Review: Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym

I was introduced to Barbara Pym’s work through a Shelfari group I belong to. Everyone in that group is just mad about her, so I felt inspired to read her too, to see what all the fuss was about.

Excellent Women is the story of Mildred Lathbury. Actually, the book isn’t so much about Mildred as it is about the people around her; Mildred, one of the “excellent women,” has a sharp eye for detail and a subtle kind of wit. Unmarried, she lives and works in London and is heavily involved in church activities. The other major characters are Helena and Rocky Napier, a couple whose relationship is on the rocks, as well as Everard Bone, a surly anthropologist. It’s a novel of romantic misadventures, with lively characters. Although the setting is bucolic, and the humor so subtle that at times it can’t be noticed, there’s something wonderful about the way the characters interact with one another. This was my first Pym; now I’m hooked.

Also reviewed by: Bell Literary Reflections

Comments

Anonymous said…

Hmm, sounds interesting. Was it an easy read, or one that takes more time?

April 24, 2008 at 3:22 PM

Teddy Rose said…

This sounds good. I haven't read any Pym yet either, so I'm adding it to my TBR.

I'm going to mention your blog in my Weekly Geeks #1. I like your blog.

April 27, 2008 at 7:49 PM

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars

Six Degrees of Barbara Pym's Novels

This year seems to be The Year of Barbara Pym; I know some of you out there are involved in some kind of a readalong in honor of the 100th year of her birth. I’ve read most of her canon, with only The Sweet Dove Died, Civil to Strangers, An Academic Question, and Crampton Hodnet left to go (sadly). Barbara Pym’s novels feature very similar casts of characters: spinsters, clergymen, retirees, clerks, and anthropologists, with which she had direct experience. So it stands to reason that there would be overlaps in characters between the novels. You can trace that though the publication history of her books and therefore see how Pym onionizes her stories and characters. She adds layers onto layers, adding more details as her books progress. Some Tame Gazelle (1950): Archdeacon Hoccleve makes his first appearance. Excellent Women (1952): Archdeacon Hoccleve gives a sermon that is almost incomprehensible to Mildred Lathbury; Everard Bone understands it, however, and laughs

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