Posted by Ed Kiser on August 12, 2009 at 01:47:11 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Darien posted by John Lambert on August 11, 2009 at 20:42:54:
John -
You say, " thrill of expectation when I open any of the books and begin "
You are so right on with assuming I, too, have that thrill - even though I know very well how the story goes, having read it umpteen times, but that thrill is very much still there, as Ransome leads me up to be awesome crash in those final pages, the very last of which help me calm back down from that high with the feeling that "all is well."
I find it difficult to explain to someone else that is not familiar with these books that "thrill" you spoke of. It has been my failure to interest any of my four daughters in these books, and now, my grandchildren who are now in Junior high and high school, so are the right age to dive in and share the pleasures, but they just don't get it. Maybe "Harry Potter" has warped their expectations, or was it "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars". Compared to those fantasies, Ransome seems bland. Those few that have tried to read an offering, with my pleading, just say it is boring. They sail to an island. They put up the tents, They gather fire wood. They build a fire, They dip the kettle into the lake to get water. They boil the water to make tea. They go to a farmhouse and beg for some milk to pour into their tea. They drink their tea. They sleep in their tents. Next morning...( see above, they do it again.) Ho hum. Hard to get them through those first few chapters of SA without having totally lost them for anything else that might come up. Maybe SA is the wrong place to start a novice, as those first few chapters just turn them away.
That "duffers" telegram seemed a bunch of nonsense, and my kids did not care for it.
But the "Thrill" is there, very much so, and I feel it. You are so right to say I would feel that.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky