Missee Lee (Swallows And Amazons)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"He makes a tale of adventure a handbook to adventure." -"Observer"
"There is plenty of excitement, a little danger, a quality of thinking, planning and fun which is delightful and stimulating." -"TLS" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"There is plenty of excitement, a little danger, a quality of thinking, planning and fun which is delightful and stimulating." -"TLS" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
A timeless classic, beautifully rejacketed. One of twelve Arthur Ransome titles reissued this month
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Once again Arthur Ransome comes up with a grand adventure for the children he introduced in his earlier books. This time they are sailing a small schooner through little-charted waters in the China Sea. After a disastrous fire on board, they are washed ashore, along with Captain Flint (Nancy and Peggy's Uncle Jim if you are not familiar with these books) on a small chain of islands, and captured by Chinese pirates. Those over-sensitive souls among us may find the depiction of Chinese natives, and the rendition of their accents, less than PC, but I read this book for the first time at the impressionable age of nine and I don't think it coloured my attitude to Chinese people in any negative way. What this books does, as superbly as all Mr Ransome's others, is convey the excitement that children feel if they are allowed a little freedom. Our poor children today, molly-coddled and over-protected by our anxious selves can only dream of adventures such as these. Luckily, they have books like this to transport them to such faraway places where we, as parents, cannot interfere.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In this sequel to Peter Duck,the Swallows & Amazons lose their ship in the South China Seas. When they reach land they make friends with some local pirates. Their leader is the Cambridge University educated female Pirate Missee Lee herself.
She is hospitible and even gives them their own house. But when it comes to leaving she will not let them go.
Finally there is a daring escape bid that will make it impossible for you to put the book down.
Amazing description and colourful characters, aided by the simple but charming line drawings, typical of the author, make this book that little bit more special.
She is hospitible and even gives them their own house. But when it comes to leaving she will not let them go.
Finally there is a daring escape bid that will make it impossible for you to put the book down.
Amazing description and colourful characters, aided by the simple but charming line drawings, typical of the author, make this book that little bit more special.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
We know from references in other books in the series that the events of 'Peter Duck' didn't happen within the fictional lives of Ransome's heroes; rather, it's a metafiction - a narrative that they composed together in the cabin of an old wherry over the course of a winter holiday. There's no such intertextual reference to Missee Lee in the canonical stories, but nevertheless we know it is a sequel to Peter Duck. We know this because we find our heroes on the same little schooner that Peter Duck had helped them sail before.
So we know from the start that Missee Lee is also a metafiction, or rather, a metafantasy: a fantasy of a China which never existed but which, one cannot help thinking, should have.
Missee Lee is the most sustained comedy in Ransome's oeuvre. The first chapter gives us none of this: it's a rattling good yarn in the best tradition of rattling good yarns. But as soon as our heroes get ashore and meet the eponymous pirate queen, a twist no-one would have predicted takes the plot by the tail. Roger is discovered to have just one unique talent - a talent which none of the others had ever thought might come in useful; and throughout the delightful romp which follows, this unlikely talent is the one thing which saves everyone's life.
In summary, this isn't a 'Swallows and Amazons' tale like any other. It stands alone. It's more exotic, funnier, odder, and ultimately more poignant. But it is probably some of Ransome's finest story telling, and certainly his finest writing. And although aimed at a teen audience, this really is a story to delight any reader.
Read it, as they say, and weep - but weep from laughing.
So we know from the start that Missee Lee is also a metafiction, or rather, a metafantasy: a fantasy of a China which never existed but which, one cannot help thinking, should have.
Missee Lee is the most sustained comedy in Ransome's oeuvre. The first chapter gives us none of this: it's a rattling good yarn in the best tradition of rattling good yarns. But as soon as our heroes get ashore and meet the eponymous pirate queen, a twist no-one would have predicted takes the plot by the tail. Roger is discovered to have just one unique talent - a talent which none of the others had ever thought might come in useful; and throughout the delightful romp which follows, this unlikely talent is the one thing which saves everyone's life.
In summary, this isn't a 'Swallows and Amazons' tale like any other. It stands alone. It's more exotic, funnier, odder, and ultimately more poignant. But it is probably some of Ransome's finest story telling, and certainly his finest writing. And although aimed at a teen audience, this really is a story to delight any reader.
Read it, as they say, and weep - but weep from laughing.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Disappointing
I read most of the Arthur Ransom books when I was about 10 and am in the process of rereading them. Somehow I missed this one first time around, but perhaps just as well because... Read more
Published 10 months ago by pantodame
High adventure among Chinese pirates
Once again Arthur Ransome comes up with a grand adventure for the children he introduced in his ealier books. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2001 by W. Weinstein
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
