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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Stalking
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism
Again, a case of mistaken identity. This time with a piece of luggage. Cute story. Nancy actually travels outside Riverton Heights to solve this one. And it's on a boat! With South Africans! No mention of the oppression there but then, the book was written in the 1940's. Also gives Nancy a chance to showcase her abilities (understanding some American sign language). This was the cleaned up '70s version, I wonder how different the '40s version must have been.
I recently recieved a whole load of books back from a young friend of mine, ranging from Babysitters Club books to rather battered Nancy Drew novels. This was one of them, but apparently I'd leant this book out unread! I'm glad I got it back as it was a really cute little book which I enjoyed. I particularily liked the part where Nancy had her skirts "taken up" in the summer and "let down" in the winter - so quaint! I'm now trying to get some more Nancy Drew books and build up a little collection as I'm sure that when I have daughters, they'll enjoy them just as much as I did. 9/10
I feel like I'm in an old fashioned magazine saying this but this truly was Nancy's biggest mystery yet.
It. Has. Everything.
Meteors - CHECK
Jewels - CHECK
Espionage - CHECK
A Cruise!? - CHECK
A quasi love interest besides Ned? - CHECK
I loved it. This is the one I'm recommending if you've never read Nancy Drew.
It. Has. Everything.
Meteors - CHECK
Jewels - CHECK
Espionage - CHECK
A Cruise!? - CHECK
A quasi love interest besides Ned? - CHECK
I loved it. This is the one I'm recommending if you've never read Nancy Drew.
Not only is my edition old enough that pieces of the pages were crumbling off while I was reading, but it is apparently the original plot instead of a re-vamped one.
Delightful, fun re-read. Definitely hit the spot.
In case you are wondering, this book is about two minutes shorter to read that the time it takes to play a Little League baseball game :)
Delightful, fun re-read. Definitely hit the spot.
In case you are wondering, this book is about two minutes shorter to read that the time it takes to play a Little League baseball game :)
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Nancy Drew is many things to many people. She's a heroine. She has a sharp mind. She's pretty. She's damn good at golf, sailing, dancing, and everything else she tries. According to Mrs. Joslin, however, she's unfit company for her daughter Nestrelda on an upcoming cruise for girls from a local boarding school. Mrs. Joslin goes to great lengths to block Nancy's passage with the other girls. Nancy is nonplussed, but withdraws from the group, but not from the trip itself. Accompanied by George and Bess, Nancy will go on to South America on the same ship. It just so happens a friend of her father's has asked her to meddle with his daughter's personal life. This is an unpleasant task for Nancy, but she agrees to do what she can to prevent the girl from throwing her life away on the man her parents hadn't arranged for her to marry. The girl is, after all, set to inherit her father's half of the prestigious Trenton Trunk Co.
As if all of this wasn't awkward enough. Nancy's monogrammed trunk is almost removed from the ship! It turns out that her trunk and Nestrelda's, the girl who was to be protected from Nancy's presence, are identical. Nestrelda Darlington has kept her father's name despite her mother remarrying. This coincidence leads to further mysteries when it becomes clear that someone is after the trunks! Does it have anything to do with the decline in quality of Trenton Trunks? Is there something shady going on in foreign Buenos Aires?
This one gets a little convoluted with romantic entanglements and mistaken identities, but it comes out all right in the end. Ghost writer Mildred Wirt ties herself in knots jamming in various elements and scenes that were likely required elements in her outline. There was also some trouble in making sure that while Nancy doesn't compromise herself by being a duenna for the younger girls, it wouldn't do to have those girls make inappropriate matches that compromise their class standing. We all have our level. I'm writing this a few months after the fact so I may be forgetting something heinous that was somehow alright in 1940.
The 1976 revision seems to have traded luggage embezzlement in South America for hijinks on a trans-Atlantic cruise complete with international espionage.
Nancy Drew Mysteries
Next: 'The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion'
Previous: 'The Clue of the Tapping Heels';
As if all of this wasn't awkward enough. Nancy's monogrammed trunk is almost removed from the ship! It turns out that her trunk and Nestrelda's, the girl who was to be protected from Nancy's presence, are identical. Nestrelda Darlington has kept her father's name despite her mother remarrying. This coincidence leads to further mysteries when it becomes clear that someone is after the trunks! Does it have anything to do with the decline in quality of Trenton Trunks? Is there something shady going on in foreign Buenos Aires?
This one gets a little convoluted with romantic entanglements and mistaken identities, but it comes out all right in the end. Ghost writer Mildred Wirt ties herself in knots jamming in various elements and scenes that were likely required elements in her outline. There was also some trouble in making sure that while Nancy doesn't compromise herself by being a duenna for the younger girls, it wouldn't do to have those girls make inappropriate matches that compromise their class standing. We all have our level. I'm writing this a few months after the fact so I may be forgetting something heinous that was somehow alright in 1940.
The 1976 revision seems to have traded luggage embezzlement in South America for hijinks on a trans-Atlantic cruise complete with international espionage.
Nancy Drew Mysteries
Next: 'The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion'
Previous: 'The Clue of the Tapping Heels';
adventurous
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
My bullet point review.
-There were some poor depictions of the use and purpose of sign language. This seemed badly researched and handled in a way that was not becoming of Nancy (she seemed very ableist)
-This is the first "closed room" mystery we get in the series. I wish they would have played up more suspects instead of really zoning in on one culprit
-Nancy is finally not the best at everything because of Nelda (who shares her initials!). Nancy's personality was definitely different than the previous 16 books. She was more flirty and not as good of a sleuth.
-The impossibility of this one is high with a meteor falling out of the sky and a miraculous overboard rescue.
-There were some poor depictions of the use and purpose of sign language. This seemed badly researched and handled in a way that was not becoming of Nancy (she seemed very ableist)
-This is the first "closed room" mystery we get in the series. I wish they would have played up more suspects instead of really zoning in on one culprit
-Nancy is finally not the best at everything because of Nelda (who shares her initials!). Nancy's personality was definitely different than the previous 16 books. She was more flirty and not as good of a sleuth.
-The impossibility of this one is high with a meteor falling out of the sky and a miraculous overboard rescue.
adventurous
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
Definitely can tell writers changed. Was not a fan of this one