**This blog contains adult language."
Warning: Contains Spoilers!!! This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself. Do NOT continue to read unless you want to know which girl acted like a total bitch in this book. Because you know at least one of them did.
Tag Line: No one believes in ghosts - do they?
From the Back of the Book: Has Julia Canby come back? Jane knows she's seen the ghost of 13-year-old Julia Canby, in whose memory Canby Hall was founded long ago. Toby thinks Jane could be right. Andy is disgusted with both her roommates. Ghosts? Impossible! No such thing! Then other people begin to see the mysterious figure in the old-fashioned clothes - including Toby. And Andy. Has Julia Canby returned to haunt the school? With exams ahead, and Jane's essay for the Literature Award competition due, the last thing anyone needs is a distraction, especially a supernatural one. Can Andy get her roommates to agree to work together to solve the mystery of the ghost of Canby Hall?
That blurb is a mess as always. Andy was never disgusted with Toby and Julia was 14, not 13 when she died.
This book was published in 1987 and I
have never read this one. In fact, I don't think I was even aware of
its existence Ordinarily I'd be excited to read one of these for the
first time, but the ghostie for this book is Diane Hoh. Sigh. She
shows up a lot on my other blog and other recappers seem to
absolutely love her but I just....don't. Why? Why did it have to be
Hoh? It's just not fair!!!!!
Before we begin, we should talk about
this cover. Who does this effing bedroom belong to? Because it's
not 407. The walls are the wrong color, the bedspreads aren't right,
the position of the beds is all wrong and that window should not be
in that spot. I suppose I should give the cover artists credit for
not having Toby in a huge shadow for once. You know, like the one
that's eating Andy. But even though Toby is the only character
standing...and should therefore be the prominent one....my eye goes
straight to Jane. I think she's better lit or something. Why do
these cover artists love Jane so much?
Canby Hall Catch-Up: You guys know the
basics. We have three protagonists (Jane – high society
princess, Andy – urban ballerina and Toby – small
town ranch girl). Jane is dating Cary-the-rock-god from the
nearby boys' school Oakley Prep. Andy is dating a boy named Matt
who is sometimes said to be from the public school in town and
sometimes said to be from Oakley Prep. Well, I should say she's
dating Matt when she's not dating Steve who works in her
family's rib shack. It mostly depends on her geographic location at
the time. Toby is dating the ultra-proper Neal
from Boston (who happens to be Jane's ex), and crushing on
local rancher Randy who has magical aging powers that allow
him to be a different age in every book. In the last book, the 407
girls were tasked with showing a legitimate princess around Canby
Hall. It turned out that HRH Princess Allegra was a pretty chill
chick who just wanted to be a regular girl for awhile. This involved
eating cafeteria food and watching the girls study for finals.
Riveting. It also involved falling in love with the magical Randy
and enlisting the help of the student body to escape her bodyguards
so that she and Randy could make out with each other's faces in
private. Allegra was betrothed to an old man in her own country, so
she and Randy were destined for heartache but the girls of 407
stepped in and convinced her to fight for her right to marry for
love. AND THE GIRLS OF 407 MUST BE FUCKING OBEYED. Oh, and Andy had
some kind of super important audition for an advanced dance class
being held during the fall term which she rocked, of course, because
the 407 girls are universally worshiped for everything they do.
Those Who Shall Not Be Unnamed: Former
407 residents Dana-the-life-ruiner, Shelley-the-drama-llama
and Faith-the-sanctimonious
and former housemother-extraordinaire-Alison.
Hey, just because they've all moved on doesn't mean we can't worship
them at least once every book.
Missing, Presumed Dead:
Laura Lee and Yolanda are still buried in the garden, as is Michael-the-school-shrink. To my complete surprise, Randy is 99.9% absent from this book and I fear there might be a fresh mound of dirt somewhere on campus. His name is uttered once when Toby thinks of inviting him somewhere but decides to ask Neal instead (probably because a decomposing rancher at dinner would raise too many questions). Other than that.....nothing. These books are scary without Randy. For what it's worth, Allegra is probably pushing up the tulips as well. No one talks about her at all this book. She was the subject of the entire thing last time and you'd think someone would at least mention her in passing. It's like the last book never existed.
Risen From the Tulip Bed: No one is resurrected this book.
We begin with Toby and Jane walking
across campus, rhapsodizing about early spring in
Massachusetts.....which confuses me. Several books ago, they held
the Almost SUMMER Carnival and last book they were studying for
finals. Which, by all rights, should be taking place in May. It's
been spring for a very long time now. So why are the trees just
beginning to bud?
#fuckcontinuity
We get the standard paragraph about how
the roommates are all very different. Toby likes the outdoors, Jane
likes being a shrew, Andy likes judging them all, but they all come
together when there's a body to bury in the tulip bed. You know, the
usual. Andy is waiting for them in the cafeteria and musing about how Jane is always late. She supposes it's because Jane thinks the world
revolves around her and that's a pretty astute observation but a
bitchy one to make about your best friend.
Jane and Toby finally arrive and they
all get in line to get their food. I was waiting for the standard
paragraph about how awful the food is in this expensive, exclusive
private school (#Istillcallbullshit) but it doesn't come. Weird.
Penny shows up, though, and announces that she, Jane and Gigi are up
for some literary award. It's nice to see Gigi in the land of the
living again. The award will be given at some banquet that the
entire student body attends and Jane immediately fantasizes about
being the star of the night.
When the girls get back to Baker House,
there's a note tacked to the door from their housemother Merrie.
All it says is “I dropped by to say Hi” which makes me
wonder what the point of it even was. Why go to all the trouble of
finding paper, a pin and a tack just to write “I dropped by to
say Hi”???? The girls decide to put off studying for finals
for awhile so they can go upstairs to Merrie's room and return the hi.
When they get there, they find Merrie in the following outfit:
“She was wearing a
beige skirt unbuttoned down the front over white shorts and a white
t-shirt.”
What the
actual fuck?
First of
all, I can't even figure out the skirt unbuttoned down the front
part. How the hell does it stay on? And why the hell does a skirt
even button down the front? Maybe the better question is, why is
Merrie wearing a t-shirt UNDER her skirt? Is she topless above? THIS
OUTFIT MAKES NO SENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is it
possible it was a typo and Hoh meant she was wearing a beige SHIRT
unbuttoned down the front? I'm so confused.
Anyway,
Merrie tells them that an estate in England just gifted Canby Hall
with some items that once belonged to Julia Canby. Julia is
the reason that the school is named Canby Hall. She died tragically
at the age of 14 from a fever and her father went on to found the
school in her memory. Merrie hasn't actually seen the items but she
thinks they include a music box and a diary. The items are displayed
in the library for everyone to see.
The
girls are less than enthusiastic and Merrie is puzzled by their
disinterest. I guess she forgot these girls don't give a flying fox
about anything that doesn't directly involve them. Toby sees Merrie's
disappointment and says they'll check everything out when they go to
the library to study. They head back downstairs and Andy is
extremely put out that Merrie didn't congratulate Jane on the lit
award nomination. For no reason that I can determine, Jane then
snaps at Andy and says Merrie can't play favorites. Way to escalate
things for no reason, Hoh.
#creatingdramawherenoneexists
The
girls reach the library where a small crowd is gathered around the
exhibit. Toby is fascinated by the porcelain music box with the
painting of an ice skater on the top. It plays a song called the
Skater's Waltz which everyone seems to recognize right off the bat.
I looked it up and I DID recognize parts of it but not enough to
actually identify it.
There
you go. I'm a full-service recapper.
Jane is
fascinated by the diary and asks the librarian if she can take it to
a quiet corner to read. The librarian gives her permission because
there's no one else in the exhibit (where a small crowd had been just
a few sentences before - what the hell, Hoh?) but she tells Jane that if anyone else comes
in, she'll need to share the diary. This enrages Jane who “feels
a strong sense of ownership toward the diary”. You know, the
diary she doesn't actually own? The one that belongs to the school?
#entitledmuch?
Jane
quickly settles in with the diary and we're treated to a few entries. It
seems Julia, at the tender age of 14, is resentful that she's being
treated like a child. She's also resentful about someone named Mathilde who is
preventing her from having fun. And her father for taking her to London away from her friends. So basically she just resents everyone and everything. Sounds like she'd fit right in with
our protagonists.
At
dinner that night, everyone is congratulating Penny and Jane on their
lit award nominations but no one is congratulating Gigi. She gets
mad and swears that the other two won't win. Andy is concerned by
the “threat” even though it didn't sound threatening at all. I
guess Hoh wants us to think it's threatening so she had one of her
characters comment on it. SHOW DON'T TELL, HOH.
#writing101
Jane and
Andy then get in a bizarre fight. Andy wants to call Oakley Prep and
see what the guys are up to. Jane doesn't want to get distracted by
Cary's “gorgeous smile” and says she needs to study. Andy
is furious and asks her if she's really going to study or if she's
just going to read some dumb old diary all night. Jane tells Andy
that she (Andy) got the lowest score in room 407 on the history
midterm so maybe she should spend a little time reading historical
documents herself. Then she stomps away.
What the
fuck was that?
#dumbestreasonforafightever
Andy
asks Toby to do something fun with her but Toby says she has to go
back to the room to study for her geometry final. Andy calls Matt
and asks him to a movie but he also declines in order to study. For
some inexplicable reason, all this rejection makes her stare deeply
at a painting of Julia hanging in Baker House. She tries to imagine
what Julia was thinking and feeling as she sat for the portrait.
Probably the same thing I'm thinking and feeling........ “this is
mind-numbingly boring”. As she stares at the painting, the figure
seems to wink at her. I suppose this is meant to be suspenseful and
spooky but Hoh makes a mash of it.
Later
they're all back in their room. Toby and Andy are studying, but Jane
is reading some copies she made of the diary pages. For some reason,
Jane being so obsessed with the diary seems to be a bee up Andy's
butt. She won't drop the subject and spends several paragraphs
berating Jane for being so useless. I can't figure out why this
matters so much to either of them. Jane says that it's fun reading a
diary written by a girl just like her. I'm not sure how she
concluded that Julia Canby was just like her, but okay. Andy's
behavior is a bigger mystery, though. Why should she care if Jane
enjoys reading the diary? This affects her life in NO WAY WHATSOEVER.
Toby and
Andy eventually fall asleep but Jane stays up with the pages late
into the night. When she finally does decide to turn out her light
and get some sleep, she suddenly hears “The Skater's Waltz”
playing from somewhere in Baker House. She immediately assumes that
someone has the music box in Baker and she's puzzled because it isn't
supposed to leave the library. I suppose this is reasonable because
clearly there can only be one thing in the entire world that could
possibly play that song.
#wearen'tidiotsHoh #butyourcharacterssureare
The next
morning is somehow Sunday. Not sure how that happened. Jane asks
her roommates what they're going to be doing that day. Andy says
she's going to blackmail Matt into coming over to study with her by
telling him if he doesn't, she'll tell the entire campus he only has
to shave twice a week. Dumbest threat ever. Jane asks Toby if she
wants to go to the library with her and Andy immediately says in a
“warning tone” that she hopes Jane isn't going to spend
all day with the diary. Jane replies that she intends to study but
she doesn't intend to spend the whole day studying and Andy replies
“grumpily” that she should. She secretly hopes that the
exhibit will be busy so Jane won't even be able to read the diary.
What IS
this? It makes no sense that Andy would be so upset with this. It's
starting to come across as if Andy thinks people can only care about
the things she cares about and if they care about something else
she's going to tell them over and over how wrong they are.
Which.....isn't so unbelievable really if you think about it but I
really doubt that was the aim here. We're just going to hashtag this
so I can quit saying it over and over.
#thismakesnosense #Andy'swayorthehighway
At
breakfast they meet up with Maggie (#oneeyeonMaggieatALLtimes) and
Dee from next door and the adorable Penny. Dee asks if they heard
the waltz music late last night and Penny confirms that she did.
Jane says nothing but she's surprised that anyone else heard it.
After all, it's only the 407 girls that special things happen to and
the entire campus should know this.
Andy
meets up with Matt after and gives him a long, bitchy speech about
how ridiculous Jane and Toby (who is fascinated with the music box)
are acting. She wants him to agree with her but he points out that
Andy is a person who lives solidly in the present. She doesn't worry
about the future and she doesn't care about the past. Toby and Jane
just have a “stronger sense of history” than she does. Andy is
furious. In her head she actually thinks that he wasn't supposed to
find the logic in the situation and point it out, he was supposed to
agree with her point of view.
Wow.
I
definitely think there's going to be a Bitch of Baker House this
book.
Matt is
reasonable for a few more paragraphs and Andy reluctantly agrees to
stop nagging Jane about the diary IF she starts making time to study.
Because Andy is the boss of Jane, dontchaknow, and therefore in
charge of how Jane manages her time. She tells Matt that “dummies”
aren't allowed in Baker House so Jane best get her fucking act
together.
We
switch to Jane who is reading the diary in the library. The entries
are full of whine about how Julia is isolated from her peers and not
allowed to socialize with anyone. Mathilde is there to make sure she
doesn't talk to anyone when they're out and about. Jane puts the
diary back and reads some of the letters. They describe a popular,
fun Julia who is missed by her friends in America. None of this is
interesting at all. This entire book is a throwaway I think.
Jane
leaves the library, intending to get some studying done. On her way
back to the house, she sees someone dressed like Julia walking out by the pond. The figure disappears into the woods before she can get closer. Jane is startled.
It's
totally Gigi, isn't it? She's “haunting” Jane so that Jane will
be too distracted to worry about winning the lit award.
Later
that evening when they're all studying in room 407, Toby mentions
that Merrie told Maggie and Dee that the nominees for the lit award
will have to write an essay. It can be about any topic they want.
I'm not sure WHY Merrie told Maggie and Dee and not the actual
nominees, but whatever, Hoh. Jane immediately says she'll do her
essay over the diary and Andy blows her top. She demands that Jane
pick another topic because she's sick to death of hearing about “the
dumb old book”. Jane refuses to back down and Andy seethes because clearly she's the best person to decide what Jane writes about.
That
night, after everyone else is asleep, Andy hears the music box music.
The next
day Andy calls Cary. She's sure he will take her side and order Jane
to stop reading the diary. Cary, bless his soul, does not. He tells
Andy that he's happy Jane has found something she cares about deeply
and he thinks it's cool that she's interested in something that no
one else seems to care about. Andy tries to plant “seeds of
doubt” in his mind by saying that Jane doesn't care about him
anymore and she doesn't want to spend any time with him now. It's
pure evil. What the hell?
#thismakesnosense #Andy'swayorthehighway
Oh! And
#teamCaryalldayeveryday
Andy is
fuming as she crosses campus to go to class. She can't believe that
Cary isn't on his way to the library right this minute to “yank
Jane out of the past”. Why can't they see that her way is the
ONLY FUCKING WAY and anyone who disagrees is a complete idiot? As
she's walking she sees a figure dressed in Victorian clothes walking
across the lawn. She immediately assumes it's Gigi.....which means
my theory must be wrong, dang it.....and starts yelling. She tells
Gigi to stop being a bitch and the figure laughs at her before
vanishing. When I first read this, I thought Hoh meant it vanished
in thin air, but Andy doesn't react to it at all and she still thinks
it's Gigi so the figure must have just walked away.
Andy
turns the corner and runs right into Gigi who is dressed in her
regular clothes and shows no signs of having been a fake Julia just
seconds before. Sigh. Disappointing. I was so sure I was onto
something.
Later
Andy decides to find Toby and tell her what she saw. Toby is a
reasonable human being and has a unique way of looking at things, so
Andy feels like Toby will be able to explain away the ghost. Before
she can even mention it, Toby tells her that other girls have been
seeing the ghost of Julia around the pond in recent days. Andy begs
Toby not to tell Jane because she doesn't want Jane's obsession with
Julia to grow but Toby reasonably points out that the entire campus
is talking about it and Jane probably already knows.
Back in
room 407, the girls are joined by Dee and Maggie. Jane does, indeed,
know about the ghost and she reveals that she saw it the day before.
Andy gets huffy and tells Jane that she can't believe a smart girl
like her is falling for a stupid joke. Never mind that Andy actually
saw the “ghost” too. She doesn't bother to mention that little
fact as she tears Jane apart. Andy is so unlikable in this book,
y'all.
Andy
makes a brief visit to Oakley where she gripes to Matt for awhile.
Matt recognizes that she's gone to the dark side and he's unsure how
to get her back so he resolves to just support her the best he can
until she returns to normal. I like Matt. He deserves better than
Andy. Andy drags Matt and Cary back to campus. She's still hoping
that Cary will tell Jane to snap out of it. Instead, Cary is amazing
because of course he is. He tells Jane that he doesn't know if
ghosts are real but he believes she saw what she saw. He has a very
open mind about the entire thing and points out that no one
understands everything about the world. I heart Cary. Both these
boys need better girlfriends.
It's
page 71 before we take our first head-hop into Toby's brain. Jane
and Andy have been monopolizing this book in their usual
self-centered fashion. Toby is taking a walk by the pond before
returning to her studies. She sees the “ghost” in the trees and
tries to talk to it but it just runs away. She goes back to the room
to wait for her roommates. As soon as they return, she tells them
about seeing Julia. Jane is intrigued but Andy continues to insist
that it's someone playing a prank. As much as it pains me to say
this, I agree with Andy on this one. Not that I don't believe in
ghosts because I've seen them myself, but this definitely feels like
a student prank.
While
they're arguing, the music begins to play again. This time Andy
decides she's going to track down where it's coming from.
Unfortunately, tracking it down is easier said than done. When she
gets into the hall, she realizes that the place it can be heard the
best is just outside 407. Still she knocks on all the 4th floor
doors and inspects the hallway for speakers or wires. She finds
nothing.
The next
day, Jane, Penny and Gigi are summoned into Merrie's room. She tells
them that the winner of the lit award will be determined by essay
contest. They have to turn in a ten-page essay in one week. This
really seems inhumane considering they are supposed to be preparing
for finals and probably have projects due in other classes as well.
I think I'd say “thanks but no thanks” to this award and just get
on with my life. Jane, however, feels like she needs to win the
award for room 407 because Toby and Andy are counting on her to bring
home the glory.
They
keep changing how they spell “Merry/Merrie” by the way. One
ghostie does it one way and another does it the other. I can't keep
up.
When
Jane gets back to her room, Andy tells her that they're all going out
for pizza with Cary and Matt. Jane doesn't want to go. Now that she
has to write this essay, she really needs to stop doing frivolous
things like eating and sleeping. Andy won't take no for an answer
which makes NO DAMN SENSE since she's been nagging at Jane all
fucking book to get to work.
The
group goes to Pizza Pete's where Matt spills the beans about Andy
having seen the ghost. Jane is incensed. Here Andy's been making
fun of her when she saw it for herself. Andy defends herself by
saying that what she saw was a person in a costume but Jane is not
mollified. Cary asks why Andy didn't bother to mention she'd seen it
when she was trying to convince him to talk Jane out of having seen
it. That's it for Jane. She starts yelling and banging on the table
at this point. The people at Pizza Pete's must just be loving this.
I hope they have popcorn.
Andy
jumps up from the table and dramatically announces that she's
leaving. She grabs Matt's arm and literally yanks him from the
chair, telling him that he's leaving too. He actually doesn't want
to, but he also can't let her walk back to the campus by herself, so
he reluctantly leaves with her. This is supposed to be late spring,
almost summer, at dinnertime. There's no way it's dark yet. She'd
be fine walking back to campus by herself. But he cares for her and
he's a gentleman so I'll give him a pass for being spineless in this
case.
After
dinner, Jane goes to the library to read more of the diary. She
justifies it in her own mind as being research for her award essay.
The last entry tells of a boy bringing Julia violets but her father
getting mad and ordering him away. Julia mentions feeling hot and
achy and Jane knows it's because she's already contracted the illness
that killed her. She's sad after reading it. The ghost appears
outside the library and Jane tries to chase it down but loses sight
of it. When she gets back to her room, there's a tiny bouquet of
violets on her bed.
Dun dun
dun.
Jane
immediately accuses Andy of leaving the flowers as some sort of dumb
prank. Andy denies involvement and points out that she hasn't read
the diary and didn't know about the connection between Julia and
violets. This is reasonable but Jane doesn't care. The two of the
trade insults at a high volume until Jane stomps back out of the
room. Andy tells Toby that she's going to get to the bottom of this.
There's a joint study day between Oakley and Canby that Andy planned for Saturday. Andy tells Toby that she's going to
skip her own study party to try to track down the flowers. Toby
offers to help her because she just wants the campus to go back to
normal.
On
Saturday, the two girls visit the floral shop in Greenleaf to see if
someone remembers selling violets to a student. The florist
remembers the bouquet because it was such an old-fashioned thing to
order. She can't tell them a name, though, because the girl paid in
cash. She describes the girl as tall and thin with long dark hair.
Not super helpful, really, since, as Andy points out, it could be
about anyone wearing a wig.
We hop
to Jane who is sitting out on the lawn with the other study session
participants. They're bitching about finals and talking about the
ghost when Gigi walks out of the main building with a tall, thin girl
with long dark hair. Subtle, Hoh. Verrrrrrry subtle. I mean, I
didn't make a connection AT ALL with the person just described at the
floral shop. How could I? Your writing is too complex and deep to
give anything like that away. Someone asks who the girl is and Jane
says it's Agnes as if we're all supposed to know who the fuck
Agnes is. Dee distractedly chimes in that Agnes and Gigi have been
hanging out a lot together recently.
Jane
wonders if Agnes could be the person pretending to be the ghost but
Dee says there were a couple of occasions where the ghost was seen
but Agnes was somewhere else. So clearly, the two of them are in
this together.
Back in
407 that evening, things are tense as the girls study. Jane is
resentful because Andy isn't pissed off at Toby for seeing the ghost.
The music begins to play and again it is louder in front of 407 than anywhere
else. Andy is convinced someone hid a tape recorder in the room and
she wants to search every square inch. This just pisses Jane off
because Andy won't accept that the cause is paranormal. You
know....despite the fact that Jane herself just wondered if Agnes was
the ghost. I guess it's okay for Jane but not for Andy. These girls
are EXHAUSTING.
Jane
refuses to let Andy search her side of the room and the two bicker
loudly about it. In the meantime, the music stops. Andy gives up
her idea of a search and they lapse into tense silence again.
Andy
decides to tail Gigi the next day. The first hour or so is pretty
boring as Gigi runs errands around campus. Then she heads to Baker
House and goes into Anges' room. Andy watches as Gigi begins making
mysterious trips to the broom closet. Girls often use
the broom closet as a private place to cry but (1) Gigi is not upset
and (2) Gigi doesn't even live in Baker House and could just go home
if she was. Andy wonders why Gigi is spending so much time in the
broom closet of Baker House.
After
Gigi leaves, Andy methodically searches the broom closet. She finds
the tape recorder loaded with a recording of The Skater's Waltz, the
“Julia” clothes and a wig. She knows she can't prove that Gigi
is the one who put it there since every girl in Baker uses the broom
closet but she's determined to put a stop to this nonsense once and
for all. Later she tells Jane and Toby what she found. Jane gets
upset. She accuses Andy of being smug and overly pleased with
herself and then she storms out of the room.
Toby
follows Jane out and Andy takes advantage of the quiet room to think
about her next move. She decides to sabotage Gigi's tape recorder.
She replaces the tape of the Skater's Waltz with a rock tape and
turns the volume up high. She isn't sure where Gigi normally hides
the tape recorder but she's still hopeful to catch Gigi in the act
later.
After
dinner, Andy hides behind a potted plant in the hall. Yeah, you read
that right. The hall is crowded with lots of people going to and fro
and yet no one notices Andy Cord hiding behind a potted plant. She
watches the hall for awhile and then sees Gigi coming out of Agnes'
room. Gigi goes to the mail slot just outside 407 and puts an
envelope inside. Then she runs away. Seconds later, loud rock music
comes blasting from the mail slot. Andy realizes Gigi must have
wedged the tape recorder in the slot earlier in the day and then used
the pretense of mailing a letter to push the play button.
Gigi
rushes back to the mail slot as soon as the music begins and then
other girls start pouring into the hall. Gigi pretends to discover
the tape recorder and plays it off like she isn't involved. Andy
starts hurling accusations at her and Gigi begins hurling them right
back, accusing Andy of being behind the music. Then Gigi changes
tactics and says that maybe the ghost has been using the tape
recorder. Andy scoffs because how the hell would Julia even know
what a tape recorder was, let alone how to use it? But the other
girls want to keep their resident ghost and they accept Gigi's story
immediately. Andy is disgusted and goes back to her room.
When
Jane and Toby come in, Andy is sure Jane is going to take Gigi's
side. Instead, Jane apologizes for not listening to Andy before and
says they need to find a way to prove Gigi is behind the haunting.
Unfortunately they have no idea how to do that.
The next
day Jane and Penny are excused from their lit classes to go to the
library to work on their essays. Penny is in a panic because she has
no idea what to write about. She asks Jane for a suggested and, at
first, Jane is irritated and angry at the interruption of her own
work. Then she realizes that she's lucky to have friends and not
live the lonely life that Julia lived, and she brainstorms a bit with
Penny. Penny ends up deciding on an essay about mass hysteria and
the ghost sightings around campus. Jane gets to work on her own
essay, focusing on the tragic loneliness and short life of Julia
Canby. As she works, she cries.
Andy
decides to test out a theory after her own classes. She goes to the
drama department and asks if they ever used a maroon dress and black
cloak like the ghost has been appearing in. Sure enough, they used
it the year before in a play. Andy asks to see it and the costume
keeper takes her back to the storage area. unsurprisingly, the dress
and cloak are missing.
In a
clandestine meeting in room 407 later, Andy, Jane, Toby, Dee and
Maggie put their heads together to come up with a plan. Ideas range
from putting glue in the wig to putting spiders in the dress. This
is a real braintrust, y'all. Andy says they need to set Gigi up and
force her to confess. Then she puts her head to the others and whispers
her plan out of our hearing. All we know is that Jane says it's a
terrific plan which probably means it's hella dumb.
It's
hella dumb.
I don't
even want to recap it.
You
suck, Hoh.
So the
BIG PLAN is that a taped recording will play over the loud speaker
during dinner while Gigi is in attendance. Andy tapes it, disguising
her voice.
“Gigi?
Gigi Norton? I wish to speak to Gigi Norton please.”
…... “You will
think this strange, I know, Gigi Norton, but I feel a strong kinship
to you, and felt the need to speak directly to you just this once.
We do look a bit alike, do we not? Perhaps you are the sister I
always wished for but never had. I want you to know that I, too, get
lonely and wish for companionship. I have spent many lonely
afternoons in London, sitting on the windowseat in my room, watching
the rain stream down the window.”
“Julia” goes on to say that she understands loneliness because
she didn't have many friends. If she'd had friends, she would have
been sure to treat them with kindness. Then she ends with this.
“I
must go now, Gigi. You are a special person. Remember....be
kind....be kind.....”
Well, that's fucking awful.
Gigi flips out. She says the recording wasn't her this time. Andy
pounces on that and smugly asks Gigi if she's the one who has been
haunting the school and Gigi just admits it.
So dumb.
Mind-numbingly dumb.
On what planet would this actually work?
Thus, the A plot concludes. I have no idea what Gigi's end game was in this. Why did she haunt the school? What purpose did it serve? Hoh doesn't bother to tell us. The girls decide not to turn Gigi into
the administration because now everyone hates her and that's
punishment enough.
The B plot gets wrapped up on the next page. To no one's actual
surprise, Jane wins the lit award.
#407can'tbebeat #room407worshipalldayeveryday
At the formal dinner, Jane is super nervous about having to give a
speech and read part of her essay. Cary calms her right down. He
says she'll be fine because she's strong and she's smart and she won
the award because she deserved it and worked hard to get it. He's
just.....awesome.
The last line of the book comes after Jane gets up and begins her
speech. Do you want to hear the profound sentiment that Hoh leaves
us with?
Are you sure? This could affect you deeply, you know.
Okay, you asked for it.
“The
audience sat quietly, listening.”
Yep, folks. That's how the book ended.
You REALLY suck, Hoh.
The Least Annoying Person in Greenleaf Award: Cary was awesome but
he really didn't get much play here. I'm award this one to Matt. He
was kind and supportive to Andy without getting sucked into her
crazy. He deserves so much better.
The Bitch of Baker House Award: This has to go to Andy. She was so
inexplicably judgmental of Jane and how Jane was choosing to manage
her time. It was none of her damn business and it doesn't even make
sense that she was angry about Jane being interested in the history
of the school and Julia's life.
Coming up Next: Jane talks Toby and Andy into taking a crazy
summer job. Wait.......didn't we read this one already???????
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