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vaish7_books's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ether3al_elle's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
turrean's review against another edition
4.0
The four star review must be entirely without reference to any other work besides others by the same author! I've read this so many times since I was child; I'm completely incapable of giving it an unbiased rating. Yes, Streatfeild's stories are very similar, as are her characters. I suppose the cozy tone may grate on the nerves. But I've always loved how the author made her adults point-of-view characters alongside the children, and even referred to them by first name. The children's career aspirations are fascinating, too.
I wish all her other novels would be released in eBook form, too.
I,own this one as an ebook, published as "The Bell Family."
I wish all her other novels would be released in eBook form, too.
I,own this one as an ebook, published as "The Bell Family."
felinity's review against another edition
2.0
This is one of the very rare Streatfeild books I don't like. Everyone was too busy being a character, except Ginnie who was just annoying.
avrilhj's review against another edition
3.0
This version is a reprint in the Vintage Children's Classics series and it's interesting to see what the editors have decided need to be explained for twenty-first century children in the additions at the end of the book: 'Make do and mend...'; words like 'ermine', 'perambulator' and 'verger'. There's a brief biography of Noel Streatfeild, an explanation of the background to the book (it was originally a radio serial) and a couple of quizzes. There is also, for no reason that I can discern, a 'Who's Who' that describes the characters about whom the reader has presumably just read. This book from the 1950s, published only 19 years before I was born, is definitely being presented as just as exotically historical as Little Women (1868) and The Railway Children (1905), both also in the Vintage Children's Classic series. I'm starting to feel like a relic myself!
This is definitely not one of the best of Streatfeild's books. The reader has less access to the characters' inner lives than in most of her other children's books, presumably because the book started as a radio play. The children are all versions of children that we've seen before. And while I think we're meant to find Ginnie amusing and to be on her side, 'Miss Virginia Bell' came across to me as a self-centred little madam!
The Bell Family is most interesting when read alongside Streatfeild's 'autobiography' A Vicarage Family. Alex Bell is another idealised version of 'Jim Strangeway' or William Streatfeild, and Cathy Bell is the sort of mother who could make life in an impoverished vicarage liveable and fairly comfortable, where poor 'Sylvia Strangeway' or Janet Streatfeild, as portrayed by Noel, failed miserably. There are some wonderful passages that sound like Noel is describing her own father and her reaction to him: 'Alex never got really cross. He thought it wrong to be cross and so struggled to keep that he was feeling cross to himself. Jane said Alex's keeping feeling cross to himself was worse than snapping out as ordinary people did, who were not parsons. She thought trying hard gave him a martyred face, which made other people lose their tempers looking at it'. But it's impossible to imagine Janet, portrayed as 'Sylvia', as ever saying: 'Do you think I'd miss one minute of watching my children grow up for all the money in the world?' Is Noel writing for the child who felt that her mother didn't like her?
It's also interesting to compare this realistic book with Streatfeild's romances written as Susan Scarlett. I've recently read Babbacombe's and in both The Bell Family and Babbacombe's there is a family money box which constantly needs to be raided for emergencies and so the amount to be saved for is never reached. But in Babbacombe's the money in the box is for a fur coat for the mother of the family, and she is given a fur coat by the wealthy family into which her daughter marries. The ways in which the Bells come into needed money are a little more realistic, although still magical in the context of the book.
Recommended for fans of Streatfeild, but I'd definitely start non-fans off on Ballet Shoes.
This is definitely not one of the best of Streatfeild's books. The reader has less access to the characters' inner lives than in most of her other children's books, presumably because the book started as a radio play. The children are all versions of children that we've seen before. And while I think we're meant to find Ginnie amusing and to be on her side, 'Miss Virginia Bell' came across to me as a self-centred little madam!
The Bell Family is most interesting when read alongside Streatfeild's 'autobiography' A Vicarage Family. Alex Bell is another idealised version of 'Jim Strangeway' or William Streatfeild, and Cathy Bell is the sort of mother who could make life in an impoverished vicarage liveable and fairly comfortable, where poor 'Sylvia Strangeway' or Janet Streatfeild, as portrayed by Noel, failed miserably. There are some wonderful passages that sound like Noel is describing her own father and her reaction to him: 'Alex never got really cross. He thought it wrong to be cross and so struggled to keep that he was feeling cross to himself. Jane said Alex's keeping feeling cross to himself was worse than snapping out as ordinary people did, who were not parsons. She thought trying hard gave him a martyred face, which made other people lose their tempers looking at it'. But it's impossible to imagine Janet, portrayed as 'Sylvia', as ever saying: 'Do you think I'd miss one minute of watching my children grow up for all the money in the world?' Is Noel writing for the child who felt that her mother didn't like her?
It's also interesting to compare this realistic book with Streatfeild's romances written as Susan Scarlett. I've recently read Babbacombe's and in both The Bell Family and Babbacombe's there is a family money box which constantly needs to be raided for emergencies and so the amount to be saved for is never reached. But in Babbacombe's the money in the box is for a fur coat for the mother of the family, and she is given a fur coat by the wealthy family into which her daughter marries. The ways in which the Bells come into needed money are a little more realistic, although still magical in the context of the book.
Recommended for fans of Streatfeild, but I'd definitely start non-fans off on Ballet Shoes.
wordnerdy's review against another edition
4.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2014/05/2014-book-112.html
inarasbooks's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75