Falconer's Lure readthrough: Chapters 10 and 11

[lilliburlero.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much to guest posters highfantastical and sprog_63 for their thoughtful and detailed prompts to discussion; I’m very grateful to both of them for taking over.



Patrick’s behaviour at the beginning of this chapter is quite enjoyably scrubby, I think, but it’s still rather scrubby. The Sprog’s choice of Nicola (who has, after all, been paying him more attention) perhaps shows the Sprog wiser in his choice of friends than Nicola herself. But I think it becomes clearer still here that Patrick’s interactions with the hawks are deflections and proxies for his grief for Jon; Nicola has a more direct affection for them as creatures in themselves. It’s a nice play on ideas of sentimentality: Patrick might seem the less sentimental in recognising that the Sprog is no sport, and letting him go, but the complex of reasons he does so are actually very much tied up with human sentiment; Nicola, though she might seem to be soppy about the Sprog, has a disinterested care for him as a living creature.

Peter’s feelings about his ciné-camera are marvellously knotty and difficult, I think: his sense of shame and alienation from the family since the cliff incident, his loss of confidence in himself are combined with the thrill of secrecy and aloofness in a very psychologically acute passage.

Lawrie reneging on bargains is characteristic throughout the books, but I’m always interested when Forest deliberately exempts Nicola from direct action (I have an affection for The Thuggery Affair which may not be widely shared.)

Anyone else think it odd that claustrophobic Ginty should even think of ‘skulking in a cupboard’ to avoid the Regatta? Just Forest nodding, or actually a nod to Ginty’s odd mixture of real and fabricated phobia and trauma at this point in the narrative?

The officious duo of Colonel Benson and Captain Marlow getting everybody organised is a delight, and surely worth a fic drabble at least.

Nicola’s patent pleasure in Peter’s win of the dinghy race, and Rowan and Ann’s suppression of same, is interesting in the context of the Marlows’ relationship with the community (and indeed of their conspicuous achievements at Kingscote): so is, perhaps, the rough consolation given Lawrie on her coming last in the swimming: ‘Everyone would have thought of us as That Awful Family That Wins Everything.’ Rowan is, perhaps understandably, since she’s got to live with it full time from now on, but a little uncharacteristically (?) particularly concerned to make a good impression.

We get a little more detail about Ginty’s invention of her marine phobia; and about Unity’s modus operandi. ‘It was sort of a game, a competition Unity had with herself--how mich more hurt and misunderstood she could be than anyone else in Upper IV’: it’s not quite clear in context if this is a move into 3rd person omnisicent narration or a realisation from Ginty’s point of view, but it seems to mark a turning point, as Ginty recognises that she might prefer Monica’s less invasive support.

Nicola’s application of her knowledge of Patrick’s shyness to her mother’s refusal of lunch at the clubhouse is a nice touch, I think: showing her growth of emotional perceptiveness across the novels. Mrs Marlow’s dismissal of Mrs Benson as suburban is inflected with class and perhaps some reflected Senior Service snobbery; useful for pinning down the Marlows’ sometimes nebulous class position: ‘explicitly’ is a perfectly delightful adverb there.

Karen is cross this hols, isn’t she? Snapping at Ginty’s lachrymosity might be understandable, but her bark at Lawrie over the wishbone seems grumpy. Guilt over Rowan taking over the farm?

I enjoy the comedy of the suggestions for Geoff’s ‘ship-warming’ present: so very characteristic of each family member. Nicola has retreated from her insight about shyness into the more childish attitude of being disgusted by the suggestion of a family photograph (I do like it that Forest shows emotional growth so realistically, in fits and starts, not as a steady teleological progression); Lawrie’s ‘binnacle’ always makes me giggle, as do Nicola’s Hornblower-inspired musings. I’m afraid I do imagine Geoff sniggering over the dirty bits in Pepys.

The teasing over the wishbone leads very believably, I think, into the more serious family dynamics of the conversation about Ann. Karen crunching her siblings again; though it’s Rowan here who’s really caustic. Peter seems to see some humour in Rowan’s put-down of Nicola, though I’m not surprised that Nicola doesn’t; perhaps Peter is just relieved that he seems to have got away without being unflatteringly characterised. And what a nice characterisation of Peter: ‘I can do all mine for myself’. He can, too.

Karen’s reaction to Ginty’s disappearance contrasts neatly with Ann’s concern and Rowan’s anger--which, natch, doesn’t affect Rowan’s swimming and diving performance--even Nicola keeps a cooler head than their eldest sister, in reminding her of the futility of worrying Mrs Marlow in addition to it all.

There is fic about this moment in Falconer’s Lure, incidentally.

I love the passage about Peter and Patrick in the diving competition. Peter’s resentment of Patrick overwhelming his pleasure in his other achievements--the very solicitous and sporting other competitors Nine and Thirteen: do they sense some of the atmosphere surrounding Peter and Patrick, somehow?--the Childe Roland allusion (Selby’s rather well-read, isn’t he? And I adore the flashback to Lieutenant Bethune on the bus and his comment about Hamlet; there are a couple of other references to Peter and Hamlet in the series, aren’t there? Hmm)--the magical thinking which links the poem to Dead Man’s Drop--Patrick’s ‘formal but somehow coaxing’ apology--the final irony of Patrick being the first to hear about the ciné-camera.

And finally in this chapter, the rebukes administered to Ginty and her abandonment of Unity-esque sensitivity. Again, I think this is a great bit of characterisation: Ann exasperated to her limit; Rowan furious and contemptuous (does Rowan feel the least bit remorseful about having bullied Ginty into entering the competition?) I feel for Ginty when Mrs Marlow tells her off, though--’if someone wants you to do something you don’t want to do, just say so’ rather underestimates the various pressures on her.





The brief sketch of Ellen Holroyd’s tea-party, its excitements and disappointments, is tantalising (this has been your regular scheduled &c.)

Ginty trying to ingratiate herself always makes me feel a bit glum, but she does seem to become friendly with Nicola again over the course of this chapter. She’s shed her opposition to blood-sports, we notice, and is looking forward to hunting. Some towny naiveté still in evidence in ‘we wouldn’t have to pay for stables and feed and stuff. It’s all at Trennels anyway’? Whatever about livery stables, feed still has to be paid for! I like Nicola’s ambivalent attitude to riding: it is presumably something she enjoys, in a sense, but it’s vexed with her sense of not being terribly competent or comfortable in horsy company. Her dismissal of ‘Pony Club types’ has an inflexion that reminds me of Mrs Marlow’s dislike of the bridge-and-golf set, and leads neatly on to Ginty’s uncomfortable reminder of Rowan’s rebuke to both of them.

Ginty’s social antennae are very lively, as she picks up information about the Reynoldses; it’s Nicola, typically, perhaps who notices that brother and sister don’t seem affectionate: the groundwork for the episode of Wendy’s cheating is being nicely laid here, I think.

Ginty’s sublime unconcern about the family being ‘stung to death’ echoes and contrasts with Ann’s concern about her at the Regatta very neatly, and also with Ann’s later panic over starting a fire in the attic. I also enjoy Ginty’s capacity to be wickedly amused by imagining Unity moving in on her next victim, though it perhaps reflects rather poorly on her.

Nicola’s silent misery over Wendy’s behaviour contrasts neatly with Patrick’s officious indignation, I think; and I enjoy the Greek chorus of Fred, Len and Syd.

Is Ann’s action so very ridiculous? We’re never given much information about the size of the fire, but it is structural, in a roof beam; I would have thought it was a situation that might be worth risking a false alarm.

Lawrie’s method of informing Wendy of her mistake (and discombobulating her in the process) is splendidly pointed, I think: it’s hard to sympathise with Wendy, given that’s she’s willing to risk serious injury to people and horses in pursuit of her vendetta, but there’s a cruel streak in what Lawrie does nonetheless.

Nicola’s divided loyalties over Patrick and Rowan in the jumping are very finely done--the reminder of Jon’s remark about Patrick’s guts always gets me, for some reason. And its culmination in Nicola’s horrified guilt at her own motivation for being upset at Rowan’s fall is Forest at her interpersonally complicated best. Nicola’s embarrassment at Oliver’s offer of the money twists the knife beautifully. Squirm.

The management would like to point out that Patrick Merrick has nothing to do with its LJ handle. (Tristram Shandy and the World Service, if you must know.) Patrick is not exactly gracious in victory: though I very much like the touch that he will tease Nicola about her fall to her face, but recount the truth of the matter to his father in private. As it happens, he has the truth of the matter in Nicola not being shaken and upset because of Rowan’s fall or her own, but there’s a cheerful, callous self-centredness there which is faintly reminiscent of Lawrie. I do wonder if that’s an unconscious attraction for Nicola; Patrick of course, rather dislikes Lawrie, and finds her foolish. Finally, Sprog is saved by the sale of the book, though not, as it happens, renamed Horatio. (It wouldn’t suit him.)



Many thanks again to our guest posters, and to everyone who’s participated so far: go for it!

I think there was general agreement that a break at this point might suit us all. Can I propose that we resume discussion on 29th August with End of Term? That should let most people get their summer hols out of the way (and write some fic?) and has a pleasing confluence with the back-to-school mood of the novel.

Before I go, I should just mention that legionseagle has given the hall-stand a happy ending in this fic, which also features a cameo by a teenage Robert Anquetil, already Bristol-fashion, bless his cotton socks. It was a great relief to me to know that the hall-stand did not end its days far from sea.

Comments

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Has anyone else read Ordinary Families by E Arnot Robertson? There is a regatta at which the family are intended to be sporting but not crush everyone else that is gloriously subverted when the father pushed them that bit too far - it is a rather great contrast to the regatta in FL.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Oh yes - indeed, I came across that episode excerpted in an anthology ages before I read the whole thing. I wonder if AF had read it

[legionseagle (from livejournal.com)]

Is that the one where the girl pov character, apart from all her other annoyances about the regatta, is also having a really bad period throughout?

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Karen being grumpy - she's in the liminal phase between school and university, and, given events yet to come, maybe perhaps is having doubts or qualms about its being what she really wants?

Karen

[sprog-63.livejournal.com]

I've never really read Karen as grumpy here; so I've gone back and re-read. Which has made me re-think!

I think I have previously seen these Karen episodes separately rather than as parts of a the whole, and as such didn't pick up an overall crossness. But when I do take them as a whole, as prompted here, I see what is meant by her being irritable this summer.

I do wonder if Karen, being that bit older, had begun to know Jon better than the others, and therefore her grief when he died had a more personal element to it ? Her outburst at Ginty over Ginty's pseudo grief about Fear No More is uncharacteristic. She has made plain her views about Unity already, but given she's not one to harp on about things already said, I think perhaps she is more honestly grieved over Jon’s death than the younger ones. This might well make her more irritable than normal. I could go with a qualm about the farm, though in the only conversation we hear about it, Rowan’s dismissal of the possibility of Karen doing that successfully is quietly accepted by Karen and the others as patently obvious. On the other hand, second thoughts about Oxford is a non-starter (for me, that is) as a reason for general snappiness this summer. On a subjective level Karen = Oxford, for me as for Nicola; and as Forest clearly didn’t plan ahead in the sequence of novels it is out of the question in a Doylist sense. We may well come back to Karen and Oxford later in the year.

Perhaps the day of the Regatta she was "cursed" and/or had not wanted to spend the day watching the others compete: she had hoped she could stay at home quietly reading. Captain Marlow had vetoed this with, "Everyone is going to the beach," and rather than argue, she came?

Whenever Karen intervenes in the lives of the younger ones at home there is a reason, and it is often helpful or protective (so she chooses Lawrie's poem for her and she lends Nick the entry money). If not specifically helpful in the this way she is peacekeeping (she does not like conflict) - I even see her entering a salad in that light (coming after Rowan and Ginty's first discussion about what/whether Ginty would be entering).

On the picnic she is her usual gentle self to start with, giving Lawrie the wishbone possibly because she wants it and she (Karen) really doesn't mind and possibly to shut her up. But Lawrie doesn't shut up. (And last time Lawrie started on a rant about it not being fair at a meal it ended them up with the realisation that the day had been the day of Jon's death and perhaps Karen wants to make sure they don’t go there again.) I see her intervention around Ann as protective - so the remark to Peter and Nicola is not about them, it's about Ann. And as you say, it is Rowan who picks it up and is more scathing.

I still can’t quite decide whether I see these as separate incidents or as part of a whole, though, but remain reluctant to cast Karen as “cross” this summer overall, even though I’ve just written some Watsonian possibilities!

[legionseagle (from livejournal.com)]

I think she may also be having qualms about how she is going to fit in at Oxford, no longer being the biggest fish in her small pool. Since the thing that distinguishes her is being "the clever one" that's reasonable from anxiety perspective.

[buntyandjinx.livejournal.com]

Lawrie and Patrick are very similar in their self-centredness - thank you for that observation, I'd never really thought about it before. The bridge and golf comment is SO Marlow, echoes of the ghastly Thorpe clan.

I do struggle with the idea of the Marlows in Hampstead, they've none of the qualities I associate (probably unfairly) with the area -which is 100% Miranda. I think the series really hits it's stride with Falconer's and that largely the results of relocating the family. Obviously AF started life in Hampstead then moved to Bournemouth, I don't know that much about her life, I wonder if she was conflicted.

bridge and golf

[antfan.livejournal.com]

Is this naive of me, but is "bridge and golf" necessarily a class thing, or just things that Mrs M finds boring? I mean, don't upperclass people play bridge and golf?

My feeling is that AF doesn't much like upper class women, as Mrs M is probably the only positive representation of one in the whole Marlow series that I can think of (I'm exempting women who work - ie the Kingscote staff. If you would consider them upper class, which is maybe doubtful. I'm talking about upper class not having to work.) That's partly why I'd question whether this is actually a snobbish remark.

When I think of service wives of this period I do tend to think of ghastly Mildred Latham types (Raj Quartet) and come to think of it, I bet she played bridge. Maybe that's what was meant, more than a dig at suburban/lower class types?

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I did feel rather sorry for Ginty - she tells them she doesn't want to participate, they dismiss this as her being a bit wet (which admittedly she is being) but still enter her despite of it. I don't think anyone mentions this later, do they? She's having one of one horrible phases where nothing quite seems to fit together emotionally. I know it gets blamed on Unity Logan, but I remember having wrung out patches around that age.

Ginty

[antfan.livejournal.com]

Agree with you - I feel sympathetic to her too. Though I think she could maybe have told one of her sisters that she was going AWOL - maybe that's actually what Mrs Marlow meant, rather than that she should never have entered the regatta in the first place?

She's being reformed in this book, I think - seeing the error of her ways and becoming a good egg in Chalet School style. But this doesn't last long...only a book or two...I think I'd take a Doylist perspective here (now that I understand what that means!) and argue that AF just finds a sensible proper-Marlow Ginty not as useful for her purposes. One to discuss in future books maybe.

Patrick/Peter/Nicola/fear

[jackmerlin.livejournal.com]

There are some lovely fleeting touches of characterisation in these two chapters. At the swimming gala, when Patrick apologises to Peter he says he has wanted to say sorry for ages but 'didn't want to come to the house'. Patrick's fear of strangers/shyness is his phobia, just as Peter's is heights; but whereas Peter can force himself to go along cliffs or enter diving competitions, Patrick can't make himself go to a house to see a friend in case he has to meet anyone else.
I also love Peter's growing awareness that his fear is never going to go away, he's going to have to keep jumping through hoops forever. It's a beautifully described moment of self-realisation.
At the gymkhana when Nicola is about to go; 'She didn't look nervous, for her face, like Rowan's, stayed calm, even when her inside felt as churned up as it did now. Ginty, who thought her as unmoved as she looked, considered it very remarkable of her.' So much in that one sentence - 1, There must be times when the reader/her sisters assume Rowan to be calm, when she is actually very scared inside; 2, Nicola, who we know is often worried or upset or nervous because we see the stories generally from her POV actually seems calm and unmoved to those around her; and 3, A rare example of Ginty being impressed by Nicola.

Re: Patrick/Peter/Nicola/fear

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much of his reluctance to go up to Trennels was about Jon, as well?

Re: Patrick/Peter/Nicola/fear

[mudkickerkicks.livejournal.com]

'whereas Peter can force himself to go along cliffs or enter diving competitions, Patrick can't make himself go to a house to see a friend in case he has to meet anyone else.'

But isn't that rather more mature of Patrick than Peter? (And I am assuredly not a Patrick - or indeed Peter - fan.) Maybe it's to do with Patrick not having hordes of siblings to tease/bully him if he doesn't want to do anything, so being able to be confident in what he wants and doesn't want to do. I personally, while an outwardly Confident Type, am very upfront about my shortcomings in being social around large groups (although I hope I am never rude...).

I do agree that Patrick's social anxiety (he is certainly not *shy*, I think, by the lordly way he talks to Nicola when they first meet) is his phobia just as Peter's is heights. But he is maybe less crippled in the sense of 'internal critic' by his phobia than Peter.

I love your insight into Ginty being impressed by Nicola here. While Ginty is obviously seeing her family in a kinder light now as she's Trying Her Best, I've always found this section quite sweet in the Ginty and Nicola bonding. I read FL, PR and MATT after all the school books and think Ginty comes out rather well in several chapters here compared to the school books, and MATT especially.

(Also, very much enjoyed your 'Ginty in Ireland' chapters, especially as I'm from N Ireland - looking forward to more.)

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all your magnificent recaps, and for letting us play too!

I really like your analysis of Nicola and Patrick's differing sentimentalities regarding the hawks. I feel that for Patrick they have become, even if they weren't originally, overdetermined -- in the context of the quick and successive loss of home context and, more permanently of course, sole friend.

[mrs-redboots.livejournal.com]

Patrick is apt to do that, though, isn't he; as we see in later books when it comes to the post-Vatican-2 Church.

What's behind the title?

[mainerobin.livejournal.com]

First I want to say how much I’ve enjoyed this book, though there is very little in the way of plot or action, it does answer so many of the questions I’ve had reading only the school stories. What was Trennels? Why did they move? Who was Cousin Jon? Why does Rowan run Trennels? What was Nick’s windfall? When and how did Nicola learn about hawks and why not Lawrie—to name a few of those questions. I also really like the scenes that give of peeks of the whole Marlow family. We know so little of anyone other than the girls from the school stories.

Big question for me is the title. I've thought of several possible takes on it: Is Patrick the falconer or the lure? Or is Jon the falconer and Trennels the lure?Or is Nicola the falconer and Patrick the lure? Or perhaps it is the free spirit of the falcon that lures Patrick, Nick, and Peter? What do all of you think.

I’m wondering whether AF got into learning about falcons first before she wrote in the need for Sprog in the Christmas play in EOT or the other way around. She had an interest in falcons and wanted to make them a character in her books.

One problem point, early in Chap 10 Nick wants to bring Sprog home if Patrick doesn’t want him, but there is no suitable place at Trennels for him. How did Jon get into falconry if he had no hawkhouse?

Re: What's behind the title?

[jackmerlin.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. Why is there no hawkhouse at Trennels? Especially as it was the main thing they all did when Jon and Geoff were young. My Watsonian explanation is that there was one once but it got converted/knocked down while Trennels was being a Commando school.

Re: What's behind the title?

[sprog-63.livejournal.com]

I've long wondered about the title too ... it is such a different sort of title from the pragmatic Term titles or indeed any of the other home ones which give a good hint about plot and that's about it. And there are different interpretations depending on whether "lure" is a noun or a verb.

Previously I've thought about Patrick being the Lure and Nicola the falcon; and Patrick the Falconer and Nicola being Lured by him. But I like Jon as the Falconer and Patrick as lured falcon too.

There is a repeating theme I hadn't previously noticed: how the birds draw two people together initially as a shared interest but then into a shared passion which spills over into their personal relationship and accelerates and intensifies the human relationship.

And if Nicola is a falcon in Patrick's eyes, I know which one I think she is, but it might count as a spoiler to say!

Re: What's behind the title?

[schwarmerei1.livejournal.com]

Big question for me is the title. I've thought of several possible takes on it: Is Patrick the falconer or the lure? Or is Jon the falconer and Trennels the lure?Or is Nicola the falconer and Patrick the lure? Or perhaps it is the free spirit of the falcon that lures Patrick, Nick, and Peter? What do all of you think.

I assumed the title was meant quite literally (and darkly.) The lure in falconry is a fake bird used for the raptor to chase and learn how to take a real quarry. In FL it's described as actually having scraps of meat attached to be extra tempting. So it's something enticing that turns out not to be the real thing. There's a lot of things that could apply to in this novel: false sentiments, illusions of friendship, decisions about one's future.

Anyone else?

BTW, sorry to have disappeared from the readthrough (not that I was commenting much) -- my main fandom interest had our annual ficathon, so I've been too busy for the last few weeks. It wasn't a matter of losing interest!

[(Anonymous)]

I love Sprog's refusal to be abandoned. He's much more engaging and pet-like than Regina or Jael.

[(Anonymous)]

Above was me - Occasional Hope - not at home so don't have password handy

[mudkickerkicks.livejournal.com]

Indeed! I love Sprog and think it's appalling that Patrick decides to just dump him and it's not seen as a bad thing in the authorial eye. Obviously Patrick is still upset about Jon, I am reading this through modern eyes and hawks aren't exactly pets, but it's really rather shabby.

Some favorite bits

[mainerobin.livejournal.com]

There were so many good passages in here. Of course, this is me reading for the first time so every new page is full of new delights. Some of my favorites:

I really appreciate the way AF understands the multiple emotions all of us contend with in our daily decisions. Peter’s anguish about the cine-camera is so well written. I’m really glad he tells Patrick about it finally. But the irony of getting the camera and now there’s no hawks to film reminds me O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi.

After Lawrie changes her mind about participating in the events, I laughed out loud this little insight into her warmish behavior. “She had spent a good deal of time proving to herself, without complete success, that it had been perfectly all right to go back on that impulsive offer. She'd only made it because she'd thought she wouldn't be there. So when she did know—. But all the same, it wasn't absolutely satisfactory. And it was very low of Nicola to keep reminding her.”


Love this bit too when Nick’s watching Peter sailing. Italics mine. “
His face jumped suddenly into the lens, looking set and anxious. With a twitch of sympathy Nicola supposed he was thinking, as she would have done, that the reputation of the Royal Navy was, for the next quarter of an hour, dependent entirely on his efforts. “

Re: Some favorite bits and Peter sailing

[sprog-63.livejournal.com]

You've picked some of my favourite bits too!

I wonder if Peter is also thinking about getting his father's (and other family member's) approval back? Captain Marlow was furious about the cliff rescue and the row rumbled for days. Nicola looks at Geoff through the telescope and see he is surprised as well as pleased (as is Rowan) about how well Peter sails.

Peter's triumphs are generally overshadowed by his failures: which I can understand from his perspective. What I find odd is his father seems to follow a similar line of thinking about Peter, so that he is surprised to find his son is a good sailor even though he's scared of heights - surely he's sailed with him at some point?

(Peter is always desperate to prove himself about something, of course, as he has little faith in his abilities).

Greek chorus

[bridgetblood.livejournal.com]

I enjoy the Greek chorus of Fred, Len and Syd
I really didn't like the three boys' parts; think they are an example of AF just not getting working-class voices - I can't imagine one of a group of (?) 8-year-olds saying "We think he's smashing" about an older boy.

Re: Greek chorus

[jackmerlin.livejournal.com]

Totally agree; I've never felt that happy about the three boys. I think they're supposed to be ten, because it says Nicola surveys them over the gulf that separates thirteen from ten.
I know from having a ten year old model myself, that they do like to choose a team or competitor to support whenever they're watching a sporting event, so I get the way they choose Ollie to support, although I think it's a bit odd that they choose a rider rather than their favourite pony. Riders at shows do all look rather alike. And spotting Wendy cheating and making a fuss about it is plausible enough; I think it's just the way they talk that grates.

*I* shall be all right...

[intrepid--fox.livejournal.com]

Does anyone else love this brief moment when Marlows young and old, whether grumpy, cynical, bullied, riven by self-doubt etc etc, unite to gently take the piss out of their mother?

Re: *I* shall be all right...

[learnsslowly.livejournal.com]

Yes. I love that bit too.