RELOOK AT MALORY TOWERS

I still remember the days when I was in 3rd or 4th I started reading the 'Malory Towers' by Enid Blyton. I would request my mother to buy me the next part of the series as soon as I finished the previous one. I was enthralled by the fact that there was an all girls school located right next to a sea, where they could play pranks on teachers, all of them had nearly perfect families and would enjoy midnight feasts. I thought that even though the characters had flaws, they were above them and were kind and 'sensible'; especially the protagonist, Darell. She was the teacher's pet, great at sports, very smart, and loved her family. She was almost always chosen as the Head of Form, which obviously made her a very lovable character. All the girls who were a part of this batch, have a close bond with each other even though there might be some spiteful moments between them, which is what I liked the most.

After an year or so, I almost finished the entire series, and decided to take a break from it for a while. Then I returned again to the books after a while and started re-reading some parts of the books I had, but my experience was different, let me tell you how. I noticed things in the books that were disturbing and had gone unnoticed before. 

1. Judgemental characters
The girls do not try to accept any new girls in the form (class) without judging any of them and even their parents at time. They accept girls only if they are like them or like sports. If a girl shows some self love or does things like wearing a bracelet, then she is called spoilt and snooty. If a girl starts crying of homesickness or cannot wake up early the next day they start saying mean things and call her a baby even though it's totally normal to be homesick.

2. Sterotypes
Enid Blyton has also placed her own prejudices against people from a particular nationality. For example, in the third book of the series, she introduces a new American girl called Zerelda. She is instantly disliked because she is supposedly "spoilt" with too many "airs and graces". They are constantly trying to change her to inculcate a "British sense of honour" and are bashing hate on her for her unusual accent. The "stuck-up" girls are always shown as rich and this creates an image in the readers' mind of rich people as stuck-up. 
In almost each book there is one girl (generally hated by everyone) who will "spill the beans" about someone doing the wrong thing after which she is bullied by all the girls in the form especially by the older girls. The bullying is even more intense if the beans are spilt about one of the older girls such as Darell. I am a girl who truly believes in raising her voice against something wrong and the thought of being targeted by an entire form of mean girls genuinely scares me.

I have enjoyed these books and I did learn of few things from the series too but some of these elements just evoke an unpleasant feeling in a reader which decreased the joy of re-reading them.
I have also ordered the new book that just came out (New Class at Malory Towers) especially because it has characters from diverse races including an Indian one which intrigued me. Hopefully I'll write a blog about that one too.

My reading for Summer'19

‘The Help’ by Kathryn Stockett- This book is about the seemingly impossible friendship between 2 Afro-American (consistently referred as ‘black’ in the book) maids and their white mistress’s daughter. The books stands out because of its intriguing plot. It takes a while for the story to kick off but that makes the book feel very natural. I also got to know about the lives of domestic help and how they were sometimes ill-treated by their masters and mistresses – something that I have only heard of.

‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown- In this book, the protagonist (Robert Langdon) and a French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, have to solve the mystery of the murder of the curator of the Louvre (Jacques Sauniere). They also realize that they have to find and protect some very important historical documents. In order to do this, they need to crack the clues set up by the curator before someone else does. I would recommend this book because the author has made the clues intelligently by adding some historical context to it and you are forced to read what happens next. I also enjoyed exploring (thanks to Google) a lot more about ancient brotherhoods such as Illuminati or Priory of Sion. The book might be inappropriate for certain age groups because of mention of grown-up content.Also, there are a lot of French, Latin words in the story which can make it a complicated read. 

‘Educated’ by Tara Westover- This memoir was the most hard-hitting book I read in my vacations this year. It is the memoir of Tara Westover and her family who lead a survivalist lifestyle and don’t believe in the government. As a result of this, she cannot go to school, government hospitals (even if during serious health condition) and they are expected to follow strict religious rules. As she grows up, she realises that if she wants to obtain an education she will have to go away from home as her father and brother become even more radical. This book is about  Tara’s struggle to obtain a good education despite her family’s oppressive views. If not for anything, I will recommend this book for people to appreciate our good fortune. The author’s writing style made me feel as if I was right there, experiencing the story with her. It was very visual.

‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls’ by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo- This is a book that contains stories of 100 girls/women who have challenged the thinking and mindset of the society around them and done something great in life. It is also the most funded original book in the history of crowd funding. They are a take on the original good night stories about a princess waiting for a prince to come and rescue her. The stories are written in a way that girls (or even boys) of all ages can enjoy them and get inspired. People might object to the fact that some of these stories are of pirates and conquerers, but these women too were rebellious and strong in their own ways. So I think its OK to have such stories included even if they may not create the best impression on young girls. I would recommend this book to young girls so that they get inspired to do something great in life and find a role model they can look up to.

    
     'Becoming’ by Michelle Obama- This book is the autobiography of Michelle Obama who was the First Lady of the US for 8 years. It talks about her journey from a simple family of Chicago to being First Lady and wanting to create an impact in the world. Firstly, I would recommend this book because of her writing style. To say the least, it is an extremely well-written book. Events transition so smoothly that it felt like watching a movie. I could empathise with Michelle and her struggles. I found her story so inspiring and full of strength that she is now my role model just by reading the book. Though I am neither an American nor a minority, I got so engrossed with her life-story that reading the book became highly engaging (I literally finished the book in two days)

Thank you for reading.