Reviews

I don’t even know what to do with this book. I was intrigued by the description but the style left me cold. It feels neither plot nor character driven: it’s very character focused but the characters are almost cartoonish. I picked away at this over weeks and finally just flipped to the end and read the last few pages. A book I like the idea of while not actually liking.

purplemuskogee's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

Started well and I liked the two characters when they were first introduced but lost interest in their two separate stories. I enjoyed the old fashioned but funny and witty writing style.

sophielinehan39's review against another edition

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i don’t really care about the characters. the prose and dialogue is quite hard to read since it’s 80 years old. i thought it’d be more of a romp and rich women rebelling and doing fun stuff. it was just repressed women not doing anything.

juliajamison's review

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funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

2.5

suzid's review against another edition

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funny fast-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

3.25

Miss Goering and Mrs Copperfield meet at a party, go their separate ways, have various strange little adventures and meet again quite changed from how they'd been originally.

Well, how do I describe this book? It's different. It's a little odd. It's quirky. I did enjoy it, though. According to the preface there was to be another Serious Lady but she didn't get written in, however a small excerpt of what was to be in the book gives a tantalising look at her and I do wish she had been finished, she was a very distracted lady apparently.

staklene_perle's review against another edition

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funny relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

dee9401's review

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2.0

I've always wanted to read Jane Bowles, as I've read everything her husband Paul Bowles wrote. I almost picked up "My Sister's Hand in Mine", her collected works, several times. I finally saw an old edition of her only novel at the Southwark Book Market in London in 2013 and almost bought. This primed me, so that when we were in Boulder in April this year, I bought this new edition from the Boulder Book Store, a fantastic indy bookstore right on Pearl Street. I finally got a chance to read it this weekend.

I was a bit disappointed. I never engaged with the characters. I thought the language was stilted at times and mostly written in Hemingway-esque short, simple sentences, which I don't like.

But, I did think there were a lot of possibilities, especially with the storyline of Mrs. Copperfield and her husband. In some ways, this reminded me of the story of Kit & Port Moresby from her husband's first novel, The Sheltering Sky. It explored themes of fear, travel vs. tourism and exploring and expanding boundaries. Jane Bowles novel was published six years before Paul's, so I wonder if he was influenced by her work and explored some of the same themes in his writing.

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