), and also because there are still five more chapters to go. I just don't know if I can take it.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
the Betts mission statement
This is practically a mission statement for every dysfunctional relationship Betts ever wrote: "He was arrogant and ill-tempered and just about the horridest man she had ever met, and she loved him with all of her heart."
That's from Britannia All at Sea, p. 63, but that sentiment comes up several other times in other Bettses. It's problematic because while the Betts hero usually has a loving moment at the end of the book, it rarely is enough to make up for his bad temper and arrogance in the rest of the book. Why these women think that the Betts heroes will continue to be good people, instead of reverting back to their usual ways, is anyone's guess. I mean, some of these men are practically Dr. House, and we all know how that goes - any unguarded moment of kindness is balanced by a solid week of bad temper.
That's from Britannia All at Sea, p. 63, but that sentiment comes up several other times in other Bettses. It's problematic because while the Betts hero usually has a loving moment at the end of the book, it rarely is enough to make up for his bad temper and arrogance in the rest of the book. Why these women think that the Betts heroes will continue to be good people, instead of reverting back to their usual ways, is anyone's guess. I mean, some of these men are practically Dr. House, and we all know how that goes - any unguarded moment of kindness is balanced by a solid week of bad temper.
Britannia All at Sea, chapter 3
Britannia runs into Jake again - and I mean that almost literally; he comes very close to knocking her down with his car. Some tiresome and "spirited" (or so Betts thought, I'm sure, and maybe it was in 1978) dialogue follows. He even stops by for no apparent reason. Funnily enough, at the end of the chapter Britannia still doesn't even grasp that he lives nearby, despite the fact that she keeps running into him on the street.
She goes to church and sees Jake there. He's accompanied by a lovely ("if one liked glossy magazine types", the envious Britannia thinks, p. 49) woman.
Before church, Britannia goes riding with her English friend and their host, and sees a lovely house that she longs to see at closer range, but time doesn't allow for it. She promises herself that she will come back to see the house. Jake comes over and suggests that they ride bicycles together, so she suggests that they go to see the house, and explains that "I had a funny feeling when I saw it first - as though it meant something to me" (p. 51). She goes on (and I can't believe I'm bothering to recap this, because it's so blindingly obvious) that it's strange, because the only people she knows in the Netherlands are her hosts, and Jake. Jake even lets on that he knows the owners, and she's too thick to catch on. The chapter ends with this incredible mystery unsolved.
But before the chapter ends, Jake takes her for a tour of one of the local hospitals. On the way there, they encounter a family in distress, and give a little girl an emergency tracheotomy with the plastic from a ballpoint pen (!). Britannia never does get her tour, because the little girl needs surgery and all that.
By the way, I'l going to introduce a new tag: antiques. Betts heroines are often surprisingly knowledgeable about them - surprising, because they rarely have interests outside of the hero and work. Britannia comes by her knowledge honestly; she used to accompany her father to antique sales and auctions.
She goes to church and sees Jake there. He's accompanied by a lovely ("if one liked glossy magazine types", the envious Britannia thinks, p. 49) woman.
Before church, Britannia goes riding with her English friend and their host, and sees a lovely house that she longs to see at closer range, but time doesn't allow for it. She promises herself that she will come back to see the house. Jake comes over and suggests that they ride bicycles together, so she suggests that they go to see the house, and explains that "I had a funny feeling when I saw it first - as though it meant something to me" (p. 51). She goes on (and I can't believe I'm bothering to recap this, because it's so blindingly obvious) that it's strange, because the only people she knows in the Netherlands are her hosts, and Jake. Jake even lets on that he knows the owners, and she's too thick to catch on. The chapter ends with this incredible mystery unsolved.
But before the chapter ends, Jake takes her for a tour of one of the local hospitals. On the way there, they encounter a family in distress, and give a little girl an emergency tracheotomy with the plastic from a ballpoint pen (!). Britannia never does get her tour, because the little girl needs surgery and all that.
By the way, I'l going to introduce a new tag: antiques. Betts heroines are often surprisingly knowledgeable about them - surprising, because they rarely have interests outside of the hero and work. Britannia comes by her knowledge honestly; she used to accompany her father to antique sales and auctions.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Britannia All at Sea, chapter 2
Britannia announces her love for Jake to her parents. To my amusement, her father is bored by this, but her mother takes her seriously and talks to her for a few minutes. I could see my parents having a similar response to a "I've met a man whom I may never see again, and I want to marry him!" announcement.
Britannia's got some vacation coming up, and a friend who invites her to stay in the Netherlands. Of course it's ridiculous to think that Britannia would run into Jake while she's there, and Britannia even thinks that it would be ridiculous.
So of course, Jake lives just up the road.
Oh, sorry. I just had to pause to sigh and shake my head sadly.
So in an interesting twist on the adopted pet theme, Britannia's busy rescuing an injured bird when Jake's car - not a Bentley, but a Rolls-Royce Camargue - pulls up so that they can chat. As my mom would say: of course she is.
Britannia's got some vacation coming up, and a friend who invites her to stay in the Netherlands. Of course it's ridiculous to think that Britannia would run into Jake while she's there, and Britannia even thinks that it would be ridiculous.
So of course, Jake lives just up the road.
Oh, sorry. I just had to pause to sigh and shake my head sadly.
So in an interesting twist on the adopted pet theme, Britannia's busy rescuing an injured bird when Jake's car - not a Bentley, but a Rolls-Royce Camargue - pulls up so that they can chat. As my mom would say: of course she is.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Britannia All at Sea, chapter 1
I think this will shape up to be a medical plot, but we'll have to wait and see. It looks like one, definitely - Britannia (or Staff Nurse Smith, whichever you'd rather call her) meets Professor Jake Luitingh van Thien when he comes to the hospital to consult on some cases. Handily enough, he first sees her when she is protecting a helpless nurse from a mean one. He's quiet at first, then a bit of a jerk ("an ill-tempered man, and arrogant, she considered", p. 15).
But despite that, the very next sentence is this: "And over and above that [the ill temper and arrogance], she discovered with an almighty shock, the man she wished to marry", because although they just met a few hours before, she's in love with him.
Oooo-kay. Any objectivity I might have had about Britannia just flew out the window; she fell in love with a jerk by page 16! She has to work overtime, so he does take her out for tea and sandwiches later in the chapter. I guess that's something in his favor.
He asks her whether she's in love, and she says yes - with him, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if that causes some confusion later on.
But despite that, the very next sentence is this: "And over and above that [the ill temper and arrogance], she discovered with an almighty shock, the man she wished to marry", because although they just met a few hours before, she's in love with him.
Oooo-kay. Any objectivity I might have had about Britannia just flew out the window; she fell in love with a jerk by page 16! She has to work overtime, so he does take her out for tea and sandwiches later in the chapter. I guess that's something in his favor.
He asks her whether she's in love, and she says yes - with him, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if that causes some confusion later on.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
apologies
Mad apologies for not posting for a while. I went on vacation, and got back, and went straight back to work. No, seriously: I was working within 8 hours of getting back home. So yesterday I asked myself what was in the backpack that's been sitting in the apartment for a while, and I discovered (with some chagrin) that it's everything I carried on the plane for vacation.
So that's how I found my copy of Britannia at Sea, about which I will post soon.
So that's how I found my copy of Britannia at Sea, about which I will post soon.
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