![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Borrowers Aloft (Book 3)
Dec. 22nd, 2019 09:31 pm This one took me longer than the others cause it was a little harder to maintain interest, but I did finally finish The Borrowers Aloft, written in 1959. I found this one a bit slower and more disappointing compared to he others. I feel like it was too much "this happens, this happens, this happens" etc. and not enough character development. Interestingly, Homily seems to have the most character development, but I guess I'm a little frustrated that we are not seeing as much of Arrietty directly. We almost see her more from her parents perspective much of the time.
And, like, they're in a completely new situation and get to interact with other borrowers but they don't really show much of that except for the parents and while it gets a few chapters, I feel like there could have been so much more, especially with Arrietty growing up completely alone except for her parents and seemingly very lonely the whole first book. The two ways she's being repressed are not getting to be outdoors and not having any company but I feel we don't see enough of her social development in this book and I still have so many questions. I thought these were supposed to be coming of age books!
Spiller is wonderful, though, and we slowly learn more about him in this book. I can see why they included him in the movie despite him not being in the first book! Interestingly, they kinda skip some of the parts of books two and three in the movie but end the movie with the end of book 3 (this book) in a fashion. They also completely change the plot around in the movie but the way Spiller fits into the movie fits very well what we learn about him in book 3 even if the events of the movie involving Spiller don't exactly happen or happen in different ways in the book. They also adapted the amazingly written sections of Arreitty interacting with nature from books 2 and 3 into the movie in other ways, where instead of her being repressed by her family and not allowed outdoors, she just always is outdoors.
It's pretty interesting now they make Arrietty's childhood much more idyllic in the movies (fitting in with the whole feel of the movie towards childhood, see the Garden song as well) while in the book, Arrietty is filled with longing to be free and is held back from being who she wants to be a fair amount by her father especially. In some ways, it makes the books a bit more feminist even if Pod is more of a jerk and the family has more of a "father knows best" dynamic, even though it's clear he doesn't always know best even if he clearly is in charge.
And now for a mention of the worst part of the books: the racism. The Roma appear briefly but in a very key scene in Book 3 and we get another insensitive depiction complete with some really bad descriptions. It's an interesting scene and she ruins it with the way she portrays the Roma - if she was more sensitive, she could compare their migratory lifestyle (a real thing - their flag is a wagonwheel after all) but instead by having characters call them "like human borrowers" and emphasizing stealing and such along with other insensitive stuff... well, it's about what you'd expect for something written in the 1950s I guess. It's not much but it leaves a really bad taste and I wish I didn't have to headcanon my own version of stuff and ignore the worst of it. "Ape-like" was really galling.
I've thought of stopping due to it but I am trodding on into Book 4 so I can develop my own Arreitty headcanon, I guess. The books have a lot of delightfully written parts and the worldbuilding of the Borrowers perspective on the Victorian world is enchanting. I do not Norton's writing style and it can be very vivid and magical much of the time. I got sucked into all this prose long before any hint of the Roma first happened late in Book 2.
And, like, they're in a completely new situation and get to interact with other borrowers but they don't really show much of that except for the parents and while it gets a few chapters, I feel like there could have been so much more, especially with Arrietty growing up completely alone except for her parents and seemingly very lonely the whole first book. The two ways she's being repressed are not getting to be outdoors and not having any company but I feel we don't see enough of her social development in this book and I still have so many questions. I thought these were supposed to be coming of age books!
Spiller is wonderful, though, and we slowly learn more about him in this book. I can see why they included him in the movie despite him not being in the first book! Interestingly, they kinda skip some of the parts of books two and three in the movie but end the movie with the end of book 3 (this book) in a fashion. They also completely change the plot around in the movie but the way Spiller fits into the movie fits very well what we learn about him in book 3 even if the events of the movie involving Spiller don't exactly happen or happen in different ways in the book. They also adapted the amazingly written sections of Arreitty interacting with nature from books 2 and 3 into the movie in other ways, where instead of her being repressed by her family and not allowed outdoors, she just always is outdoors.
It's pretty interesting now they make Arrietty's childhood much more idyllic in the movies (fitting in with the whole feel of the movie towards childhood, see the Garden song as well) while in the book, Arrietty is filled with longing to be free and is held back from being who she wants to be a fair amount by her father especially. In some ways, it makes the books a bit more feminist even if Pod is more of a jerk and the family has more of a "father knows best" dynamic, even though it's clear he doesn't always know best even if he clearly is in charge.
And now for a mention of the worst part of the books: the racism. The Roma appear briefly but in a very key scene in Book 3 and we get another insensitive depiction complete with some really bad descriptions. It's an interesting scene and she ruins it with the way she portrays the Roma - if she was more sensitive, she could compare their migratory lifestyle (a real thing - their flag is a wagonwheel after all) but instead by having characters call them "like human borrowers" and emphasizing stealing and such along with other insensitive stuff... well, it's about what you'd expect for something written in the 1950s I guess. It's not much but it leaves a really bad taste and I wish I didn't have to headcanon my own version of stuff and ignore the worst of it. "Ape-like" was really galling.
I've thought of stopping due to it but I am trodding on into Book 4 so I can develop my own Arreitty headcanon, I guess. The books have a lot of delightfully written parts and the worldbuilding of the Borrowers perspective on the Victorian world is enchanting. I do not Norton's writing style and it can be very vivid and magical much of the time. I got sucked into all this prose long before any hint of the Roma first happened late in Book 2.
