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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Really enjoyed this - aside from Catherine's annoying habit of denigrating her writing.
Borrowed on Hoopla through JCPL.
Listening length eight hr 14 min
Listening length eight hr 14 min
Until this year I had never read anything by Barbara Pym, fortunately I have now remedied that by reading three of her books. Her books are something that can be picked up and enjoyed at any point. For me, Less Than Angels was a great book to read while on vacation. Supposedly this is the story of Tom and Catherine, an anthropologist and a writer, but it ends up being about so much more. Loved the characters of Mark and Dibgy. Also, enjoyed the look at men vs women and how anthropologists could do well to study modern mating rituals instead of ones in old tribal communities. A Pym novel is always enjoyable with it's humor and spot on views of human behavior.
Not my favorite Pym novel, but enjoyed it nevertheless. The character of Catherine deserves her own book. As in all the other Pym novels that I have read, all of the characters major and minor are so exquisitely drawn - I have an immediate sense of each one.
tbh . i read this at the park in one sitting. could not tell you what happened tho
This was mostly fine but the last 50 or so pages were brilliant. I feel like we spent too much time with the wrong characters... less Tom and Diedre, more Catherine and Alaric pls. It gets bonus points because my sister got it for me from the second hand bookshop. She thought it was something I would like and she was right. Also, I will definitely try more Barbara Pym!
A nice English set chic lit from the 1950s! The anthropologists and the anthropology of the book was a fantastic plot tool. Many different women represented. Different stations, different dreams. Catherine was my favorite. Found myself rooting for her and Rhoda. Deirdre was too naive for my taste.
I'm a great fan of Barbara Pym and this is just one of her best books - I love it. She manages to combine humane pathos with ironic wit in a way that keeps the reader glued to the page. The quirkiness and courage of the characters is incredibly endearing. It's a kind of updated Jane Austen but set in the academic world.
Sometimes I do find the endings of Pym's novels are strangely unsettling, but this one is utterly perfect in every way - everything turns out in a way that I think is right for the story. Recommended!
Sometimes I do find the endings of Pym's novels are strangely unsettling, but this one is utterly perfect in every way - everything turns out in a way that I think is right for the story. Recommended!
funny
slow-paced
Another very pleasurable comedy by the marvelous Pym. I hesitate to call her novels comfort reads, lest someone think I mean fluffy, sugary, Nicholas Sparksy kind of stuff. But really, they are comforting, almost soothing. It's like immersing yourself into a hot bath scented with Earl Grey, with a glass of sherry on the edge of the tub. Her characters go about their mundane business of academic squabbling (this one is set among anthropologists), heavy tea-drinking and romantic entanglements, and somehow Pym manages to make it a riveting read. She gently teases these hapless scholars and their bizarre behavior, but never resorts to cheap satire, as a lesser writer might. The characters, while flawed, are sympathetic and lovingly portrayed. Even when they think they are being mean-spirited, they are really quite adorable, as in this conversation between two struggling young anthropologists discussing another, more successful peer:
'I should have thought that one might have discerned the faintest glimmer of his genius by now.'
'Certainly his conversation isn't brilliant, perhaps even ours is a little better than his', said Digby uncertainly. 'And I thought the paper he read in the seminar last term - well - confused', he added, plunging further into disloyalty. Mark took him up eagerly on this point and they went into a rather technical discussion at the end of which they had the satisfaction of proving, at least to themselves, that Tom, far from being brilliant, was in some ways positively stupid and not always even sound.
'Almost a diffusionist', said Mark, his eyes sparkling with malice.
'Oh, come', said Digby in a shocked tone. Feeling that they had perhaps gone a little too far, he changed the subject.
Maybe this is why I find her books so comforting, that the people in them are so very human, and yet basically decent.
'I should have thought that one might have discerned the faintest glimmer of his genius by now.'
'Certainly his conversation isn't brilliant, perhaps even ours is a little better than his', said Digby uncertainly. 'And I thought the paper he read in the seminar last term - well - confused', he added, plunging further into disloyalty. Mark took him up eagerly on this point and they went into a rather technical discussion at the end of which they had the satisfaction of proving, at least to themselves, that Tom, far from being brilliant, was in some ways positively stupid and not always even sound.
'Almost a diffusionist', said Mark, his eyes sparkling with malice.
'Oh, come', said Digby in a shocked tone. Feeling that they had perhaps gone a little too far, he changed the subject.
Maybe this is why I find her books so comforting, that the people in them are so very human, and yet basically decent.