I have to say that this is my least favorite Polly book so far. The plot is both boring in itself, as well as being an extremely more boring version of the three book European vacation arc in Patty Fairfield. I think my main issue is that this series' strength is in its supporting characters, who, save my girl Nolla, are all back home in the States, and most of the newly introduced characters are either unpleasant or blah.The book starts off with Polly, Nolla, the Ashbys, and Mr. Fabian crossing the Atlantic and arriving in Dover. They meet up with Mr. Alexander, a folksy, self-made Western millionaire--how many veins of gold ARE there in Denver, by the way?--his twit of a wife, Mrs. Alexander, and his daughter Dorothy, who has the unfortunate nickname of Dodo. Mrs. Alexander's goal is to marry Dodo off to an impoverished title, but of course, Dodo decides she'd rather follow in Polly and Nolla's footsteps and become an interior decorator.
Once in Dover, they meet up with Mrs. Fabian and their daughter Nancy, who are both pleasant and devoid of personality. They have been staying with Sir Charles Osgood, his wife, and their children, Angela and Jimmy. All of them are unpleasant and devoid of personality. Mrs. Alexander fails in marrying Dodo off to Jimmy, and they're off to the Continent. They meet up with at least one more titled man, Count Champys, but everyone returns to the US unmarried and with enough antiques (pottery and furniture) to furnish several mansions. Really, large portions of the book consist of them driving through the countryside and emptying the peasants' homes of Wedgewood and Sheraton tables.
Polly barely figures in this book--she has no important dialogue or conflicts, not that anyone else does, either. Her only development is to become more priggish. Even Nolla is a little bland. Dodo's only character trait is to occasionally have more Western speech. Ruth and Nancy are interchangeable, and, if left out, would not be missed. I could forgive the whole "nothing happens" bit, if only there was some witty banter or humor, but the whole book is very dry. Here's hoping Polly's Business Venture is better.- There's a decent amount of "patriotic" anti-German slurs, America's the greatest, rah-rah sort of thing. There's also some awkward religious references.
- Mr. Alexander is supposed to be very charming and endearing with his lack of social polish and Western ways. I found him to be supremely annoying and constantly felt embarrassed for him.
- They escape from an earthquake in Rome, which has innumerable strong aftershocks. This was a. inaccurate, I think, and b. so very boring.
- This has been a theme in all the books, but Polly is jealous of anyone having a romance--not because she wants one, but because she wants John, Nolla, etc. to herself. This seems more than a little childish for a supposedly mature young woman.
- Jimmy very annoyingly leaps around in his affection from one of the girls to another. When he sets on Nolla, Polly does what she does best and FREAKS. She pulls Nolla aside and honest to goodness threatens to write home to Paul and tell him that Nolla is a "dreadful flirt," and that his childhood friend Dodo is gorgeous and wealthy, and oh, he should totally marry her. Again, childish much. Crazy much, really.
- Jimmy needs to marry for money. In a continuity error, Ruth is first stated to have a fortune, as the only daughter of the wealthy Ashbys, and later not to be desirable as a wife to Jimmy due to lack of money. Nolla and Polly have MORE money, so maybe he's just supposed to look MORE in their direction?
- At this point, Lillie seems to have a pretty clear prejudice against low-born society wives, because Mrs. Alexander is a bit of hyper-annoying ridiculosity in the mold of Mrs. Dalken and Mrs. Maynard.
- The people back home cease to exist. They're rarely mentioned, and the girls neither send nor receive letters or wires, save one letter apiece from Paul and Tom. I suspect this is why the book kind of sucks.
- And finally, Dodo?! Really.
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