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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
Warning (of sorts): I may have plot spoilers, if you care about that kind of thing for a classic.
I love George Orwell. I would say 1984 and Animal Farm are two of the most horrifying and bone-chilling books I've ever read, and a large reason for that is the powerful prose, the simple yet crystal clear language and the beautiful turn of phrases with which Orwell carries the reader from page one until the very end, as if in a perfectly orchestrated symphony with words. Just words. When I finished reading those two books back to back earlier this year, I was hungry for more Orwell, anything by him, and preferably a tad bit less bleak and perhaps even, shall I say, hopeful or dare I say, joyful?
Well I picked the wrong book: The Clergyman's Daughter is bleak, depressing, void of hope, the very thing that Dorothy - the main character - could use in a life going from bad to worse and then a little worse, before coming back full circle to just bad. The 3-stars are because the writing is tight, fine, and well, Orwell. So for that, I was grateful.
At first, I felt bad for Dorothy, and then I felt angry about her worsening plight and then I stopped caring about Dorothy for being such a hopeless creature, but then what choice did she have in every desperate situation? She did in the end have one choice but she refused it - and in that, I suppose I question whether she even cared to have a life with more than bleakness and emptiness day in and day out.
In fact, at this point, I don't believe that Dorothy did in fact have those desires, and that assumption - that all human beings crave happiness and the pursuit of a good life, a happy home, and a sense of joy and delight in the course of existence - that assumption is flawed.
Dorothy most certainly did not. She may have questioned whether a life of suffering was all there was? And she was awfully concerned about her faith and then the loss of her faith, and going on about her business having to pretend that she has faith while she doesn't but she had no ... what is the word for it .... no appetite for living, and that is maybe why I couldn't relate, I couldn't "get her" at all, and I could not sympathize. It's quite obvious that Orwell simply does not cut her a break - it is one bleak dark nasty situation after another, and it all ends in a rather flat denoument.
So here's the summary, you'd enjoy reading this book IF:
1. You like learning and reading about the life of clergy, the church, and the rituals of the Christian faith.
2. You want to know more about the lives of beggars and poverty-stricken members of society in 1930s in London.
3. You want to learn about the horrid going-ons behind a private school for girls and the plight of being a school teacher.
4. You don't care much about neither the fate of your characters or a fast-paced plot.
5. You want to read Orwell (as did I) no matter what his angle, story and subject matter
If you nodded yes to all of the above, you will enjoy this book. I can't say that I enjoyed it at all, and in most cases,I put the book down and move on but in this case, I wanted to pay homage to George Orwell, and to all that he contributed to literature and for writing 1984 and Animal Farm, so perhaps I felt a debt to him, and now the debt is paid. Onto more pleasurable reading for me. Hope you enjoyed this review.
I love George Orwell. I would say 1984 and Animal Farm are two of the most horrifying and bone-chilling books I've ever read, and a large reason for that is the powerful prose, the simple yet crystal clear language and the beautiful turn of phrases with which Orwell carries the reader from page one until the very end, as if in a perfectly orchestrated symphony with words. Just words. When I finished reading those two books back to back earlier this year, I was hungry for more Orwell, anything by him, and preferably a tad bit less bleak and perhaps even, shall I say, hopeful or dare I say, joyful?
Well I picked the wrong book: The Clergyman's Daughter is bleak, depressing, void of hope, the very thing that Dorothy - the main character - could use in a life going from bad to worse and then a little worse, before coming back full circle to just bad. The 3-stars are because the writing is tight, fine, and well, Orwell. So for that, I was grateful.
At first, I felt bad for Dorothy, and then I felt angry about her worsening plight and then I stopped caring about Dorothy for being such a hopeless creature, but then what choice did she have in every desperate situation? She did in the end have one choice but she refused it - and in that, I suppose I question whether she even cared to have a life with more than bleakness and emptiness day in and day out.
In fact, at this point, I don't believe that Dorothy did in fact have those desires, and that assumption - that all human beings crave happiness and the pursuit of a good life, a happy home, and a sense of joy and delight in the course of existence - that assumption is flawed.
Dorothy most certainly did not. She may have questioned whether a life of suffering was all there was? And she was awfully concerned about her faith and then the loss of her faith, and going on about her business having to pretend that she has faith while she doesn't but she had no ... what is the word for it .... no appetite for living, and that is maybe why I couldn't relate, I couldn't "get her" at all, and I could not sympathize. It's quite obvious that Orwell simply does not cut her a break - it is one bleak dark nasty situation after another, and it all ends in a rather flat denoument.
So here's the summary, you'd enjoy reading this book IF:
1. You like learning and reading about the life of clergy, the church, and the rituals of the Christian faith.
2. You want to know more about the lives of beggars and poverty-stricken members of society in 1930s in London.
3. You want to learn about the horrid going-ons behind a private school for girls and the plight of being a school teacher.
4. You don't care much about neither the fate of your characters or a fast-paced plot.
5. You want to read Orwell (as did I) no matter what his angle, story and subject matter
If you nodded yes to all of the above, you will enjoy this book. I can't say that I enjoyed it at all, and in most cases,I put the book down and move on but in this case, I wanted to pay homage to George Orwell, and to all that he contributed to literature and for writing 1984 and Animal Farm, so perhaps I felt a debt to him, and now the debt is paid. Onto more pleasurable reading for me. Hope you enjoyed this review.
I've read 1984 and Animal Farm several times each, but this is the first time I've ventured on anything else by Orwell. I wasn't disappointed.
It does seem that Orwell got a good ways into this book and decided he wanted to write an entirely different sort of novel than it had been becoming up to that point. What begins as a fairly straight-forward satire on Christianity (especially Anglicanism) and provincialism abruptly becomes by turns a sort of mystery story, a proto-Grapes of Wrath, and then tries on some Dickensian dressing (David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, and Hard Times), almost dropping into a sort of Stand and Deliver/Dangerous Minds plot of "underprivileged kids make good academically," adding a bit of satire on non-conformist (fundamentalist) Christianity for good measure. The whole thing ends with a return to the state of things at the beginning of the novel, but with the heroine irrevocably changed inwardly.
Structurally--formally, I'm not sure what to make of it. Somehow it feels as though all of the elements of the novel (the prose itself, characterization, plot, etc.) are perfect but somehow mismatched. Nevertheless, it was (for me) one of those rarest of books that are enjoyable to read, mercifully short (one doesn't always want epics--even me--and one does tire of novels overly long by virtue of having been serialized), and still manage to leave one with a feeling of both intellectual stimulation and a certain blessing of goodwill from author to reader.
It does seem that Orwell got a good ways into this book and decided he wanted to write an entirely different sort of novel than it had been becoming up to that point. What begins as a fairly straight-forward satire on Christianity (especially Anglicanism) and provincialism abruptly becomes by turns a sort of mystery story, a proto-Grapes of Wrath, and then tries on some Dickensian dressing (David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, and Hard Times), almost dropping into a sort of Stand and Deliver/Dangerous Minds plot of "underprivileged kids make good academically," adding a bit of satire on non-conformist (fundamentalist) Christianity for good measure. The whole thing ends with a return to the state of things at the beginning of the novel, but with the heroine irrevocably changed inwardly.
Structurally--formally, I'm not sure what to make of it. Somehow it feels as though all of the elements of the novel (the prose itself, characterization, plot, etc.) are perfect but somehow mismatched. Nevertheless, it was (for me) one of those rarest of books that are enjoyable to read, mercifully short (one doesn't always want epics--even me--and one does tire of novels overly long by virtue of having been serialized), and still manage to leave one with a feeling of both intellectual stimulation and a certain blessing of goodwill from author to reader.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Probably the weakest of Orwell's novels, this one still manages to ride the line between 3 and 4 stars for me.
It's not always remembered that Orwell is actually very funny sometimes.
It's not always remembered that Orwell is actually very funny sometimes.
It is a mysterious thing, the loss of faith—as mysterious as faith itself.
This is a heartfelt strange novel, one which charts the life of the titular figure in a rural parish, vulnerable to gossip and exorcised by austerity. There is a fragile core to the protagonist, a 28 year old woman, a nascent spinster, a slave almost to the domestic order demanded by her father. Events unfold and the protagonist finds herself without memory of her prior life, and is soon picking hops in the countryside and then begging back in London proper. Matters take a Nicholas Nickleby turn and I found this section the most disturbing: the treatment of children under the aegis of education can so easily be alarming. The existential point made above in the pulled quote exists without answer. The difference between desperation and resignation is sometimes one of interpretation. That truth is a personal one for myself. Dear Eric used his own rough sleeping as research and looked beyond meaning of the quotidian.
This is a heartfelt strange novel, one which charts the life of the titular figure in a rural parish, vulnerable to gossip and exorcised by austerity. There is a fragile core to the protagonist, a 28 year old woman, a nascent spinster, a slave almost to the domestic order demanded by her father. Events unfold and the protagonist finds herself without memory of her prior life, and is soon picking hops in the countryside and then begging back in London proper. Matters take a Nicholas Nickleby turn and I found this section the most disturbing: the treatment of children under the aegis of education can so easily be alarming. The existential point made above in the pulled quote exists without answer. The difference between desperation and resignation is sometimes one of interpretation. That truth is a personal one for myself. Dear Eric used his own rough sleeping as research and looked beyond meaning of the quotidian.
I have mixed feelings about this book. It’s not particularly enthralling — trust me, you WILL be able to put it down. However, it is a very curious piece to dissect if you are interested in themes such as the British class system, the position of women pre-WW2, precursors of second-wave feminism, the representation of female emotions in literature, criticism of the educational system, and many more important topics, to be honest. The novel is a fascinating account of a miscellany of aspects of the British society at the time, and it would as a strong reference in comparative analysis (of course, if that is something you are even interested in).
No tengo mucho que decir de esta lectura, siento que paso sin pena ni gloria. Por momento siento que trato de remontar y se puso algo interesante pero nunca me engancho, la personaje de Dorothy sufrida y explotada muestra como era el trato hacia las mujeres en ese período de la historia. Una lectura que la quise finalizar para ver como terminaba y termino como fue todo el libro sin pena ni gloria.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes