Post by rallycairn on Dec 30, 2010 13:36:31 GMT 1
DO NOT READ IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN UNSPOILED!
WARNING: VERY LONG POST!
Just reading the Eventer’s Trilogy for the first time and am very struck by the relationship between Elaine and the Fanes, particularly the sisters. I have to say that initially I had a fair bit of sympathy for the Fanes and could see why Elaine would stay with them even without getting any monetary compensation, but by the third book I was liking the sisters a good bit less, for several reasons.
I’m really just musing aloud so I know I won’t be very coherent here but would love to get some discussion going on these characters.
First of all, in the opening sequence in the first book I got the impression of women who were eccentric and late middle-aged. Then it was revealed that the mother was still living so I revised my impression but still thought they were forties or at least thirties. I had some sympathy for them at that point for the state of the yard and the malnourishment of the horses, figuring they had spent a lifetime watching their lifestyle decay and were prematurely careworn by life’s vicissitudes and the constant struggle for money. So when chided by Elaine for not even exercising the horses properly and letting them have blocked drains in their stalls, thrush, not grooming them, etc. I still felt sympathy, thinking they were past physically being able to do all that work or at least were getting a little creaky with age. Because after all beyond the relatively low cost of grooming tools, keeping the horses groomed and their feet picked and their stall drains flowing just required labor, not money, which I do understand that they didn’t have. But THEN we get snippets about how they are attractive and lovely and we are given lots of info about their dress and personal habits and then it seems they are more likely in their 20’s. They act a bit maternal/protective over Elaine regarding Forster, so they seem to have at least a few years on Elaine, but it is probable they aren’t too far apart since their parents end up together (of course the parents aren’t guaranteed to be the same age, but it is at least probable, so then their children would be roughly the same age, or at the very least the same generation). And that just makes me less sympathetic to them for not taking better care of the horses at least as regards to simple physical labor demands – however short on money they were they could’ve kept the stalls mucked and the horses groomed, or at least done better at it.
And I don’t mean to offend any members of the forum, I’m in my forties myself, and I know plenty of 40-somethings and 50-somethings can run rings around plenty of younger people, but just speaking generally a lot of us don’t have the energy, stamina, and lack of aches and pains we had when we were in our teens and twenties. So that makes the Fane sisters seem much less caring of the horses to me. And it also makes me feel they should be all the more grateful to Elaine for coming in and doing all that work they really were capable of doing much of themselves, had they more gumption and discipline. Good heavens, with just a good plan and some hard labor Elaine had the place greatly improved in only a couple of days. I would’ve thought Henrietta and Nigella might’ve felt a little ashamed a girl just a few years younger than they could quickly improve their situation so much! And clearly the Fanes have plenty of horse care and riding knowledge, based on many incidents throughout the books, so what was their excuse? Did they think themselves above the manual labor and the need to have a management plan for their business? So they lose some of my sympathy in that regard.
But they lose much more of my sympathy when in the final book they want to say Elaine doesn’t own Legend outright. Come on, ladies, if you’re going to get ugly about Legend’s increased value, and insist you still own some unspecified percentage of him, then Elaine could also get very, very ugly about never.getting.a.single.bit.of.cash for really turning their whole business around and doing a major overhaul of the stable facilities and routines in a very short time. Elaine could have a legal argument that she’s owed a lot more than just the groom’s wages she never received, since she did do a lot more than just act as groom – she became their business manager right from the get-go, and also something of a trainer for them, too. Yes, I know Elaine got The Comet, but that was when he was seen as nothing more than meat for the knacker. And on top of that, Elaine was the ONLY one who gave Legend the training. Yes, the Fanes helped with the training fund and they were supportive in terms of reading from a book on eventing, but it was largely Elaine who gave Legend the added value. So legally they might have an argument but how truly fair was it for them to change the terms like they wanted to? I mean, Elaine paid them back Legend’s purchase price plus 30% interest in just a few months, so that’s a pretty good profit on a short-term loan. I was so glad Lady Fane stepped in on the girls over that one.
I was really getting irritated with Elaine in the first two books for every few months threatening to leave Havers Hall or at least pondering other job and living options, but then for me the Fanes became less likeable so I could understand Elaine’s feelings.
I do appreciate that they were willing to have the horses put down humanely when they thought they were going to lose everything, and give them credit for that. But still, after the Legend ownership threats, I believe I would have hesitated more than Elaine did over passing over yet another opportunity for the big time to remain at Havers Hall. Especially since, with their parents’ marriage, she could easily maintain some ties with the Fanes regardless of whether she worked there.
BTW I want to be clear that I do absolutely love the books, especially the Little Legend into the Old Bay Mare story, and how that gave rise to Another Legend’s name, and the books are absorbing reads and highly rated and recommended as far as I’m concerned. But the Fane sisters, I’m just not so sure I rate THEM as highly as Elaine does.
WARNING: VERY LONG POST!
Just reading the Eventer’s Trilogy for the first time and am very struck by the relationship between Elaine and the Fanes, particularly the sisters. I have to say that initially I had a fair bit of sympathy for the Fanes and could see why Elaine would stay with them even without getting any monetary compensation, but by the third book I was liking the sisters a good bit less, for several reasons.
I’m really just musing aloud so I know I won’t be very coherent here but would love to get some discussion going on these characters.
First of all, in the opening sequence in the first book I got the impression of women who were eccentric and late middle-aged. Then it was revealed that the mother was still living so I revised my impression but still thought they were forties or at least thirties. I had some sympathy for them at that point for the state of the yard and the malnourishment of the horses, figuring they had spent a lifetime watching their lifestyle decay and were prematurely careworn by life’s vicissitudes and the constant struggle for money. So when chided by Elaine for not even exercising the horses properly and letting them have blocked drains in their stalls, thrush, not grooming them, etc. I still felt sympathy, thinking they were past physically being able to do all that work or at least were getting a little creaky with age. Because after all beyond the relatively low cost of grooming tools, keeping the horses groomed and their feet picked and their stall drains flowing just required labor, not money, which I do understand that they didn’t have. But THEN we get snippets about how they are attractive and lovely and we are given lots of info about their dress and personal habits and then it seems they are more likely in their 20’s. They act a bit maternal/protective over Elaine regarding Forster, so they seem to have at least a few years on Elaine, but it is probable they aren’t too far apart since their parents end up together (of course the parents aren’t guaranteed to be the same age, but it is at least probable, so then their children would be roughly the same age, or at the very least the same generation). And that just makes me less sympathetic to them for not taking better care of the horses at least as regards to simple physical labor demands – however short on money they were they could’ve kept the stalls mucked and the horses groomed, or at least done better at it.
And I don’t mean to offend any members of the forum, I’m in my forties myself, and I know plenty of 40-somethings and 50-somethings can run rings around plenty of younger people, but just speaking generally a lot of us don’t have the energy, stamina, and lack of aches and pains we had when we were in our teens and twenties. So that makes the Fane sisters seem much less caring of the horses to me. And it also makes me feel they should be all the more grateful to Elaine for coming in and doing all that work they really were capable of doing much of themselves, had they more gumption and discipline. Good heavens, with just a good plan and some hard labor Elaine had the place greatly improved in only a couple of days. I would’ve thought Henrietta and Nigella might’ve felt a little ashamed a girl just a few years younger than they could quickly improve their situation so much! And clearly the Fanes have plenty of horse care and riding knowledge, based on many incidents throughout the books, so what was their excuse? Did they think themselves above the manual labor and the need to have a management plan for their business? So they lose some of my sympathy in that regard.
But they lose much more of my sympathy when in the final book they want to say Elaine doesn’t own Legend outright. Come on, ladies, if you’re going to get ugly about Legend’s increased value, and insist you still own some unspecified percentage of him, then Elaine could also get very, very ugly about never.getting.a.single.bit.of.cash for really turning their whole business around and doing a major overhaul of the stable facilities and routines in a very short time. Elaine could have a legal argument that she’s owed a lot more than just the groom’s wages she never received, since she did do a lot more than just act as groom – she became their business manager right from the get-go, and also something of a trainer for them, too. Yes, I know Elaine got The Comet, but that was when he was seen as nothing more than meat for the knacker. And on top of that, Elaine was the ONLY one who gave Legend the training. Yes, the Fanes helped with the training fund and they were supportive in terms of reading from a book on eventing, but it was largely Elaine who gave Legend the added value. So legally they might have an argument but how truly fair was it for them to change the terms like they wanted to? I mean, Elaine paid them back Legend’s purchase price plus 30% interest in just a few months, so that’s a pretty good profit on a short-term loan. I was so glad Lady Fane stepped in on the girls over that one.
I was really getting irritated with Elaine in the first two books for every few months threatening to leave Havers Hall or at least pondering other job and living options, but then for me the Fanes became less likeable so I could understand Elaine’s feelings.
I do appreciate that they were willing to have the horses put down humanely when they thought they were going to lose everything, and give them credit for that. But still, after the Legend ownership threats, I believe I would have hesitated more than Elaine did over passing over yet another opportunity for the big time to remain at Havers Hall. Especially since, with their parents’ marriage, she could easily maintain some ties with the Fanes regardless of whether she worked there.
BTW I want to be clear that I do absolutely love the books, especially the Little Legend into the Old Bay Mare story, and how that gave rise to Another Legend’s name, and the books are absorbing reads and highly rated and recommended as far as I’m concerned. But the Fane sisters, I’m just not so sure I rate THEM as highly as Elaine does.