Reviews

The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge

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vbayman's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

liamriley1987's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

humanblight's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Enjoyable to despise, well, mildly dislike, most of the characters. They are loathsome in a variety of ways, just like everyone you know, and that’s a humbling experience. I was hoping not to relate to the main characters, but it’s easily done when the minutiae of embarrassing phrases or actions are highlighted and spoken about in such a ‘nice’ way. I liked Bainbridge’s style as it’s not too descriptive, just enough adjectives to feel her level of perception and scrutiny.

It felt like you could be watching these interactions through your fingers if they were occurring in public.

Content Warnings

lgpiper's review against another edition

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3.0

Two young women somehow get together and get themselves a job in a factory that bottles wine. The factory is run by Italians and all the other workers are Italian.

Freda is 26 and is tall and "plump"—something like 5'10" and 225 lbs. She thinks of herself as an aspiring actress and carries herself as such. She never succeeds in any auditions, so needs some kind of other work to make ends meet. She's brash and bossy.

Brenda is about 35 and was once married to a brute who took her off to the country where they lived with his nasty mother. He spent his time out drinking with his buds. Eventually Brenda couldn't take it and ran away. She's very shy and will do almost anything to avoid open conflict.

Freda and Brenda join forces and take a bed-sit together. They need money, so they get a job working at a wine bottling factory run my an Italian, Mr. Paganotti. Virtually everyone else working at the factory is Italian, with the exception of Patrick, who is the van driver. Mr. Rossi, who is the factory manager, takes a shine to Brenda and keeps trying to get her into spaces where he can seduce her. Freda, on the other hand has decided she's in love with Vittorio, Mr. Paganotti's nephew (or cousin?), and who is nominally engaged to another cousin still living in Italy.

So, Freda conceives the idea that the workers in the factory should have an outing, where they visit a grand house and also a safari park. Her prime purpose is to give her a chance to seduce Vittorio. Things, naturally, do not go as planned.

On one level, this book is rather absurd, dark humor. But the ending is enigmatic and really makes little sense to me. It would seem that there are no attachments beyond lust or thralldom. I dunno, the first 70% of the book was mildly amusing, but the conclusion left me cold. Beryl Bainbridge was a well celebrated British author in her time, but based on this example, I'm not sure if I'll attempt another of her offerings or not.

loz_reads's review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Very humorous and telling of the time it was written about (1970s) and dark in places which I liked. The women were rude and cringey in places but it was an enjoyable quick read.

kumipaul's review against another edition

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2.0

I had higher expectations for this book. I got a few laughs from it, and the dark humor made me smile, but the story was nearly non-existent and the characters were barely tolerable. The situation at the outing, and especially the reaction to it, was strange enough to be darkly comic, but it was just a bit too ridiculous.