Again, Truepenny asks for book recommendations

[truepenny]

A conversation on someone else's LJ reminded me of a long-standing curiosity. And now that, hey, I have people around who are extraordinarily well-read, I thought I'd pose the question.

Books about boarding schools that get it right.

There's a long post I made back in December about a number of reasons why Diana Wynne Jones's Witch Week is a better res (Latin for "thing"--I can't think of a word for what I want) than the Harry Potter books. One of those reasons is that Rowling's vision of what boarding school is like doesn't ring true, even to an American reader such as myself. But, when I grumble, Someone ought to write a book that does this properly, I can't put my money where my mouth is, because I don't actually know what I'm talking about. I can just tell a dreamy delusion when I see one. So I'm interested in finding books that achieve a more accurate representation.

Obviously, if the book is sf/f/h, that's a big bonus, but for the purposes of this book-quest, it's the boarding-school-ness I'm looking for. All suggestions welcome and appreciated!

Comments

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I think what you say about Harry Potter is very true. (Also one of the things that is starting to drive me batshit about the books, but if I'm going to rant about that, I'll do it in a separate post.) Also, I think that Rowling, like Blyton, validates clique-ish-ness by not admitting that's what her heroes do. Harry, Ron, and Hermione ARE A CLIQUE, GODAMMIT, just as much as Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Just ask Neville Longbottom. But from inside a clique, it doesn't look like a clique, and since Blyton and Rowling absolutely eschew any hint of distancing from their protagonist's valuations, you have to read against the text to see what's going on. And even though we all know cliques are bad, I think we do--especially at that age--want to be a part of one. Rowling's version of boarding school also leaves out the petty in-fighting that even Blyton put in.

I'm trying to get the two concepts, Malory Towers and sex, drugs, & rock'n'roll, into the same frame of reference, and I just can't do it. Except to think that here, at long last, would be Gwendolyn's chance to one-up everybody else; she had to get a job, she's been out in the world, she would know the ropes. Somehow I can see Gwendolyn with a cigarette (a la Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago, since I just saw that recently), smirking as Darryl and Sally cough and sputter.

My god, Malfoy is so Gwendolyn. I wonder if he's got a similar Great Come-uppance waiting for him.