MY THOUGHTS:
It's the fifth Glad Book and Smith's third, first published in 1927. Pollyanna and Jimmy celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. The house across the road from them will be lived in at last, by a father and daughter duo who wish to shun visitors, and have therefore chosen the wrong street to settle in. Times have changed. In the 21st century it's become a challenge to meet close neighbours, while in 1920s Elsinore Terrace, it was more of a challenge not to.
The young woman, Lorraine, has a scarred cheek from an accident, which leaves her bitter and self-conscious. A bit of prying from Pollyanna reveals that Lorraine had been going steady with Frank Lindsay; none other than Jimmy's work friend who had presented them with Jiggs as a pet. But that's all over now.
It turns out Lorraine thought she was getting a pity proposal from Frank, when in fact she was getting a heartfelt one. The stalemate has dragged on for years. Since the pair is still in love, it will take a slick bit of matchmaking from Pollyanna to bring them together. She considers the fulfillment of this will be her 'debt of honour' since Lorraine rescued baby Ruth from being hit by a truck. But it'll take more effort than she imagines.
Meanwhile, James (aka Jamie) Carew has written a book which is getting rave reviews and being lapped up by the public. Jamie considers it his most 'mature and thoughtful work' but to Pollyanna it is horribly risque. The heroine is an adulterous woman who tires of her husband and runs off with a new hunk instead. The question modern readers may ask is whether Pollyanna and Jimmy are being prudish by panning it. After all, the plot of James' book sounds like a knockoff of Anna Karenina, which is a timeless classic. But Pollyanna gives James a tongue-lashing, and he understandably gets defensive. An author has a right to write whatever he darn well pleases, right?
Think again. Harriet Lummis Smith crafts her own book in a way that echoes Pollyanna's point. James gets egg on his face when his beautiful young secretary, under the influence of his own deplorable main character, attempts to pull off a Lydia Bennett maneuver and run away with a seductive fellow she fancies. It seems a girl's reputation could be squelched as much in the 1920s as in the Regency Era, but the book made her do it. At least Pollyanna brings the lion's share of blame to Jamie's door. 'I hold him responsible for making respectability seem tame and cowardly and immorality romantic and beautiful.' Hmm, James has the grace to ponder her point and admit that fiction authors may hold a huge onus in shaping society, since readers everywhere are affected by the books they read.
One up for Harriet Lummis Smith and her mouthpiece, Pollyanna, although I have to say we readers are in no position to really form an opinion in this instance without at least reading Jamie's book, Growing Pains, which of course we're not able to.
Pollyanna is such a busybody though. She sets out to rescue Paula Merrill, a young woman she's met only once, from the clutches of Gerald Fox, a man who is also a stranger. Honestly, who does such audacious meddling?! Yet just when we think she's gone too far, her nosiness saves the day. So part of me wonders if we're being convinced to regard sticky-beaking and interfering as strengths. They sure seem to be in Pollyanna's case.
Here are a couple of other dated quotes that make me cringe or laugh out loud. When Pollyanna is introduced to the beautiful Paula, she says, 'It's hard to believe anyone so ornamental can be useful too,' intending it as a sweeping compliment. I can't help thinking Paula must've shown great restraint not to roll her eyes.
On another occasion Pollyanna tells Junior, 'I never had to earn my living. First Aunt Polly took care of me, and now Daddy does.' Finally, I love this comment from Jimmy. When Pollyanna tells the two blokes to sneak a peep at the beautiful Paula Merrill, he says, 'I'll give Frank the first chance. Looking at pretty girls isn't going to do me any good.'
The Pendleton kids are developing distinct personalities. Those who love Pollyanna often enjoy L. M. Montgomery's Anne series too. So if we were to compare the three kids with Anne and Gilbert's brood, Junior is more of a Jem than a Walter; active and decisive. There's a very cool incident in which he saves his beloved pet Jiggs from being dog-napped. Judy is like Nan, beautiful and imaginative, and baby Ruth has shades of Rilla. She's said to be less beautiful than her sister but widely loved for her radiant cheerfulness, obviously inherited from her mother.
It's worth noticing that the word 'honour' is spelled with an 'u' in the title. The twenties were apparently before American spelling came to be. Overall, this was a fun read but not one of my very favourites, since I don't sympathise overly much with Frank and Lorraine, who couldn't work out their own business without help from a busybody.
Next up will be Pollyanna's Western Adventure.
🌟🌟🌟½
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