LMM Project - Mistress Pat

I've put this off long enough - best to just get it over with. This is the first LMM book I read that I distinctly disliked (but not the last as I discovered recently with Kilmeny of the Orchard - to be reviewed soon). I'm certainly not blind to the fact that LMM had a penchant for the sentimental and formulaic, but it almost always worked. Mistress Pat is an example where it decidedly did not work. Where Pat is charming and relatable in the first installment she becomes grating and preposterous.

There are so many problems with this book it's hard to know where to start.....

First, it's a tedious, dull and plodding read. It is divided up by year and each year blends into the other with the same general thing happening over and over for eleven interminable years. It doesn't take a genius to know how most LMM books will end, but usually the journey is so delightful that it makes up for the lack of suspense.

Second, the characters are annoying and unbelievable. Pat becomes a ridiculous caricature with her insane resistance to change. She's so unlikable that's it strains all credulity to believe that she has so many opportunities to reject suitors.

Third, the plot is so contrived and predictable that it's almost insulting.

Forth, the love story itself is very unsatisfying. Our leading man is absent for most of the book.

And finally, what does it all mean? Pat never faces up to her many personal issues, but instead is FORCED to accept change by one outlandish plot device after another. She shows no personal growth.

This is one that not even LMM's beautiful writing could save. And although I still adore the character of Judy Plum even she wasn't enough to salvage this train wreck. Gone is the childlike wonder at Judy's fantastical stories and now Pat seems almost disdainful of her old beloved friend.

I'm convinced that every prolific writer produces at least one dud and this is LMM's. She is allowed this and it doesn't change my overall opinion of her one bit.