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Title: Missee Lee: The Swallows and Amazons in the China Seas (Godine Storyteller)
ISBN: 1567921965
Author:
Arthur Ransome
Publicate Date: 2001-11-01
Publish: 2001-11-01
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.90
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $8.88
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Dated but fun
MISSEE LEE is subtitled "A sequel to PETER DUCK" which should be a tipoff; this is another "fantasy" entry into the S&A series. As such, it has more exotic locations and real danger than the other books.
While cruising around the world with Uncle Jim, the Walker and Blackett children are thrown into serious danger when their sailboat burns and sinks, and then the two lifeboats are separated, while in the South China Seas. Eventually all are captured by Chinese pirates, who are lorded over by the title character, a young Cambridge-educated Chinese woman.
She's one of the most interesting characters in the series, a person with strong yearnings for Western culture and a Western way of life (her real ambition was to be a teacher), but also with a stronger sense of duty to her Chinese father's legacy of controlling the pirates on the three islands. The Blacketts are overjoyed to be in the hands of real pirates although Jim seems to be the only one cognizant to the fact that they could all lose their heads.
In fact, Missee Lee decides to have it both ways, keeping her English "guests" and starting her own Cambridge-style classes in Latin, while still maintaining her hold on the pirates. But things get messy (especially when she discovers the Walkers' father is a naval officer) and eventually Uncle Jim and the children engineer an escape.
It's quite dated in its view of the Chinese, although better than most of the period (that tended to think of the Chinese as all evil, period, end of sentence), and some of the Chinese characters are given some good dimension, including one of the pirates who's quite ruthless and violent but also has a soft spot for birds.
The typical S&A themes of courage, resourcefulness and self-reliance run through this book is more fantastic than the others in the series. Still, as all the S&A series, it's good fun.
Next: The D's return in PICTS AND MARTYRS.
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2: Lovely, albeit dated, book
I love the whole Swallows and Amazons series, but somehow I read Missee Lee only once -- perhaps it got lost from the library or something. So I had the pleasure of rediscovering it a few years ago when my kids were the right age for it. It's a wonderful "reading aloud" book (as are "We didn't mean to go to sea" and "Great Northern"), with a strong female character -- unusual in children's books from 65 years ago! -- and terrific storytelling and pacing. (Some of) the Chinese in this book come off as crafty, selfish, barbaric, etc. That's quite intentional -- their characters are supposed to be crafty, selfish, or barbaric. Because we see them only through the eyes of the English, they tend to be a bit one-dimensional as well. Probably some people out there is saying that this book is politically incorrect; if so, I urge them to tell their children not to read it. (The children will, of course, promptly read it!) In the meantime, enjoy this with your family.
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3: Twenty-two gong tale belong velly well all ages bimeby
Subtitled "Swallows and Amazons in the South China Seas", this tenth volume in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series is actually a sequel to the second, "Peter Duck". Those readers familiar with the background to the earlier volume will not be surprised to learn that the emphasis within this book is on rather wild and exotic high-seas adventuring for a group of six English school children, together with their middle-aged uncle, a parrot and a mischievous monkey, aboard their schooner, Wild Cat. This time around, the crew of the Wild Cat (without Peter Duck) again find themselves face to face with pirates, although under somewhat different circumstances and of a rather different kind from those in their earlier adventure. They also face a fate that English schoolchildren probably once considered worse than death - a life of perpetual Latin lessons! Anyone coming to this book without the benefit of at least the first three volumes of the series ("Swallows and Amazons", "Peter Duck" and "Swallowdale") may struggle a little with just who people are and why things are the way they are, so I don't recommend diving straight into the series here! If you've read the first three books, though, there is absolutely no need to leave this one until its place in the published sequence, as it does not tie into any of the intervening volumes. Anyone familiar with the earlier books will know exactly what to expect here; nor will they be disappointed. Whilst aimed at children, the book remains a delightful read whatever one's age.
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4: A must have for the series collector
If you collect the Swallows and Amazons series, you simply must have this book in your collection. If, on the other hand, you are just someone looking for a good book, well...this is a GREAT book. It is a classic that both children and adults will love and enjoy many times over.
Arthur Ransome is one of the greatest authors ever to live, and his books reflect that fact.
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