Sometimes, an author should know when to call it a day. Sometimes, you stop the story before the end. This is one of those final books in a series where you sort of wish you hadn’t gone this far. But maybe Maud Hart Lovelace really wanted to write this one because it’s the only one where Joe was legitimate. You see, the Betsy books are based on her life, with one great exception. She didn’t meet her husband, Delos, until much later. So she made a character that would be like her husband as a young man and dropped him into Deep Valley High as Joe Willard. But for this book she doesn’t need to imagine anymore. Joe now is Delos and Delos, Joe. I actually sense a slight shift in character between this book and the prior ones (I can’t quite get my head around Joe Willard calling someone “Honey” every thirty seconds), but it seems this is why.
I’ve read this one three times now, and each time it’s like reading it for the first time. It stays with me that little. Oh, your favorite characters are back, Tacy and Tib, Carney and Cab, Julia, newly grown-up Margaret, but it just feels odd. On the upside, the beginning of this is thorough enough that you can skip Betsy and the Great World if you like, because it fills you in completely.
And the warning that women’s lib was falling? Oh, it has fallen. I winced as Betsy declared that someone should have the last word in a family and that she always wants that person to be Joe, always. And we hear again and again about his job, his writing, his promise as an author. When Betsy’s offered a job of her own, does she take it? Oh no, she declares “I already have a job…it’s important and very hard. It’s learning how to keep house.” Even darling, tough Tib has a romance with a man that’s an absolute steam-roller. He decides what they do (nothing Tib likes), who they see, everything. Others declare that maybe that’s just what Tib needs, a masterful man. Luckily she escapes him in the end, but the relationship seemed borderline abusive to me. If you’ve been handing your daughter Betsy books to show her that she can follow her dreams, hide this one. Hide it well.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – kissing, proposals (or not quite proposals!)- there’s to be a wedding you know! Various characters are pregnant and have babies. Joe likes to think of Betsy in her negligee. She climbs into bed and lays in his arms.
Profanity – “Jakes” which I’ve read described as “a profane exclamation of surprise”. “Lieber Gott,” which translates to Good God.
Death, Violence and Gore – Uncle Alvin dies. Aunt Ruth talks about her past, including her only child who was stillborn. Aunt Ruth also has a fondness for disasters and tragedies. There’s a war on, so there’s talk of poison gas, the boys in the trenches and U-Boats sinking ships. Joe jokes that he’ll beat Betsy if she ruins another meat pie.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – A bit more pipe smoking, including a character who says he started when he was four. A man calls Tib his opium.
Frightening or Intense Things –There’s a war on. At the end several characters have joined the army and will be sent to war. That’s where things leave off. Men sent away to war.
