lucyandherbooks's review
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jenniferkey's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
mcsangel2's review
4.0
I really liked this, although I thought the way the story meandered from character to character before settling on Christine was a bit weird.
I also have to say, I was a little bit thrown by the ending....specifically when it's announced that war has been averted. I actually thought it was meant to be a signal that all the loose ends being tied up so neatly and happily was really the opposite of what happened. The story refers to it being September, and I assumed it was meant to be September of 39 (I couldn't find any more specifics of what month the book was published). I do realize that would have been quite a surprising tactic back then!
I also have to say, I was a little bit thrown by the ending....specifically when it's announced that war has been averted. I actually thought it was meant to be a signal that all the loose ends being tied up so neatly and happily was really the opposite of what happened. The story refers to it being September, and I assumed it was meant to be September of 39 (I couldn't find any more specifics of what month the book was published). I do realize that would have been quite a surprising tactic back then!
geneticginger's review
3.0
A sweet book about a family in England that learns what is really important in life: relationships.
northerly_heart_reads's review
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
flick_reads's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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we_are_all_mad_here26's review
5.0
So what if it wraps up a shade too neatly and a bit too nicely? Who cares if people get away with things you'd rather they'd been punished for? And why make a big deal over it, if one of the big crises in the story is "previously pampered girl has to work for little pay and live in a crappy room for a while?"
That's how pleasurable I find it, reading anything (so far) by Dorothy Whipple. This was my favorite to date. I love when a building actually becomes a character, for one thing, and I don't think I've read many books where the sentient characters are quite so human. Meaning, in other words, that no one is spared. We see both the good and the terrible about all of them, and it's all written, as far as I can tell, with absolutely no judgement.
Here is the Major, barely three pages into the book: "Half-way up the avenue the Major halted to survey the cricket field, which lay to the left. Empty, with its little black sodden shuttered pavilion, it was typical of winter and he hated winter. He would have liked to blame somebody for winter."
And later, when one of his daughters decides not to bother explaining her point to him: It was no good pusuing such subjects with her father. He made no attempt to see another person's point of view; he simply said it wasn't there, couldn't be there, it was so silly."
Who does not know a person like that?
Anyway, loved this. It's the 40th that Persephone published and the 10th I've read.
That's how pleasurable I find it, reading anything (so far) by Dorothy Whipple. This was my favorite to date. I love when a building actually becomes a character, for one thing, and I don't think I've read many books where the sentient characters are quite so human. Meaning, in other words, that no one is spared. We see both the good and the terrible about all of them, and it's all written, as far as I can tell, with absolutely no judgement.
Here is the Major, barely three pages into the book: "Half-way up the avenue the Major halted to survey the cricket field, which lay to the left. Empty, with its little black sodden shuttered pavilion, it was typical of winter and he hated winter. He would have liked to blame somebody for winter."
And later, when one of his daughters decides not to bother explaining her point to him: It was no good pusuing such subjects with her father. He made no attempt to see another person's point of view; he simply said it wasn't there, couldn't be there, it was so silly."
Who does not know a person like that?
Anyway, loved this. It's the 40th that Persephone published and the 10th I've read.
thenovelbook's review
3.0
The Priory is a book that GoodReads kept recommending to me and which I kept ignoring.
Well, GoodReads, you win. I read it. I liked it.
The Priory is about a family, consisting of a widower father and his two 19/20-year-old daughters. Over the course of the book everyone decides to get married. And then everyone has problems. Some of them are quite serious.
Normally, I don't like a book where people's personal lives get off track and they fail to communicate or make good decisions. In the end, things are bound to be either sad or else unrealistically resolved for a happy-ever-after.
BUT, in this book, just about everyone gets redemption. They genuinely learn from their mistakes. By the end of the book, I believe in their ability to do better and be happier in the future.
Furthermore, by the end of the book, even the characters that I thought were unsympathetic had been ever so slightly altered in aspect. It is a skillful author that can convey to you that even difficult people can be kind when they don't feel threatened, that most people are not horrid all the time, and that it doesn't do to put people in a box and never see them as anything other than what you think they are.
Note: It's a surprisingly PG read for the era it was written in... there's some extramarital stuff. As I said, mistakes are made.
Well, GoodReads, you win. I read it. I liked it.
The Priory is about a family, consisting of a widower father and his two 19/20-year-old daughters. Over the course of the book everyone decides to get married. And then everyone has problems. Some of them are quite serious.
Normally, I don't like a book where people's personal lives get off track and they fail to communicate or make good decisions. In the end, things are bound to be either sad or else unrealistically resolved for a happy-ever-after.
BUT, in this book, just about everyone gets redemption. They genuinely learn from their mistakes. By the end of the book, I believe in their ability to do better and be happier in the future.
Furthermore, by the end of the book, even the characters that I thought were unsympathetic had been ever so slightly altered in aspect. It is a skillful author that can convey to you that even difficult people can be kind when they don't feel threatened, that most people are not horrid all the time, and that it doesn't do to put people in a box and never see them as anything other than what you think they are.
Note: It's a surprisingly PG read for the era it was written in... there's some extramarital stuff. As I said, mistakes are made.
andrew61's review
4.0
The joy of this doorstop of a book is how the writer combines lightness of touch with a view of English society between the wars which has a gentle hint of acerbic wit. There is nothing overtly heavy handed however about the writing , this is not a hostile look at the class system in the 1930's but read between the lines and the individuals brilliantly caricatured are so humorous that as with Bertie Wooster their absurdness makes you laugh at them and wonder about how the class system survived.
The book is even more interesting as it is written in 1939 and as it draws to a conclusion we as readers know that the war looms so it a fascinating picture of what was happening at the time.
The story starts out in the mid 1930's as Major Marwood, the cricket obsessed , ex WW1 veteran , and owner of down on it's heels Saunby priory a stately home in the midlands decides to propose to Anthea , a homely woman who appears to be on the shelf living at home with parents after her younger siblings have married and moved out. At Saunby priory also lives Christine and Penelope the hopelessly and practically useless spoilt daughters , and dotty aunt Victoria a hopeless artist.
There are also a host of lazy staff a philandering cricket professional. Anthea , a nervous sort slowly asserts herself and gradually the inhabitants of Saunby manor's lives turn upside down.
I liked that the writer seamlessly seemed to move from scene to scene from lots of different characters perspectives and like a brilliant soap opera I was totally hooked and caught up in the lives of characters who if I met them in real life would have had me holding my head in my hands and screaming with frustration.
As the book shifts into the second half the characters develop and change and the action shifts to include a scene stealing cliché's Northern businessman and his gentle wife, Christine's husband Nicholas and his wayward friends, Christine trying to make a life for herself with no skills in London whilst Penelope happily with an absurd but rich barrister has designs on her son. Add in the brilliant nurse Pye and the fate of Thompson Bertha and Bessie and the pages flew by.
Definitely not for everyone and certainly not dark social commentary but certainly a book I really enjoyed and a writer of whom I hope to read more soon.
The book is even more interesting as it is written in 1939 and as it draws to a conclusion we as readers know that the war looms so it a fascinating picture of what was happening at the time.
The story starts out in the mid 1930's as Major Marwood, the cricket obsessed , ex WW1 veteran , and owner of down on it's heels Saunby priory a stately home in the midlands decides to propose to Anthea , a homely woman who appears to be on the shelf living at home with parents after her younger siblings have married and moved out. At Saunby priory also lives Christine and Penelope the hopelessly and practically useless spoilt daughters , and dotty aunt Victoria a hopeless artist.
There are also a host of lazy staff a philandering cricket professional. Anthea , a nervous sort slowly asserts herself and gradually the inhabitants of Saunby manor's lives turn upside down.
I liked that the writer seamlessly seemed to move from scene to scene from lots of different characters perspectives and like a brilliant soap opera I was totally hooked and caught up in the lives of characters who if I met them in real life would have had me holding my head in my hands and screaming with frustration.
As the book shifts into the second half the characters develop and change and the action shifts to include a scene stealing cliché's Northern businessman and his gentle wife, Christine's husband Nicholas and his wayward friends, Christine trying to make a life for herself with no skills in London whilst Penelope happily with an absurd but rich barrister has designs on her son. Add in the brilliant nurse Pye and the fate of Thompson Bertha and Bessie and the pages flew by.
Definitely not for everyone and certainly not dark social commentary but certainly a book I really enjoyed and a writer of whom I hope to read more soon.