Post by alula on Nov 21, 2006 4:07:01 GMT -5
I didn't see a thread for this one--has anyone else read it?
I have to say, I think this may be the stupidest BSC book I've read yet. I always thought, just from the title, that the whole premise was idiotic, but the book was even worse than I expected. Aside from being a really dumb concept--Mary Anne babysits a REAL LIVE PRINCESS, oh my lord!--it's also really internally inconsistent.
For me, the most annoying part was the ludicrous British upperclass stereotypes. It's been a long time since I read "New York, New York!", but the kids in that one--Alistair and Rowena?--were, I thought, decent depictions of wealthy, sheltered little kids. Every once in a while they'd pop up with a slightly formal expression or something, but they mostly seemed like sweet, excited kids. Victoria Kent--who, by the way, is 29th in line for the British throne! How dibble!--is not. She's like a weird combination of a kid from a Victorian novel and every affected British stereotype you've ever seen. And she gets her own credit card and a chauffeur, plus an even MORE stereotypical fussbudget, old maid of a nanny.
Then, everyone keeps talking about how standoffish and rude Victoria is, and how she hates America when she's really not and clearly doesn't at all--even when most of the kids of Stoneybrook (and Kristy!) are either outright rude or just jaw-droppingly dumb around her. A couple of times, she's a little bratty to Mary Anne, but by the second sitting job, Victoria is enthralled by American TV and Washington Mall, and keeps trying to imitate MA's American accent. Also, her parents are horrible, because all wealthy Brits are cold and standoffish and strict. And also extremely pretentious--when Victoria imitates a street vendor selling chestnuts, Sir Charles's smile freezes and he says, "My, I see we've picked up quite a bit of the. . .street argot, haven't we?". DIE.
Then near the end, Victoria does throw a mini-tantrum because she misses her parents--and the heartwarming "resolution" is basically Mary Anne saying, "No! Your parents do love you! Don't they always bring you expensive presents?" And Victoria says, "Oh, yeah!" Problem solved! (Seriously, it's less than a page and a half of text).
The subplot has to do with Sharon and Mary Anne's relationship, facilitated by Richard being on a business trip almost the whole time. Basically, Sharon starts referring to herself as Mary Anne's "mom" and Mary Anne as her "daughter," which freaks MA out, especially when Sharon keeps feeding her tofu and tries to buy her a "psychedelic, light-blue" headband--which the saleswoman points out would look better on someone with "longer hair and fairer coloring" ahem DAWN. (Of course, I doubt this hideously described headband will look good on anyone, but that's another story). This could be good, but the book blows it by Sharon being even ditzier than usual, to the point that it seems entirely possible that hey, maybe she just forgot which one was which! In addition to randomly leaving things all over (including Richard's favorite tie when he's trying to pack for his business trip--does that seem a bit passive-aggressive to anyone else?), she does some other bizarre stuff. Like, MA is out with the princess and comes home to find Sharon has left her a note, and also an old, moldy and disgusting football she found in Richard's closet because she "thought [Mary Anne] could use it," and MA is like, huh?
The best parts: Richard's aforementioned favorite tie is maroon paisley, which seems kind of wild and crazy for a guy like him to me. I'd have figured a solid navy, or maybe stripes. (It also sounds ugly, and I'm sure being flattened by the dictionary.
Also, when Richard DOES come home, Mary Anne screams "Daddy!" and throws herself into his arms, which is kind of cute. And apparently, he took slides. On a business trip. In Milwaukee. I really want to believe this is dry humor on his part and May Anne doesn't get it.
Dawn refers to the Thanksgiving turkey as "the traditional brutally massacred, decapitated and scorched bird carcass," and then invites herself to Stoneybrook for Thanksgiving--presumably to shame the bird-murderers in person. (Okay, I know she technically doesn't need an invitation, but she insists that it be a "surprise," even though she doesn't get there until Thanksgiving Day and apparently her dad is only allowing it because she promised to stay in California for Christmas--it seems pretty rude to me to do all that without talking to Sharon). Also, Mary Anne gives some (unintentional, I think) snark on Dawn's attitude by commenting that Dawn has "strong views about meat-eating, though occasionally she eats non-red meat--but apparently not Thanksgiving turkeys." Make up your mind! Or is non-red meat, non-turkey fixed in a way that DOESN'T involve being killed and eaten?
Wow, sory that got really long. This book did annoy me!
I have to say, I think this may be the stupidest BSC book I've read yet. I always thought, just from the title, that the whole premise was idiotic, but the book was even worse than I expected. Aside from being a really dumb concept--Mary Anne babysits a REAL LIVE PRINCESS, oh my lord!--it's also really internally inconsistent.
For me, the most annoying part was the ludicrous British upperclass stereotypes. It's been a long time since I read "New York, New York!", but the kids in that one--Alistair and Rowena?--were, I thought, decent depictions of wealthy, sheltered little kids. Every once in a while they'd pop up with a slightly formal expression or something, but they mostly seemed like sweet, excited kids. Victoria Kent--who, by the way, is 29th in line for the British throne! How dibble!--is not. She's like a weird combination of a kid from a Victorian novel and every affected British stereotype you've ever seen. And she gets her own credit card and a chauffeur, plus an even MORE stereotypical fussbudget, old maid of a nanny.
Then, everyone keeps talking about how standoffish and rude Victoria is, and how she hates America when she's really not and clearly doesn't at all--even when most of the kids of Stoneybrook (and Kristy!) are either outright rude or just jaw-droppingly dumb around her. A couple of times, she's a little bratty to Mary Anne, but by the second sitting job, Victoria is enthralled by American TV and Washington Mall, and keeps trying to imitate MA's American accent. Also, her parents are horrible, because all wealthy Brits are cold and standoffish and strict. And also extremely pretentious--when Victoria imitates a street vendor selling chestnuts, Sir Charles's smile freezes and he says, "My, I see we've picked up quite a bit of the. . .street argot, haven't we?". DIE.
Then near the end, Victoria does throw a mini-tantrum because she misses her parents--and the heartwarming "resolution" is basically Mary Anne saying, "No! Your parents do love you! Don't they always bring you expensive presents?" And Victoria says, "Oh, yeah!" Problem solved! (Seriously, it's less than a page and a half of text).
The subplot has to do with Sharon and Mary Anne's relationship, facilitated by Richard being on a business trip almost the whole time. Basically, Sharon starts referring to herself as Mary Anne's "mom" and Mary Anne as her "daughter," which freaks MA out, especially when Sharon keeps feeding her tofu and tries to buy her a "psychedelic, light-blue" headband--which the saleswoman points out would look better on someone with "longer hair and fairer coloring" ahem DAWN. (Of course, I doubt this hideously described headband will look good on anyone, but that's another story). This could be good, but the book blows it by Sharon being even ditzier than usual, to the point that it seems entirely possible that hey, maybe she just forgot which one was which! In addition to randomly leaving things all over (including Richard's favorite tie when he's trying to pack for his business trip--does that seem a bit passive-aggressive to anyone else?), she does some other bizarre stuff. Like, MA is out with the princess and comes home to find Sharon has left her a note, and also an old, moldy and disgusting football she found in Richard's closet because she "thought [Mary Anne] could use it," and MA is like, huh?
The best parts: Richard's aforementioned favorite tie is maroon paisley, which seems kind of wild and crazy for a guy like him to me. I'd have figured a solid navy, or maybe stripes. (It also sounds ugly, and I'm sure being flattened by the dictionary.
Also, when Richard DOES come home, Mary Anne screams "Daddy!" and throws herself into his arms, which is kind of cute. And apparently, he took slides. On a business trip. In Milwaukee. I really want to believe this is dry humor on his part and May Anne doesn't get it.
Dawn refers to the Thanksgiving turkey as "the traditional brutally massacred, decapitated and scorched bird carcass," and then invites herself to Stoneybrook for Thanksgiving--presumably to shame the bird-murderers in person. (Okay, I know she technically doesn't need an invitation, but she insists that it be a "surprise," even though she doesn't get there until Thanksgiving Day and apparently her dad is only allowing it because she promised to stay in California for Christmas--it seems pretty rude to me to do all that without talking to Sharon). Also, Mary Anne gives some (unintentional, I think) snark on Dawn's attitude by commenting that Dawn has "strong views about meat-eating, though occasionally she eats non-red meat--but apparently not Thanksgiving turkeys." Make up your mind! Or is non-red meat, non-turkey fixed in a way that DOESN'T involve being killed and eaten?
Wow, sory that got really long. This book did annoy me!