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The Foundling - Dec 2014 Group Read - Chapters 13 to 26
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Amy
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Dec 01, 2014 12:12PM
Are you enjoying the novel?
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Well with my usual lack of self control where GH books are concerned I finished this novel this morning.This time however I was surprised! In my younger years I preferred the ones that were more or less straight romances
I've read this too many times to count and love how it is a combination of ridiculous humour (Liversedge) and yet also a coming-of-age/getting-to-know-oneself story (Gilly).
I love the way it always stays in touch with emotions and deeply held values. For example, the way Gideon and Lord Lionel misunderstand and hurt each other, while each one is being deeply ethical according to his own lights. Misunderstandings and plot developments evolve naturally out of the characters’ personalities. That said, perhaps Liversedge is sometimes too prescient about Gilly’s choices and motivations—“I have made a deep study of the Duke” can only be taken so far as justification for his accurate guesses.
Can I say that I find Liversedge completely charming? I love his dialogue. Is Belinda "slow-witted" or just not brought up properly or both? She sure is ditzy.
Tom is a scoundrel but I can see my cousin doing a lot of those things in his younger days.
I raced through this book last night. I couldn't put it down though I had read it not too long ago.
are those who thought it started dull liking it better? I think by chapter 13 it's getting much better, as I recall.
I loved it this time around. Makes me want to give some of her others I didn't much like in my younger years (Royal Escape, The Masqueraders, Penhallow) another chance. I'm pretty confident that My lord John & Simon the Coldheart will still be boring clunkers!
***Carol*** wrote: "I loved it this time around. Makes me want to give some of her others I didn't much like in my younger years (Royal Escape, The Masqueraders, Penhallow) another chance. I'm pretty confident that My..."Me too Carol, though I didn't actually dislike it the first time , I did like it better the second. Tom remains a favourite of mine - such a boy ! Yet so sweet when he wants to punch people who might hurt Gilly .
I can't say the same for the Masqueraders I must confess, partly because I don't like the period as much and partly because I do NOT believe Robin could possibly have passed himself off as a woman- even less than Prue as a man. And yes S the CH and My LJ remain as tedious as ever . Sorry to go off topic .
Qnpoohbear wrote: "Can I say that I find Liversedge completely charming? I love his dialogue. Is Belinda "slow-witted" or just not brought up properly or both? She sure is ditzy.
Tom is a scoundrel but I can see ..."
I think she is "slow-witted". I don't know what our modern equivalent would be to describe her. Not an airhead because I think that she has something wrong with her. Low IQ? Somthing else? Anyone who knows about these things want to jump in and help me figure out what I'm trying to say here?!?!?
Amy wrote: "Qnpoohbear wrote: "Can I say that I find Liversedge completely charming? I love his dialogue. Is Belinda "slow-witted" or just not brought up properly or both? She sure is ditzy.
Tom is a scoun..."
Is bimbo still a thing?
Barbara wrote, “Is bimbo still a thing>” LOL—though does she even rise to bimbo level? Maybe bimbette? :)
Abigail wrote: "Barbara wrote, “Is bimbo still a thing>” LOL—though does she even rise to bimbo level? Maybe bimbette? :)"Oh dear, poor Belinda. I hope and trust marriage and motherhood will not be too much for her .......and that (forget his name , the fiancé) will be patient and kind when he realises the extent of her limitations. Or, maybe a calm and grounded farm life will be the making of her.
(I'm just re-reading Pride and Prejudice and seeing anew how ill-suited Mr and Mrs Bennett are, he having married her for her pretty face and not much more)
Mrs. Mudgley tells Gilly that she thinks Belinda will settle down once she has a home and babies of her own, and also notes that "they taught her to bake and make" at the foundling hospital. I suspect she is right and that the relatively simple farm life will be good for Belinda.
I'm comforted by that Margaret ( I like to take my fiction seriously! )
Barbara wrote: Is bimbo still a thing? I thought bimbo meant "stupid and easy". Maybe not? I just see her as not very smart.
Yes, I don't think "bimbo" implies the kind of innocence that is definitely part of Belinda's character.
Before these more politically correct times I think she would have been called simple. & she is very naive.
Oh I didn't mean to suggest anything about Belinda's morals, I thought she was quite an innocent girl. I thought bimbo just meant naïve and silly and light minded . I wouldn't have called her simple, which implies implies actual intellectual issues doesn't it ?
Anyway I know we all wish her well!
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She has very limited understanding and would definitely have a 'statement of special educational needs' and her own Learning Support Assistant if she was in an English school today.
One of the most brilliant things about Belinda as a character is that she is simultaneously logical and idiotic, obedient and impossible to control. Her literal-mindedness leads to delicious misunderstandings and dilemmas.
I just think it's a good thing that Jasper Mudgely's farm is so remote. Otherwise Belinda would likely wander off with anyone who offered to buy her a purple silk dress!
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