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aced_aro_rose's review against another edition
3.0
I had 20 of random nancy drew novels bought for me at an auction recently when I expressed interest in seeing what all the fuss was about with Nancy Drew. I never read these books growing up.
The Clue in the Jewel Box is the earliest book in my collection so I started with this one.
It’s a simple read [naturally, the book is for children after all] with barely any real descriptions of places and people with having glossing over of events to ‘time skip’ to parts the author wanted to focus on.
The story itself is very basic and I found myself predicting most of the plot points and characters from their introduction. I can excuse its flaws since it was written in 1943 [though my copy is a 70’s reprint]. [I also just looked up the writers of the novels and found it to be interesting, most of the books I have were written by a bunch of different people so it’ll be interesting to see if they writing changes]. However, main characters [nancy drew’s ‘group’] are usually written as ‘attractive’ and ‘handsome’ whereas other characters are ‘ugly’, ‘stout’, ‘fat’, ‘slow’ etc. It’s lazy writing and ridiculous to put these ideas into kids heads [categorizing people as such - slim and attractive = good person, fat and ugly = untrustworthy and stupid].
Those gripes and eye rolling things aside, it wasn’t a terrible book and I enjoyed most of it. Though it lacks severe detail, dialogue, and character development. Then there’s Nancy basically being an idiot with the thieves and the handkerchief nonsense. They write Nancy up to be some sort of ‘it’ girl who’s always gossiped about, it’s weird. Having attention lavished on a female character... perhaps it’s just me coming into these books at #20 but it comes off as a socialite showing up at a children’s hospital in a full ball gown and makeup feigning innocent and meekness to the paparazzi shutters claiming, ‘I’m just here to see the poor children, not take photographs!’. It’s ridiculous and breaks any chance of my immersion.
As I said before, it’s a silly book, written simply with a basic plot that can be enjoyable if you suspend your belief and let yourself enjoy it.
The Clue in the Jewel Box is the earliest book in my collection so I started with this one.
It’s a simple read [naturally, the book is for children after all] with barely any real descriptions of places and people with having glossing over of events to ‘time skip’ to parts the author wanted to focus on.
The story itself is very basic and I found myself predicting most of the plot points and characters from their introduction. I can excuse its flaws since it was written in 1943 [though my copy is a 70’s reprint]. [I also just looked up the writers of the novels and found it to be interesting, most of the books I have were written by a bunch of different people so it’ll be interesting to see if they writing changes]. However, main characters [nancy drew’s ‘group’] are usually written as ‘attractive’ and ‘handsome’ whereas other characters are ‘ugly’, ‘stout’, ‘fat’, ‘slow’ etc. It’s lazy writing and ridiculous to put these ideas into kids heads [categorizing people as such - slim and attractive = good person, fat and ugly = untrustworthy and stupid].
Those gripes and eye rolling things aside, it wasn’t a terrible book and I enjoyed most of it. Though it lacks severe detail, dialogue, and character development. Then there’s Nancy basically being an idiot with the thieves and the handkerchief nonsense. They write Nancy up to be some sort of ‘it’ girl who’s always gossiped about, it’s weird. Having attention lavished on a female character... perhaps it’s just me coming into these books at #20 but it comes off as a socialite showing up at a children’s hospital in a full ball gown and makeup feigning innocent and meekness to the paparazzi shutters claiming, ‘I’m just here to see the poor children, not take photographs!’. It’s ridiculous and breaks any chance of my immersion.
As I said before, it’s a silly book, written simply with a basic plot that can be enjoyable if you suspend your belief and let yourself enjoy it.
hstapp's review against another edition
3.0
Ahh secret compartments. What joy!
This one was alright. Not my favorite Nancy drew so far. But their weren't any weird meteor crashes so that's good.
This one was alright. Not my favorite Nancy drew so far. But their weren't any weird meteor crashes so that's good.
zenithharpink's review against another edition
3.0
Nancy Drew gets her man again-this is a great, fun read-and very representative of the series. I definitely recommend this to fans or future fans of Nancy Drew!
the_ghost_penguin_reader's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
margauxb's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
serenereader9's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Nancy Drews were my first mystery books I really read and there is such a good feeling of nostalgia that go with each. This book would probably get 3.75 stars. I liked the characters, the plot and mystery (even though it was simple and I guessed who the prince was.) I certainly did not see coming that they would leave Michael stranded on an island! That was interesting ... But the extra half star comes from reading other peoples reviews and learning about the historical influence that is in the book. I was wondering why they wouldn't mention what country these immigrants were from but I love that the actual plot cam from a real crime. I read a little about it and thought it was really interesting. Also the fact that Nancy doesn't drive because they didn't want readers thinking about that while there were rations on gas and things like that. The explanation in the book is that Nancy's car is being fixed, I never noticed that she didn't drive in this one out of all the times I've read it. Her convertible is pretty iconic though.
agxxo's review against another edition
5.0
I still really can’t remember if I’ve read this book or not— it seems familiar but at the same time it doesn’t so I’m not too sure.
~
I started to suspect towards the end that Richard Ellington was Michael (Francis Baum— the code name given by Nada.) and I was of course, correct.
~
I’m curious, however, how the fake Michael knew all those things about Richard, and had the picture, letter, and lamb.
~
I started to suspect towards the end that Richard Ellington was Michael (Francis Baum— the code name given by Nada.) and I was of course, correct.
~
I’m curious, however, how the fake Michael knew all those things about Richard, and had the picture, letter, and lamb.