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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
funny
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked reading first-person Pym... interesting that her longtime editor/executor prepared the two drafts of this book for publication (you can perhaps tell?). There are several comments that sting with usual Pym humor, but perhaps the overall tone is more droll than normal.
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this might be my favourite campus novel ever, and it's a genre I love. It's not heartwarming in any way, but there are laughs on every page. I can't think of another novel which manages to pack so much clever observation into such a short book.
Finished in one sitting! Another wonderful trip into Barbara Pym's cosy (i think she says the word "cosy" about 20 times). This time, we follow Caro and her husband Alan, a junior lecturer at the local University who is desperate to sort out a disagreement with his soon-to-retire professor regarding some source material that is kept in a box in an old people's home. Caro is dragged into this mess haphazardly as she volunteers to go to read to the old folks at the home, whilst also discovering her husband is having an affair with a younger woman and confiding in her a-sexual friend Coco. Pym is just a wonderful writer, she is so bright, witty and perceptive and this is my third book of hers that I've picked up and chuckled all the way through.
This book was humorous and poked fun at the world of academia a little bit. It felt different than Pym's other books since the main character was younger, cynical, and not involved with the church. I liked this one and am really coming to enjoy Pym's work.