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sarahpiu's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-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? Yes
3.0
It is my first Molly Keane novel, and oh boy do I love her style! Her wits and her way of burning any and everyone she wants to. I learned while reading it that it was one of her first works and it shows: The narrative rythm is quite unbalanced, and the way she jumps over major event with ellipses in favor of random hunting scenes (why so much hunting scenes, dear me) and horse talk made it hard to go through.
That and the fact that I really disliked Mary, disliked how every one viewed her (characters would often say "everything has to be forgiven to mary"). But the ending brought me to life, I was not expecting it and I find it quite sad, realist and satisfying.
All in all, probably not her best work but good enough to make me want to read more.
That and the fact that I really disliked Mary, disliked how every one viewed her (characters would often say "everything has to be forgiven to mary"). But the ending brought me to life, I was not expecting it and I find it quite sad, realist and satisfying.
All in all, probably not her best work but good enough to make me want to read more.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
karna's review
4.0
This is the second book written by Molly Keane I've read, and I really liked it.
I like the way the writer introduces the readers to the main characters at the beginning of her novel: Maeve, blond, beautiful and sure of her love for her fiancé Rowley, her two brother, Roguey, whom she love without seeing his many faults (boring,spendthrift, knocking up a poor country girl) and Jer, her younger brother who is the most sensible and clever of the family, but widely shrugged off.
And then Rowley, the fiancé, and above all Mary, the young bridesmaid who comes to the three sibling's home to attend the wedding.
Both the groom to be and Maeve's brother fell in love with Mary.
And then, chaos arrived.
Mary is the most interesting character: She is extremely beautiful, acts as if she was free, funny and frivolous, whereas she is mainly ruined and must marry well.And only Jer understands it
Rowley do get married to Maeve as predicted, even if he is in love with Mary, so Mary must choose...
They are quite a lot of memorable chapters and events in this book: the fox's hunt with all the characters, the brief passion between Rowley and Mary, the sadness of Maeve when she realizes, far too late, that she is not loved by her husband etc..
The utter blindness of Maeve and Roguey toward Mary and Rowley is well written.
I didn't expect the ending.
The only irritating thing is the name of the characters.
It can't be unintentional that the two girls's names and the man's names are so similar.
I find the choosing of the names Rowley and Roguey very tiresome, and quite childish from the author.
I like the way the writer introduces the readers to the main characters at the beginning of her novel: Maeve, blond, beautiful and sure of her love for her fiancé Rowley, her two brother, Roguey, whom she love without seeing his many faults (boring,spendthrift, knocking up a poor country girl) and Jer, her younger brother who is the most sensible and clever of the family, but widely shrugged off.
And then Rowley, the fiancé, and above all Mary, the young bridesmaid who comes to the three sibling's home to attend the wedding.
Both the groom to be and Maeve's brother fell in love with Mary.
And then, chaos arrived.
Mary is the most interesting character: She is extremely beautiful, acts as if she was free, funny and frivolous, whereas she is mainly ruined and must marry well.And only Jer understands it
Rowley do get married to Maeve as predicted, even if he is in love with Mary, so Mary must choose...
They are quite a lot of memorable chapters and events in this book: the fox's hunt with all the characters, the brief passion between Rowley and Mary, the sadness of Maeve when she realizes, far too late, that she is not loved by her husband etc..
The utter blindness of Maeve and Roguey toward Mary and Rowley is well written.
I didn't expect the ending.
The only irritating thing is the name of the characters.
It can't be unintentional that the two girls's names and the man's names are so similar.
I find the choosing of the names Rowley and Roguey very tiresome, and quite childish from the author.
juliechristinejohnson's review
4.0
This is an astonishing little novel published in 1929 about the upper-crust of Irish society. It was written by a young woman who was a part of this world- she writes openly, unflinchingly and without irony. These are ruthless, self-absorbed, sinister, impossibly wealthy and maddeningly idle people. The characters, settings and dialogue are so vivid, you can almost hear the author's pen scratching as she scribbled notes on paper hidden in the folds of her evening gown while her family and guests sipped G&Ts in the drawing room before the maid announced dinner...
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