Reviews

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

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thenovelbook's review against another edition

4.0

It's been many a year since I've read Cranford, and it's even better than I remembered. Such hilarious episodes and adorable characters, although also mixed with more tragedy than I remembered.

#Victober2021

cattytrona's review against another edition

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3.0

i think this is nice, sweet, kind, an easy, pleasant read. but i struggled a lot to want to pick it up. i crawled through it in 15 page increments right before i went to sleep. so even though, if asked, i would say 'yeah, it was good :)', i fear that pace is a pretty damning and more truthful review.

trin's review against another edition

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3.0

This is all Philip Glenister’s fault. I watched the miniseries because he was in it, and the miniseries reminded me that I’ve been meaning to read more Gaskell ever since I read [b: North and South|156538|North and South|Elizabeth Gaskell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349633381l/156538._SY75_.jpg|1016482] while at Trinity. Then it turned out that Glenister’s character isn’t even in this volume, the first in a loose series about the fictional town of Cranford. “Loose” is a good word to describe the book as a whole: it was written in installments (Gaskell was a friend of [a: Charles Dickens|239579|Charles Dickens|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1387078070p2/239579.jpg] and wrote for various publications he edited), and despite some narrative through-threads, it remains mostly a series of vignettes. It’s very funny, though, in that wry, satirical, Victorian way. At the same time, it’s quite sad: full of lost chances at love, which seem especially awful in an era when there were so few opportunities for women outside of marriage. Now, a large part of what Gaskell seems to be arguing is that the women of Cranford do just fine for themselves without any men, and it is indeed the friendship between them that comes to the rescue when one of them encounters trouble. (Well, that and a father swooping in to help and a brother coming home—it’s almost her message, okay?) It just seems, I don’t know, like such a small, lonely life. My modern sensibilities, can I show you them?

ANYWAY, I quite enjoyed reading this, though not as much as North and South, which benefits from social strife, culture clash, and a romance—a real plot, in other words. I may try [b: Cousin Phillis|47655388|Cousin Phillis|Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|72800060] (one of the other Cranford novels) or [b: Mary Barton|54620|Mary Barton|Elizabeth Gaskell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1298427440l/54620._SX50_.jpg|2887963] next. Anyone familiar with Gaskell have any thoughts?