-I find it interesting that the adults aren't labeled as "their father, their mother etc," but just as father, mother etc." Places the POV pretty strictly with the children.
-This book is very descriptive in a non-pretentious way.
-LOL Barney's like child!me (and adult!me, let's be real) about anything fictional he gets excited by.
-The yacht is going to be a plot point and that's pretty fabulous.
-Jane is very smart to fear the sea. Crazy shit lives down there.
-Side-eyeing Simon being all "girls!" but I appreciate that the kids in this really do seem like kids. Author seems to be doing a better job at this than, say, C. S. Lewis.
-Great-Uncle Merry seems like the mentor character that just looooves to withhold important information until the last second. I'll wait and see how this character develops.
HEY SIS (I need a Laura icon)littledarkvoiceNovember 21 2011, 00:07:11 UTC
YAY YOU ARE JOINING US.
I find it interesting that the adults aren't labeled as "their father, their mother etc," but just as father, mother etc." Places the POV pretty strictly with the children.
I find that interesting as well. I also like that we sometimes subtly slide in between the children's viewpoints--that there's similarities between them, so you can see that they're related and how much time they spend together, but differences as well.
The yacht is going to be a plot point and that's pretty fabulous.
I take a yacht... AND I SAIL IT!!!
Jane is very smart to fear the sea. Crazy shit lives down there.
Jane vs. Cthulu?
And I go back and forth between side-eyeing Simon and finding his asshole traits realistic for a kid, so yeah, same reaction as you.
Great-Uncle Merry seems like the mentor character that just looooves to withhold important information until the last second.sdlahasjlhHASlah I HAVE COMPLICATED FEELINGS ABOUT MERRIMAN and like, cannot tell you all the details until we read more of the books because spoilers
( ... )
Not sure what to think of it so far. Definitely got the CS Lewis feel- quite ordinary at first. But yes, EVIL YACHT!
I'm a little disappointed at how little the characters are set up in the first chapter. I feel like we got the most characterization for Uncle Merry (who I am super excited to learn more about), but the kids just seem shallow so far, especially Jane. (Though I got super excited about Barney being an Arthurian legends fan- I just read a fantasy novel that was all intertwined with Arthurian legend. :D)
I don't really think it's established good and evil yet. Heck, the kids could go either way at this point, though I assume for the sake of the story they are the "good" side. Merry is the real enigma- I could see him going either direction.
Two a week is fine for me- this doesn't take long to read!
Haha, let's sort them a little later. I don't have enough of a handle on them right now unless I want to be super shallow for houses. (Merry could be Dumbledore. Or Snape.)
Heh, it's interesting that you also feel the Lewis similarities. If I remember correctly, both Susan Cooper and Diana Wynne Jones took classes with CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein, so you can see the influence in their works.
In Over Sea, Under Stone, Cooper is specifically emulating Edith Nesbit, as I believe the story started as an entry for an E. Nesbit themed writing contest. I recently reread some Nesbit lately and was like ...what is this moralizing? I do like that Cooper avoids that
( ... )
E. Nesbit wrote both fantasy and non-fantasy, and apparently back in the day there were two heavily divided camps over whether her fantasy or her non-fantasy was best. Perhaps her most famous non-fantasy work is The Railway Children while Five Children and It and its sequels are her best-known fantasy works. She had a big influence on Lewis, too, for what it's worth.
Anyway, OSUS is Cooper trying to reconcile the fantasy and non-fantasy threads of Nesbit, in a way, and doing it with kids who were (at the time she was writing the books) modern.
The books remind me a bit of the Enid Blyton books I read as a kid. Mostly Malory Towers (also set in Cornwall!) which I now want to reread. (Girl goes to boarding school, adventures are had is the main plot.) I think it's something in the tone of how they are written that makes me think of the two together since Malory Towers isn't a fantasy series.
Not sure I have enough information to assign house to the characters yet. (Merry might go for Slytherin though? And Rufus is Hufflepuff. :D )
Comments 8
-I find it interesting that the adults aren't labeled as "their father, their mother etc," but just as father, mother etc." Places the POV pretty strictly with the children.
-This book is very descriptive in a non-pretentious way.
-LOL Barney's like child!me (and adult!me, let's be real) about anything fictional he gets excited by.
-The yacht is going to be a plot point and that's pretty fabulous.
-Jane is very smart to fear the sea. Crazy shit lives down there.
-Side-eyeing Simon being all "girls!" but I appreciate that the kids in this really do seem like kids. Author seems to be doing a better job at this than, say, C. S. Lewis.
-Great-Uncle Merry seems like the mentor character that just looooves to withhold important information until the last second. I'll wait and see how this character develops.
Reply
I find it interesting that the adults aren't labeled as "their father, their mother etc," but just as father, mother etc." Places the POV pretty strictly with the children.
I find that interesting as well. I also like that we sometimes subtly slide in between the children's viewpoints--that there's similarities between them, so you can see that they're related and how much time they spend together, but differences as well.
The yacht is going to be a plot point and that's pretty fabulous.
I take a yacht... AND I SAIL IT!!!
Jane is very smart to fear the sea. Crazy shit lives down there.
Jane vs. Cthulu?
And I go back and forth between side-eyeing Simon and finding his asshole traits realistic for a kid, so yeah, same reaction as you.
Great-Uncle Merry seems like the mentor character that just looooves to withhold important information until the last second.sdlahasjlhHASlah I HAVE COMPLICATED FEELINGS ABOUT MERRIMAN and like, cannot tell you all the details until we read more of the books because spoilers ( ... )
Reply
Reply
I'm a little disappointed at how little the characters are set up in the first chapter. I feel like we got the most characterization for Uncle Merry (who I am super excited to learn more about), but the kids just seem shallow so far, especially Jane. (Though I got super excited about Barney being an Arthurian legends fan- I just read a fantasy novel that was all intertwined with Arthurian legend. :D)
I don't really think it's established good and evil yet. Heck, the kids could go either way at this point, though I assume for the sake of the story they are the "good" side. Merry is the real enigma- I could see him going either direction.
Two a week is fine for me- this doesn't take long to read!
Haha, let's sort them a little later. I don't have enough of a handle on them right now unless I want to be super shallow for houses. (Merry could be Dumbledore. Or Snape.)
D'awww puppy
Reply
In Over Sea, Under Stone, Cooper is specifically emulating Edith Nesbit, as I believe the story started as an entry for an E. Nesbit themed writing contest. I recently reread some Nesbit lately and was like ...what is this moralizing? I do like that Cooper avoids that ( ... )
Reply
Never read any Nesbit. Any suggestions on where I should start?
Haha, excellent. I'm looking forward to more of him.
Don't apologize about the prequel; it happens. XD I think it's good we're reading it though to get the "full experience."
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Anyway, OSUS is Cooper trying to reconcile the fantasy and non-fantasy threads of Nesbit, in a way, and doing it with kids who were (at the time she was writing the books) modern.
Reply
Not sure I have enough information to assign house to the characters yet. (Merry might go for Slytherin though? And Rufus is Hufflepuff. :D )
Reply
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