Customer Reviews

Betsy and the Great World (Betsy-Tacy)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is something about the Betsy-Tacy series that always fills my heart with warmth. Betsy and the Great World is no exception. At twenty-one, Betsy is on the verge of a great adventure. She embarks on a tour of Europe - when Europe was a new horizon for a young writer to see. Betsy soon discovers that she is growing up (she is courted by a dashing Italian during her trip abroad), but she can not forget her beloved Joe. Read this book and the rest of the series. They will take you back to a time when things were simpler.

I have never been to Europe, so reading "Betsy and the Great World" was a fun way to experience Europe through someone else's eyes. I read all the Betsy-Tacy books, and though I definitely felt the absence of Tacy and the Crowd in this book, it was interesting to watch Betsy's development and growth during her year abroad. Her independence and spunk even away from home are amazing to behold, yet at times she gets homesick just as anyone would, so her experiences are not unrealistic. I think this book shows a very important time of growth in Betsy's life. If you are a fan of the Betsy-Tacy books, this one is not to be missed. "Down to Gehenna or up to the throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone..."

I have read "Betsy and the Great World" so often that I know much of it by heart. When I travelled to Italy this spring, and stepped into St. Mark's Square, I could hear the Harvard Man yelling at Betsy's "tourist trick" with the pigeons. And when I went on a gondola ride, Betsy and her Marco were in the gondola that floated by on the other side of the Grand Canal. Any author who can make her characters live so completely deserves to be read. It takes a very special young woman to understand the pleasures of a simple life well-lived, but for her, this series will provide richness and memories to last a lifetime.

These and L.M. Montgomery's novels are my favorite books. Betsy and the Great World tells of Betsy's adventures in Europe. This book is a little different from the the others, which only shows that Mrs. Lovelace could be original even after eight previous books about Betsy.

A heartwarming book. Betsy's vivid personality holds its own in the Great World, from her leisurely transatlantic crossing (charmed by an Irish purser) to her taste of student life in a Munich pension, a visit to Oberammergau, a romantic month in Venice, a short stay in Paris, and Mrs. Heaton's boardinghouse in London at the very outbreak of war. Joe . . . well, read the book. A masterpiece.

When Maud Hart Lovelace first wrote the "Betsy-Tacy" seires, did she know how much so many people, from children to adults, would love them? The series has at least one book that anyone of any age can relate to. 10-year-olds will love "Over the big Hill," high-schoolers will love the books about when Betsy was attending Deep Valley High, etc. And it doesn't end there! Even if you're not the age that Betsy was in one of the books, you can still love all of them! Maud has a way of capturing real feelings and expiriences--even bad ones--and turning them into works of art. The "Betsy-Tacy" series really is a work of art, even if it was painted with a pen, not a paint brush.

In "Betsy and the Great World" Betsy sets sail to Europe. At first she is terribly homesick, but she soon makes some friends (did you ever see Betsy without friends?!) and settles down to writing stories. Some readers miss the Crowd in this book. I did, too, but Betsy certainly hasn't changed just bacuase she isn't in her usual setting of Deep Valley. She's still Betsy, down to the last hair on her head that is NOT curly!

I was brought up on Betsy-Tacy, but just recently read the last two books in the series. This book is great at describing the feelings and evolution of a girl becoming independent. The beginning and ending are both excellent, with the detailed description of her experience in college providing a good bridge from the high school books. I love her romance with Joe, the recurring appearance of the famous writer, Ms. Whitaker, and the depiction of England at the very start of the war.

This is the eighth book in the Betsy-Tacy series, which follows Betsy Ray from kindergarten to marriage at the turn of the 20th century. Betsy, now in her early twenties with two years of college behind her, finally realizes her dream of traveling through Europe. The story unfolds in four main acts/settings: the voyage across the Atlantic, study and friendship in Munich, romance in Venice, and the inauguration of war in London. Artfully and intimately told, the story is also rich with cultural details that I appreciate more now than I did reading this book as a child: Betsy's excitement about gaining weight, her careful circumspection with regard to proper ladylike behavior, her sweet and chaste romances - all of this combined with a zest for life and an indefatigably adventuresome spirit.

I was a bit disappointed when I opened this book up, and read the first sentence. I didn't think it was right of Mrs. Lovelace to just skip college, to think we missed it! So, I had to imagine college and Bob, and the relationship between Betsy and Joe.
Not only do you miss out on what happens in college, but it's somewhat odd to be going from high-school Betsy, to grown woman. I kept on wondering why there wasn't at least one book made about Betsy going to college.
Although I said this, I would still suggest reading this book, it's a great book, and Betsy doesn't change too much. But through the whole book I felt weird. It didn't matter how many friends and 'crowds' Betsy made, or how many admirers she gained. The original crowd just wasn't there.
But don't worry, Betsy is still pretty much the same, she makes friends, and there is quite a bit of romance in the book.