Sarah, Sarah, Plain and Tall, What's The Deal With Jacob, Y'all?

Mamacita says:  Consistency in literature is very important to me, possibly more important than it is in real life.  For example, when Jacob Witting tells his new wife Sarah that he and his brothers and sisters all loved the land, he should not then turn around in the next volume and tell her that he was an only child whose father walked out on the family early on, forcing a very young Jacob to quit school to help support his mother because there was no one else to do it.

What the heck?  Not even Christopher Walken could get away with an inconsistency that big! What’s the deal, scriptwriters?

And since it was Christopher Walken, I suppose I should have said “brahthahs and sistahs.”  But since it was Christopher Walken, who really cares?  That man is SEXY, whether he be a sweet wholesome father or one of the creepy murdering sexy psychopaths he usually plays.  Sexiest of all, of course, is when he sings and dances.  He’s even sexy when he dances and lip-synchs.  Or asks for more cowbell.

Ah, Christopher Walken, I know you were only reciting your lines, but after that huge inconsistency, a lot of the story was spoiled for me.  I still love the three books, of course, but I can’t quite believe anything Jacob says after he changes his story.

Few people are as picky as I am, of course, and thank goodness for that, but when it comes to a piece of literature – and yes, kiddie lit is literature – I want consistency.

As Jean Kerr says,  not in these exact words but ALMOST, it’s okay with me if you say the bed is a piano, but after that I expect that no one will sit on the piano.

Mm, Jean Kerr.  She was one of the funniest writers EVER.  If you don’t know Jean, shame on you, and go to the library as soon as it opens in the morning.  I mean, this is the woman who said:  “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t grasped the situation.” and  “Now the thing about having a baby – and I can’t be the first person to have noticed this – is that thereafter you have it.” and”One of the most difficult things to contend with in a hospital is that assumption on the part of the staff that because you have lost your gall bladder you have also lost your mind.”  I adore Jean Kerr.

Besides which, the Kerrs lived next door to the Killileas!

Tangent much?


Comments

Sarah, Sarah, Plain and Tall, What's The Deal With Jacob, Y'all? — 10 Comments

  1. My mom always talks about a similar situation, I believe in Gone With the Wind (though it might have been The North and the South). There’s a former soldier who had lost an arm in the Civil War, but later in the book, it is written that he claps both hands over his mouth to keep quiet.

  2. My mom always talks about a similar situation, I believe in Gone With the Wind (though it might have been The North and the South). There’s a former soldier who had lost an arm in the Civil War, but later in the book, it is written that he claps both hands over his mouth to keep quiet.

  3. Karen and Helen Keller – I loved those books growing up…. I didn’t find Jean Kerr until I was older but PLEASE DON’T EAT THE DAISIES is hysterical….and the movie isn’t bad either. I hate literature inconsistencies also, but then,…I read…so we who read actually find them. Hmmm. Hope your hubby is improving.

  4. Karen and Helen Keller – I loved those books growing up…. I didn’t find Jean Kerr until I was older but PLEASE DON’T EAT THE DAISIES is hysterical….and the movie isn’t bad either. I hate literature inconsistencies also, but then,…I read…so we who read actually find them. Hmmm. Hope your hubby is improving.

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