Cheese pudding and other life things

[ghoti]

I made cheese pudding for tea, because I suddenly thought it might be a good idea, and although Judith said she liked it a bit, and ate about half of what I gave her, the general conclusion was that cheese pudding is for feeding to cartesiandaemon (and not the people who live in this house

Comments

[anonymous]

I read Emily as her being frustratingly indecisive and stringing multiple suitors along. But it was a few years ago(*), so maybe I'd read it differently now?

(*) but not like decades ago - my library record says 2011

[ghoti]

I can see how if I'd just read the third book, I might have thought that. But in the first book, when she is 12 or 13, she has an encounter with a man in his 30s (or possibly late 20s, I can't be bothered to go and check) who decides then that he is going to marry her when the time is right, and spends the next two books 'waiting' and talking to her in just the right way to break her dreams and make her feel like he is everything she needs for happiness. He promises to teach her to write love talk when she is old enough, and tells her her life belongs to him, and then spends ages subtly convincing her that she can't write and she should give up, although he knows she's been writing all her life and actually she is a good writer.

[woodpijn]

Sorry, this was me, I seem to have been logged out.
Men falling in love with underage girls and "waiting" for them was more normal back then, I think? Ditto marriages between older men and younger women in general.
But I don't remember him undermining her and teaching her to be dependent on him, so I should probably reread.

[ghoti]

I think it was more normal, but I still find it creepy, and in particular, this felt more creepy than even Daddy Long Legs (which I found really hard to reread as an adult).

[livredor]

Coincidentally, I just read a review about why the Emily books are so creepy. The theory is that it may be a rebuttal to the Jo March / Prof Bhaer romance in the Little women books. (No link, locked post.)

I'm really glad you loved Hidden Figures too, thank you for watching with me!

Also, I would like to help cartesiandaemon eat the cheese pudding, please.

[ghoti]

That makes sense, The Little Women romance didn't strike me the same way because Jo was an adult, but I can see how other people might react differently.

The cheese pudding was declared too eggy, which is why I wasn't immediately told to feed it to you instead.