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rpmirabella's review against another edition
5.0
My second reading of this book confirms that it is brilliant and VERY sad.
fantasybooknerd01's review against another edition
4.0
This is a strange little book. The story revolves around a young girl, Alice Rowland who lives in Edwardian London with her mother and monstrous father, the vet of the story.
I had never heard of Barbara Comyns previously and heard somebody discussing this book on a BBC radio programme.
If you like Shirley Jackson, then you will get on with this book. It reminds me of The Sundial in a way.
This was written in the fifties and some of the language does show. However, if you want a short dose of strangeness read this.
I had never heard of Barbara Comyns previously and heard somebody discussing this book on a BBC radio programme.
If you like Shirley Jackson, then you will get on with this book. It reminds me of The Sundial in a way.
This was written in the fifties and some of the language does show. However, if you want a short dose of strangeness read this.
ohmanbleh's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the dark, understated humor -though by the end I'd almost call it a book about depression.
The characters are deep and artfully rendered.
The characters are deep and artfully rendered.
sarahjjs's review against another edition
5.0
Cornyn is so underrated by humans, she is one of the best of the modern classic genre. She is dark, gothic and really miserable while being entertaining and hopeful. Not sure if this or ' who was changed and who was dead' is my favourite, they are both worth your time. If I had to sum her up she is Angela Carter minus the sick feeling.
djinnmartini's review against another edition
4.0
soooo wry and creepy, pretty disappointed I haven't known Comyns till now!!!
daniels_books's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. Humorous without enough humor to call it funny, grotesque but not as much as her more powerful [b:Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead|1785957|Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead |Barbara Comyns|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1283885155s/1785957.jpg|1784841], this book is mostly just underwhelming. Start with Who Was Changed, and maybe skip this.
It must be damn hard to market this book, because 3/4 of it is your standard novel of oppression that is frankly, quite boring (the only saving grace of the first hundred pages is really its subtle display of various grotesqueries), and the last 1/4 of it is hardly a "scene of appalling triumph," as NYRB claims it is. The ending is as if Stephen King picked up the first hundred pages of someone else's mediocre novel and decided to finish it himself in thirty pages with no attempt of emotional catharsis or further character development. Comyns has a style that is interesting, but again, it's simply put to better use in Who Was Changed, though beware that Comyns doesn't understand how to finish that novel, either.
(Edit: Although I have to give this novel props for using the same unnamed man in both the opening and the ending, it was a bit uncanny, if not useless.)
It must be damn hard to market this book, because 3/4 of it is your standard novel of oppression that is frankly, quite boring (the only saving grace of the first hundred pages is really its subtle display of various grotesqueries), and the last 1/4 of it is hardly a "scene of appalling triumph," as NYRB claims it is. The ending is as if Stephen King picked up the first hundred pages of someone else's mediocre novel and decided to finish it himself in thirty pages with no attempt of emotional catharsis or further character development. Comyns has a style that is interesting, but again, it's simply put to better use in Who Was Changed, though beware that Comyns doesn't understand how to finish that novel, either.
(Edit: Although I have to give this novel props for using the same unnamed man in both the opening and the ending, it was a bit uncanny, if not useless.)
jrl6809's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
4.0
This book reminded me a lot of Perfume by Patrick Suskind in that I was pretty unengaged for the first 4/5 of the book and then in the last few chapters this totally bizarro ending comes out of nowhere and it's strange and unexpected enough to change my opinion of the whole book and make the reading experience worth it.
emmkayt's review against another edition
5.0
Strange and wonderful and macabre. Alice is a downtrodden Edwardian daughter of a violent, abusive vet ( he sells puppies to a vivisectionist and has a miserable parrot who is picking himself bald). She recounts each weird and awful detail of her life matter-of-factly - “He would have hit me if he hadn’t been holding the mongoose” - and it’s compelling reading. You want it to all turn out well and wonder where it can be going...