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jessreadthis's review against another edition
5.0
Flowers are beautiful in gardens...and in houses, of course... but in a pie you want fruit. Apples. Hot and fragrant and faintly pink, with lots of juice...and cloves. She wished there had been apples in her pie.
Margery Sharp's debut novel started off as a difficult one for me to get into. Her style had such a flourish and seemed to be trying so very hard at an elegant acerbic wit. But the more I learned of the Laventie family... it seemed as though her writing was taking a page out of their personalities. We meet a family so self assured in their superiority over the rest of poor drudges going through life not understanding its artistic complexities, they are an isolated oddity. Though people come and go through Whitesnights, none of these individuals leave a lasting impression or usually gain the approval of the family to take breakfast with them under the garden limes. And as the novel unfolds and relaxes into itself, so does the writing style. I felt it changed right along with the narrator Ann's character evolution. Sharp has a lovely way of describing scenery too. I enjoyed those parts immensely. She captures the possibilities of a summer afternoon outdoors so brilliantly.
Ann Laventie freely acknowledges she isn't as clever or intelligent as her siblings and father. They patronizingly acknowledge in return that she collects people and is too kind to them. Yet, one afternoon, Ann stumbles upon their neighbor, John Gayford and everything changes. She goes to tea with him and begins to change in her self assessment. The rest of the novel follows with Ann going to London to visit her sculptor brother and writer sister. And it becomes a novel of self discovery for Ann. One that changes her and forces her to embrace who she is. And to come to terms with that. And that she will be all right not fitting in with her family. It is a reckoning for her and for her family.
I greatly enjoyed this novel. The ending surprised me but the more I pondered on it, I think it was fitting for the theme of the novel. If you've read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ending.
Margery Sharp's debut novel started off as a difficult one for me to get into. Her style had such a flourish and seemed to be trying so very hard at an elegant acerbic wit. But the more I learned of the Laventie family... it seemed as though her writing was taking a page out of their personalities. We meet a family so self assured in their superiority over the rest of poor drudges going through life not understanding its artistic complexities, they are an isolated oddity. Though people come and go through Whitesnights, none of these individuals leave a lasting impression or usually gain the approval of the family to take breakfast with them under the garden limes. And as the novel unfolds and relaxes into itself, so does the writing style. I felt it changed right along with the narrator Ann's character evolution. Sharp has a lovely way of describing scenery too. I enjoyed those parts immensely. She captures the possibilities of a summer afternoon outdoors so brilliantly.
Ann Laventie freely acknowledges she isn't as clever or intelligent as her siblings and father. They patronizingly acknowledge in return that she collects people and is too kind to them. Yet, one afternoon, Ann stumbles upon their neighbor, John Gayford and everything changes. She goes to tea with him and begins to change in her self assessment. The rest of the novel follows with Ann going to London to visit her sculptor brother and writer sister. And it becomes a novel of self discovery for Ann. One that changes her and forces her to embrace who she is. And to come to terms with that. And that she will be all right not fitting in with her family. It is a reckoning for her and for her family.
I greatly enjoyed this novel. The ending surprised me but the more I pondered on it, I think it was fitting for the theme of the novel. If you've read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ending.
csd17's review against another edition
2.0
Published(my edition, anyway) in 1930, this book is like a slice of the past, freezing in time the antiquated traditions, positions, and opinions of that time. It's almost like an inverted Pride and Prejudice, where Wickham becomes Darcy and Darcy becomes Wickham and Elizabeth(Ann) is okay leaving her social sphere to enjoy the comforts provided by six pounds/week. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the tone, mirroring Ann's muddled thoughts about her own position, until that delicious little paragraph at the end of the second to last chapter that finally exposed the whole thing as a comedy of almost Austenien genius.
John's page of monologue about New Zealand, adventure, and bank clerks lay heavier on the heart that it was originally meant to, I suppose. Because, you see, we know something that Sharp didn't in 1930---that things were happening in Germany that would soon overshadow the world.
I gather that, somewhere, there is an edition that has removed the offending line that was included in mine. Or so I would hope because I was definitely not expecting it here and the people that read it, and, by so liking it, encouraged me to read it, are usually really good at catching those things. But, for that reason, I'm not that keen on the story. It tainted the rest of it.
It does beg the question though: Even if the line had been eliminated in the version that I had, should it matter? Because the spot existed in the shirt and was snipped out, is the shirt forever ruined, or has it been saved? Opinions on the former are welcome.
John's page of monologue about New Zealand, adventure, and bank clerks lay heavier on the heart that it was originally meant to, I suppose. Because, you see, we know something that Sharp didn't in 1930---that things were happening in Germany that would soon overshadow the world.
I gather that, somewhere, there is an edition that has removed the offending line that was included in mine. Or so I would hope because I was definitely not expecting it here and the people that read it, and, by so liking it, encouraged me to read it, are usually really good at catching those things. But, for that reason, I'm not that keen on the story. It tainted the rest of it.
It does beg the question though: Even if the line had been eliminated in the version that I had, should it matter? Because the spot existed in the shirt and was snipped out, is the shirt forever ruined, or has it been saved? Opinions on the former are welcome.
chocolatelady1957's review against another edition
5.0
How absolutely lovely that Dean Street Press is releasing these novels by British authors that have gone out of print. (And how nice of them to send me the ARC for this one.) You can read my review on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2020/12/11/idyllically-ordinary/
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