Oh, yes, I do agree the suppression of emotion is a general part of mid-century middle-class life. Forest is so interested in those suppressed emotions, though, and how one suppresses them, and how one behaves in the presence of somebody who is trying to suppress them and maybe not managing, that it all begins to seem rather potty. Whereas I think other children's writers in particular often just take it for granted that you should suppress tears or immoderate pleasure, it is duly done or not done, and on with the plot. Maybe I'm being unfair, though, I read and re-read Forest a lot, but haven't re-visited much other children's lit of the period in adult life. (I might be one of those Forest snobs that people complain about sometimes *grin*).
I like that too: on first reading as a child I was nonplussed--my grandmother and great-aunt were respectively Betty and Peg, and I thought--but those are old-lady names! I don't think that was when I worked out how to read a publication-info page, though; I think it was a Lorna Hill novel and tights being a novelty to the protag. that did that.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-05-23 05:26 pm (UTC)I like that too: on first reading as a child I was nonplussed--my grandmother and great-aunt were respectively Betty and Peg, and I thought--but those are old-lady names! I don't think that was when I worked out how to read a publication-info page, though; I think it was a Lorna Hill novel and tights being a novelty to the protag. that did that.