- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Perennial (HarperCollins) (January 1987)
- ISBN-10: 0060970731
- ISBN-13: 978-0060970734
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 14.2 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
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An unqualifiedly great novel from the writer most likely to be compared to Jane Austen, this is a very funny, perfectly written book that can rival any other in its ability to capture the essence of its characters on the page. Mildred Lathbury, the narrator of Pym's excellent book is a never-married woman in her 30s--which in 1950s England makes her a nearly-confirmed spinster. Hers is a pretty unexciting life, centered around her small church, and part-time job. But Mildred is far more perceptive and witty than even she seems to think, and when Helena and Rockingham Napier move into the flat below her, there seems to be a chance for her life to take a new direction.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
One of the most endearingly amusing English novels of the twentieth century Alexander McCall Smith One of the finest examples of high comedy Lord David Cecil I don't think I've ever before recommended a novel as one that everybody will enjoy and yet - even with a certain assurance - I'm prepared to vouch for EXCELLENT WOMEN Marghanita Laski, OBSERVER I pick up her books with joy, as though I were meeting an old, dear friend who comforts me, extends my vision and makes me roar with laughter Jilly Cooper
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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First Sentence
AH, you ladies! Always on the spot when there's something happening! Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
AH, you ladies! Always on the spot when there's something happening! Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Snicker, chortle, snicker, weep,
By A Customer
Ce commentaire est de: Excellent Women (Paperback)
Mildred Lathbury is a hilariously sharp but kind observer as she becomes embroiled in the romantic messes of both the Father at her church and her exotic new neighbours. Along the way, Mildred reevaluates her own role as one of the "excellent women" who can always be relied upon for a hot cup of tea or help polishing church brasses.Excellent Women often had me cackling out loud, though sometimes it was the kind of laughter that comes from giving the funny bone a solid whack on the table. The subject matter and understated humour justify comparisons with Austen's Persuasion though the tone and style remind me rather more of Rose MacAuley's Towers of Trebizond.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
CAPTIVATING BRITISH SATIRE,
By Marty Roscoe "martymagee" (Ocala, FL) - See all my reviews
Ce commentaire est de: Excellent Women (Paperback)
I enjoyed this book by Barbara Pym so much that I have re-read it numerous times. The characters are so true to form, for their social status and period, that they literally leap out of the pages at you. Nothing goes the way you would expect it to, however, when the characters are sorted out at the end and continue on their way, you cannot imagine it could have happened any other way. Ms Pym writes with a certain amount of "tongue in cheek" humor that is very understated, which makes it all that much more hilarious. If you enjoy a nice, gentle reading experience, interspersed with tears of laughter, this book is for you. An excellent addition to a library that includes Jane Austen. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witty, perceptive, belongs on a syllabus somewhere,
By
Ce commentaire est de: Excellent Women (Paperback)
Don't leap to the assumption that a book written fifty years ago about an unmarried do-gooding gentle woman would have nothing for a contemporary audience. Despite its London church parish setting well populated with the spinsterish "excellent women" of the title, Pym's book delivers sharp observations about men and women, together and apart, and society's expectations for all. Her truths are pungent a sexual revolution later.Relevancy aside, this is a good read. Pym lays out her well-defined world much as Jane Austen does, providing a critical and always witty tour. The characters are drawn as sharply as any Austen delivered. The novel is entertaining but rewardingly complex as it probes not only gender and social mores but also asks if Mildred Lathbury, the protagonist and narrator, is choosing the life of an excellent woman or if she is saddled with it. To use a contemporary phrase, it is about having a life, and this deceivingly gentle-seeming book is asking questions that are as rugged and significant as any asked in our less regulated times.
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