Really enjoying this getting to know Stella Gibbons--her abundant humor, the generosity of her vision. In each of the books I've read so far there hasn't been one main heroine--the focus shifts throughout and you feel as though no one has special priority. Her vision has a wholeness to it. There are eccentrics in her books, alongside people who live ordinary lives, and animals who spark feelings and epiphanies in her characters. I don't know when I was last so *surprised* by an author. If this hadn't been written by Stella Gibbons, I think I'd have rated it more highly. But the power of the Brand is such that I judge NW by CCF - and it just doesn't measure up. There are some delightfully cutting remarks, and some pleasant enough scene-setting. But. Part of the problem is that none of the characters are particularly sympathetic - or, at least, every scene that might elicit some sympathy for one person or another is followed by an antidote. That can work well enough if there is a thorough-going villain against whom everyone can unite, but Mr Wither, set up initially as a domineering mysogynistic puritanical Mr Punch, is sadly marginalised. So, while this wasn't a completely wasted afternoon, I'd hoped for more.
What do You think about Der Sommernachtsball (1938)?
Sadly little of the humor and charm of Cold Comfort Farm...
—hello
I'd like to read everything she has written.
—BluebladeLy
Not quite CCC, but amusant nonetheless....
—Tranice
So glad this was brought back into print!
—Colleen
