Wednesday Reading Meme (45. The Duchess War)

[osprey_archer]

What I've Just Finished Reading

Courtney Milan's The Duchess War, which I unexpectedly loved. Well, not completely unexpectedly: the whole Brothers Sinister series has a prequel novella, The Governess Affair, which I did enjoy a lot.

But I didn't expect to love this book quite this much, but I do, I totally do, because both Minnie and her paramour Robert the duke of Clermont have so many issues. Like, seriously, so many issues.

Minnie has a phobia of crowds so bad that she faints when too many people look at her, because of a bad experience with a mob in her childhood that left her with a scar on her cheek. (The exact details come out as the book progresses, and I won't spoil them here, but it leads to one of my favorite quotes in the book. "This?" she said, touching her cheek. "Oh, no. I intended to get that. I consider it a beauty scar.")

Meanwhile, Robert is convinced that no one will ever love him because neither of his parents did. His mother left his father because he was an abusive wastrel, but she returned once a year to visit Robert, and his father was always after Robert to be terribly adorable so she would cave in and decide to stay. It never worked, which exasperated his father: Any other boy, and things would be so much better. Even your mother doesn't want you enough to stay.

And of course having to harden her heart against her son again and again so she could leave her horrible husband at the end of each visit ended up more or less destroying the mother-son relationship, too. I think Robert's mother is my favorite character in this, actually, because she would have been so easy to make a caricature: as she says herself, when she visits the heroine's house to talk her out of marrying Robert, "I have read Pride and Prejudice. I know precisely what role you're casting me in - the officious Lady Catherine, foolish meddler, who believes that Darcy must marry her miserable daughter."

It's this great meta moment, because I totally had. She's not a nice person; her life experiences have hardened her too much for that. She's become exceptionally clear-eyed and pragmatic, and when Robert and Minnie go ahead and marry, she accepts the accomplished fact and calmly changes tack to help make the marriage a success.

And, issues and all, Robert and Minnie are perfect for each other. Perfect for each other! As Minnie says: "There is nothing stupid about your telling me that you love me. Ever."

What I'm Reading Now

Still Neverwhere, which is not catching fire for me. I promised a friend that I'd read it so I will finish it, but...yeah.

Also Gwen Raverat's Period Piece, which I think could have used a firm editor: someone willing to tell her that, no really, you cannot quote quite this extensively from your mother's (really rather boring and prosaic) letters.

What I Plan to Read Next

Courtney Milan's A Kiss for Midwinter, the companion to The Duchess War, which is about Minnie's best friend Lydia and, presumably, the way that she too finds true love.

Comments

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

I kind of love boring and prosaic letters (and diaries) in their place; in a weird way their boringness is an emotional link to the past for me. I like knowing that witty or observant or lyrical correspondence didn't come easily to everyone and that most of the existing diaries from any era are slightly less readable than any random selection of Facebook feeds. But I can definitely see not wanting to plod through a lot of boring and prosaic letters while reading what you were led to believe is a memoir.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of reading a student paper, where the student isn't quite sure how to integrate quotes into analysis and therefore uses far too many quotes in the hopes that this will cover the fact that they've put in precious little analysis. It's like, a little more effort, please?

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

yay, you loved duchess war! it's the least flashy book in the whole series, but robert and minnie are the pair closest to my heart; they're so wonderfully kind to each other, and the whole big thing in the end, where robert agonizes and castigates himself and does what he perceives to be right anyway, and then fully expects to be kicked out forever, and minnie just, like, let's talk about it and move on - ah, that was the balm to my id.

this, and when she listens to him tell this horrifying story about his mother's visits and just rolls with it for his sake, ah.

robert's mother is also one of my favorites. in the end, she tries so, so hard, and they go with it. damn yes.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Oh man, that ending. Robert is all "I am going to do this bad thing and then we will NEVER SPEAK AGAIN and I will lose the only person who I EVER BELIEVED WOULD LOVE ME but I have to do it!"

And Minnie finds out and she's like "Robert. Honey. Let's fight about this. Because if we don't fight we can never make up!"

And you can tell she's blown his tiny mind. Who ever heard of making up after a fight????

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

seriouslyyyyyyyy you can see his mind just going, like, DOES NOT COMPUTE, ABORT, ABORT MISSION, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE. poor, poor robert. so many hugs for robert.

and he's also so sad about his half-brother and he wants them as a family so badly, and like, my hearttttt.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

He had dreams - DREAMS of being part of his half-brother's family! And then they visited at Eton and saw that he looked just like his father and they were like O.o and he was all I'M GOING TO GO HIDE NOW, NO ONE WILL EVER LOVE ME.

Oh, Robert. You are such a tragedy.

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

i honestly can't believe nobody tried to heal him with their magical healing bodyparts before minnie. i just, how do you pass it up? HOW.

(btw lydia novella is fine but sort of... meh. at least to me, i didn't more than lukewarmly like any of the short stories. but i like that lydia's parents had honestly tried).

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I bet someone tried to put the moves on him and he just didn't notice. Or he noticed, totally freaked out about how he would be taking advantage of them because of all his powers as a duke etc. etc., and shut them down but good.

Then probably he went to his room and fretted about the possible latent rapist tendencies he might have inherited from his father. Meanwhile, downstairs, the young lady in question shrugged her shoulder and had a short but satisfying fling with Sebastian.

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

this is so tragically plausible i'm going to have a minute of silence for poor robert's personal life. because ow.

now you need to read the heiress effect! it's about said brother and how screwed up HE is, and there's a robert cameo, and the best heroine, and awesome female friendship twist, and ALL THE THINGS.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm glad she changes tack once the marriage happens--that both supports her portrayal as a pragmatist and makes her a shade more likable-seeming. And it really does sound as if the book was talking directly to you with that meta moment!

Also, a heroine who calls a scar a beauty scar is a heroine I'm prepared to like :-)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Likable might be putting things too strongly. I sure wouldn't want her as a mother-in-law, even after she put aside her implacable opposition to the marriage and decided to be helpful, because her version of helpful is awfully blunt. But she's interesting! And she's trying to do better (her awful husband died fairly recently, so this is basically the first chance she's had to meet her son without that shadow hanging over her), so I was rooting for her to figure that out.