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lola425's review against another edition
4.0
This book was so funny and quirky. This is the story of a family (all women) who invent relationships with real-life people and integrate them into their own family narrative who then have to deal with the fallout when they actually meet one of these people in real life. This book is filled with memorable characters: three sisters (one of whom you will surely relate to), a mother who plays along, an exasperated governess, and a cantankerous judge and his society wife, and a cast of imaginary friends that will leave you laughing.
littlebitofe's review against another edition
2.0
Won this book through First Reads at GoodReads!
Very odd book. I liked the crazy imaginations of the three girls and their mother, but found it hard to follow at times. It wasn't awful, but I certainly did not enjoy it as much as I'd hoped.
Very odd book. I liked the crazy imaginations of the three girls and their mother, but found it hard to follow at times. It wasn't awful, but I certainly did not enjoy it as much as I'd hoped.
neen_mai's review against another edition
2.0
Sorry, Ms Ferguson, I am not your fan. This particular book was quite complicated for me. Almost everything flew over my head -- the story, the humour, the characters, the dialogues (especially those in French), etc, etc.
It was a traumatised experience.
It was a traumatised experience.
crazygoangirl's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Mixed feelings about this one!
First published in 1931, this is a tale of the Carne family - primarily of the three sisters, Deidre, Katrina and Sheil who live with their mother and a governess for the youngest daughter Sheil - a Ms. Agatha Martins. The Carne family women have fantastically fertile imaginations and use them as tools to deal with and embellish their routine lives. They have created an entire network of characters based on people they’ve seen but never met and imagined their lives and personalities and invented events and meetings and the like! But one day, imagination comes face to face with reality and chaos and confusion follow, as the girls try to amalgamate the two into a palatable milieu. Meanwhile, the Brontë sisters and their dead father make occasional appearances adding to the confusion!
I don’t really know how to react to this book! I did enjoy it initially, especially the wit and the irony, but Ferguson’s writing style confused me enough that I wasn’t ever quite sure what was imagination and who was real! It made the reading experience less pleasurable than it could have been. There is no definite plot here and I thought the characters were sketched out only with regards to their imaginative and creative faculties - everything seemed fantastical and bizarre and the reasons for these elaborate schemes that the girls dreamt up were never explained. Also I found it hard to believe that the Toddingtons would fall in line so easily and eagerly with these rather bizarre imaginings! The ending too was rather abrupt and it let me feeling like I should have liked the Carnes better than I did 🤷♀️
This a short book at 188 pages which is why I stuck with it. It’s written well and Ferguson does have incisive insights into family dynamics peppered throughout the narrative that kept me going and some great one liners as well. A few examples…
“The house was simply humming with alien personalities.”
“All children, I suppose, are incalculable.”
“The pinch of desolation comes before and afterwards, never at the time.”
“I rather think children sense death as cats and dogs do family departure.”
“I often think that perhaps there is only a limited amount of memory going about the world, and that when it wants to live again, it steals its nest, like a cuckoo.”
I annotated this book while reading and yet I the end, I wasn’t sure what the takeaway was meant to be. I couldn’t see that their imaginations had done the family any particular good. Even their friendship with the Toddingtons in the real world resulted from an event that Deidre attended in her capacity as a a journalist. Imagination is fine, I have a good one myself and indulge it at whim, but Ferguson offered no explanations as to why the girls were so radical in theirs. So although I liked the admittedly clever writing and the one liners, it left me feeling strangely unfulfilled and decidedly unsympathetic toward the Carnes! I felt like I missed the point of the tale, and that’s never satisfying. Perhaps a re-read at a later time will be more illuminating!
First published in 1931, this is a tale of the Carne family - primarily of the three sisters, Deidre, Katrina and Sheil who live with their mother and a governess for the youngest daughter Sheil - a Ms. Agatha Martins. The Carne family women have fantastically fertile imaginations and use them as tools to deal with and embellish their routine lives. They have created an entire network of characters based on people they’ve seen but never met and imagined their lives and personalities and invented events and meetings and the like! But one day, imagination comes face to face with reality and chaos and confusion follow, as the girls try to amalgamate the two into a palatable milieu. Meanwhile, the Brontë sisters and their dead father make occasional appearances adding to the confusion!
I don’t really know how to react to this book! I did enjoy it initially, especially the wit and the irony, but Ferguson’s writing style confused me enough that I wasn’t ever quite sure what was imagination and who was real! It made the reading experience less pleasurable than it could have been. There is no definite plot here and I thought the characters were sketched out only with regards to their imaginative and creative faculties - everything seemed fantastical and bizarre and the reasons for these elaborate schemes that the girls dreamt up were never explained. Also I found it hard to believe that the Toddingtons would fall in line so easily and eagerly with these rather bizarre imaginings! The ending too was rather abrupt and it let me feeling like I should have liked the Carnes better than I did 🤷♀️
This a short book at 188 pages which is why I stuck with it. It’s written well and Ferguson does have incisive insights into family dynamics peppered throughout the narrative that kept me going and some great one liners as well. A few examples…
“The house was simply humming with alien personalities.”
“All children, I suppose, are incalculable.”
“The pinch of desolation comes before and afterwards, never at the time.”
“I rather think children sense death as cats and dogs do family departure.”
“I often think that perhaps there is only a limited amount of memory going about the world, and that when it wants to live again, it steals its nest, like a cuckoo.”
I annotated this book while reading and yet I the end, I wasn’t sure what the takeaway was meant to be. I couldn’t see that their imaginations had done the family any particular good. Even their friendship with the Toddingtons in the real world resulted from an event that Deidre attended in her capacity as a a journalist. Imagination is fine, I have a good one myself and indulge it at whim, but Ferguson offered no explanations as to why the girls were so radical in theirs. So although I liked the admittedly clever writing and the one liners, it left me feeling strangely unfulfilled and decidedly unsympathetic toward the Carnes! I felt like I missed the point of the tale, and that’s never satisfying. Perhaps a re-read at a later time will be more illuminating!
the_red_velvet_armchair's review against another edition
4.0
So hilarious and clever! For the imaginative reader, girls 13+ and adults. A strange spiritualist sub-plot. I've never read anything like Ferguson!
mishale1's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty even mix of sweet and strange.
This is a story about a very offbeat but close knit family.
I think when most people are kids they make up stories about people, maybe some are imaginary and some are real people you see in passing and imagine the lives of. I did this as a little kid sometimes, but not as an adult.
So, that's something you're either going to find charming or odd about these characters.
They are all creative types, oldest sister Deidre is a writer and middle sister Katrine is an actress. They are both in their twenties. They, along with their mother, tell little stories to the youngest, eleven year old Sheil.
Many of their stories are about "Toddy". They kind of see him as a bit of a celebrity. He features in their stories a lot, including fictional phone calls every night.
But one day Deidre actually meets "Toddy". What began as an almost fictionalized character in her life is now a very real man.
When "Toddy" meets the rest of the family, it could unravel their little storybook world or if could enrich it.
This is a story about a very offbeat but close knit family.
I think when most people are kids they make up stories about people, maybe some are imaginary and some are real people you see in passing and imagine the lives of. I did this as a little kid sometimes, but not as an adult.
So, that's something you're either going to find charming or odd about these characters.
They are all creative types, oldest sister Deidre is a writer and middle sister Katrine is an actress. They are both in their twenties. They, along with their mother, tell little stories to the youngest, eleven year old Sheil.
Many of their stories are about "Toddy". They kind of see him as a bit of a celebrity. He features in their stories a lot, including fictional phone calls every night.
But one day Deidre actually meets "Toddy". What began as an almost fictionalized character in her life is now a very real man.
When "Toddy" meets the rest of the family, it could unravel their little storybook world or if could enrich it.
simplyparticular's review against another edition
1.0
A book that was probably charming to it's early 20th century British audience, but the slang and social mores are nearly impossible for this 21st century American to navigate. Cute title that caught my gift giver's attention, but doesn't appear to have anything to do with the book.
eibi's review against another edition
Pues me lo he pasado pipa con esta pequeña novelita de las entreguerras.
Una lectura con ese humor british que tanto disfruto y que me ha recordado mucho a Stella Gibbons y Monica Dickens.
No sé si es un libro para todo el mundo, porque es bastante peculiar, pero si conectáis con su sentido del humor y os dejáis llevar por las hermanas Carne sin querer darle un sentido lógico a todo, os aseguro unos momentos divertidísimos entre sus páginas.
A pesar del humor, creo que Rachel Ferguson refleja con inteligencia el paso de la infancia a la edad adulta (bueno, más bien su resistencia), y todo lo que eso implica...y es que estas hermanas (madre incluida) tan únicas, creativas y entrañables son la representación absoluta de ese
" defender la alegría como una trinchera"; qué queréis que os diga, tal y como está el mundo, yo, me uno a ellas.
briarfairchild's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed this books immensely. First, it's very funny - the imaginings of the girls (and their mother) are always unexpected and entertaining, and it all becomes rather surreal and wonderful when they get to meet one of the people they have made up their fantasies about. I yelled with laughter when Deirdre accidentally let it out.
It's also a little darker in places, when ghosts appear and you start to feel the youngest child, Sheil, could end up living more in an unreal world than the real one. And the contrast between the jolly, normal, new governess who tries so hard to understand the family is rather poignant.
All in all, this is a wonderfully entertaining read. It's intelligent, surreal and extremely funny. Highly recommended!
It's also a little darker in places, when ghosts appear and you start to feel the youngest child, Sheil, could end up living more in an unreal world than the real one. And the contrast between the jolly, normal, new governess who tries so hard to understand the family is rather poignant.
All in all, this is a wonderfully entertaining read. It's intelligent, surreal and extremely funny. Highly recommended!
wealhtheow's review against another edition
4.0
The story centers on three sisters and their widowed mother in 1920s London. They are an intensely close-knit family; so close, in fact, that their shared imaginary friends and in-jokes are nearly impenetrable to outsiders. I loved the characters and felt as though I knew them, or had been them. It's an interesting, literate, occasionally surreal tale about a quartet of fascinating women. I liked the review here.