Dalemark appears to be the Land of Parental Failure: Clennan and Lenina, Al and Milda, Navis sitting around and marinating in his own apathy. Not that good parents are common in Jones' books to begin with...but for some reason I'm particularly struck by the ones we see here. They aren't abusive (mostly -- Al is, by the end), but in some ways I think that's why they bug me so much. I don't know if you've ever read what DWJ says about her early childhood - it's often in the little bio bit in the front of her books, or on her fan website - and you may have seen what she says about her childhood. Basically, her father was pretty nasty and the reason she started making up stories was to entertain her siblings because they didn't have very much to do. The one particular story I remember was that her father bought her and her sisters a set of books for Christmas - and then rationed them out, one a week. And from this website (http://www.leemac.freeserve.co.uk/autobiog.htm) "As time went on, my parents had less and less time for us. We never went on holiday with them. When they took their yearly holiday, we were left with the gardener, the minister of the chapel, or the matron of the orphanage – or simply dumped on Granny." What I'm saying with all of this is, maybe she was trying to show terrible parenting in her books because she's been through it and maybe she made it a recurring thing because it left a mark on her? Otherwise, great reviews of the series! I only own the Cart and the Cwidder and have been trying to read the rest of the series on Google Books, as I had a hankering for them this weekend (and can only get to the library on Monday).
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yati
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Date: 2015-03-08 05:25 pm (UTC)I don't know if you've ever read what DWJ says about her early childhood - it's often in the little bio bit in the front of her books, or on her fan website - and you may have seen what she says about her childhood. Basically, her father was pretty nasty and the reason she started making up stories was to entertain her siblings because they didn't have very much to do. The one particular story I remember was that her father bought her and her sisters a set of books for Christmas - and then rationed them out, one a week.
And from this website (http://www.leemac.freeserve.co.uk/autobiog.htm)
"As time went on, my parents had less and less time for us. We never went on holiday with them. When they took their yearly holiday, we were left with the gardener, the minister of the chapel, or the matron of the orphanage – or simply dumped on Granny."
What I'm saying with all of this is, maybe she was trying to show terrible parenting in her books because she's been through it and maybe she made it a recurring thing because it left a mark on her?
Otherwise, great reviews of the series! I only own the Cart and the Cwidder and have been trying to read the rest of the series on Google Books, as I had a hankering for them this weekend (and can only get to the library on Monday).