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Var. books by Eva Ibbotson
Sep. 8th, 2011 09:23 amI appear to have a bit of an odd relationship with Eva Ibbotson's books.
On the one hand, I adore her children’s books and their wacky hijinks. They're just plain fun and have endearing characters. In them, Ibbotson also has the ability to make me forget to be critical about what goes on in her worlds. I'm not saying she's uniquely gifted in this way, but I'm not sure there's any other author who would make me forget to wonder about a book where a central concept is that one of the characters turns evildoers into cute zoo animals using her magic knuckles, but she does.
But then there are her historical novels. Most of them are now published as YA, but I think they were all marketed as either historical fiction or romance novels when they came out. These books are set in the early 20th century and feature a super virtuous and self-sacrificing heroine who falls in love with a much older playboy with Secrets and Angst and A Past. And scads of money, can't forget that. They have a super twee courtship and things seem to be going along perfectly when suddenly Something Happens. Usually a Big Misunderstanding and I spend the rest of the book aggravated with them and wanting to yell at them and tell them to JUST TALK ALREADY. (It's been a couple years since I read Countess Below Stairs, so I can't remember if this was also the case there.) I think the only ones where I cared at all if the main couple still got together in the end were a Company of Swans and A Song for Summer, and then only because I didn't think the heroine would be happy otherwise. I also spent the whole books wanting to yell at the heroines to just do something, ANYTHING, selfish. Not want to go to school or marry the person they love or eat their favorite treat, but something actually self-centered that's just about fulfilling their own desires.
And yet, despite the aggravation they cause, I adore them, to varying degrees. (Well, Reluctant Heiress not so much. The self-sacrificing and misunderstandings exceeded my tolerance level.) Ibbotson's worldbuilding is simply engrossing. Not just the (quite sanitized and whitewashed nostalgic) early 20th century settings (largely 30s Austria, especially Vienna), but also the communities that the characters inhabit, including the schools (especially the schools) and the traveling ballet and opera "families."
( comments on 9 books )
