Yes, it is a two for one special. And I am torn… technically this was one physical book with two books inside. Does that mean they get one grade or separate grades? So many options, and so little time.
The Betsy Tacy books as they are lovingly called by the legions of fans I never heard of before purchasing this book because it was a) on sale, and b) had a flashy illustration making good use of a scarf on the cover, are semi autobiographical. They detail the growing up adventures of Maud (Betsy) and her best friend Bick (Tacy) from their meeting as five year olds to the first year of Betsy’s marriage. Mrs. Lovelace used her letters and journals as a source and many conversations and scenes are recreated exactly as they occurred with out change. A bold move for a writer, but in the end a kind of sweet move. The books in this review are the last two of the series. Beginning at the end is a rather bold move for a reviewer, but in the end a kind of a sweet move as well.
Betsy and the Great World details Betsy’s trip to Europe before the outbreak of WWI. She meets authors, musicians, and handsome young Italian men. As Mrs. Lovelace gives a catalogue of Betsy’s comings and goings she also paints a rather accurate picture of homesickness and a yearning for home. Some of the more interesting passages of the book are descriptions of the British Suffragette movement as well as the panic in Europe to get out before Britain entered the war. Betsy’s observations and commentary seem fresh and naïve, but all in all, it reads like the diary of a girl going abroad alone for the first time. And as one who penned just such a diary… it must be more exciting to the author than the reader.
Betsy’s Wedding is more interesting as the Joe character is based on Mrs. Lovelace’s husband Delos Lovelace, but they did not meet or marry until later in life. Her daughter described it as a story about how ‘they might have met’. As an accomplished daydreamer I can imagine Maud inventing what life would have been like if she had met her husband while she was a teenager, and yes, I can appreciate it. I can sense modern feminists everywhere despising this book, particularly the portion where Betsy and Tacy are describing the dangers their friend Tib will face as an unwed 23 year old.
“When girls don’t marry young,” Tacy said profoundly, “They get fussier all the time.”
“That’s right. You know the old saying about a girl going through the forest and throwing away all the straight sticks only to pick up a crooked one in the end.” Betsy looked wise as befitted an old married woman.
“There’s a lot of truth in that.”
“And Tib will soon be earning so much money that she won’t meet many men who earn as much money as she does.”
“That would be bad”
“And then she’ll start driving around in her car, and getting more and more independent, and she won’t marry at all, maybe! And then what will she do when she’s old.”
Happily for all involved the carelessly independent Tib manages to catch a man all by herself at the end of the book, without the solicitous help of Betsy and Tib.
Despite the simplicity of the narrative and hilarious insights to the domestic roles of both women and men, I enjoyed these books. They seemed to describe a simpler time where people were decent to one another and you made friend when you were five that you kept for the rest of your life. By basing her characters on her actual family and friends Mrs. Lovelace has hit upon an easy way to make characters take on life. They are vivid. They are unique. They say the wise things you expect you parents to say. They use snappy comebacks that you expect from your friends. They are likable people in a likable time.
RSS feed for comments on this post. / TrackBack URI