|
Post by sparklymouse on Feb 17, 2006 0:22:54 GMT -5
Love her or hate her, I think Mallory was supposed to be the comic relief of the group. All the bad crap happened to her. I felt sorry for her because she seemed very lonely at the beginning of the series. Besides Kristy, the club definitely meant the most to Mal. Every time the main five had a fight Mallory had a freakin panic attack like all her friends were going to disappear and she'd be back under a tree looking for a pet rock again (or whatever the hell she was doing when she met Jessi).
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Feb 17, 2006 2:13:46 GMT -5
I could always relate to Mallory. It was nice to read about someone who wasn't confident, beautiful and sophisticated. Although they didn't have to make her so ridiculously dorky. Like zOMG sparklies! Woo freakin hoo, Mal.
|
|
|
Post by sotypical42483 on Feb 17, 2006 16:59:00 GMT -5
I love Mal and I think readers pick on her more than necessary. I agree she's a dork but I don't think AMM intended her to be the laughing stock of the BSC-world.
I always wondered why Claud and Stacey didn't like, secretly talk nuts about her behind her back, tho. I mean there'd the be off-handed "Mal can be so immature" type comments, but she does not seem like someone they'd be friends with, considering how so totally kewl they're supposed to be.
|
|
jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
|
Post by jen on Feb 17, 2006 17:29:38 GMT -5
I just reread "Hello, Mallory", and I've decided that I like Mal. I feel sorry for her, even though she does whine a lot and have some extremely stupid moments. Actually, whether or not I like her depends on the book... Like her in "Hello, Mallory", and hate her in "Mallory Pike, #1 Fan".
|
|
|
Post by hitzpink on Feb 17, 2006 17:52:43 GMT -5
Mallory does whine a lot about her parents treating her like a baby and about her looks, but didn't we all at that age? I thought Mal was pretty realistic in that sense. I always thought it was cute how she would feel nervous around the older girls, especially in the beginning of the series.
|
|
ktag
Junior Sitter
Posts: 694
|
Post by ktag on Feb 17, 2006 18:34:49 GMT -5
Well most of the picking on Mallory is all in good fun. I guess you can say she's lovably dorky. With the others, they have annoying traits, but Mallory's dumb traits can be hilarious. I don't love her, but I don't mind reading about her usually.
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Feb 17, 2006 21:24:51 GMT -5
Actually, whether or not I like her depends on the book... Like her in "Hello, Mallory", and hate her in "Mallory Pike, #1 Fan". I agree. She's always a moron in the Super Specials, I've noticed and makes some incredibly lame comments, such as "if only I were thirteen instead of eleven. Life would be a picnic". For some reason, she bugged me in Poor Mallory - I remember her being particularly dorky in that one. Personally, I think her family, in particular her parents are more annoying that Mal herself.
|
|
jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
|
Post by jen on Feb 18, 2006 0:52:57 GMT -5
I didn't mind her so much in "Poor Mallory!". I thought it was nice of her to support her brothers and sisters the way she did, and I thought it was cool how the kids all pulled together.
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Feb 18, 2006 17:59:53 GMT -5
Oh, seeing the family dynamics was cool. I was just sick of hearing "dibble" and "stale" every five seconds. I also thought it was unrealistic that a successful lawyer who earnt a salary sufficient to be a sole provider for eight kids would turn into a couch-potato bum who didn't even get dressed after being unemployed for two weeks.
|
|
jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
|
Post by jen on Feb 19, 2006 1:06:25 GMT -5
I think once the ghostwriters took over, dibble and stale weren't used so much. They're mainly in the early part of the series... I don't think dibble and stale are used in the later books at all.
How long was Mr Pike unemployed for? Was it really only a couple of weeks? If he was still getting paid during that time, why did they have to use their savings? Or is the pay not as much as what he'd normally get?
|
|
Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
|
Post by Amalia on Feb 19, 2006 5:06:27 GMT -5
I dunno. When I was a kid, I didn't really feel as if Ann Martin really knew how to write about how kids really were. The BSC books were so cool to me because the characters seemed like people on another planet or something. They were just entertainment to me, especially Mal.
I dunno. You guys already hit all of my points about her. So . . . ditto. And who invents those words? Do they get together and brainstorm or something?
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Feb 19, 2006 16:53:27 GMT -5
In regards to the made up words, they really seemed to only feature for a short period of the books, in and around the 30s. Really, when I read these online discussions, I couldn't believe all the snarking at their made up words because they really weren't a very regular occurrence overall. Still funny and lame though. I couldn't believe Mallory described Claudia as the Queen of Dibbledom.
I think he was unemployed for about a month, IIRC.
In reality, he'd have been given a big lump sum payout, a redundancy package (unless things are different in the US) as he was not actually FIRED, he was retrenched. The situation was way over-dramatized in this book, but I guess it's written for kids.
Also, how realistic is it for eleven yr olds to bully someone over their dad's unemployment? I am well aware that kids can be very cruel, but it just didn't seem at all likely that every single Pike kid (including five yr old Claire!) would've become a despised outcast whom no one would associate with because their father was made redundant. Stupid.
|
|
jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
|
Post by jen on Feb 20, 2006 6:25:30 GMT -5
Life's tough in Stoneybrook, macca
|
|
|
Post by hitzpink on Feb 20, 2006 19:04:52 GMT -5
Personally, I think her family, in particular her parents are more annoying that Mal herself. I thought I was the only one who wasn't crazy about the Pikes! I'm never really interested when they are featured. I like their Sea City adventures, but all their plays and crap that they put on in the rec room are just boring. The parents bug me a lot, too. Especially in Mallory On Strike. You can't seriously tell me that an 11 year old's parents would rely on her that much to help with their other kids.
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Feb 21, 2006 18:22:17 GMT -5
Oh, those plays, activities, talent shows etc are SO boring. They're probably just included to give kids ideas for babysitting activities in order to discourage television, but seriously... ugh.
|
|