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drsldn's review against another edition
2.0
it was a bit weird to be reading this at the same time as Mary McCarthy's The Company she keeps. Although this is from a slightly earlier period in the 20c there were some similarities and aspects that invited comparison. I'm not really a short story fan, but at least Stella Gibbons' stories were short (unlike the novella length of McCarthy) and followed more the short story tradition. Some of the stories seemed as if they belonged to a well-written edition of People's Friend and I did start to feel that if I were informed once more that happiness for women was to be found in being par of a marriage and having children and being supportive of my husband (despite it being dressed up a bit to be about women being individuals and having their own needs too) I would throw the book across the room. Also I hate Cold Comfort Farm, but fortunately there was only one story set there. Quite a few of these somehat annoying women worked in libraries. so much for stereotypes...
laura1564's review against another edition
1.0
As other reviewers have noted, this is a collection of short stories. Only the first two are about Christmas, and only one of these is set in the world of Cold Comfort Farm. These first stories are the best of the book. The others are unbearably dated and not terribly well written.
I picked this book up because I am a fan of Stella Gibbon’s comic classic, Cold Comfort Farm, and was disappointed to find nearly all these stories lacking the humor and the underlying theme of hope persevering and ultimately triumphing even in the absurdly dysfunction world of the Starkadders. The most disappointing part of these stories is that they are relentlessly bogged down by dated moralizing. There are, here and there some amusing characters sketched, some satiric wit, a little glimpse of the sparkle her most famous book glimmers with, but most of these stories range from dull to downright depressing. All of them focus on women in their 30’s and 40’s, and most of them are frustrating in the way they open up ideas about independent women, and a desire to be recognized as fully equal human beings, but then quash these notions with cautionary tales about sad spinsters, “bad girls”, and “careerists” who should be careful not to put their success before their man. The stories are slightly interesting if read as historical documents of 1930’s culture depicting the “bright young things” of the 20’s who are now feeling middle aged and considerably dimmer. Read for entertainment, they grated on me.
A few things that appear in these stories that I am grateful we have at least made some progress in changing over the last 80 years or so:
-the constant reference to women in their late 30’s to early 40’s as “old women”
-the countless women characters judged for being “bad” and “wicked” because they have sex outside of marriage
-the fact that, in one story, a man is said to be “kind” because he allows his ex-wife to see their children in his home periodically (here’s to modern joint custody agreements)
-the fact that this same story ends by celebrating this ex-wife being cut out of her children’s lives altogether save for once a year when she can meet them at a hotel (she has, after all, been one of the wicked women)
-the denouement of one story when a husband slaps his wife in the face and she not only says she deserves it, but is thrilled to finally be put in her place and says he should have done so years ago
What is interesting is that it is clear that, despite the exceedingly conventional bounds to her tales, Gibbons at the same time is courting ideas about women’s liberation and does at times seem interested in introducing potentially controversial topics related to gender. Over and over it felt as though she was, at first, satirizing the mores of the more conventional “set”, only to then come down with quite earnest and heavy handed defenses of the most conventional possible values. At times, for example she seems to be bringing up extreme examples of social judgement as a commentary on narrow mindedness, as in the ending to one story, in which a woman is shamed out of her town after it comes out that she was with a man 20 years ago before he went off and was killed in WWI, despite the fact she has been pure and chaste ever since. Yet it’s hard to escape the feeling that she really does disapprove of “loose” moral behavior, that she states un ironic judgement of women’s sexual behavior more than once in these stories, and doesn’t really stand on the side of the unconventional woman despite an interest in her.
This seems to be a result of someone who embraced progressive ideas in a youth spent in the roaring 20’s, but then closed herself off to progress as she entered middle age in the 30’s and 40’s. This is certainly a theme across most of the stories. Character after character reflects on the social boundaries he or she opened up in their 20’s youth, but then embraces the conventional life (or is either judged for or suffers for not doing so) in her 30’s or 40’s. While it would be fine to address themes of moving into a new stage of life, the feeling in many of these stories is one of moving from a time of youthful exuberance into a state of being an “old” person stuck in either a sad and lonely existence or tied to the duties of marriage and children. In either case the joy of the woman as an individual is erased and life seems strangely unfulfilling. The exceptions to this rule are the first, and last stories, which offer some hope for change and happiness in life, even after the first bloom of youth. Otherwise, it is a somewhat sad turn to read many of these gloomy mid life crises pronouncements from the same pen who gave Ada Doom such a glorious new lease on life in Cold Comfort Farm.
I picked this book up because I am a fan of Stella Gibbon’s comic classic, Cold Comfort Farm, and was disappointed to find nearly all these stories lacking the humor and the underlying theme of hope persevering and ultimately triumphing even in the absurdly dysfunction world of the Starkadders. The most disappointing part of these stories is that they are relentlessly bogged down by dated moralizing. There are, here and there some amusing characters sketched, some satiric wit, a little glimpse of the sparkle her most famous book glimmers with, but most of these stories range from dull to downright depressing. All of them focus on women in their 30’s and 40’s, and most of them are frustrating in the way they open up ideas about independent women, and a desire to be recognized as fully equal human beings, but then quash these notions with cautionary tales about sad spinsters, “bad girls”, and “careerists” who should be careful not to put their success before their man. The stories are slightly interesting if read as historical documents of 1930’s culture depicting the “bright young things” of the 20’s who are now feeling middle aged and considerably dimmer. Read for entertainment, they grated on me.
A few things that appear in these stories that I am grateful we have at least made some progress in changing over the last 80 years or so:
-the constant reference to women in their late 30’s to early 40’s as “old women”
-the countless women characters judged for being “bad” and “wicked” because they have sex outside of marriage
-the fact that, in one story, a man is said to be “kind” because he allows his ex-wife to see their children in his home periodically (here’s to modern joint custody agreements)
-the fact that this same story ends by celebrating this ex-wife being cut out of her children’s lives altogether save for once a year when she can meet them at a hotel (she has, after all, been one of the wicked women)
-the denouement of one story when a husband slaps his wife in the face and she not only says she deserves it, but is thrilled to finally be put in her place and says he should have done so years ago
What is interesting is that it is clear that, despite the exceedingly conventional bounds to her tales, Gibbons at the same time is courting ideas about women’s liberation and does at times seem interested in introducing potentially controversial topics related to gender. Over and over it felt as though she was, at first, satirizing the mores of the more conventional “set”, only to then come down with quite earnest and heavy handed defenses of the most conventional possible values. At times, for example she seems to be bringing up extreme examples of social judgement as a commentary on narrow mindedness, as in the ending to one story, in which a woman is shamed out of her town after it comes out that she was with a man 20 years ago before he went off and was killed in WWI, despite the fact she has been pure and chaste ever since. Yet it’s hard to escape the feeling that she really does disapprove of “loose” moral behavior, that she states un ironic judgement of women’s sexual behavior more than once in these stories, and doesn’t really stand on the side of the unconventional woman despite an interest in her.
This seems to be a result of someone who embraced progressive ideas in a youth spent in the roaring 20’s, but then closed herself off to progress as she entered middle age in the 30’s and 40’s. This is certainly a theme across most of the stories. Character after character reflects on the social boundaries he or she opened up in their 20’s youth, but then embraces the conventional life (or is either judged for or suffers for not doing so) in her 30’s or 40’s. While it would be fine to address themes of moving into a new stage of life, the feeling in many of these stories is one of moving from a time of youthful exuberance into a state of being an “old” person stuck in either a sad and lonely existence or tied to the duties of marriage and children. In either case the joy of the woman as an individual is erased and life seems strangely unfulfilling. The exceptions to this rule are the first, and last stories, which offer some hope for change and happiness in life, even after the first bloom of youth. Otherwise, it is a somewhat sad turn to read many of these gloomy mid life crises pronouncements from the same pen who gave Ada Doom such a glorious new lease on life in Cold Comfort Farm.
mariana_ag1997's review against another edition
4.0
Me gustó el toque irónico de la mayoría de relatos.
Entre los 15 hay una que otra joyita.
Entre los 15 hay una que otra joyita.
tasharobinson's review against another edition
4.0
This would have been a five-star review, except that the last few stories in the collection left such a sour taste in my mouth. For the most part, this is a witty, wry collection of stories from the author of Cold Comfort Farm, set in England between the 1920s and 1940s, and dealing often with the young-and-modern set and their parties, romances, and creeping sense of dissatisfaction with their social set and the choices they've made.
The contrast between modernity (which means a lot of different things here, from being studious and serious and non-frivolous to joining a social movement where everyone's supposed to get along with their exes) and "the past" (everything from light-hearted Algonquin Round Table partying to stiff social conservatism, depending on who's looking back) is a key theme here, with various generations and social classes failing to understand each other and judging each other, and quite a lot of smart, stable women realizing they're unhappy and would really be better off settling down with a nice man. These stories read like a blenderized version of Shirley Jackson, Dorothy Parker, and O. Henry, complete with sentimental romanticism, dry wit, and twist endings.
The Cold Comfort Farm prequel story is actually the least necessary one here — it takes place when at Christmas when Elfine is 12, and everyone in the family's being their usual forms of awful, but nothing new is revealed and it reads like a holiday-special fanfic. But virtually all the other stories are marvelously concise character studies, with quick action, lively writing, and one surprise monkey.
There were two big down spots for me. The first is "Cake," where a modern 1940 woman who chose her thriving career over having a baby is about to divorce her philandering husband. Then she meets a feminist pioneer who was famous nearly 30 years earlier, when she also chose her cause over having babies. The careerist sees the feminist is alone, lonely, and unfulfilled, so she rushes to take her cheating husband back and recommit to having his children. He responds by hitting her in the face for making him look like "a fool" in front of his mistress, and the careerist decides she "deserved it" and that he "ought to have done that two years ago and then I guess we'd have been all right." Sure enough, they have a baby and live happily ever after. It's a weirdly spiteful story about how women can't have political causes, jobs, or independence without giving up what really makes them happy, and it's at odds with most of the rest of the book.
And then there's "The Friend Of Man," where a beautiful young woman corners herself with a choice between a selfish, pretty young gadabout who only sees her as a useful ear for his endless whining about another woman, and an ugly, cloddish country man who isn't interested in anything she's interested in, but is Authentic and offers her a final shot at marriage. And it's meant to be triumphant when she picks the Authentic guy, but it's right up there with Reality Bites in the great scheme of narratives where a false choice between two Extremely Symbolic Guys should have been replaced with "ditch both of these bores and go meet some better people."
So yes, too many of these stories come to a somewhat forced "Marriage and babies, hooray!" endings that rather recall the end of the 2019 Little Women movie adaptation, with its "Stories about women are only allowed to end one way" rules. But most of them are sweet and funny and subversive about it, and for the most part, they provide such interesting windows into England between the world wars, and the conflict between movements and generations, and the mindset of people navigating rapidly changing social styles and friendship fashions while trying to be blithe and au courant. And mostly, these stories are even funnier and better-observed than Cold Comfort Farm itself. Now I'm very curious about Gibbons' other many novels, which get so much less attention.
The contrast between modernity (which means a lot of different things here, from being studious and serious and non-frivolous to joining a social movement where everyone's supposed to get along with their exes) and "the past" (everything from light-hearted Algonquin Round Table partying to stiff social conservatism, depending on who's looking back) is a key theme here, with various generations and social classes failing to understand each other and judging each other, and quite a lot of smart, stable women realizing they're unhappy and would really be better off settling down with a nice man. These stories read like a blenderized version of Shirley Jackson, Dorothy Parker, and O. Henry, complete with sentimental romanticism, dry wit, and twist endings.
The Cold Comfort Farm prequel story is actually the least necessary one here — it takes place when at Christmas when Elfine is 12, and everyone in the family's being their usual forms of awful, but nothing new is revealed and it reads like a holiday-special fanfic. But virtually all the other stories are marvelously concise character studies, with quick action, lively writing, and one surprise monkey.
There were two big down spots for me. The first is "Cake," where a modern 1940 woman who chose her thriving career over having a baby is about to divorce her philandering husband. Then she meets a feminist pioneer who was famous nearly 30 years earlier, when she also chose her cause over having babies. The careerist sees the feminist is alone, lonely, and unfulfilled, so she rushes to take her cheating husband back and recommit to having his children. He responds by hitting her in the face for making him look like "a fool" in front of his mistress, and the careerist decides she "deserved it" and that he "ought to have done that two years ago and then I guess we'd have been all right." Sure enough, they have a baby and live happily ever after. It's a weirdly spiteful story about how women can't have political causes, jobs, or independence without giving up what really makes them happy, and it's at odds with most of the rest of the book.
And then there's "The Friend Of Man," where a beautiful young woman corners herself with a choice between a selfish, pretty young gadabout who only sees her as a useful ear for his endless whining about another woman, and an ugly, cloddish country man who isn't interested in anything she's interested in, but is Authentic and offers her a final shot at marriage. And it's meant to be triumphant when she picks the Authentic guy, but it's right up there with Reality Bites in the great scheme of narratives where a false choice between two Extremely Symbolic Guys should have been replaced with "ditch both of these bores and go meet some better people."
So yes, too many of these stories come to a somewhat forced "Marriage and babies, hooray!" endings that rather recall the end of the 2019 Little Women movie adaptation, with its "Stories about women are only allowed to end one way" rules. But most of them are sweet and funny and subversive about it, and for the most part, they provide such interesting windows into England between the world wars, and the conflict between movements and generations, and the mindset of people navigating rapidly changing social styles and friendship fashions while trying to be blithe and au courant. And mostly, these stories are even funnier and better-observed than Cold Comfort Farm itself. Now I'm very curious about Gibbons' other many novels, which get so much less attention.
dixiet's review against another edition
4.0
The title is a little misleading; this is a book of short stories, only one of which takes place at Cold Comfort Farm. It isn't one of the best, in my opinion, but many of the stories in this collection are excellent.
leoniepeonie's review against another edition
4.0
I thought there was a lot to be found in this collection and I loved the way Gibbons captured the 30s and 40s so wholly, while picking at different bits of society and its mores. Her exploration of women in society was really interesting throughout the whole book. For the most part, I really enjoyed the way the stories were written and it was genuinely FUN reading a new one each day because of how they all had their little surprises and bits of humour secreted inside. Some of them had hints of tragedy about them which I found poignant, and I had a bloomin good time reading it.
angelica_jardinerica's review against another edition
4.0
Possibly wrongly titled as only two of the stories are set at Christmas, it's still a recommended read. It presents a snapshot of 1930s middle-class England, whilst including some timeless, universal themes and reflections, gilded with the humourous Gibbons touch so characteristic of CCF.
jodarroch4's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5