I came across Barbara Pym via the wonderful Backlisted podcast (www.backlisted.fm/episodes/109-barbara-pym-excellent-women). They were so incredibly enthusiastic about her, that I thought I just had to try a one of her books. Unfortunately, that probably meant that my expectations had been built up rather too high. The book was nice, amusing in places and generally an enjoyable read, but epithets like 'brilliant' are too much. The book pokes fun at scientists, anthropologists in this case, with their otherworldly attitudes and obsession with the details of their possibly pointless studies, which was quite fun. It was also nice to see how the book makes a point of the fact the rituals of everyday life in suburban England are so comparable to the 'exotic' rituals in Africa studied by the anthropologists, and it to modern readers it is comes across as being even rather anti-racist in a contemporary sort of way. It is very literary, with countless allusions, but I'm not sure that really is a very positive thing. All in all, a pleasant read, and if the author hadn't been hyped up quite so much in the podcast, I might have enjoyed it more.