The Dodds

[nickwhit.livejournal.com]

Found this discussion on AF elsewhere, in which someone said how much they'd hated the Dodds. And I suddenly thought 'yes! me too!'. Whilst I loved certain things about RMF (Nicola collecting The Idiot, riding home and the fight with Lawrie; the bathroom conversation after Kay's dropped her bombshell), I invariably speed-read through all the Dodds episodes (especially the rescuing-Fob-from-the-wreck episode), even the climactic rescuing of Rose. I felt the same about the Edward storyline in RAH - the more that takes off, the less I'm interested.

For me, AF is at her best not when she's driving forward a plot, but for the way in which she manages to convey her characters' inner life. (Sometimes I think my favourite book is Falconer's Lure, where there is no one major story arc.) And the Dodds, for me, in both books where they feature at any length, are essentially plot devices.

Am I being unspeakably harsh? How does everyone else feel about them?

Comments

[antfan.livejournal.com]

I do like the Dodds, and I like RMF a lot (not RAH though). the Dodds all seem very REAL in RMF and I do like the scenes with them although they are younger children, and we don't really experience their inner lives in the books, so I don't think it's possible to identify with them in the same way as Nicola etc. Rose seems like somebody who might turn out very interesting - the developed fantasy life, the obsessive reading, the various fears and phobias - but she's a very reserved child at this stage in her life.

I also like Edwin, to some extent - and I don't really understand why everybody is so down on him! The point with him, I think, is that underneath an extremely brusque, awkward manner he does have integrity, strong feelings and a passionate interest in his work - even a sense of humour. Nicola comes to see his value in the end.

The Dodds do do seem like plot devices in RAH, but so unfortunately does everybody else IMO. I don't like anybody in this book very much, or the plot....and it feels peculiarly dated to me, a sort of madcap holiday adventure Swallows and Amazons thing going on in the eighties. There's a lot more character complexity in RMF - it's such an interesting situation, whereas the whole Edward Oeschli story is pretty flat. And Giles is a real problem for me in this book....he just seems a type to me, bold, dashing young naval officer, and AF lets him dominate her other characters completely, which makes the Marlows much less interesting as an ensemble.