This book has reminded me of why I don't often reread this series. It's uncanny in parts and it makes me ache. Really this series is things going wrong from about midway through book two on. I can't put them down and I like them, but they make me genuinely uneasy.
1. Let's get this out of the way at the top so that I don't ask all the questions about it. Dean Priest: worst or worst ever? How much did you want to punch him in the face for lying to Emily about her book being terrible and how much did you want to punch him again when he took advantage of her injury to get her to marry him?
Dean Priest is one of the most hateful characters ever. He's up there with Heathcliffe. Shut up Dean Priest. You deserve far more thana punch in the face. You get no forgivness. You and Mrs. Kent are tarred with the same brush. Really, both Emily and Teddy had soemone jealously preventing them from finding each other. Guh. That's a horrible thought.
2. We talked a lot about whether or not the number of suitors Anne had was ridiculous, but I think Emily had way more proposals. How ridiculous did you find them?
They're even more ridiculous than Anne's, which is saying something. And I was thinking that exact thing as I reread this book. I think I could have dealt with it, then LMM pulled the Japanese prince. And that was too far.
3. Over the course of the book, Ilse, Perry, Emily, and Teddy's friendships grow and stretch and change as time and distance separates them. Did you find it a reasonably realistic portrayal of what can happen to friendships when people scatter to the winds?
Yes and no. Friendships change certainly, but I'm not sure I agree with LMM's claim that friendships *must* change as you grow and move apart. I think that depends on temprement. I do like how the four of their lines are intrinsically intertwined though.
4. Ilse and Emily: how badly did you think that Ilse violated the girl code by agreeing to marry Teddy in the first place? Or did you think she genuinely didn't know/understand how Teddy and Emily felt about each other?
I think she genuinely didn't know. She seems like the type who, had she known, would have said something. Ilse's not good at concealment. She gets angry, she flies into a temper. Had she known Emily was in love with Teddy and vice versa I don't think she would have accepted the proposal. I think she would have thundered at one or both of them and gotten the whole mess sorted out a whole lot sooner. I wanted to shake Ilse in this book, but not for that.
5. Which of Emily's books would you rather have read, The Moral of the Rose or A Seller of Dreams?
The Moral of the Rose. It sounds fun. And rather like something LMM would have written. I'm thinking A Tangled Web.
6. Emily calling to Teddy on the Flavian: creepy, romantic, or creepily romantic?
Romantic. I've always liked it. Never thought it was creepy. Just fictional, or literary license to give it a nicer name.
7. How badly did you want to shake both Emily and Teddy over the course of the book? They both knew and yet they never managed to overcome their selves to get it together? Does it make you sad to think about how much time they wasted?
It's like Anne, but more depressing. I think they both needed the time, if only to learn that they needed to sometimes get over themselves.
8. Were you reasonably satisfied with how the romantic entanglements sorted themselves out? Do you think that after all that Ilse and Perry and then Teddy and Emily can be happy together?
Teddy and Emily will, certainly. They understand each other. Ilse and Perry will as well, though their happiness will look strange to some people because they'll be at each other's throats half the time.
9. Finally, how much do you love this line:
"Don't tell me you can't love me--you can--you must--why, Emily"--his eyes had met the moonlit brilliance of hers for a moment--"you do."
THIS. OH THIS. This has stayed with me since the age of 12, possibly moreso than any other one thing in an LMM novel.
She irritated me at the end a bit, with all her flitting around like a butterfly, not taking anything seriously. It just irritated me how obviously she didn't want to marry Teddy, and was claiming to want to have the close relationship with Emily again and was just being an idiot about the whole thing in general. I don't know, she just irritates me in that section. Not because she is marrying Teddy, but more for the frivilous behaviour there and in the bit before.
I love A Tangled Web. Despite the fact that it always strikes me as a bit incestuous. At the very least a little too in-bred. Even though the biologist in me knows it's probably fine.
Really this series is things going wrong from about midway through book two on. I can't put them down and I like them, but they make me genuinely uneasy.
Did you notice feeling more uneasy now, or has it always been that way? I'm really curious because I felt similarly, and I attributed most of it to reading it now for the first time. BUT I DO NOT KNOW.
Now I want to read A Tangled Web! But it will have to wait a little while. SO MUCH TO READ THIS MONTH.
I think my uneasiness has increased. Although, it's hard to say because I do remember being unable to put these books down at the age of twelve (starting mid Emily Cimbs), just because I needed to amke sure that Emily and Teddy worked it out. So I suspect there were always elements of it, but I didn't realize how much until now.
1. Let's get this out of the way at the top so that I don't ask all the questions about it. Dean Priest: worst or worst ever? How much did you want to punch him in the face for lying to Emily about her book being terrible and how much did you want to punch him again when he took advantage of her injury to get her to marry him?
Dean Priest is one of the most hateful characters ever. He's up there with Heathcliffe. Shut up Dean Priest. You deserve far more thana punch in the face. You get no forgivness. You and Mrs. Kent are tarred with the same brush. Really, both Emily and Teddy had soemone jealously preventing them from finding each other. Guh. That's a horrible thought.
2. We talked a lot about whether or not the number of suitors Anne had was ridiculous, but I think Emily had way more proposals. How ridiculous did you find them?
They're even more ridiculous than Anne's, which is saying something. And I was thinking that exact thing as I reread this book. I think I could have dealt with it, then LMM pulled the Japanese prince. And that was too far.
3. Over the course of the book, Ilse, Perry, Emily, and Teddy's friendships grow and stretch and change as time and distance separates them. Did you find it a reasonably realistic portrayal of what can happen to friendships when people scatter to the winds?
Yes and no. Friendships change certainly, but I'm not sure I agree with LMM's claim that friendships *must* change as you grow and move apart. I think that depends on temprement. I do like how the four of their lines are intrinsically intertwined though.
4. Ilse and Emily: how badly did you think that Ilse violated the girl code by agreeing to marry Teddy in the first place? Or did you think she genuinely didn't know/understand how Teddy and Emily felt about each other?
I think she genuinely didn't know. She seems like the type who, had she known, would have said something. Ilse's not good at concealment. She gets angry, she flies into a temper. Had she known Emily was in love with Teddy and vice versa I don't think she would have accepted the proposal. I think she would have thundered at one or both of them and gotten the whole mess sorted out a whole lot sooner. I wanted to shake Ilse in this book, but not for that.
5. Which of Emily's books would you rather have read, The Moral of the Rose or A Seller of Dreams?
The Moral of the Rose. It sounds fun. And rather like something LMM would have written. I'm thinking A Tangled Web.
6. Emily calling to Teddy on the Flavian: creepy, romantic, or creepily romantic?
Romantic. I've always liked it. Never thought it was creepy. Just fictional, or literary license to give it a nicer name.
7. How badly did you want to shake both Emily and Teddy over the course of the book? They both knew and yet they never managed to overcome their selves to get it together? Does it make you sad to think about how much time they wasted?
It's like Anne, but more depressing. I think they both needed the time, if only to learn that they needed to sometimes get over themselves.
8. Were you reasonably satisfied with how the romantic entanglements sorted themselves out? Do you think that after all that Ilse and Perry and then Teddy and Emily can be happy together?
Teddy and Emily will, certainly. They understand each other. Ilse and Perry will as well, though their happiness will look strange to some people because they'll be at each other's throats half the time.
9. Finally, how much do you love this line:
"Don't tell me you can't love me--you can--you must--why, Emily"--his eyes had met the moonlit brilliance of hers for a moment--"you do."
THIS. OH THIS. This has stayed with me since the age of 12, possibly moreso than any other one thing in an LMM novel.
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What did you want to shake her for?
You know, I haven't read A Tangled Web for YEARS. I'll have to do that soon.
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I love A Tangled Web. Despite the fact that it always strikes me as a bit incestuous. At the very least a little too in-bred. Even though the biologist in me knows it's probably fine.
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I usually put cousin-loving down to period when I read it. But they are all very close.
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I put it down to period too, but it's the sheer amount of it in that book that twigs in my brain...
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Did you notice feeling more uneasy now, or has it always been that way? I'm really curious because I felt similarly, and I attributed most of it to reading it now for the first time. BUT I DO NOT KNOW.
Now I want to read A Tangled Web! But it will have to wait a little while. SO MUCH TO READ THIS MONTH.
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A Tangled Web is fun! It is. I enjoy it.
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