Polly Brewster #5, Polly's Business Venture

Yay! This book was fortunately a huge improvement over the last one--even if I still don't much like Polly herself. The girls all come back to New York and are immediately invited to a party on Mr. Dalken's yacht. Polly gets her invite from Tom, which makes her blush--yes, the ice queen isn't utterly indifferent. Anne's counseled him that he must be brotherly and patient until Polly's had her fill of her career, but of course he follow this approximately 10-15% of the time. He does convince her to walk with him on the yacht, where they're promptly swept overboard after a collision. He saves her life, for which she's grateful, but basically she continues in a mix of being scared by his feelings for her, annoyed by his attentions, and being oblivious to him.

Supposedly Polly and Nolla are to work in the mornings in Mr. Ashby's shop, continue to take classes in the evening, and acquire antiques on runs out to the country in Mr. Dalken's chauffeured limousine. In reality, the first two are NEVER depicted once, while several chapters are devoted to the latter. Of course, the girls habitually discover priceless relics for ridiculous prices, while the writing mocks the ignorance of the sellers. I love doing this sort of thing in real life, but this is easily the least thrilling portion of the book. The girls also spend a goodly portion of their time on night life, considering how busy they're supposed to be. Polly manages to acquire yet another swain in Jack, the protege and ward of Mr. Dalken.

It's fortunate that the girls have such luck at finding valuable antiques, because another landslide has buried their mine back in Pebbly Pit. This is doubly bad, because pretty much all their friends have invested in it as well, which makes Polly feel really guilty. Mr. Alexander from the last book comes to the rescue by shipping out to Pebbly Pit to see if he can uncover the mine again. The girls also offset their expenses some more by taking on some decorating jobs, one from Jack, and another from Mrs. Courtney, a wealthy, wise, and dignified divorcee. Guess who else is getting divorced? Mr. Dalken, whose wayward wife has found someone else she wants to marry. Hmm, I wonder what the girls will think to do with these two deserving middle-aged single people?

There's plenty of other romance in this book. At one point, when Tom is ill, Polly says she'll marry him in two years, if she hasn't found anyone better--harsh, but better than anything else she's said. I'm thinking that she's finally being reasonable, as it's obvious that she prefers him, plus John and Anne were engaged for two years. Of course, it's like Patty's promise to Mrs. Van Reypen in Patty's Fortune, and she ends up recanting, to my annoyance. Nolla and Paul continue along in their generally less melodramatic/more pleasant fashion--Nolla tells him that she's going to have her career first, then they can form a partnership. In the meantime, they can enjoy each other. Why can't Polly be that reasonable?

At the end of the book, Mr. Dalken invites everyone, including Mrs. Courtney, on a year-long yacht trip to the Orient. I know Jennifer has speculated on where Clair Blank got her inspiration for the Beverly Gray series, and it seems to me that Polly Brewster would have to be thrown in with those sources. I mean, career girls take extended yacht trip with lots of boys to the East? We'll see how it matches up in the next few books. I've now finished all the free titles available, so you guys will get a change to catch up on my incessant posting while I wait for media mail to take its course.

• When Dodo sees Polly blushing over Tom's telegram, Dodo thinks that she, "had hiterto firmly believed Polly to be a man-hater." You and me both, Dodo.
  
• Tom is described as being "unsophisticated with girls." He's finally stated to be "almost twenty-four" (to Polly's "nearly eighteen"); he's handsome, wealthy, out in society, etc. How is he unsophisticated?
• Speaking of Tom's age, Jim is now said to be "about the same age as Polly," e.g. eighteen. This can't be true, unless he was done with one year of college and working on a mining crew at age fourteen.
  
• Kenneth is said to be the handsomest. Then he and Jim pretty much disappear. As does Dodo, for the record
  
• While he drives me a bit crazy, I think Tom's emotions on Polly's return are well-written by Lillie. He's built the whole thing up too much, and she's scared and avoids him. He ends up really depressed and berating himself, telling himself that he's too old (well . . . ) and unappealing and so forth.
• Tom is encouraged by Anne (acceptable), his family (acceptable), and John (what!). This may be a more modern sentiment, but does a guy really encourage his best friend to pursue his underage sister?
• Once every book, there will be a footnote indicating that the particular story being told is true. In this case, it's one of the antique-finding stories.
• When they're rescued by Liberty Island, Polly and Tom are revived by the Schaefer Method, which is an old method of CPR done when prone.
• Both Nolla and Polly can be impulsive and get carried away at times. The difference is that Nolla's intentions are always good when this happens (trying to make people like Polly, trying to get Polly and Tom together), while Polly's are petty and vengeful (at points she'll manipulate a situation or say things to purposely be hurtful to Nolla and Tom).
• I've been trying to figure out Polly's appeal to guys, and apparently it's supposed to be that she's both beautiful and completely disinterested in guys, which piques their fancy. It might work for the guys, but it's not doing it for me.
• Nolla is frequently shown to be the only person to understand something about Polly or to do her kindness. Polly isn't shown to reciprocate, which I think affects the believability of their friendship.
  
• While this series reminds me a lot of Patty Fairfield, I don't like it nearly as much. To me, Tom lacks both the appeal and control of Bill, while Polly lacks the fun, the likability, and the grace of Patty. Patty doesn't want a real suitor, so she laughs them all off till she's ready, and they all deal with it. Polly's unable to deal gracefully with all the men who are interested in her, and ends up hurting Tom pretty frequently. In turn, Tom provokes Polly constantly, because he can't be patient and careful with his feelings.
• Also, Polly has no regard for Tom's feelings--she's never, "Oh, this great guy loves me, I should feel honored and treat him respectfully, even if I don't return his sentiments." Instead she's annoyed and disdainful.