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ruth's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
your_true_shelf's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
rhino's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
cevec's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
julia_may's review against another edition
4.0
Listened to an audiobook and while it was pretty good, I think I would've enjoyed reading a textual book more.
I was surprised by the amount of dark humour and comedy in this book.
I was surprised by the amount of dark humour and comedy in this book.
lianakay's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
grubstlodger's review against another edition
4.0
Father was my sixth Elizabeth Von Arnim novel and it’s been quite a journey from never having heard of her last year to this point, especially because what I have read of hers has been dictated by what I have been able to get hold of and jumping around her career. It seems so strange that I had originally seen her as a purveyor of feel-good stories but pretty much everything else I’ve read by her has been rather dark - how can someone write Vera and follow it up with An Enchanted April?
Father is one of her later books and, out of her books I have read, has most in common with Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, which happened to be my last Von Arnim. Both books feature a single woman approaching middle age who look after their writer Father. Rose-Marie Schmidt found strength in that life (and gardening of course) turning down a proposal from a well-connected man to pursue the freedom she found in it, Jennifer Dodge is suffocated by her promise to her dying mother to look after her titular Father.
The book leaps straight into the story, with Father having married a new life significantly younger than her. She sees this as an end to her promise and sets off with her pitiful allowance to live in a little cottage in Sussex. There she finds her landlord, the Reverend James Ollier, to be in a similar situation to the one she’s just left but he is in thrall to his much older, more decisive unmarried sister, Alice. The two put-upon family members have a connection.
One of the things that make the book interesting, is that Alice, for all her tyrannical rule over her brother, is reliant on him for security and status and unlike Jennifer, is not willing to lose it all for the freedom of having nothing. Added to that, Netta, the woman who has married Father, is coded by her delicate childlike qualities and when she seeks Jennifer out to get advice on how to handle Father, is turned away. In the male-dominated world of the book, the women have no solidarity with each other and are forced to turn cruel to hold onto what little freedom they have.
Of course, this being a Von Arnim book, there’s a focus on the healing nature of the outside world and the importance of the garden as a space of female empowerment. There’s also a lot of humour. Even when writing of horrendous abuse in Vera she is laugh out loud funny. Whether it’s farcical misunderstandings about coats, apricots or railway handbooks, or whether it’s a character ‘retorting’ for the first time, there’s a lot to laugh at. Even a character’s death had me laughing as he, “dropped off, as he wished, to sleep, and after sleep, dropped off, as he didn’t wish, but it was of no consequence because he wasn’t aware of it, to death.”
As this book was about a number of close, suffocating relationships there were times when it did feel like a close suffocating book but Von Arnim has the skill of introducing a moment of natural beauty, a farcical moment or a really disgusting image (the slug pile) to stop the book becoming too oppressive. I prefer the glorious joyfulness found in Elizabeth and her German Garden and An Enchanted April more, and was more horrified (and laughed more) at Vera, but this was a book that I very much enjoyed and will happily keep grabbing every Von Arnim book I find.
Father is one of her later books and, out of her books I have read, has most in common with Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, which happened to be my last Von Arnim. Both books feature a single woman approaching middle age who look after their writer Father. Rose-Marie Schmidt found strength in that life (and gardening of course) turning down a proposal from a well-connected man to pursue the freedom she found in it, Jennifer Dodge is suffocated by her promise to her dying mother to look after her titular Father.
The book leaps straight into the story, with Father having married a new life significantly younger than her. She sees this as an end to her promise and sets off with her pitiful allowance to live in a little cottage in Sussex. There she finds her landlord, the Reverend James Ollier, to be in a similar situation to the one she’s just left but he is in thrall to his much older, more decisive unmarried sister, Alice. The two put-upon family members have a connection.
One of the things that make the book interesting, is that Alice, for all her tyrannical rule over her brother, is reliant on him for security and status and unlike Jennifer, is not willing to lose it all for the freedom of having nothing. Added to that, Netta, the woman who has married Father, is coded by her delicate childlike qualities and when she seeks Jennifer out to get advice on how to handle Father, is turned away. In the male-dominated world of the book, the women have no solidarity with each other and are forced to turn cruel to hold onto what little freedom they have.
Of course, this being a Von Arnim book, there’s a focus on the healing nature of the outside world and the importance of the garden as a space of female empowerment. There’s also a lot of humour. Even when writing of horrendous abuse in Vera she is laugh out loud funny. Whether it’s farcical misunderstandings about coats, apricots or railway handbooks, or whether it’s a character ‘retorting’ for the first time, there’s a lot to laugh at. Even a character’s death had me laughing as he, “dropped off, as he wished, to sleep, and after sleep, dropped off, as he didn’t wish, but it was of no consequence because he wasn’t aware of it, to death.”
As this book was about a number of close, suffocating relationships there were times when it did feel like a close suffocating book but Von Arnim has the skill of introducing a moment of natural beauty, a farcical moment or a really disgusting image (the slug pile) to stop the book becoming too oppressive. I prefer the glorious joyfulness found in Elizabeth and her German Garden and An Enchanted April more, and was more horrified (and laughed more) at Vera, but this was a book that I very much enjoyed and will happily keep grabbing every Von Arnim book I find.
callmeamelia's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
emma_louise_books's review against another edition
4.0
"Father" uses wisdom combined with humour to convey the challenges placed on unmarried women in the early 20th century, when there was a shortage of eligible men and many women who remained single were left dependent upon their relatives . In short, this is a story of domestic tyranny revolving around two oppressive relationships, one a 33 year old spinster and her dictatorial father, the other about a mild mannered clergyman and his older controlling sister.
Elizabeth von Arnim has created engaging characters and has a writing style which is very descriptive heavy. Whilst descriptive heavy books are not my usual preference, with this book I became transported into the thoughts of the characters as they question decisions and actions of others which had me turning the pages to find out their next move. It is a testament to the authors skill in making this descriptive heavy book so engaging combining both light humour and poignancy to tell a story of unmarried women reliant upon men, it was a real tonic.
Elizabeth von Arnim has created engaging characters and has a writing style which is very descriptive heavy. Whilst descriptive heavy books are not my usual preference, with this book I became transported into the thoughts of the characters as they question decisions and actions of others which had me turning the pages to find out their next move. It is a testament to the authors skill in making this descriptive heavy book so engaging combining both light humour and poignancy to tell a story of unmarried women reliant upon men, it was a real tonic.