The Princess Diaries Overview

The Princess Diaries series of books really requires an overview, because there are some statements that should be made which are not associated with any particular book.

Changes from Book to Book

As I write this, after reading the first three volumes, it is obvious that these books are very information heavy. That is, there are a lot of plots, and sub-plots; there is a lot going on. To me this is a statement that the books are good books.

In addition, I've noticed these books do not have static characters. That is, Mia changes from book to book, and the changes are easily associated with growing up.

One issue, for example, is Mia's handling of the press. In the first book, at the beginning, Mia's handling is irrelevant until she is outed as a Princess, but by the end of the book, her relationship is one of "Get out of the way, I'm coming through." That is, her relationship is one of just toleration and barely that (although at one time they yelled out a question about her attitude toward meat, and she almost stopped to answer that one.)

By the end of the second book, she is still barreling through the press, but she has something she wants to say, so she pauses long enough to grab a microphone, and make a statement. She has the presence of mind to do that.

By the end of the third book, she's calling her own press conference to solve some problems she has.

I will note that this is not a change in character for Mia. That is, she grew up with her mother who was, and is, very irresponsible, so Mia had to learn responsibility to survive. In the third book, it is noted that even at age six, Mia understood that her mother was irresponsible.

This forced responsibility prior to her becoming a Princess (or being informed that she was one) was entirely within her family. That is, she took care of her mother. Even when her mother started going with Mr. Gianini, her response to Mr. Gianini was one of taking responsibility for her mother (and that is in just the first few pages of the first book).

Even then she has dreams of taking more responsibility, for example, Greenpeace, and environmental issues, but she is powerless to do anything. All that is happening is that as she grows more mature and confident in herself, this native responsibility is starting to become more obvious to the outside world.

In my opinion, she is acting more and more like the princess that her grandmère and father want her to be. Her handling of the press above is one example. Her handling of her dresses and appearance is another. That is, at first she is shy about her appearance, and allows her grandmère to choose all these dresses that she'll never wear. By the end of the last one, she is noting which dress looks better, etc. While I suspect that not all of this is because of her being a princess, it is part of growing up.

Lana

Lana is someone that people should feel sorry for. That is, she has a severe problem with self-esteem. In book one, she totally tries to loose her identity in Josh's - so much so that when he broke up with her, she didn't have enough self-esteem to take care of herself.

Also, she is always onto Mia's case. The reason for that is not because she thinks she is beautiful, and Mia is not, since if that were the case, she would just ignore it if she had the self-esteem to do so. But she is constantly lording over Mia is a way that can only be attributed to insecurity.

She reminds me of the character Karen at the beginning of my novel, The Gustave Station. That is, Karen needed to justify herself by loosing her identity in her husband. Later on, she get counseling from Amanda, and learns to hold herself in higher esteem so that she no longer thinks of herself as being justified strictly in terms of her husband. It is revealed that this is due to abuse by her father.

As far as I know now, the reason for Lana's lack of self-esteem is not presented in these books. Some people never realize how lacking in self-esteem they are, or, as Mia would have put it, how in need of self-actualization they are.

Last Updated April 15, 2007. Home Page