Every time I think of Charmed Life

[conuly]

I'm unfortunately hit by the reminder that Janet has no reason to keep Gwendolyn's secrets. Which means that none of that book should have even happened, because even if Janet had decided to play along for fun and adventure at the start of the book, she's a sensible and caring young girl, she clearly would've come clean as soon as it was obvious that they were in over their heads and Cat might actually die. (Again.)

Normally I'd say that we're trapped by genre conventions, as always, because no responsible adults would ever have let any of that happen at all - but then, this is DWJ, so that doesn't have to be a concern if we don't want it to be. (Also: Seriously, Janet just abandoned her home and her parents to be with Gwendolyn's brother and nobody says anything about this? Well, I guess she had no choice in the matter, but still. Responsible adults would've been concerned about this, and I like to believe that in real life even DWJ, with her own parental issues, would've realized how really weird that is!)

This post is brought to you by the person in /r/whatsthatbook who was trying to find Charmed Life, and incidentally slandered the Chants as not having switched to stainless steel because they were "too rich" to think of not using silver silverware. No, they didn't switch to stainless steel for the same reason they didn't switch to wood or aluminum utensils, because that would've been slightly weird and it took Janet, for whom it was not weird, to see the solution to Christopher's silver allergy. I only bothered solving that post so I could correct the poster's dire misunderstanding of the situation.

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Comments

[lilysea]

I remember being deeply shocked the first time I heard someone describe the parents in all the Diana Wynne Jones books as not-like-real-parents

because the parents in all the Diana Wynne Jones books were very similar to my actual real life parents.

[adrian_turtle]

Colombia's response to the Trump tariff showdown is, of course, posturing and threats and eventually backing down on the immediate point of contention. Colombia is tiny. (Trump and Musk talk about improving government efficiency, and saving far more than the entire GDP of Colombia.) But before backing down, Colombia's president pushed back with a speech that quite impressed me. I'm seeing it called a "wild rant," and I can understand why. I'm sure it's more eloquent in Spanish, but the rambling mix of fondness for America, deep love for Colombia, and fury against current US policy comes through in translation. It's very far from polite diplomacy, and I'm not saying it worked, even against a man who will not hear polite diplomacy. But I like it.

https://www.newsweek.com/colombia-president-petro-responds-trump-tariffs-full-statement-2021072

[conuly]

And hers!

[ethelmay]

I think in at least one of the sequels there's some concern shown for Janet never getting to see her family again.

[conuly]

The sequels which were written decades later? It's still weird.

[scripsi]

I think that is largely why this is my least favourite Chant book.

[conuly]

You'd expect Janet to at least suggest looping in the adults.

Weirdly, I love the book despite the fact that the plot falls apart if you squint at it too hard, but that's because Gwendolyn is just so awful, it's amazing.

[scripsi]

Gwendolyn is a hoot. And IMO even the weakest Wynne Jones is still a good book.

[thekumquat]

I only read one of her books as a kid - Dogsbody.

Took me a few goes over the years to understand it, but in that one the only parents are snappy, grumpy, resentful of the brother/in-law, and a heavy dose of anti-Irish sentiment. Which summered up most local parents, if not mine. Though mum did cover the first three. The only other parent mentioned is in prison for involvement in the Troubles. which I didn't directly know anything about at the time.

I read Charmed Life and others as a young adult, and the parents seemed the usual hands-off fictional type which mine aspired to be.

[conuly]

Have you ever read her autobiography?

[carbonel]

This was the first DWJ book I ever read (it was a catsitting thank-you present, along with Robin McKinley's Beauty), and I really liked the writing, even though I wasn't sure about the plotting then. (Now I'm sure it's full of holes, but still like it.)

In the book, Janet's take is that everyone was happier in their new spot except possibly her, and I'm wondering just how involved her parents were if they didn't even notice the change.