A review by melissad75
Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp

4.0

I've been thinking about this book all day since finishing it this morning, and I'm still not quite sure what to say about it! I wound up really enjoying it, laughing quite a bit at its wit and also finding it very perceptive about the British classes during the interwar years. The characters were interesting and I liked finding out how their stories were going to play out. I especially liked the Carmel family's interactions and Andrew's relationships with both his mother, Lady Carmel, and his girlfriend, Betty Cream. Those last names! Why do I suddenly want dessert? ;)

That said, the way the character of Cluny Brown's story ended was a real surprise to me.

Spoiler

I didn't really expect Cluny to marry Mr. Wilson, the stuffy chemist. Or at least I hoped she wouldn't, because though he was a nice enough guy he didn't really know the real her and she would've been miserable in the long run, trying and failing to conform to his upright, stuffy ways. Her running off with Adam Belinski was a shock, though. In retrospect it made sense, since both were sort of free spirits and since all Cluny wanted in life was to get out and see the world and have interesting experiences. And they had interacted from time to time throughout the book in meaningful ways. Still, I think Margery Sharp could have laid the groundwork for their relationship a lot better and more thoroughly than she did.

In spite of the somewhat dodgy ending, I did enjoy this quite a bit and I'm looking forward to reading more by Margery Sharp in the future. 3.5 stars