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Post by Claire on Mar 31, 2009 22:24:45 GMT 1
Well at last we have got to the last one in the series, Pony Club Camp by JPT This is my fav and in fact one of my all time fav pony books so I am dead excited ( and a saddo ) I hope lots of you have read it/are going to read it and will post.
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Post by darkhorse on Apr 5, 2009 19:11:25 GMT 1
I have read it but it was a while ago now so I will have to skim over it and see if I can remember what I was going to say about it
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Post by Claire on May 16, 2009 16:13:36 GMT 1
OMG just realized we never discussed this!
This is my all time favourite of the series, in fact of all JPT's books. I think I like it partly cos it is so funny, partly cos the characters are so familiar by now, and partly cos it is a departure from the more competitive plots in the previous books in the series. We also have quite a few new characters emerging in this book.
The whole book is full of humour: in character, in slapstick situations and in the witty dialogue which Jo is really good at. The two main humourous plot strands are the continuous matchmaking by Gay Millwood and the over-competitve frenzy which Christopher gets himself into when trying to win the camp competition.
I love the character of Gay. She was briefly introduced in One Day Event but comes into her own as a major character here. She is a little meddlesome but in a nice and funny way. She decides to act as matchmaker between Noel and Henry. Her reasoning behind this is that if they don't marry each other they may go off and marry unhorsy people and the pony club will lose their junior instructors! She tries to rope in all her friends to encourage the pair and push them together. As she says. "I want them engaged before camp ends." Once again the major provides some very funny dialogue, this time when discussing marriage with Gay who is trying to get him to put his seal of approval on a marriage between Noel and Henry but ends up being misconstrued as the major assumes she is talking about herself!
By now the new and unimproved Christopher who appeared in One Day Event has developed into a really obnoxious character. He is full of himself, selfish and totally over-competitive, traits which JPT seemed to despise. (In fact he is the complete opposite to our heroine Noel who is extremely self-effacing, unsure of her own abilities and always has 'the needle' when competing). Apart from the matchmaking/romance strand the main plot of the book centres around the camp competition and Christopher, who when he becomes a section leader, immediately becomes obsessed with winning. This gives rise to some quite funny moments as people start mark-grubbing and thinking up weird and wonderful ways to get good marks. As Donald says to Christopher. "Can't one move without you translating it into marks?" And at the end of camp ehen everyone has been waxing lyrical about how wonderful camp has been and how they have enjoyed it Christopher pipes up with "I wonder who has won the camp competition?"
Some of the slapstick moments include the scavenger hunt with fleas, frogs and all sorts of things running amok. Also the 'glove' incident in the camp inspection thing is very funny and always makes me laugh aloud.
Another thing I like about the book is that the characters are allowed to grow up. They are not stuck in a time bubble as in some series (The Jackie books spring to mind!). Unlike other books such as the Moors series in which consensus of opinion is that the older characters were phased out to make way for newer ones to stay in keeping with the age of the readership, in this book JPT was allowed to keep her old familiar characters whilst introducing newer ones and having the younger characters growing up to the age of the main characters in the first book in the series. In this way she can still appeal to the younger readers but we dont lose our old friends. It is nice too that the older characters often refer to events which happen in the earlier books giving us a real sense that this is life happening in a real evolving world. For instance, Noel and Henry discuss the time they stayed at Folly Court (in Pony Club Team) and also his penchant for quoting poetry and irritating people (in Radney Riding Club). The nostalgia that Noel and Henry feel is shared by me as I remember the first times I read the books. From being children getting instructed by the major we see the opposite side of things as Noel and Henry are now junior instructors and have to cope with the same problems the Major did. Having them grow up like this also means that the book is a very good read for adult readers too.
Along with the characters getting older, we have a theme of romance introduced. The PTs on the whole did romance quite well, whilst not ignorining it completely which is a bit unrealistic with teenage characters, they always managed to keep it unobstrusive and never cloying. The book does have quite a lot of references to love and romance but they are nearly all funny. There is of course Gay's matchmaking, there is Nicholas's admiration from afar of Noel, the discussion of Henry's techniques for chatting up women in town, and Marion's devotion to the awful Christopher. We see a growing sympathy developing between Noel and Henry which is slipped neatly into the plot between scenes. The well known kiss scene in the book is an extremely well written piece. It never descends into sloppy sentimental mush, but at the same time it does look deeply into the problems of falling in love. Noel and Henry discuss the difficulties of marrying young with no money or career versus the fact that they may grow apart if they postpone it too long, and it is quite a serious conversation. But JPT stops it getting too deep by introducing her characteristic humour. When the crucial kiss moment arrives it is deliberately non-romantic as Henry says to Noel, "I'll give you a kiss if you like" and Noel replies, "That's jolly nice of you." This really is a much more realistic view of young love than the teen angst books or Mills and Boon storylines.
The only thing I dont like much about the book is the character of Donald who is quite annoying. And the bit where he is rewarded at the end does not quite have the feel of realism. But all in all this is just a superb ending to a superb series. I dont know about the rest of you, but I always feel quite sad and empty after finishing this book as if saying goodbye to old friends. Thankfully I can revisit them again and again in the future!
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Post by darkhorse on May 23, 2009 18:25:02 GMT 1
Hi Claire, agree with most of what you say, except that I find Christopher annoying more than funny most of the time. It's good that he gets his come-uppance at the end when his team come nowhere. I like the bit where Henry is complaining that his Uncle has gone all boy-scouty and will be appearing in shorts next ;D Also the bit where they are doing the pony club tests and Gay gets the giggles with her examiner. Lots of funny moments.It's a perfect end to the series. I only wish Josephine had written more. The kiss bit was the first bit of romance I can remember in a pony book.
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Post by Claire on May 30, 2009 10:57:50 GMT 1
Hi all just noticed comments and voting have been a bit thin on the ground for this book. Anyone else read it and would like to add their input?
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2009 13:16:56 GMT 1
Sorry, I haven't managd to get this one yet I'm glad to hear it! I'm not into sloppy stuff
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Post by fizz on May 30, 2009 13:19:54 GMT 1
I think it's a bit odd that lots of the posters on this board have stated this as one of their favourites, that more comments haven't been posted. I had almost forgotten about it.
What can I say? Perversely compared to the majority I consider it the least good of the series (with the exception of One Day Event). I can't really put my finger on why, where as One Day Event I found somewhat boring, with rather too much instructional content. There seems to be a briskness of tone in the book, there are a lot of new characters & I don't think they seem sufficiently developed; perhaps they are considered secondary to the plot, but then Donald appears as a main character. There some odd inconsistencies as well, Susan appeared as being the same age as Noel in the earlier books yet she appears as an Associate where as Noel & Henry are no longer club members & are staff. Merry makes a reappearance which is odd, even though her character hasn't changed much, she is obviously respected enough to be invited to be on the camp staff, I think it is odd JPT used her in this book with no description of what happened to her between Pony Club Team & this book. Some of the humour is good but doesn't in my opinion compare to that in Radney Riding Club. It is also interesting that in that book we meet new characters but they are much better developed & believable than in Pony Club Camp. Also I think it has dated more than some of the previous volumes, the sense of history is no bad thing. Is there anyone on these boards who remembers camps being so militaristic with sections referred to Lancers etc? I was in the Pony Club in the 1970s, there was kit inspection, but I don't think my Mum would have let me go to the quasi military experience of West Barsetshire. She wouldn't let me join the Brownies or Guides as she thought it was too like the Hitler Youth! All in all I found the book a bit unsatisfying; I did read it first as an adult though & that might make a difference.
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Post by kunuma on May 30, 2009 14:18:07 GMT 1
Interesting thinking about the type of regime in a PC camp - I went to one in the dim, dark ages of long ago, and they did have teams, with rosettes for the winning team - and people did spend ages poshing up the muck heaps and arranging buckets in rows. The ponies were tied in stalls on that ball and rope thing - and several of them, mine included - had never been tied up all night before and took a very dim view of it indeed. Mine escaped and wandered round all night, only the 'good' ponies got stables! Coming from a non horsy family, and hacking to everything on a hairy pony - I think Pony Club for me was my introduction to the not so good, snobbish side of horsy people - which is even worse nowadays!! Suffice to say, I remember an awful lot of Junes! But I loved the book all the same, and I do remember with great joy the times that those of us with ordinary ponies beat the stars! ;D
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Post by Claire on May 30, 2009 19:15:22 GMT 1
Well I was never in the Pony Club at all as there wasnt one our way (not a 'posh' enough area) so I found the idea of the camp fascinating as a child, much as I found that of boarding schools in the Malory Towers books compelling. I didn't find the camp particularly military or fascist and with the exception of June and Merry the members were if anything more down to earth than a lot of snooty PC people. I do find people's views that go against the majority particularly interesting and I enjoyed reading your post fizz. I do agree that many of the newer characters weren't as detailed as those in Radney but I think this was because of the nature of the book which didnt follow the same pattern of concentrating on a small number of main characters throughout as did the other books in the series.
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Post by zoe on Jun 3, 2009 14:03:03 GMT 1
I love this book especially the fact that the characters are all growing up. I like reading about pony camp as I never went as a kid - I had a pony but couldn't afford pc as well.
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Post by Buster on Jun 3, 2009 15:42:13 GMT 1
Reading this now!! Camps good, but havnt been for yearrrs... possibly cos I quit pony club! And im away for the last few days this year Maybe next year if im lucky!
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Post by foxglove on Nov 11, 2011 10:47:37 GMT 1
I have finally got round to reading this, about 20 years too late! At least as an adult I got to read them in the right order. It is an interesting sensation meeting "classic" books as an older reader; I didn't think I Wanted A Pony was all I'd expected, but was blown away by Dream of Fair Horses and Martin Rides The Moor.
My main gripe with Pony Club Camp is the barrage of character details that JPT has to hurl at the reader in order to set the scene. With 20 campers, an awful lot of them are filler to make up the numbers, and I'm afraid I found it difficult to remember who was related to who, who was in which team, who shared a tent and the ponies of the minor characters. I think she handled this more strongly with the Woodbury series, which has a list of participants and details of their pony at the front of the book. I also found the ponies to be quite incidental, there is not much of their personalities and quirks, it's all about the riders.
The humour is great of course (both slapstick situation and witty dialogue), and the camp itself sounds enormous fun, particularly the scavenge hunt and the sound chase. It's a satisfying end to the series in terms of Noel and Henry; the suggestion is there without it being tritely tied up. I found it slightly puzzling that Noel had left school, but didn't appear to have a job or plans for further education, but perhaps that's what it was like then. Out of interest, I just looked up "debutantes" and discovered that the last time they were officially presented at court was 1958, as the Queen abolished the ceremony thereafter. So at the time of the book's publication Town Henry would have been experiencing the last of this upper class tradition.
Overall I enjoyed the book, but wouldn't class it as a personal favourite. I need to read the series again to decide which I liked best; possibly the Radney Riding Club.
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Post by Claire on Nov 11, 2011 13:33:32 GMT 1
Interesting to hear comments about the book from someone who met the book for the first time as an adult. I grew up with the series so I can't imagine that perspective. There were more characters in this book than in the others but I never really had any difficulty remembering who was who. (Conversely I found the characters in the Woodbury series far more confusing). This is possibly cos I knew all the main characters inside out so only had to concentrate on the new ones, but I also think JPT does give most of the newcomers their own personality traits to distinguish them from the others such as Nicholas' crush on Noel and Donald's laziness. A few are definitely fillers.
I agree that the ponies characters are not fleshed out much but I don't think you could fit that in with all the other stuff that was going on. This story is more about the camp and human dynamics than about riding or rider/horse relationships, its quite different to the other books in the series and probably (tho this sounds weird in a book that is set in a pony club camp) the least horsy of the series. Its like the other books were riding lessons with all the instruction and in this one the PC members were allowed to let off steam and just have fun.
Interesting foxglove that you like Radney best, as for most people its the weakest link in the series.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2011 14:39:58 GMT 1
I'm going to read this for the first time very soon. Really intruiged now after all the different comments....
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Post by susanb on Nov 11, 2011 16:34:00 GMT 1
Not for me, it was also my favorite. I, too, came to the series as an adult...I wonder if the people who come to it as an adult are more likely to pick Radney as their fave?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2011 19:21:08 GMT 1
Now I'm going to throw a spanner in the works... I've read them all first as an adult (apart from PCC of course, really can't wait to read it now) and Radney is my least fav of them. Didn't hate it or anything, I just didn't like it quite as much as the others.
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Post by fizz on Nov 11, 2011 19:34:05 GMT 1
I read Radney first when I was 13 & then again as an adult, it washed over me at 13 & i loved it as an adult. I loved the detail, the humour, the depiction of social class & adult behaviour. However I did read the first edition & when it was reviewed somewhere (on this or Jane's board) someone remarked some of the bits I pointed out were missing from their edition. I have read Team in both editions & there is a lot missing in the Armada paperback, likewise of course with Six Ponies. So it might be that if you have read a paperback or later version you have missed some of the best bits.
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Post by Claire on Nov 11, 2011 19:37:20 GMT 1
Actually I think there seem to be 2 camps (pony club camps? ) - those who find Radney their least favourite and those who find it their favourite.
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Post by susanb on Nov 11, 2011 20:15:46 GMT 1
I read the first edition of all the books, so was definitely comparing apples to apples.
Re the two camps....there's another set that has inspired a split: Dorothy Sayers' Wimsey books...people are either in camp Nine Tailors or in camp Murder Must Advertise (I'm in the latter).
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Post by jinglerebel on Nov 12, 2011 4:14:37 GMT 1
This is my favourite - the pages in my copy are falling out! - which is surprising as I hate camping (ugh, school camps) with a passion, but I liked the idea of camping with ponies and pony friends. I still love the pb cover photo.
Too many characters to keep track of, though. It's tiresome to read about how every rider does in the schooling and jumping sessions.
I've only read PC Team and Radney though. I really don't like Radney, I tried reading it again recently and couldn't get into it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2011 18:52:19 GMT 1
Absolutely loved this book! By far the best one I think. It had me giggling a lot and I so wanted Henry and Noel to get married! ;D
I'd say the first and last in this series are my favourites.
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Post by Claire on Nov 17, 2011 20:34:03 GMT 1
Absolutely loved this book! By far the best one I think. It had me giggling a lot and I so wanted Henry and Noel to get married! ;D I'd say the first and last in this series are my favourites. I agree totally rosie
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