The Blue Castle Read- Along Week 9

Ladies & Gents, 

We are entering the home stretch!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Grace's Thoughts

Ahhh, we are still in the blissful moments of Valancy's happy year!

Having Allan Tierney want to paint Valancy was a great idea! It really shows that she has blossomed with her new found freedom. I like that Valancy isn't what we would normally call "pretty", she has a hidden charm that shows as she goes about her day. It's really much more realistic to actual life. I can't relate to a drop dead gorgeous heroine, because that is not how life is all the time. There are different kinds of beauty and it's nice to see that portrayed in books. And Barney's not wanting "his wife" painted and hanging for the mob to see... is wonderful!

Well, Barney is in love... there is no doubt in my mind! And if you have any doubt keep reading! He saved her life!!!!

"Thirty seconds can be very long sometimes. Long enough to work a miracle or a revolution. In thirty seconds life changed wholly for Barney and Valancy Snaith." This sentence along with the opening lines of the book should be written up in the Book of Amazing Sentences! 

I can just picture this whole train scene so well; the frivolity turning to shock and then panic and then stunned relief.

I am upset at Barney for his silence after the incident with the train. He was far too cold; the shock, I know, but still he should have told Valancy something before disappearing into the wilds.

Poor Dr. Trent, he is a good soul for all his abruptness. His thoughts on Valancy's marriage are hilarious!

I never and I mean NEVER would have put together the connection with Dr. Redfern and Barney!!! OH MY WORD, IT'S JUST TOO FUNNY!!! And such a hilarious tie in!!! I think Dr. Redfern is a good chap, if a bit dense about how to break news to people! 

My goodness, is that price of the pearl necklace normal??? That's outrageous!!! And back then, too!!

I hate that Valancy thinks she's duped Barney into marrying her and that he still loves Ethel Traverse. NOOOOOOOO, don't be a fool!! He loves YOU, you dunce!

 

Aren't we just full of surprises this reading!!! Barney Snaith's secret occupation is not that of a bank robber or murderer, but rather the famed author John Foster??????? No wonder Barney didn't want to read his own work or hear it quoted!

Valancy's letter to Barney is just heartbreaking!

 and to think now she has to crawl home with her tail between her legs to those awful people who happen to be her family. Ugh!

But......... I actually love Valancy's homecoming!! Her family is all properly stiffly horrified until they find out Barney is a millionaire!! It reminds me of the ending of Dr. Thorne when Mrs. Gresham comes to beg Mary to marry Frank! That Uncle Benjamin is quite the conniving devil!

"But--" hesitated Mrs. Frederick, "he--he--they told terrible tales about him."

"All gossip and invention--all gossip and invention. It's always been a mystery to me why people should be so ready to invent and circulate slanders about other people they know absolutely nothing about. I can't understand why you paid so much attention to gossip and surmise. Just because he didn't choose to mix up with everybody, people resented it. I was surprised to find what a decent fellow he seemed to be that time he came into my store with Valancy. I discounted all the yarns then and there."

"But he was seen dead drunk in Port Lawrence once," said Cousin Stickles. Doubtfully, yet as one very willing to be convinced to the contrary.

"Who saw him?" demanded Uncle Benjamin truculently. "Who saw him? Old Jemmy Strang said he saw him. I wouldn't take old Jemmy Strang's word on oath. He's too drunk himself half the time to see straight. He said he saw him lying drunk on a bench in the Park. Pshaw! Redfern's been asleep there. Don't worry over that."

"But his clothes--and that awful old car--" said Mrs. Frederick uncertainly.

"Eccentricities of genius," declared Uncle Benjamin. "You heard Doss say he was John Foster. I'm not up in literature myself, but I heard a lecturer from Toronto say that John Foster's books had put Canada on the literary map of the world."

And just like that Barney is the best son-in-law ever and Valancy finally has the respect of her mother and her clan.

I cannot wait to see what happens next!! This is turning out to be quite a satisfactory ending... so far!

Katherine's Thoughts

Oh, my, what a shocking turn of events!

Barney is the infamous Dr. Redfern's son!.....and a millionaire!.......and he's JOHN FOSTER!  (I so suspected the latter fact, F.Y.I. as a certain sister of mine dropped hints -looks pointedly at Grace- I guess that's what happens when a sibling reads a book before you).  Ok, I'll back up now and comment on events in order of happenstance!

First of all, Valancy is a little dense to think that Barney's overly cordial behavior towards her over the past months is only out of pity!  Come on, girl!  He so totally cares for her!

 (I mean, he saved her from an imminent death by a moving train!....what more proof do you need, right??)   

Granted, he never said he loved her, but still, it gets my goat when Valancy keeps on thinking he is only acting out of the merciful "deal" he made with her to marry for the remainder of her life!  

And for those who say otherwise, I simply put forth the following for the absolute "debunking" of your "faulty views"......my, that sounded harsh....well, anyway, here is my incriminating evidence:

"Well, I don't want to be painted," said Valancy. "I hope you told him that."

"I couldn't tell him that. I didn't know what you wanted. But I told him I didn't want my wife painted--hung up in a salon for the mob to stare at. Belonging to another man. For of course I couldn't buy the picture. So even if you had wanted to be painted, Moonlight, your tyrannous husband would not have permitted it. Tierney was a bit squiffy. He isn't used to being turned down like that. His requests are almost like royalty's."

See?  See?  I told you!  He has feelings for Valancy!!  

Read it and weep!  Literally!

Okay, next up.......wait....I have to savor this quote with you first from the same chapter.....

Oh, isn't that just the most beautiful thing??  Agghhhhhh!  It's so sad......and wonderful at the same time!!

     Alright, I'll get ahold of myself now......well, for the moment at least.  Next up:  Dr. Trent's misdiagnosis of Valancy's heart condition.  This was so terrible.  Don't get me wrong, it's great that Valancy isn't going to die!  I mean, that's what we've all been wishing for, right?  She and Barney can live happily ever after now, yes?

  No!!  She has to go and ruin the joyous news by guilt tripping herself over getting Barney to marry her over now "misinformation".  She thinks Barney will feel cheated - that she tricked him into marrying her!  

Even if she isn't going to die after all and Valancy's proposal was entirely misplaced, the marriage of Barney and Valancy Snaith has been the best thing to happen to either of them!  

     Now, about Dr. Redfern's surprising visit upon the scene!  Isn't that just the icing on the cake??  (I like him by the way)  It was so interesting to hear about Barney's past and it really gave you a lot of insight into his character.  I feel sorry for both Barney, and the doctor.  And I was thinking while Grace read this chapter to me that maybe now the Stirlings would accept Valancy's marriage as a good thing since her husband was no other than their dear Purple Pill, Dr. Redfern's son!

The secret of Bluebeard's Chamber has now been discovered!  So Barney isn't Barney - he's Bernie, but no, wait, he's also John Foster!  Oh, yes, John Foster....wait.....JOHN FOSTER?????  The same John Foster who Barney, I mean, Bernie couldn't bear to listen to, that John Foster??? (I have to say though, I like the name Barney much better than Bernie.)  Wow!  I thought when I started this book, that Valancy would end up marrying John Foster, and......well, I've been proven right!!!  Ahh, sweet vindication!  

Well, it's just perfect....that Barney is John Foster.  Just perfect, since he was the one person to give her some joy in her life back when she was just "Doss"......(sighs).....oh, how romantic!  (starts sobbing)...

     Ok, so Valancy leaves Barney (heartbreaking), and returns home where Cousin Stickles, Mrs. Frederick, and dear Uncle Benjamin "greet" her.  Oh, this was almost the best part of the book!  I loved, loved this part!  The sheer shock of the three that Valancy not only married a "good" man, that that "good" man happened to also be Barney Snaith, and to top that he's a millionaire to boot!  

Can this day get any more surprising??  I just love how Uncle Benjamin is asking all the right probing questions and you just know he's not meaning a word he says about "handling" everything which Valancy is taking to mean the divorce.  Oh, this chapter just gives me nothing, but glee!  I kept on laughing as Grace read it (yes, she been reading the book out loud to me).  Ok....I must go to bed.  I'll sign off for now.  Can't wait to see what happens next week -- our final week of the read-along, people!   

Your Thoughts

Ok, if there was ever a week to comment below with your thoughts - it's THIS WEEK!!  Come on, everybody - tell us what you thought of all the goings on of this week's chapters!

Love, Katherine & Grace