Tuesday, July 23, 2013

COLD COMFORT FARM by Stella Gibbons

One of the things about being generally regarded by your friends and family as “well read” is this: you are subject to stares of utter disbelief when you admit to not having read a book that someone else consider “classic.” “YOU haven’t read Kafka on the Shore? I can’t believe it! You went on and on about The Belly of Paris last month, and you haven’t even read Murakami? Even my Cousin Waldo the Luddite has read THAT one!”

It’s kind of hard not to take it personally.

One of the books that I routinely got berated for not reading was Stella Gibbons’ Cold Comfort Farm. English friends in particular could not believe this galling oversight in my reading biography. So needing a 20th Century classic for the Back to the Classics 2013 Challenge over at Sarah Reads Too Much, I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Finally, I realize why everyone was amazed that I’d waited so long to read this book. There aren’t too many novels I’ve found as absurdly funny as Cold Comfort Farm. And believe me, that’s saying something. Because absurdly funny is one of my favorite things.

The novel is mostly set in rural Sussex in the early part of the 20th century. Flora Poste, an orphan at 19 and possessing a tiny inheritance and virtually no work ethic, decides her best course of action is to sponge off her distant relatives, the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm. The Starkadders agree to take her in because they seem to believe that they have some grave wrong to make up to her – a wrong about which she has absolutely no clue. However, on arrival, she finds her inherent need for tidiness immediately assaulted by the very messy condition of the Starkadders lives, due mostly to the imperious machinations of the formidable matriarch of the family, Aunt Ada Doom. So she immediately sets to work solving the Starkadders various problems.

The novel has a large and sometimes confusing cast of characters, complete with ridiculous and evocative names and neuroses to match. Flora puts her city street smarts to bear on the bucolic chaos, arranging and rearranging marriages, careers and personal habits. Her snarky insights and polite inability to take no for an answer were hilarious – she sort of reminded me of Katherine Hepburn’s character in Bringing Up Baby: ditzy like a fox!

It is Flora’s great strength that she sees clearly who her kin are, and works her fixes for them without ever trying to change their natures. Local gigolo Seth, for example, has fantastic looks, no brains and a desire to be the center of attention. Flora’s solution? Make a matinee idol out of him! So she arranges a meeting between Mr. Neck, the producer, and her wayward cousin:

A silence fell. The young man stood in the warm light of the declining sun, his bare throat and boldly moulded features looking as though they were bathed in gold. His pose was easy and graceful. A superb self-confidence radiated from him, as it does from any healthy animal. He met Mr. Neck’s stare with an impudent stare of his own, his head lowered and slightly forward. He looked exactly what he was, the local sexually successful bounder. Millions of women were to realize, in the next five years, that Seth could be transported in fancy to a Welsh mining village, a shoddy North country seaside town, a raw city the plains of the Middle West, and still remain eternally and unchangeably the local irresistible bounder.
(pg. 184)

I loved watching Flora’s plans come together, and laughed out loud at her insights more than once. I did find the dialect that the cousins’ dialogue was written in a bit slow going, but it didn’t detract at all from my enjoyment of the story. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves British comedy. And to anyone tired of the incredulous looks – it’s quite painless to banish them in this case!

Okay, better late than never for the Back to the Classics Challenge. I am finally on the board. Thanks to Sarah for hosting.

FTC disclosure: I did not receive a free copy of this book to review.

13 comments:

  1. I feel you on the 'well read' thing! (I've not yet read any Murakami!)

    This is a fun book, isn't it? So darkly funny! (Which is how I like my lit..!) Glad you made time for this one -- very worth it, I think!

    Let me know if you plan to pick up another classic -- it might be one I hope to read, too!

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    1. I have a list of classics to get to -- I'd love to a "simul-blog" if you're interested. I have Evelyn Waugh's "Scoop" and Elizabeth Gaskell's "North and South" queued up at the moment. But we could always read something by Murakami :)

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  2. I've never read this one either. I do like funny but too many characters can drive me bonkers. Having said that, I take notes if I know ahead of time that it could be a problem.

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    1. In this case it helps that almost every character is in need of an intervention -- they are almost interchangeably nutso. I just gave up on trying to remember the specific neuroses of the extended family, and mentally filed them in one big "looney" bin!

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  3. Confession time: I haven't read Murakami either. Nor have I read Cold Comfort Farm, but your review has me adding it to my list!

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  4. I will link arms with you in "books I should have read by now but haven't." I never read this one, either, and I don't want to embarrass myself by listing titles that clearly I should have read by now such as Moby Dick, Don Quixote, and Persuasion. Well, think of what we have read, I guess, and thank you for enlightening me about this one!

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    1. I constantly find new books that I should have read, to add to the books I already know I should have read! I feel confident I will never die -- there are too many books to read before I do ;)

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    2. p.s. Kafka on the Shore is one of my favorite books ever, Japanese literature challenge or not. Maybe you'll find time for it some day. ;)
      xo

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  5. I love British humor too so I think I better buff up my classics and read this one!

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  6. I definitely put this in the same league with Three Men in a Boat. If you haven't read that one, you will love it as well!

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  7. Thanks for reminding me of this one. Cheers

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  8. What? You didn't read this before? ;-)

    I loved this book - I think I read it twice, and saw the tv series and/or movie. I think it's so funny. I also loved it when Fiona's plans come together. Amazing, how she managed to get them all to do what she wanted and make it work.

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I absolutely love comments. Thanks for taking the time to share! Col