Tots to Teens
Star Mag, 19th November 2006
Thumbs up for homely pleasures
Byline: Daphne Lee
I WAS at Kinokuniya yesterday and was pleased to see that they have new editions of two books that I love: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright and Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr.
The former is the first in a four-part series about a family called Melendy. My introduction to the Melendys happened about eight years ago when I found an ex-library copy of The Four-Storey Mistake at the The Junk Bookshop in Jalan Tun H. S. Lee, Kuala Lumpur.
I confess the book was in a sealed cardboard box which I probably had no right to open. However, I have always found sealed boxes, especially if they promise to contain books, hard to resist! Anyway, I opened that box, found The Four-Storey Mistake (a 1968 Dell Yearling edition) and bought it, despite its really ugly cover. I bought it because it was about a family and I adore stories about families. Also, it had lovely line illustrations by the author. It’s the second book in the series. The next two are Spiderweb for Two and (my favourite) Then There Were Five.
The new editions are published by Henry Holt & Co. Unfortunately they’re hardbacks. I wish my copies were, and I would consider investing in these ... if they had nicer covers. But if you’re new to the Melendys, you might think half a dozen times (at least) before forking out over RM60 for each book.
I say they’re worth every sen, but then, that’s me. I’m a sucker for stories about close-knit families who enjoy the simple pleasures of life – like eating home-cooked meals, swimming in woodland ponds and going on treasure hunts. If you like stories about teens obsessing about their sex lives or their wardrobes, forget the Melendys. But if you’re keen on, say, the Little House books, or Little Women, or even Anne of Green Gables, then you should give this family a chance.
As for Marianne Dreams, I lent it to a friend who loves spooky, suspenseful mysteries and ... he hated it! I can’t understand why as it’s one of the most deliciously disturbing children’s fantasies I’ve ever read.
Marianne, ill and bedridden, finds an old pencil and draws a house with it. That night, she dreams about the house. Each day, Marianne adds to her picture and whatever she draws comes vividly and frighteningly to life in her dreams.
Catherine Storr wrote a sequel of sorts to this book. It’s called Marianne and Mark, and I was really disappointed and puzzled by it. Mark is a boy whom Marianne meets in her dreams. She meets him in the flesh in the sequel, but there’s only a fleeting acknowledgement that the pair have a strange shared history.
Marianne Dreams is an unusual and compelling tale, but it seems to me that Marianne and Mark is just about two awkward rather boring teenagers. I guess it’s rather subtle of Storr not to write another mystery. I’ve seen the Melendy series and Marianne Dreams at Payless Books, so you don’t have to pay the earth for these titles. It’s just nice to see that they’re being re-issued - in hardcover, no less! It’s nice to know that books like these, full of original ideas and interesting characters, are still valued.
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