We Think Patty Means Well...

Published:  February 27th, 2009 (First Published in 1911)

Just Patty (Patty #2)

By: Jean Webster

Project Gutenberg

ASIN:  B001U3ZCSG

Patty and her two roommates from last year are back in school. And they're upset School administration is trying to break up their dream team

"It's a shame " says Priscilla.

"It's an outrage " says Conny.

"It's an insult " says Patty.

"To separate us now after we've been together three years --"

"And it isn't as though we were "awfully" bad last year. Lots of girls had more demerits."

"Only our badness was sort of conspicuous," Patty admitted.

"But we were "very" good the last three weeks," reminded Conny.

Don't worry, they'll work around it. And raise more heck this year than ever before. . .

Review

     Patty and her two best friends Conny and Priscilla are appalled when they find out they've been separated as roommates for their senior year at Saint Ursula's boarding school.  Patty will not let it stand and the girls come up with schemes to go back to rooming with one another.  The book follows Conny, Priscilla, Patty and their schoolmates (but mostly Patty) through their senior year.  It's a series of vignettes about friendship, mischief and growing up in the early 1900s.

     When I downloaded this for my Kindle (it's free on Amazon as part of Project Gutenberg), I had already read  Daddy Long-Legs and Dear Enemy.  Jean Webster has a pretty sharp sense of humor and writes wonderfully relatable heroines, that put me in mind of L.M. Montgomery (only with some extra snarkiness, versus dreaminess) and her Anne series.  I thought about reading When Patty Goes to College first since it was written before this one, but decided to go in chronological order by the actual setting of the book.  I normally am not a huge fan of books told in short story/vignette form, but this one really was a pretty good book when it comes down to it.

     Patty is an absolute lightning rod for mischief and makes it a habit to deliberately misinterpret things that people say to her or instruct her to do - with mostly hilarious results.  The other two girls are in the mischief with her, but Patty is most definitely the ringleader!  There were some that were almost entirely humorous, like the incident where Patty and the girls strike for better/more equal treatment in Latin class, and the incident with one of the girls having a fake beau (boyfriend) to hurt another girl's feelings (Patty takes care of that one with some pretty funny antics).  But there were also stories like the one where Patty is stuck at school for Christmas and decides to help a lonely and out of place student who feels abandoned have a meaningful holiday.  Also, the incident with the prank where Patty accidentally encounters a real burglar and finds him a job when she goes trespassing on a grumpy, reclusive millionaire's property.  Patty always means well, even when she's trying to get around doing things that she should (like studying to make up an exam that she misses).

     Overall I was impressed with this book and felt like the overall tone to it avoided the malicious spirit that books centered around pranks and boarding schools tend to have on occasion (whether by accident or design, things do move in that direction quite often).  I am only sorry that Jean Webster died at such a young age, with so much potential to be a classic children's writer in the collective consciousness instead of nearly forgotten, as I feel she is in our present day.  Also interesting to note is that Jean Webster was Mark Twain's grandniece.  Who knows maybe his famous snark is some of the reason she manages mischief so admirably in her own novels!  I highly recommend this one, especially for fans of classic books along the lines of Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, or the Betsy-Tacy series.  My only real complaint is that I wish there were more to this book.  It felt far too short, especially with the story Webster chose to end on.

VERDICT:  4.5/5  Stars

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book is now available mostly  in used bookstores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

Not Close Enough to Downton Abbey For Me

Expected Publication: January 15th, 2013

Summerset Abbey (Summerset Abbey # 1)

By: T.J. Brown

Gallery Books

ISBN-13: 9781451698985

Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey. Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the “underclass” in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic “rebels,” Rowena must decide where her true passions—and loyalties—lie.

Victoria Buxton 

Frail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret—Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever. . . .

Prudence Tate 

Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But by birth she is a governess’s daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society—as lady’s maid to her beloved “sisters.” But Pru doesn’t belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls. And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey.

Review

     Rowena and Victoria Buxton were raised along Prudence Tate and look upon her like a third sister.  But when their Father dies, the girls are thrown into the world of their less liberal Uncle (an Earl), who doesn't look upon Prudence favorably.  All he can see is that she is the daughter of a governess and as such, one of the servants.  So when the girls are forced to leave behind their home and live at Summerset Abbey with the Earl and his family, Prudence goes with them as their ladies' maid and nothing more.  Rowena, the oldest, is listless and unable to commit to any one goal.  She claims that she will try to help Prudence gain her rightful place, but treats her as sub-human like any other servant once in the Abbey.  Victoria is very frail and though she's open-minded, most times her attempts to be taken seriously are ineffectual.  But there is a deeper secret lurking in the Abbey's past - one that will reveal Prudence's true birthright and the identity of her Father.  Meanwhile, all three girls struggle with romantic quandaries and   

learning how to change along with the times.  But when the truth comes out, will it be shocking enough to tear them apart once and for all?  I went into this wholeheartedly excited about the comparison to Downton Abbey, which I am crazily obsessed with.  However even though the characters are somewhat similar they are infinitely inferior.  I did like Rowena, beginning to end.  Which was a surprising accomplishment due to how the author portrays her.  But she seemed so adrift that I couldn't quite fault her for her often  tactless behavior.  Victoria was annoying and babyish, with her temper tantrums and constant asthma attacks.  She used them to try and get her way, which was disgusting.  Victoria also wanted to play amateur detective with Prudence's heritage and Mother's past, which was insensitive to her friend.  She was a plot device and mostly an un-enjoyable one, for all the wit she was supposed to possess.  

     Prudence was the most disappointing because at first I liked her pretty well.  But as the novel moved along, she allowed herself to become bitter and used instead of taking charge of her own future.  On top of that, when she was falling for one of the Lords visiting the Abbey she treated him to a hot 'n cold display of affection.  Then when she finds out the secret of her parentage, she runs away and marries a servant boy she's not in love with and has been stringing along!!!  That made me want to strangle her for the carelessness she showed.  Overall, the plot had some holes and moved very slow.  It never quite caught the magic feel of Downton Abbey and the characters made me sad, because they had such promise.  I will most likely not read the next one (I say that now, but I most likely will anyways) as I do not want to watch the train-wreck that is coming from Prudence's poor choices.  Not recommended to anyone who likes self-respecting heroines.

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars

**I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via Edelweiss.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is January 15th, 2013.**