Reviews

No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym

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bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition

5.0

You'd be forgiven for dismissing Barbara Pym's novels as quaint and old-fashioned. They're full of dotty old vicars and eccentric spinsters and church jumble sales. For someone like me, the epithet "comedy of manners" usually functions as a deterrent, unless referring to Austen. Pym's writing, while dealing with the exotic customs of the English middle-class, has so much depth and wit it is impossible to resist its charms. Her low-key humor and sharp observations make even the most trivial account of everyday life a joy to read.

This one was published in 1961 and concerns the domestic and romantic lives of a group of mismatched people in London. The story is mainly told by Dulcie, a thirty-something single woman who, after a broken engagement, is quite happily settling into spinsterhood. At a learned conference (I want to go to a learned conference!) with lectures titled "Some problems of indexing" and "Some problems of editing" (on second thought, I don't want to go) she befriends the haughty Viola, who is carrying a torch for conceited writer Aylwin Forbes. Fascinated by these odd creatures(and hot for the dashing Aylwin), Dulcie starts snooping around in a very roundabout way, although she doesn't consider it snooping but research. She takes it seriously too, and her sleuthing leads her to Alwyn's brother, who naturally turns out to be a vicar (just looking someone up in Who's Who is too dull for Dulcie). Before long the cast of characters grows to include bitchy mother-in-laws, estranged wives and uppity nieces.

Simply wonderful.

mg_libros's review against another edition

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3.0

Los personajes me han caído todos fatal y por eso me ha costado bastante meterme en la historia.
Me gustó mucho más Mujeres excelentes. No creo que lea nada más de Barbara Pym, me han parecido demasiado similares y hay otras cosas que me interesan más.