ceoln reviewed Pleasure of Their Company by Doris Grumbach
Review of 'Pleasure of Their Company' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
What a wonderful little book.
For context: this is the first work of hers that I've read; I plan to read more. I read it in a couple of days, vacationing on a hilltop over Rockland, Maine; and the house where she wrote these words ("In the evening, after my final pacing of the lawn, I sat on the deck and waited for the streetlight at the end of the point of the cove to come on") is probably down there somewhere, in the misty landforms leading off to the horizon.
I read it while also reading a rather terribly-written self-published eBook that I for some reason had undertaken to review after the author "gifted" me a copy online. Grumbach's easy unforced prose, read from genuine paper, was a good antidote for the stumbling diction and bizarre word choices of the electronic thing.
Grumbach sits in her quiet house on …
What a wonderful little book.
For context: this is the first work of hers that I've read; I plan to read more. I read it in a couple of days, vacationing on a hilltop over Rockland, Maine; and the house where she wrote these words ("In the evening, after my final pacing of the lawn, I sat on the deck and waited for the streetlight at the end of the point of the cove to come on") is probably down there somewhere, in the misty landforms leading off to the horizon.
I read it while also reading a rather terribly-written self-published eBook that I for some reason had undertaken to review after the author "gifted" me a copy online. Grumbach's easy unforced prose, read from genuine paper, was a good antidote for the stumbling diction and bizarre word choices of the electronic thing.
Grumbach sits in her quiet house on the cove, among her shelves full of books, planning her eightieth birthday celebration with a mixture of worry and how-did-I-get-into-this resignation, thinking about aging, and life, and death, people she has known, books she has read, the kitten she was persuaded to acquire, and sharing it all, or all of it that she chooses to, with us.
Her writing is skillful and unassuming, natural and flowing. She has read interesting things and known interesting people, and they all seem still at her fingertips, ready to be brought out, fondly or grumpily, as the conversation turns. And it does feel like conversation, short pieces of prose loosely knit, all things that came to mind leading up to the party, but only a few directly related to it, thoughts shared in a quiet Maine house as the sun goes down.
Definitely recommended.