the_lirazel reviewed Excellent women by Barbara Pym
Review of 'Excellent women' on 'Goodreads'
I don't know if that ending makes me want to laugh or cry.
Paperback, 240 pages
English language
Published Sept. 29, 1995 by Pan Books.
The lightly satiric focus is on loneliness bravely borne, the bearing-up being done by that excellent woman Mildred Lathbury, a 30-something spinster in the lingering post-WWII rationing of the early 1950s. Living in suburban London and on the fringes of academia, she becomes embroiled with the vicar, the neighbors, the neighbors' lodgers, and a few hopeless (and one rather intriguing) gentleman friends. Dryly, wryly funny, with a riveting sense of place, time, and character. (Part of the synopsis comes from the online Kirkus Review.)
I don't know if that ending makes me want to laugh or cry.
I love the subtle character work and small small dramas of post-war English life in Barbara Pym novels. Mildred is such a self-deprecating but lovable narrator, and so well rendered. I loved this slow and in some ways unexciting book. Strongly recommend!
Es wird viel Tee mit dem Vikar getrunken, aber auch BlumensträuĂchen am Hut und die Auswahl brauner Wollkleider spielen eine Rolle. Dann wieder Tee mit dem Vikar.