FOREVER ROSE Forever
Sep. 7th, 2007 05:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lady_schrapnellOkay, sorry - it's a sappy subject-line, but there's talking about Hilary McKay's Forever Rose now only by dint of my staying up too late last night to finish (after having a variety of Creatures Behaving INSANELY episodes playing outside my bedroom window in the middles of a couple of nights before - seriously - foxes? Can sound like the weirdest of supernatural beings), so the talking isn't necessarily going to be pretty.
I loved it. I started off sticking a flag next to a passage I wanted to mark for quoting and then realised I should have marked an earlier one, and ended up with a downright porcupine-like book, and realise now that most of them won't be quotable, for fear of spoilers, and the ones that are quotable won't be as good as the others and I just won't do this thing justice. But there are so many Hilary McKay fans in the world that this one incoherent ramble isn't going to make much difference!
Readers of the other Casson family books might like to know that this book is all from Rose's POV, which - well, it's a trade-off, isn't it? One of the exceptional things about the series is the ease with which the narrative goes from the younger members of the Casson family to Caddy, and even to Eve (the mother, for those who haven't read any). It works wonderfully for books about a family, rather than a character in a family, and I missed it here. But it also works (for those who've read the previous books, obviously) to highlight how badly Rose is missing the other members of her family too. And she's grown - though she's still endearingly impossible in some ways, she's heart-rendingly empathetic and thoughtful in others, and that's just brilliantly done. And David is done amazingly, because he's so moving and yet he's seen through Rose's not-sympathetic (initially) eyes. The scene in which we're shown Eve's and Indigo's reaction to his situation, having shared Rose's pre-conception of that situation, is just amazing. (Phew - hard to say anything without spoiling it.)
It'll probably be fairly obvious from what I've said that this is not all fun and games and gathering nuts and May, which is decidedly true. It's even more poignant than the others in places. But - not a spoiler, unless you don't plan to read the back jacket blurb - stop now if you don't - "In this book there are - Disasters, Catastrophes, Perils Adventures, Friends, Homes and a very definite Happy Ever After..." - the funny level increases a lot towards the end, as things come to a very satisfying, if not entirely unpredictable ending. (The 'unpredictable' isn't a criticism - it's intentional.) I'm a total sucker for happy endings, but it would have felt less satisfying if the characters had been unbelievably slotted into the behaviour needed for the Happy Ever After, which they weren't. For my money anyway. I'm probably too tired to avoid slipping again into slight sappy mode, but these are books which made me feel strongly how much I liked the family, and how much I like Hilary McKay herself, without ever having met her. And to remind me how overwhelmingly glad I am to be a reader.
Finally, behind cut because I've gone on too long already (far too long you say? Sorry!), a couple of quotes, including one about books and life.
This one's about the shoe boxes Rose and her friends make at home, since their mean teacher says the class isn't going to do Christmas (Item #1 on his list of reasons it's not worth doing being that "Children in Eastern Europe need forward-thinking governments and twenty-first century education not shoe boxes full of tat.")
We collected together all our resources and we made three, one each.
So ha, ha, Mr Spencer. They are superb.
...
[the boxes are filled with:]
2. Woolly hats and mittens from Molly's grandma who knits them with manic speed because she lives in a very competitive old people's home where they say they have not got time for global warming.
*******
"I cannot be angry with you,' said the Head to Molly and Kiran and me. "Nor can I punish you. I cannot even tell you off as I should. I am just so thankful to have you safe."
This was pretty much what our familes had said, and we smiled at each other and sighed with relief.
And then the Head gave us such a tremendous, detailed, unrestrained and furious BLASTING that our coordination was affected and we could hardly speak or stagger out of the door and we only got back to our classroom by keeping very silent and holding on to walls.
**[Bother! Have to skip a bunch of wonderful ones before the next because they'd be spoilerish.]**
I have read quite a lot of books lately, and I intend to read many more. And in books I have discovered that there are sometimes lonely patches
And scary times
Disasters
Catastrophes
And long paragraphs of no use at all except possibly (says Saffron) to build up your stamina.
But there are also jokes
Friends
Adventures
And homes.
And these things
Will help you through the long paragraphs
Lonely patches
Perils
And even problems with as many heads as dragons.
... You'll have to read yourself to find out the next few lines. It's worth it.
I loved it. I started off sticking a flag next to a passage I wanted to mark for quoting and then realised I should have marked an earlier one, and ended up with a downright porcupine-like book, and realise now that most of them won't be quotable, for fear of spoilers, and the ones that are quotable won't be as good as the others and I just won't do this thing justice. But there are so many Hilary McKay fans in the world that this one incoherent ramble isn't going to make much difference!
Readers of the other Casson family books might like to know that this book is all from Rose's POV, which - well, it's a trade-off, isn't it? One of the exceptional things about the series is the ease with which the narrative goes from the younger members of the Casson family to Caddy, and even to Eve (the mother, for those who haven't read any). It works wonderfully for books about a family, rather than a character in a family, and I missed it here. But it also works (for those who've read the previous books, obviously) to highlight how badly Rose is missing the other members of her family too. And she's grown - though she's still endearingly impossible in some ways, she's heart-rendingly empathetic and thoughtful in others, and that's just brilliantly done. And David is done amazingly, because he's so moving and yet he's seen through Rose's not-sympathetic (initially) eyes. The scene in which we're shown Eve's and Indigo's reaction to his situation, having shared Rose's pre-conception of that situation, is just amazing. (Phew - hard to say anything without spoiling it.)
It'll probably be fairly obvious from what I've said that this is not all fun and games and gathering nuts and May, which is decidedly true. It's even more poignant than the others in places. But - not a spoiler, unless you don't plan to read the back jacket blurb - stop now if you don't - "In this book there are - Disasters, Catastrophes, Perils Adventures, Friends, Homes and a very definite Happy Ever After..." - the funny level increases a lot towards the end, as things come to a very satisfying, if not entirely unpredictable ending. (The 'unpredictable' isn't a criticism - it's intentional.) I'm a total sucker for happy endings, but it would have felt less satisfying if the characters had been unbelievably slotted into the behaviour needed for the Happy Ever After, which they weren't. For my money anyway. I'm probably too tired to avoid slipping again into slight sappy mode, but these are books which made me feel strongly how much I liked the family, and how much I like Hilary McKay herself, without ever having met her. And to remind me how overwhelmingly glad I am to be a reader.
Finally, behind cut because I've gone on too long already (far too long you say? Sorry!), a couple of quotes, including one about books and life.
This one's about the shoe boxes Rose and her friends make at home, since their mean teacher says the class isn't going to do Christmas (Item #1 on his list of reasons it's not worth doing being that "Children in Eastern Europe need forward-thinking governments and twenty-first century education not shoe boxes full of tat.")
We collected together all our resources and we made three, one each.
So ha, ha, Mr Spencer. They are superb.
...
[the boxes are filled with:]
2. Woolly hats and mittens from Molly's grandma who knits them with manic speed because she lives in a very competitive old people's home where they say they have not got time for global warming.
*******
"I cannot be angry with you,' said the Head to Molly and Kiran and me. "Nor can I punish you. I cannot even tell you off as I should. I am just so thankful to have you safe."
This was pretty much what our familes had said, and we smiled at each other and sighed with relief.
And then the Head gave us such a tremendous, detailed, unrestrained and furious BLASTING that our coordination was affected and we could hardly speak or stagger out of the door and we only got back to our classroom by keeping very silent and holding on to walls.
**[Bother! Have to skip a bunch of wonderful ones before the next because they'd be spoilerish.]**
I have read quite a lot of books lately, and I intend to read many more. And in books I have discovered that there are sometimes lonely patches
And scary times
Disasters
Catastrophes
And long paragraphs of no use at all except possibly (says Saffron) to build up your stamina.
But there are also jokes
Friends
Adventures
And homes.
And these things
Will help you through the long paragraphs
Lonely patches
Perils
And even problems with as many heads as dragons.
... You'll have to read yourself to find out the next few lines. It's worth it.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-26 02:59 am (UTC)I have to think about why certain books work so well for me. It's not just their generosity of spirit, the humor, there are other aspects...I have to think about this.
But YES! to the bits you referred to above, and to the ending.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 08:58 am (UTC)Your loving the book makes me very very happy.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 01:44 pm (UTC)