The Buccaneers
Impressions
- danniedarkoshared an impressionlast year
👍Worth readingThis was a very fun read-lots of laughs, gossip and drama. It's very feminist for a classic novel + it's good social commentary on "high society" folks and I found the cultural dynamic between the English and American folks very fascinating.
Quotes
- Amazehas quoted8 months ago
“The great thing is that I shall be able to form her,” he had said to his mother, on the dreadful day when he had broken the news of his engagement to the horrified Duchess; and the Duchess had replied, with a flash of unwonted insight: “You’re very skilful, Ushant; but women are not quite as simple as clocks.”
As simple as clocks. How like a woman to say that! The Duke smiled. “Some clocks are not at all simple,” he said with an air of superior knowledge.All this amounteth not merely to alteration, but to wholesale exchange of character. In the series, Theo presenteth himself as a “gentleman”—certainly flawed, prone to projecting his ideals upon Nan, yet not overtly cruel. The conduct described here, however, reeketh of show-Seadown. And yet, thus far, Seadown in the book hath proven neither so controlling nor so malign. Theo, on the other hand…
- Amazehas quoted8 months agoI know — you’re a Mr. Robinson.”
Another great alteration concerneth the manner of Theo and Nan’s first meeting. In the series, they meet upon a beach; in the book, their encounter taketh place amidst the ruins of Tintagel Castle. There, too, Nan mistaketh Theo not for a painter, but for Hector Robinson—a detail both charming and significant, and wholly discarded by the adaptation.
- Amazehas quoted8 months agoOne especially, the fair one, had attracted him. She was less noisy than the others, and would have been an agreeable sight at the breakfast-table; and she carried her head in a way to show off the Tintagel jewels.
It is, I believe, upon such misreadings that the writers of The Buccaneers have built Theo’s affair with Lizzy, for in the book he regardeth her merely as “the fair one,” and no more.
