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avrilhj's review against another edition
4.0
Gibbon was 54 when she published this book about nineteen-year-old Nell, her beautiful but appalling seventeen-year-old cousin John, his coffee-drinking artistic set, and Nell’s debutant friend Elizabeth, and it is obvious that Gibbon had very little sympathy with bohemian London and the poets, painters, writers and dancers who lived peripatetic lives on almost nothing. Nell rejects her middle-class background to become a waitress and by the end of the book she and Elizabeth are running an Espresso Bar together - my experience of coffee in London does not give me much hope about the quality of the espresso they serve. This is a brilliant slice of 1950s life, just on the cusp of the sexual revolution, with homosexuality mentioned (though not by name) and unmarried lovers (one of whom becomes pregnant, of course, pre-the Pill) while Nell watches the mistakes those who give up everything for love make and considers lifelong spinsterhood as a safer and saner alternative. Fascinating is Gibbons’ description of Nell’s father’s depression, which he experiences as a loss of faith that has him losing his job as an Anglican priest. It is quite clearly the sort of illness that would today be treated by medication and counselling (Gibbons describes it so accurately that I wonder if she suffered from it) but at the time it was seen as a moral failing. By the end Nell seems to be in her right place, and hopefully has seen through the dreadful John, on whole not even the Army seems to be having any effect.
miggsisalot's review against another edition
3.0
My first Stella Gibbons book, and while I found it mostly enjoyable, I really couldn't stand John. Seriously, he was so unbearable and so selfish, I was dying for someone to slap him upside freakin' head. Despite her slight naivety, I adored Nell, wished nothing but the best for her, but having to endure John was painful for me.
teumessians's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fantastic book to read on a journey, or during a long rainy weekend, when you can dive into it and enjoy every detail.
The setting (1950s London) is absolutely alive and in a couple of sentences I felt that I was part of it; I could see the lights on the canal, the squalid flats, Gardis' unkempt jumpers. The characters are a delight, even the nasty nasty ones, and the dialogue is witty and sharp. My favourite thing, all in all, is Nell Sely herself. She's not only a fantastic protagonist, who needs to learn and build her own corner of the world while still being practical and a solid relief among all that sea of artistic coffee drinkers, but she's also someone I'd love to be friends with.
I'm not quite sure about the whole of the plot itself, and I felt a bit unsatisfied with the rushed ending. Still, it did give us Georges, whose description as an "adolescent chicken" I will cherish forever. I would have loved to have some more Gardis, though.
The setting (1950s London) is absolutely alive and in a couple of sentences I felt that I was part of it; I could see the lights on the canal, the squalid flats, Gardis' unkempt jumpers. The characters are a delight, even the nasty nasty ones, and the dialogue is witty and sharp. My favourite thing, all in all, is Nell Sely herself. She's not only a fantastic protagonist, who needs to learn and build her own corner of the world while still being practical and a solid relief among all that sea of artistic coffee drinkers, but she's also someone I'd love to be friends with.
I'm not quite sure about the whole of the plot itself, and I felt a bit unsatisfied with the rushed ending. Still, it did give us Georges, whose description as an "adolescent chicken" I will cherish forever. I would have loved to have some more Gardis, though.
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