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Bab: a Sub-deb
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362 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1916
About the author
Mary Roberts Rinehart
574 books437 followersMysteries of the well-known American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart include
The Circular Staircase
(1908) and
The Door
(1930).
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...
People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.
Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
December 29, 2019
Not my cup of tea. The absolute selfishness and the deliberate misspellings just didn’t strike me as all that funny. I liked the WW1 chapter best (the book has five episodes instead of regular chapters) but I still felt bad for the guy she finally decided on. She grew up a little bit but not a lot.
July 21, 2009
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it. The book is written in a series of themed papers or diary entries, written by Bab, a 17 year old during 1917.
Bab is a spoiled, sheltered but neglected second daughter from a well off family. She is constantly writing about how she got into trouble (due to misunderstandings which she creates by her own ignorance, imagination, and unwillingness to explain herself to others). The situations she gets herself into are very humorous to read about, but appalling to her family.
One of the things I enjoyed most about the book was all the misspelling. Bab thinks she is a wonderful speller, and rarely needs the help of a dictionary. She even goes so far to help a schoolmate with her spelling. Yet her stories and diaries are riddled with misspellings.
Bab is a spoiled, sheltered but neglected second daughter from a well off family. She is constantly writing about how she got into trouble (due to misunderstandings which she creates by her own ignorance, imagination, and unwillingness to explain herself to others). The situations she gets herself into are very humorous to read about, but appalling to her family.
One of the things I enjoyed most about the book was all the misspelling. Bab thinks she is a wonderful speller, and rarely needs the help of a dictionary. She even goes so far to help a schoolmate with her spelling. Yet her stories and diaries are riddled with misspellings.
September 28, 2017
This story was one of Rinehart's earlier works. The main character Bab, tells of her adventures through her diary and "magazine articles". One thing to know about Bab is that she is a terrible speller and it shows in her writing.
I enjoyed reading all of Bab's hi-jinks. But the end of the story got a bit too hawkish. But then again, the story came out during the First World War and echoes the sentiments of the time. If it had been written after the War, Bab would have been classified as a flapper and a member of the Lost Generation. I could just see Bab at one of Gastby's parties.
The story might be easy to find. I downloaded it as a free ebook.
I enjoyed reading all of Bab's hi-jinks. But the end of the story got a bit too hawkish. But then again, the story came out during the First World War and echoes the sentiments of the time. If it had been written after the War, Bab would have been classified as a flapper and a member of the Lost Generation. I could just see Bab at one of Gastby's parties.
The story might be easy to find. I downloaded it as a free ebook.
September 11, 2021
I just can't read anymore of this. What others classified as charming, I found completely distracting... namely, the intentional frequency of misspelled words.
varacious...anticapatory...Holadays... modafied... dipariging... relelve... naturaly... unsuported... unluckaly... discrete...tence... deciet... starveing... Familey... terrable... formalaty... hateing... dizernment................
On and on it went. My eyes started rolling back in my head.
NOTE: Finished Chapter 1, page 37
varacious...anticapatory...Holadays... modafied... dipariging... relelve... naturaly... unsuported... unluckaly... discrete...tence... deciet... starveing... Familey... terrable... formalaty... hateing... dizernment................
On and on it went. My eyes started rolling back in my head.
NOTE: Finished Chapter 1, page 37
May 5, 2014
It's awfully tempting to compare Mary Roberts Rinehart's hilarious Bab: A Sub-Deb with the Anita Loos novel that followed in its footsteps in 1926: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Diary of a Professional Lady. Both books feature wildly unreliable narrators whose spelling, to be generous, could make a hapless reader's eyes cross. Both satirize sex and marriage, and society's expectations of women (or lack thereof) in the early twentieth century. Best of all, both are extremely funny.
Loos' Lorelei Lee, however, is infinitely more black at heart: that cloche and those blond tresses disguise a ferocious, almost feral acquisitiveness and a cunning that Machiavelli would envy. Bab, to put it bluntly, is merely a typical seventeen-year-old: ditzy, absent-minded, prone to fancifulness, and apt to stumble when strapping on the metaphorical heels of her elders.
Lorelei certainly was Bab-like during her own adolescence. It may be that given nine years to catch up to her literary older sister, Bab might acquire Lorelei's flapper shrewdness . . . but it's doubtful. Rinehart has made Bab sweet-natured at her core, and Bab's unwitting heroism by the book's end renders her grounded in a way her successor would never appreciate. Readers appreciate Lorelei as a force of nature—but we love Bab, for all her faults and airs.
Loos' Lorelei Lee, however, is infinitely more black at heart: that cloche and those blond tresses disguise a ferocious, almost feral acquisitiveness and a cunning that Machiavelli would envy. Bab, to put it bluntly, is merely a typical seventeen-year-old: ditzy, absent-minded, prone to fancifulness, and apt to stumble when strapping on the metaphorical heels of her elders.
Lorelei certainly was Bab-like during her own adolescence. It may be that given nine years to catch up to her literary older sister, Bab might acquire Lorelei's flapper shrewdness . . . but it's doubtful. Rinehart has made Bab sweet-natured at her core, and Bab's unwitting heroism by the book's end renders her grounded in a way her successor would never appreciate. Readers appreciate Lorelei as a force of nature—but we love Bab, for all her faults and airs.
May 1, 2017
"Charming" isn't usually a descriptor that attracts me to a book, so it's a good thing I chose this for other reasons. My lost film research turned me onto a series of now-lost films from 1917 starring Marguerite Clarke and based on this novel.
Bab is a clever teen—though not nearly as clever as she thinks she is, which is part of the fun. She's sort of a young female version of a Bertie Wooster or Brigadier Gerard, in that we can tell from her version of events that reality is a bit different from how she perceives it.
I'd kill for these films to be found, but in the meantime, color me completely charmed by the book.
Bab is a clever teen—though not nearly as clever as she thinks she is, which is part of the fun. She's sort of a young female version of a Bertie Wooster or Brigadier Gerard, in that we can tell from her version of events that reality is a bit different from how she perceives it.
I'd kill for these films to be found, but in the meantime, color me completely charmed by the book.
May 25, 2012
A light, very funny read written and set during the first world war. Barbara Archibald is the sort of teenager whose presence would drive most anyone nuts but who possesses an irresistible narrative voice. I mean, seriously:
And a bit of wisdom from Carter Brooks, who occasionally mistakes mothballs for gumballs:
Indeed, four of the five stories here — written as diary entries and themes for school, or, more ambitiously, for profit — revolve around Bertie Wooster-style romantical catastrophes. It's the fifth, which finds Bab earnestly pledging herself to her nation's war efforts, that really shines. Naivety and hilarity aside, I was surprised at how moving I found the final pages, in which she faces a much more serious threat than hand-me-down clothing, boys as foolish as she eventually — kind of — proves herself not to be, atrocious spelling and unwise, extravagant purchases. Oh, Bab, I wish you (and your family, and the men who marry into it) nothing but happiness. Thanks to Catherine for bringing Bab: A Sub-Deb to my attention: Kindle-users, take note, for it's free! And your life will be the better for reading passages like this gem:
(Disaster. Marvelous, awe-inspiring disaster.)
If I were to write down all the surging thoughts that filled my brain this would have to be a Novel instead of a Short Story. And I am not one who beleives in beginning the life of Letters with a long work. I think one should start with breif Romanse. For is not Romanse itself but breif, the thing of an hour, at least to the Other Sex?
Women and girls, having no interest outside their hearts, such as baseball and hockey and earning saleries, are more likely to hug Romanse to their breasts, until it is finaly drowned in their tears.
And a bit of wisdom from Carter Brooks, who occasionally mistakes mothballs for gumballs:
"Bab, just a word of advise for you. Pick your Husband, when the time comes, with care. He ought to have the solidaty of an elephant and the mental agilaty of a flee. But no imagination, or he'll die a lunatic."
Indeed, four of the five stories here — written as diary entries and themes for school, or, more ambitiously, for profit — revolve around Bertie Wooster-style romantical catastrophes. It's the fifth, which finds Bab earnestly pledging herself to her nation's war efforts, that really shines. Naivety and hilarity aside, I was surprised at how moving I found the final pages, in which she faces a much more serious threat than hand-me-down clothing, boys as foolish as she eventually — kind of — proves herself not to be, atrocious spelling and unwise, extravagant purchases. Oh, Bab, I wish you (and your family, and the men who marry into it) nothing but happiness. Thanks to Catherine for bringing Bab: A Sub-Deb to my attention: Kindle-users, take note, for it's free! And your life will be the better for reading passages like this gem:
Now I have a qualaty which is well known at school, and frequently used to obtain holadays and so on. It may be Magnatism, it may be Will. I have a very strong Will, having as a child had a way of lying on the floor and kicking my feet if thwarted. In school, by fixing my eyes ridgidly on the teacher, I have been able to make her do as I wish, such as no calling on me when unprepared, et cetera.
Full well I know the danger of such a Power, unless used for good.
I now made up my mind to use this Will, or Magnatism, on Leila, she being unsuspicious at the time and thinking that the thought of Marriage was her own, and no one else's.
Being still awake when the Familey came upstairs, I went into her room and experamented while she was taking down her hair.
"Well?" she said at last. "You needn't stare like that. I can't do my hair this way without a Swich."
"I was merely thinking," I said in a lofty tone.
"Then go and think in bed."
"Does it or does it not concern you as to what I was thinking?" I demanded.
"It doesn't greatly concern me," she replied, wraping her hair around a kid curler, "but I darsay I know what it was. It's written all over you in letters a foot high. You'd like me to get married and out of the way."
I was exultent yet terrafied at this result of my Experament. Already! I said to my wildly beating heart. And if thus in five minutes what in the entire summer?
(Disaster. Marvelous, awe-inspiring disaster.)
November 17, 2016
Part of this book were very entertaining but after a long break from it I decided not to continue. There is a little bit of language in the later part of the books, Bab was fun at some points annoying at others. the spelling errors got to me in this book. It is supposed to be that way, as you are reading Bab's diary.
April 30, 2018
This was delightful and hilarious!
November 20, 2011
This book is hi-lar-ious! (I wish I could properly convey how that word is to be said, since I hear my dearest friend's voice in my head saying/almost-singing it.)
Anyway, there really is only that word to describe this book: hilarious. I loved how seriously Barbara (or "Bab") took herself, and also how oblivious she was to, well, almost everything! Especially her lack of finesse in spelling.
Kathryn - though humour can be so subjective, I'd say this is one worth buying! :)
{A part that amused me:}
"In the morning I took lessons in the car, which I called the Arab, from the well-known song, which we have on the phonograph;
From the Dessert I come to thee,
On my Arab shod with fire.
The instructor had not heard the song, but he said it was a good name because very likly no one else would think of having it.
"It sounds like a love song," he observed.
"It is," I replied, and gave him a steady glanse. Because, if one realy loves, it is silly to deny it.
"Long ways to a Dessert, isn’t it?" he inquired.
"A Dessert may be a place, or it may be a thirsty and emty place in the Soul," I replied. "In my case it is Soul, not terratory.""
Anyway, there really is only that word to describe this book: hilarious. I loved how seriously Barbara (or "Bab") took herself, and also how oblivious she was to, well, almost everything! Especially her lack of finesse in spelling.
Kathryn - though humour can be so subjective, I'd say this is one worth buying! :)
{A part that amused me:}
"In the morning I took lessons in the car, which I called the Arab, from the well-known song, which we have on the phonograph;
From the Dessert I come to thee,
On my Arab shod with fire.
The instructor had not heard the song, but he said it was a good name because very likly no one else would think of having it.
"It sounds like a love song," he observed.
"It is," I replied, and gave him a steady glanse. Because, if one realy loves, it is silly to deny it.
"Long ways to a Dessert, isn’t it?" he inquired.
"A Dessert may be a place, or it may be a thirsty and emty place in the Soul," I replied. "In my case it is Soul, not terratory.""
July 20, 2014
Jane Austen meets Lucille Ball. Bab: A Sub-Deb is one of the few popular novels from the 1910s that is still in print today. Bab, a 17 year-old girl in a hurry to grow up, invents a lover so her family will take her more seriously. The fun begins when her make-believe lover actually materializes. It offers a quaint window in the courting rituals of the 1910s. I like the scene where her mother tries to bribe her by offering her the loan of her vibrator (the most popular electric household device after the toaster)
This 1916 best seller was made into a silent film the same year. Author Mary Roberts Rinehart is often called the American Agatha Christie. She was propelled to fame by her 1907 mystery, The Circular Staircase, which featured a female detective and sold over a million and a quarter copies. Her articles in the Saturday Evening Post were credited for shaping American middle middle-class tastes and manners. Rinehart also has the distinction of being the first woman war correspondent at the Belgian front during World War I.
This 1916 best seller was made into a silent film the same year. Author Mary Roberts Rinehart is often called the American Agatha Christie. She was propelled to fame by her 1907 mystery, The Circular Staircase, which featured a female detective and sold over a million and a quarter copies. Her articles in the Saturday Evening Post were credited for shaping American middle middle-class tastes and manners. Rinehart also has the distinction of being the first woman war correspondent at the Belgian front during World War I.
July 29, 2018
This book was HYSTERICAL. I was able to read the original published copy of the book that has been circulating in the Hennepin County Library since 1917. If you're not someone who enjoys unreliable teenage (or otherwise) narration, this is not the book for you. She's a bit Bertie Wooster, and delightful, but spoiled. The book is full of misspellings and Pronouncements, and honestly, a few little things could be tweaked here and there and it would fit right in with the world of today. With how much things change, it's amazing how much they stay the same.
September 12, 2008
Absolutely delightful. I love Mary Roberts Rinehart. As Jenny E so correctly put it, these are the books Fitzgerald heroines read. If Edith Wharton wrote Nancy Drews, the books would read something like Rinehart's. And Bab: a Sub-Deb is worthy for its title alone, yes?
September 3, 2017
This was fun, though perhaps a little cynical in its subtext, and I would have preferred a single overarching plot instead of a succession of three. I laughed out loud over the first part, smiled over the second, and felt rather tired in the third.
February 7, 2008
Don't miss this one. You'll laugh your head off. If you're a fan of old movies, picture Mona Freeman (from "Dear Ruth") in the title role, and you'll have Bab perfectly.
June 6, 2008
I Loved this book. It was good for quite a few belly laughs.
May 6, 2018
Bab, only twenty months younger than her sister, the official debutante, rebels against her treatment by her "familey". And although she fancies herself a good speller, she writes some words so funnily that one cannot stop laughing.
Her escapades were perfectly hilarious, and her feelings about them, even more so. I liked best her first, and her last, adventure. She's always quoting well-known people like Dryden, Shakespear, Sir Walter Scott, Kipling, and the quotes she uses to reflect on her predicament make it so amusing.
Another thing you must know about Bab is that she is almost always "in love" with someone or other when she comes home from school, and they are usually the most improbable people on earth, resulting in her mother and sister being very, very cross. Twice, the objects of her affection were married!
In reality, she's the silly school-girl we all were once upon a time, but as the story is told from her point of view, we only see a serious, somber, and sincere little Barbara. Look at this perfectly wise-sounding statement of hers: "It is not what is outside of us that matters. It is what is inside. It is what we are, not what we eat, or look like, or wear. I have given up everything, Hannah, to my career."
And how she messes up things! Instead of telling Hannah what really happened, when a "flask" is found in her suitcase, she remarks: "I am young in years. But I have seen Life, Hannah.". Of course, Hannah would look at her with "her eyes full of Suspicion".
Carter Brooks, the boy who truly loves her, almost always plays along with her and does stuff to make her really upset, like send her a box of cigarettes, or bring Harold Valentine to life. Of course, she thinks he's in love with Leila and doesn't think too much of him.
Her friend Jane is a simpleton and jumps to conclusions too quickly. Instead of telling the truth at once, what does Bab do and say when Jane asks her if it's the same one, meaning the same one she was in love with last time? She 'lay back on her pillow and stared at the ceiling.
"No. It is not the same man."
"What is he like? Bab, I'm so excited I can't sit still."
"It—it hurts to talk about him," I observed faintly.'
Of course, she "intended to let it go at that", but Jane was expecting something more, so she shows her the suitcase and lets Jane make her own, very incorrect, surmises about it.
Bab's father is sympathetic towards her and often covers up for her; although he doesn't understand her completely (I don't blame him), he doesn't plague her with questions and "harsh" treatment.
I was very thoroughly entertained by Bab's narrative; I even told some of her stories to my siblings one dark night when the electricity was out and stormy winds were howling outside. The only drawback was that the book literally dragged on. I couldn't get to the end quickly enough.
Her escapades were perfectly hilarious, and her feelings about them, even more so. I liked best her first, and her last, adventure. She's always quoting well-known people like Dryden, Shakespear, Sir Walter Scott, Kipling, and the quotes she uses to reflect on her predicament make it so amusing.
Another thing you must know about Bab is that she is almost always "in love" with someone or other when she comes home from school, and they are usually the most improbable people on earth, resulting in her mother and sister being very, very cross. Twice, the objects of her affection were married!
In reality, she's the silly school-girl we all were once upon a time, but as the story is told from her point of view, we only see a serious, somber, and sincere little Barbara. Look at this perfectly wise-sounding statement of hers: "It is not what is outside of us that matters. It is what is inside. It is what we are, not what we eat, or look like, or wear. I have given up everything, Hannah, to my career."
And how she messes up things! Instead of telling Hannah what really happened, when a "flask" is found in her suitcase, she remarks: "I am young in years. But I have seen Life, Hannah.". Of course, Hannah would look at her with "her eyes full of Suspicion".
Carter Brooks, the boy who truly loves her, almost always plays along with her and does stuff to make her really upset, like send her a box of cigarettes, or bring Harold Valentine to life. Of course, she thinks he's in love with Leila and doesn't think too much of him.
Her friend Jane is a simpleton and jumps to conclusions too quickly. Instead of telling the truth at once, what does Bab do and say when Jane asks her if it's the same one, meaning the same one she was in love with last time? She 'lay back on her pillow and stared at the ceiling.
"No. It is not the same man."
"What is he like? Bab, I'm so excited I can't sit still."
"It—it hurts to talk about him," I observed faintly.'
Of course, she "intended to let it go at that", but Jane was expecting something more, so she shows her the suitcase and lets Jane make her own, very incorrect, surmises about it.
Bab's father is sympathetic towards her and often covers up for her; although he doesn't understand her completely (I don't blame him), he doesn't plague her with questions and "harsh" treatment.
I was very thoroughly entertained by Bab's narrative; I even told some of her stories to my siblings one dark night when the electricity was out and stormy winds were howling outside. The only drawback was that the book literally dragged on. I couldn't get to the end quickly enough.
February 8, 2018
We've all been Bab. At least to some degree, anyway. Stuck on that frustrating threshold of youth|adulthood, where we absolutely totally completely know how mature we are and ready for the adult world. And when we can't help but lament that no one understands us, nor how deep and soulful we are.
Except we're not. We're still kids, as is poor Bab. Bab, who is clearly far prettier than she realises, moves from scrape to scrape as she tries to enter the adult world that her older sister is enjoying.
On one occasion she invents a fiancé only to have someone with (purportedly) the same name show up and claim her as his betrothed. On another occasion she falls madly for a playwright, only to discover he is married while stuck in the wardrobe of his wife's bedroom (for very innocent reasons). Then she develops hero worship for an actor, who turns out to be yet another dirty old married man. All the while she could so easily have got out of trouble if only she could bring herself to admit a minor error. But Bab is very proud, and ends up scandalising the neighbourhood despite - or effectively because of - her naiveté.
Throughout this, her sister's supposed beau - Carter Brook - is a steady and sympathetic presence, and if there had been a concluding story one can imagine the two of them together. A romance is somewhat hinted at the end.
As you read about Bab, you can't help but feel what a marvellous film the stories would make. It turns out they were made into a series of silent movies in the 1920s, which have all sadly been lost. Perhaps one day they'll be dug up in a long-lost archive.
NB: I actually listened to this as an audiobook, using a text-to-voice app. So the irregular spellings that some reviewers found irritating weren't detectable.
Except we're not. We're still kids, as is poor Bab. Bab, who is clearly far prettier than she realises, moves from scrape to scrape as she tries to enter the adult world that her older sister is enjoying.
On one occasion she invents a fiancé only to have someone with (purportedly) the same name show up and claim her as his betrothed. On another occasion she falls madly for a playwright, only to discover he is married while stuck in the wardrobe of his wife's bedroom (for very innocent reasons). Then she develops hero worship for an actor, who turns out to be yet another dirty old married man. All the while she could so easily have got out of trouble if only she could bring herself to admit a minor error. But Bab is very proud, and ends up scandalising the neighbourhood despite - or effectively because of - her naiveté.
Throughout this, her sister's supposed beau - Carter Brook - is a steady and sympathetic presence, and if there had been a concluding story one can imagine the two of them together. A romance is somewhat hinted at the end.
As you read about Bab, you can't help but feel what a marvellous film the stories would make. It turns out they were made into a series of silent movies in the 1920s, which have all sadly been lost. Perhaps one day they'll be dug up in a long-lost archive.
NB: I actually listened to this as an audiobook, using a text-to-voice app. So the irregular spellings that some reviewers found irritating weren't detectable.
August 16, 2013
There I was, reading through Mary Roberts Rinehart' s books in order and expecting another mystery or something slightly serious in tone after the months the author had spent in touring and gathering information at the front in Belgium and France, seeing the horrors of the first year of the Great War up close, and instead she comes out with this completely comical piece narrated by a teenage girl whose penchant for getting into farcical situations rivals Bertie Wooster. Bab, or Barbara, is as funny as can be without being outrageous, silly without being annoying, charming, and ultimately, wise. It was hard to put this book down for any reason, she draws you so. She tells her story, which is a series of five vignettes in the forms of school themes, diary entries, and one final literary effort, the end of which is really touching. I recommend this book highly.
June 15, 2016
Well, this was an odd little book. I honestly don't know whether I liked it or not. Our heroine, Bab, gets herself into ridiculous, Wodehouse-esque situations, due both to circumstances beyond her control and her own willful stubbornness. I found her rather frustrating and sometimes annoying, since she seems thoroughly convinced of being misunderstood, despite the fact that she often purposefully conceals her feelings! That being said, the book was amusing, though Bab's constant misspellings drove me crazy. I did love the character of Carter Brooks, though- his levelheadedness was a perfect foil to Bab's scatterbrained and somewhat ditzy schemes. Overall, I think a lot of people would like this book, it's just a little much for me. I can't stand quite as much insensibility and immaturity as Bab displays without getting a slight headache.
July 31, 2011
This is such a funny book--I don't know why I never heard of it before! Thank goodness for the Kindle where you can unearth such gems.
I just started reading it last night, so I haven't gotten very far into it. The story is told as a "theme" written by a 17-year-old girl for school, but it feels more like a diary. It is absolutely hilarious as the girl talks about her frustrations and aggravationn because she thinks she's an adult but is treated as if she were still a child. I love the intentional misspellings and mistakes in word usage--it just adds to the whole "feel" of a young adult venting her spleen.
I'll write a fuller review when I'm done, but it's a terrifically funny book and should get more widespread "notoriety". It's worth it.
I just started reading it last night, so I haven't gotten very far into it. The story is told as a "theme" written by a 17-year-old girl for school, but it feels more like a diary. It is absolutely hilarious as the girl talks about her frustrations and aggravationn because she thinks she's an adult but is treated as if she were still a child. I love the intentional misspellings and mistakes in word usage--it just adds to the whole "feel" of a young adult venting her spleen.
I'll write a fuller review when I'm done, but it's a terrifically funny book and should get more widespread "notoriety". It's worth it.
July 3, 2011
This was a really delightful book, written during World War I, from the POV of Bab, an overly-dramatic and often dim-witted teenager who feels she's not taken seriously by her older sister and parents. Even though it was written nearly 100 years ago, the humor and characters still feel surprisingly fresh. I also really loved the relationship between Bab and her father, especially at the end. A lot of times, in older fiction, the father is a remote, stern disciplinarian, and it was fun to see that there were sweet, funny dads back then, too. Definitely worth the Kindle price ($0).
April 29, 2011
Not my favorite book. Mildly amusing in an embarrassing, young, silly girl way. Definitely written 60+ years ago. One of my mother-in-laws sister's owned this as a girl and my sister in law thought I would enjoy it. She kept mentioning it to me over the years, and finally bought me my own copy. It is pre-WW2, as I recall. Maybe even pre-WW1. But I think it is the former. Anyway, just silly. Not cute enough to read again.
April 24, 2018
Bab is a great deal of fun, completely clueless, and a terrible speller. She chafes at being a "sub-debutante", just 20 months younger than her elder sister, who of course must be married off first. Pure teenage impulse and enough money to get into all sorts of scrapes. With the dawning of the US involvement in WWI, the plot takes a bit of a turn, but Bab's personality is such that she goes full-tilt at drilling and uniforms and hanging out the flag with guileless selfishness.
February 15, 2011
Delightful and hilarious. Poor Bab just wants to be taken seriously in the shadow of her older sister, but keeps digging herself deeper and deeper into mishaps. Someone should fix her up with the boy from Booth Tarkington's "Seventeen" -- although they would each view the other as an infant and be terribly offended by the suggestion.
September 22, 2015
I accidentally picked this book up one day when i was working as a receptionist and read it in one day. Very hilarious and Bab is a melodramtic young lady with a habit of getting herself into hilarious scrapes as she attempt to deal with the indignity of not being allowed to be a debutante (deb) like her (slightly!) older sister.
January 18, 2012
Humorous coming of age book written as a diary by an upper class 17 year old girl in the early 1900s. Her naivety is a mite too overblown even for that time period. A much better coming of age diary isThe Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ (1982) and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1984) written by Sue Townsend.
December 17, 2013
This book made me laugh out loud on several occasions. I loved the way the author told the story through Bab's journals, essays, and school assignments, complete with misspelled words and hilarious phrasing. Bab's unique take on the world made for very entertaining reading. Amazing that an author who wrote murder mysteries could also write something as lighthearted and enjoyable as this book.
August 1, 2010
Perfectly delightful! Bab, a 17-yo schoolgirl who cannot spell, unwittingly and innocently creates adventures that do not always work out the way she wants. She is charming but can be described as a "handful."
September 1, 2012
This book was so much fun I can't even tell you. Think Anne of Green Gables if she was boy crazy, rich, and from the city. Think Bertie Wooster as a teenaged girl. Antics and hijinks and shenanigans!
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