Saturday, February 12, 2011

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

You know what I just love about reading?  When you find a book and you get so into it that you can't stop reading it, and it's just as wonderful as you hoped -- and then, you find out that this author has written a whole bunch of other books.  And then you want to rush to the library or the bookstore or online and order all of them, right now!

Well, that's how I felt about Excellent Women by Barbara Pym.  It was short and charming and I loved the main character, and it really made me think.  It's British domestic fiction, but it's not at all cutesy or twee.  Why did I wait so long to read this book?  I bought it more than two years ago, and though I didn't finish it in time for Virago Reading Week, I'm so glad it was a the top of my TBR list.

But now that I've been babbling, I suppose a brief description would be an order.  So.  Set in in London in the 1950s, Mildred Lathbury is a thirtysomething spinster, a clergyman's daughter and "excellent woman" who spends a lot of time volunteering at the local vicarage and generally doing good works.  She lives alone in a small flat, in what seems to be the verge of genteel poverty -- she only works part-time and doesn't seem to get much to eat.  Mildred's life gets shaken up when some new people move into her building, a young couple called the Napiers.  The wife Helena is an anthropologist and her husband arrives later, a rather dashing young naval officer who'd been posted in Italy.  Mildred gets slowly sucked into their somewhat tumultuous marriage, sort of acting as a go-between.

Mildred's other best friends are the Malorys: Julian, the parish vicar (whom, it is generally believed, is a perfect match for Mildred) and his sister, Winifred, who lives at the parish and keeps house for them.  Winifred and Julian decide to convert their attic into a flat to let, and things get interesting when an attractive young widow, Allegra Gray, moves in.  Her late husband was also a clergyman and she has definite ideas about how things should be run so things in the parish get complicated as well.

The novel doesn't have a whole lot of action, but the characters are so well-drawn I was quickly sucked in to the minutia of life in 1950s England.  Pym has been described as a modern-day Jane Austen but what really struck me was that Mildred didn't really remind me so much of one of Austen's heroines as much as Austen herself -- I think if Jane had been living in 1950s England, she would have been very much like Mildred: unmarried, a clergyman's daughter, quietly and wryly observing the lives of the people in her parish.  Though Excellent Women is set in London, it definitely had a the feeling of village life to it.

I grew to love Mildred and her observations, and now I want to read everything by Barbara Pym -- but now I'm annoyed at myself for waiting so long to read this book.  I'm also annoyed that I'm in the middle of the TBR Dare and I am not allowed to check out books at all.   So I'll have to wait until April, but luckily my library has ten more of her books, though I can definitely see myself wanting to own all of them.  

25 comments:

  1. I've had Excellent Women on my shelves for a long time also and am not sure what has held me back from reading it. I think it's because I might love it and then, like you, want to read everything she's written. And then I'll have read everything by Pym and there won't be anything left! Weird logic - I need to just read it!

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  2. Anybolyn -- sometimes I feel that way about an author, but not usually until after I've read the first one. I put off reading Northanger Abbey for a long time because I didn't want to finish Jane Austen. I've read one Persephone by Dorothy Whipple and I'm going to have to ration those out too.

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  3. I am so glad you liked your first Pym experience. I read Excellent Woman last year and quite liked it. So far, my favorite Pym is her first novel (but last to be published in the US) Some Tame Gazelle. Like you, I am also happy that I have most of Pym's books still to read.

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  4. That is exactly how I felt after reading Quartet in Autumn...and each Pym I have read since has been just as wonderful. I have a feeling April will be an awesome reading month for you:)

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  5. I love Barbara Pym too and I've just realised that I've only read about half of her books. I thought I'd read them all but I hadn't even heard of Some Tame Gazelle. Time goes so fast, we'll be at April soon.

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  6. Haha, we are in the same position with Pym and the tbr dare! I feel a Pym Binge coming on for spring though - almost feel like it should be an event...

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  7. Thomas -- I checked the library catalog and they do have a copy of Some Tame Gazelle! I'll have to read that one first after the TBR Dare. Thanks for the recommendation.

    Stacy -- I'll have to read Quartet in Autumn as well. Her books are fairly short so maybe I can read one during the April readathon.

    Katrina -- My to-read list for April is getting really long! But I can't believe the TBR Dare is halfway over already. I need to read faster.

    JoAnn -- maybe we need to schedule a Barbara Pym reading week. Or weekend. Anyone else interested?

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  8. What you described in the first paragraph is every reader's dream I think! I just found an author, Tom Holt, that I really enjoyed and he has a whole mess of other books. It was like I found a treasure chest!

    Yay for you! Hope the rest of her books are just as good as this one.

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  9. I read (and put up a review) of this a while ago. I liked the quiet, sacrificing Mildred who was never angry/petulant despite so many odds. Wish there were more like her.

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  10. This book sounds great - luckily I have a book by Pym waiting for me at the library!

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  11. I, like you, have just discovered her and am now into my third book....Jane and Prudence. I thought I would read her between other books but heck,,,,I'm having such fun..it's like I'm gorging myself on a box of chocolates!!

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  12. Pym is one of my favourite authors & Excellent Women is my favourite of her novels, I've read it many times. I even own three copies of it. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I always think of Mildred when I'm cleaning the bath (she's right, it's not easy to do properly). Perfect comfort reading.

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  13. Woo! So glad that you have found the Pym love - I devoured her far too quickly and wish she was still alive to write more. Envious that you are just starting!

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  14. I read this book last year and enjoyed it, though sometimes I feel like it touched very close to the nerve on the life of a single female. I hear Mildred shows up in a couple of future books so we learn what is going on in her life after the book ends, too- though I guess we have an idea of how it may go :-)

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  15. Jenners -- isn't it the best? I've never heard of Tom Holt so I hope you'll blog about his books.

    Mystica -- I like your point. Mildred could have been sulky or bitter and yet she never was. I still haven't figured out the ending.

    Motheretc -- which one is waiting for you? I am so looking forward to reading more of her books!

    Lyn -- Mildred was making me feel a little guilty about my cleaning. I'd rather read or blog that clean the bath -- though now my minions, I mean, children are old enough to do it!!

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  16. Verity -- I'm so glad I've finally gotten around to reading her -- it is so wonderful the first time you read a book you love. Rereads are great but it's just not the same, is it?

    Aarti -- I didn't know Mildred showed up again, I'd love to know what happened to her. I agree, I do think it really portrays the outlook for a single woman of the time. It's years after the war but I still got the impression men were in short supply, like good housing and food.

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  17. Luvvie -- whoops! I missed replying to you. I'm glad you're also enjoying Pym. Jane and Prudence is available at my library so I'll have to check it out after the TBR dare is over.

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  18. I know exactly how you feel about wanting to devour a whole author's output! I get that way especially about mystery series and I get so tetchy when I don't have the next book lined up. I too started with EW and happily have a couple more on my shelves to attend to. It was a great read :-)

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  19. I've had Excellent Women on my to-read list since I read Book Lust - I really need to find time for it!

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  20. I've loved the Pyms I've read and this one is at the picking it up, admiring and pondering before reading stage. I had exactly the same feelings about reading the author's every word, and I've managed to track down everything in 1970s editions.

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  21. I would definitely be in for a Pym reading week! I've just found out that my father's best friend's wife is a Pym scholar--and I'll be seeing her this weekend, so BP is very much on mind right now.

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  22. I was just talking with a friend about this book and Barbara Pym on Sunday, and she insisted that I would like both. Now that I know that the protagonist's name is Mildred, my mother's name, I have to read it!

    I liked how you described the village feel even though the setting is London--I do love village settings, that sense of small, tight community.

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  23. Because of your post, I got the book from the library. Haven't begun reading but am looking forward to it!

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  24. Pym is my favorite 20th century novelist. I read all of her novels every few years, one after another; for me, it's sort of like a purging of all the flowery, verbose, dense, or intensely multi-layered books I read in between. Her writing is a wonderfully cleansing experience.

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  25. I might be able to be talked into a Pym readalong! I enjoyed Excellent Women.

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