August 17, 2009
I present to you my Grade Four review of Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford.
Things I liked about this book:
- It’s by a Mitford. The good thing about this set of British aristocrats is that, while they were boating about having affairs, being friends with fascists and designating upper-class English usage, they also turned out some good books.
- Love in a Cold Climate continues Austen’s tradition of humorously depicting upper-class life and times, though with far more racy scandals than dear chaste Jane would ever have described. To quote the blurb: ‘When Polly, a beautiful aristocrat, declares her love for her married, lecherous uncle — who also happens to be her mother’s former lover…’ etc.
- The characters are beyond funny. The main character, Fanny, is first known among society as the daughter of the ‘Bolter’, because her mother continually bounced from lover to lover. [Edit: the 'Bolter' is real!] Fanny’s uncle, Davey, writes the names of people he hates on a slip of paper and puts the paper in chests of drawers in accordance with a superstition that the named person will die. Cedric Montdore is the Brüno of 1940s England. Boy Dougdale, who has a keen taste for young girls, is also a keen embroiderer.
- British names of the early 1900s are so good, always: Boy Dougdale, Mrs Chaddesley Corbett, Leopoldina Montdore.
- Mitford’s rendering of young girls’ chatter is really charming: they twitter and coo like actual doves.
- Great title. Apparently it’s taken from a George Orwell book.
- It was a very pleasant read.
Things I didn’t like about this book:
- Boring first few pages. So boring that I would have almost given up on the book if I hadn’t had to read it for book club.
- Though the characters are hilarious, they mostly interact with each other as types with funny qualities rather than actual people. In this respect, very different to Austen, though of course that’s not a failing in itself. But it’s pretty hard to care about anything that happens to the characters since they have so little depth.
- Fanny, the narrator, is one of the most boring narrators I have ever encountered in literature. She hardly has an interesting emotion of her own except when it’s thought necessary to marry her off. Then, she desultorily falls in love with a couple of people and settles down, hands in lap, to tell the rest of the story. The interaction between her and her indifferent Oxford don husband is pretty good, though.
- In contrast to the rest of the book, the end is rather abrupt, neat and coy, probably owing to the fact that homosexuality was not the most acceptable topic in mid-1900s England. So, a bit ooh-ahh in 1940s; a bit nothing now.
- When I think about this book in retrospect, I feel slightly ill because I can’t really remember reading it. Kind of like eating fairy floss, which is never to be recalled without assessing the sensory impression as somewhat disparate to its caloric intake.
- In fact, I felt so bored thinking about this book that I had to put the review in dot points to keep myself on track. And now it’s finished, and I’ll never have to think about it again.
Comments (7)
Thuy Linh Nguyen | 17th Aug 09 | 1:51 pm |
Lol. Another entertaining review, though it sounded more like Year Eight level reviewing to me.
estelle | 17th Aug 09 | 2:01 pm |
Ha! Thanks for the upgrade. Though that's bad news for me–my Year Eight English teacher gave me a B because I reviewed Isobelle Carmody's The Farseekers instead of a 'proper novel'.
Hey, and congratulations on your piece in Harvest! I'm hoping to get to the launch on Wed…
What Kate did next ... | 17th Aug 09 | 3:47 pm |
I must admit LIACC is one of my favourite books of all time and the Mitfords generally are a guilty pleasure. If I ever find out who STOLE my two volumes of Nancy's letters I will stab them slowly to death with a fish knife.
estelle | 17th Aug 09 | 9:12 pm |
Kate, I would love to read the letters. I think the wit would be even more pleasurable when applied to the task of desecrating real people.
Thuy Linh Nguyen | 18th Aug 09 | 11:07 am |
But The Farseekers won an award…? I can understand why teachers get annoyed though. Imagine having to read fifty Twilight reviews. 'Twilight is a really good book because it encourages interspecies dating.' Uggh.
Thanks! I might see you on Wednesday then.
writer347 | 3rd Sep 09 | 5:36 pm |
From a U.S.citizen with an Anglophile bent, I agree with Kate. This is a favourite book, along with most of her other books. I just ordered the letters of Nancy M and Evelyn Waugh, also a favourite of mine. Can't wait to start on them, as I have been rereading the Mitford books.
estelle | 3rd Sep 09 | 6:27 pm |
Yes! I would love to hear what everyone likes about this book. I don't mean that in a challenging way; I just feel like I might have missed something.