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NYRB Classics (2015), 209 pages
Description
"I told Helen my story and she went home and cried" begins Our Spoons Came from Woolworths. But Barbara Comyns's beguiling novel is far from maudlin, despite the ostensibly harrowing ordeals its heroine endures. Sophia is twenty-one when she marries fellow artist Charles, and she seems to have nearly as much affection for her pet newt as she does for her husband. Her housekeeping knowledge is lacking (everything she cooks tastes of soap) and she attributes her morning sickness to a bad batch of strawberries. England is in the middle of the Great Depression, and in any case, the money Sophia earns at her occasional modeling gigs are not enough to make up for her husband's lack of interest in keeping the heat on. Predictably, the marriage begins to falter; not so predictably, Sophia's optimistic guilelessness is the very thing responsible for turning her life around"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Ganeshaka
This delicious, daffy, and swift read is reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye in that the protagonist, Sophia Fairclough, speaks with a unique and captivating simplicity that is at once fresh, naive, and funny. Unlike Holden Caulfield, who lapses into pessimism, Sophia, with a detached but
Sophia not only sidesteps one calamity after another, at one point, she steps right out of the narrative, like George Burns used to do on the Burns and Allen show, and comments:
"This book does not seem to be growing very large even though I have got to Chapter Nine. I think this is because there isn't any conversation....I know this will never be a real book, that businessmen in trains will read, the kind of businessmen that wear stiff hats with curly brims and little breathing holes let in the sides. I wish I knew more about words. Also I wish so much I had learnt my lessons at school. I never did, and have found this such a disadvantage ever since. All the same, I am going on writing this book, even if businessmen scorn it."
And it's all presented with a very British sensibility.
"The woods were delightful all year round...When it was summer there would be wild raspberries, and we seemed to be the only people who bothered to pick them, and I used to make them into the most heavenly jam. There were blackberries, too. Everything that should be in a wood was there."
And everything that should be in a charming book is in Our Spoons Came From Woolworth's.
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not-detached, Zen-ish shrug presses on - through Depression-era poverty, a marriage to a self-absorbed Bohemian artist, and domestic trials that would have some housewives shrieking, confessing, and swinging at spouses on the Jerry Springer show. She's that rare kind of person who seems to have an extra endocrine gland that secretes Prozac.Sophia not only sidesteps one calamity after another, at one point, she steps right out of the narrative, like George Burns used to do on the Burns and Allen show, and comments:
"This book does not seem to be growing very large even though I have got to Chapter Nine. I think this is because there isn't any conversation....I know this will never be a real book, that businessmen in trains will read, the kind of businessmen that wear stiff hats with curly brims and little breathing holes let in the sides. I wish I knew more about words. Also I wish so much I had learnt my lessons at school. I never did, and have found this such a disadvantage ever since. All the same, I am going on writing this book, even if businessmen scorn it."
And it's all presented with a very British sensibility.
"The woods were delightful all year round...When it was summer there would be wild raspberries, and we seemed to be the only people who bothered to pick them, and I used to make them into the most heavenly jam. There were blackberries, too. Everything that should be in a wood was there."
And everything that should be in a charming book is in Our Spoons Came From Woolworth's.
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LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Sophia is young and naive when she falls for Charles, a painter. Believing love will see them through all sorts of troubles, they decide to marry even though neither has a reliable way to make a living. Charles keeps hoping his talents will be discovered, and Sophia earns a bit of money here and
This sounds like a fairly typical love story, and on one level, it is. But Sophia is a memorable, engaging and eternally optimistic narrator. Here's a typical excerpt:
That is the kind of stuff that appears in real people's books. I know this will never be a real book that business men in trains will read, the kind of business men that wear stiff hats with curly brims and little breathing holes let in the side. I wish I knew more about words. Also I wish so much I had learnt my lessons in school. I never did, and have found this such a disadvantage ever since. All the same, I am going on writing this book even if business men scorn it. (p. 54)
Sophia prattles on like this for over 220 pages, and she's just so much fun to "listen" to. Even when you know she's heading for trouble, you can't help but like her and hope for the best. This is an unusual novel, and the first Comyns I've read. I'll definitely be back for more.
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there as a model for other artists. They are desperately poor, and blissfully unaware of the need to "take precautions." Sophia soon becomes pregnant, and at this point Charles turns into a bit of an ass. He's not keen about having a child, but reluctantly agrees it might be okay if it were a girl. Of course it's a boy, and he only halfheartedly fulfills his parental responsibilities. Sophia is a bit slow to realize Charles is an ass, until she has an affair with a much older man. The affair runs its course, as affairs often do, and she must then take decisive action to change the course of her life.This sounds like a fairly typical love story, and on one level, it is. But Sophia is a memorable, engaging and eternally optimistic narrator. Here's a typical excerpt:
That is the kind of stuff that appears in real people's books. I know this will never be a real book that business men in trains will read, the kind of business men that wear stiff hats with curly brims and little breathing holes let in the side. I wish I knew more about words. Also I wish so much I had learnt my lessons in school. I never did, and have found this such a disadvantage ever since. All the same, I am going on writing this book even if business men scorn it. (p. 54)
Sophia prattles on like this for over 220 pages, and she's just so much fun to "listen" to. Even when you know she's heading for trouble, you can't help but like her and hope for the best. This is an unusual novel, and the first Comyns I've read. I'll definitely be back for more.
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LibraryThing member Porius
In the Gwyn Thomas novel, VENUS and the VOTERS (1948) the too slick by half Rollo disappoints old Morris' daughter even as she wears her shiny new government bought clothes and her hair with a record amount of fixo in it - a hair stiffening agent.. By doing this Rollo earns the wrath of the
In Barbara Comyn's 1950 novel: OUR SPOONS CAME FROM WOOLWORTHS, a different Rollo, in timely fashion, saves Sophia from a life of poverty, frustration, and low expectations. The eight year story of privation is told to a Helen who
went home and cried. Sophie wishes she hadn't told so much. She still sees the white pointed face of that blighter Charles. Sophie keeps remembering and remembering.
Long after the bicycles were put away Sophie pondered over sitting there with Helen on a lovely spring afternoon, drinking coffee, watching the egg-carrying ants career over their bare legs. To Sophie it all seemed a waste of time. but she told the story anyway.
Very few writers do this sort of thing better than Comyns.
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out-of-work fellows who are the main characters of the novel.In Barbara Comyn's 1950 novel: OUR SPOONS CAME FROM WOOLWORTHS, a different Rollo, in timely fashion, saves Sophia from a life of poverty, frustration, and low expectations. The eight year story of privation is told to a Helen who
went home and cried. Sophie wishes she hadn't told so much. She still sees the white pointed face of that blighter Charles. Sophie keeps remembering and remembering.
Long after the bicycles were put away Sophie pondered over sitting there with Helen on a lovely spring afternoon, drinking coffee, watching the egg-carrying ants career over their bare legs. To Sophie it all seemed a waste of time. but she told the story anyway.
Very few writers do this sort of thing better than Comyns.
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LibraryThing member setnahkt
Interesting. Author Barbara Comyns writes a semi-autobiographical novel set in the 1930s (she cautions that nothing in the book is true except a few chapters; I won’t mention what those are about to avoid spoilers). The protagonist, Sophia, marries in haste and repents at leisure; she’s
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breathtakingly naïve, and her husband is a callous jerk – but can be slightly forgiven because he’s also breathtakingly naïve. The couple have no idea of how to support themselves, and unfortunately don’t seem to realize how reproduction works (Sophia volunteers to the reader that she thought if you firmly believed you wouldn’t get pregnant, you wouldn’t. This turns out not to be the case). The main charm of the book is the writing style; simple declarative sentences narrating their descent into genteel poverty – and continuing into pretty ungenteel poverty – somehow turns the commonplace into grand tragedy. Still, Sophia manages to muddle through being unable to afford clothes and furniture and heat and food and medical care and ends up reminding the reader that simple joys – enough to eat, a new pair of shoes, a pet – are the best. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kasthu
Our Spoons Came From Woolworths is the story of a young woman, Sophia, who marries an artist at a very young age. She and her husband Charles live in poverty, eventually having a child together. Sophia’s life becomes more exciting when she has an affair with an older art critique, but she
It’s a pretty depressing book; not much good happens to Sophia except for a little bit of a windfall towards the end. Sophia is the kind of character who allows things happen to her rather than the other way round, so I didn’t really feel any sympathy towards her—as awful as that sounds, considering what happens to her. Sophia’s narration is a bit flat sometimes; the story is presented in a very unemotional way. But This disaffected style serves the novel well, in a way; it highlights the chilliness of Charles and Sophia’s life together.
I also didn’t like Charles—he was too self-absorbed and too absorbed in his own world to pay much attention to his family. Part of his problem is his family, who don’t approve of the marriage in the first place (though it’s not so difficult to see why). It’s pretty clear from the outset that Sophia and Charles are ill-matched, but the interesting thing about this novel is how Sophia is going to get out of her situation. In the end, though, because I didn’t really care for many of the characters, I found myself skimming the end of the novel. Barbara Comyns was a skilled writer, but this, sadly, isn’t my favorite book.
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eventually comes to regret bother her marriage and affair.It’s a pretty depressing book; not much good happens to Sophia except for a little bit of a windfall towards the end. Sophia is the kind of character who allows things happen to her rather than the other way round, so I didn’t really feel any sympathy towards her—as awful as that sounds, considering what happens to her. Sophia’s narration is a bit flat sometimes; the story is presented in a very unemotional way. But This disaffected style serves the novel well, in a way; it highlights the chilliness of Charles and Sophia’s life together.
I also didn’t like Charles—he was too self-absorbed and too absorbed in his own world to pay much attention to his family. Part of his problem is his family, who don’t approve of the marriage in the first place (though it’s not so difficult to see why). It’s pretty clear from the outset that Sophia and Charles are ill-matched, but the interesting thing about this novel is how Sophia is going to get out of her situation. In the end, though, because I didn’t really care for many of the characters, I found myself skimming the end of the novel. Barbara Comyns was a skilled writer, but this, sadly, isn’t my favorite book.
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LibraryThing member varwenea
“The only things that are true in this story are the wedding and Chapters 10, 11 and 12 and the poverty.”
“Our Spoons” is Comyns’s somewhat autobiographical novel covering her early adult years and the cyclic struggles with her then husband. Undereducated and wrought with ongoing poverty,
At a modest 200 pages, this little book delivered a punch that bought pain and joy. The optimistic Sophia hung on to this marriage even though her husband provided nearly no partnership and little care. A part of me wants to slap her awake; a part of me wants to feed and shelter her and her children. The chapters on child birth were beyond “wow”, not a good time to be a mom for sure! This book, being semi-autobiographical, was particularly emotional, with all that she went through. Even though not all is true, the reader is silently cheering for her and wishing her the best. One bit nearly torn my heart out. The prose is somewhat choppy with short chapters, as though from memories that are piecemealed together. The text is bluntly earnest, expressing sadness and tragic moments that are oddly humorous. Her resourcefulness was inspiring. For the subject and story, I found the prose to be appropriate and effective. Overall, it’s a fast and entertaining read.
Sidebar: I bought this book partly because of the “…Woolworths” title – a store that I have an odd fondness for. An overflowing emporium with everything a person may want, including queasy pizza in the U.S. long time ago. I still have unopened socks from there that are virtually old-timey souvenirs by now. Don’t ask. :P
Some Quotes:
On Pregnancy – oh, that poor, naive girl:
“Charles said, ‘Oh dear, what will the family say? How I dislike the idea of being a Daddy and pushing a pram!’ So I said, ‘I don’t want to be a beastly Mummy either; I shall run away.’ Then I remembered if I ran away the baby would come with me wherever I went. It was a most suffocating feeling and I started to cry.”
On Birth Control – ditto:
“…before we were married Charles told me he never wanted to have any children, and I saw they would not fit in with the kind of life we would lead, so I just hoped none would come to such unsuitable parents – anyway, not for years. I had a kind of idea if you controlled your mind and said ‘I won’t have any babies’ very hard, they most likely wouldn’t come. I thought that was what was meant by birth-control, but by this time I knew what idea was quite wrong.”
On Starving Artist:
“…Sometimes we were several weeks behind and the landlady would ask us for money each time we went in or out of the house. I would hear her talking about us to the other people who lived on the floor below and felt dreadfully ashamed. Charles did not mind. He just said she was a silly old bitch. As soon as Charles started to paint he forgot about the cold and money worries. That is how artists should be, but I was only a commercial artist, so I went on worrying…”
“Our Spoons” is Comyns’s somewhat autobiographical novel covering her early adult years and the cyclic struggles with her then husband. Undereducated and wrought with ongoing poverty,
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neglect, and indifference, Sophia Fairclough, in her youthful naiveté, fought her damnest to keep her family together during the Depression years in London. She was twenty-one when she married Charles, an aspiring artist who refused to have a real job, smokes, drinks, and didn’t like their son because he looked too much like himself. Sigh. They go through mini periods of joy, whenever they have steady income, such as when Sophia receives an unexpected inheritance. Otherwise, it’s misery for all leading to adultery, abortion, and death – until Sophia and Charles finally separate and Sophia finds her own happiness.At a modest 200 pages, this little book delivered a punch that bought pain and joy. The optimistic Sophia hung on to this marriage even though her husband provided nearly no partnership and little care. A part of me wants to slap her awake; a part of me wants to feed and shelter her and her children. The chapters on child birth were beyond “wow”, not a good time to be a mom for sure! This book, being semi-autobiographical, was particularly emotional, with all that she went through. Even though not all is true, the reader is silently cheering for her and wishing her the best. One bit nearly torn my heart out. The prose is somewhat choppy with short chapters, as though from memories that are piecemealed together. The text is bluntly earnest, expressing sadness and tragic moments that are oddly humorous. Her resourcefulness was inspiring. For the subject and story, I found the prose to be appropriate and effective. Overall, it’s a fast and entertaining read.
Sidebar: I bought this book partly because of the “…Woolworths” title – a store that I have an odd fondness for. An overflowing emporium with everything a person may want, including queasy pizza in the U.S. long time ago. I still have unopened socks from there that are virtually old-timey souvenirs by now. Don’t ask. :P
Some Quotes:
On Pregnancy – oh, that poor, naive girl:
“Charles said, ‘Oh dear, what will the family say? How I dislike the idea of being a Daddy and pushing a pram!’ So I said, ‘I don’t want to be a beastly Mummy either; I shall run away.’ Then I remembered if I ran away the baby would come with me wherever I went. It was a most suffocating feeling and I started to cry.”
On Birth Control – ditto:
“…before we were married Charles told me he never wanted to have any children, and I saw they would not fit in with the kind of life we would lead, so I just hoped none would come to such unsuitable parents – anyway, not for years. I had a kind of idea if you controlled your mind and said ‘I won’t have any babies’ very hard, they most likely wouldn’t come. I thought that was what was meant by birth-control, but by this time I knew what idea was quite wrong.”
On Starving Artist:
“…Sometimes we were several weeks behind and the landlady would ask us for money each time we went in or out of the house. I would hear her talking about us to the other people who lived on the floor below and felt dreadfully ashamed. Charles did not mind. He just said she was a silly old bitch. As soon as Charles started to paint he forgot about the cold and money worries. That is how artists should be, but I was only a commercial artist, so I went on worrying…”
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LibraryThing member DieFledermaus
This is a readable, compelling book distinguished by the focus on the mundane, oft-neglected details of bohemian poverty and the narrator’s straightforward, almost naïve voice. Sophia and Charles are poor artists who fall in love and marry. While Charles remains dedicated first to his art,
Life is pleasant after they marry though they are never well-off but that changes when Sophia gives birth to their son, Sandro, and loses her job. She describes the logistics of having a baby on the cheap and all the details which rarely make it into books of the period (~WWII) – telling friends, finding a doctor, waiting for appointments, going to the hospital after her water breaks. Sophia models for artists to support the family and takes odd jobs while Charles rarely sells a painting. After Sandro’s arrival, Charles’ selfishness becomes even clearer. He wants to give Sandro up or send him off to relatives - though to be fair, most in their circle see children as a burden. Their financial situation deteriorates and the relationship has its ups and downs – mostly downs. Sophia has an affair with an art critic and things continue to get worse.
Sophia narrates with a straightforward clarity. She’s often confused and has many distressing experiences but she always picks herself and the story up and moves on. Many of the characters are somewhat one-dimensional but it’s supposed to be Sophia’s story. I found the ending to be too pat and predictable. However, after reading the introduction, I learned that the book was semi-autobiographical and it sounds like that part was based on her actual experiences. Despite these faults, the book is an absorbing read.
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Sophia has to manage the household and take care of the children.Life is pleasant after they marry though they are never well-off but that changes when Sophia gives birth to their son, Sandro, and loses her job. She describes the logistics of having a baby on the cheap and all the details which rarely make it into books of the period (~WWII) – telling friends, finding a doctor, waiting for appointments, going to the hospital after her water breaks. Sophia models for artists to support the family and takes odd jobs while Charles rarely sells a painting. After Sandro’s arrival, Charles’ selfishness becomes even clearer. He wants to give Sandro up or send him off to relatives - though to be fair, most in their circle see children as a burden. Their financial situation deteriorates and the relationship has its ups and downs – mostly downs. Sophia has an affair with an art critic and things continue to get worse.
Sophia narrates with a straightforward clarity. She’s often confused and has many distressing experiences but she always picks herself and the story up and moves on. Many of the characters are somewhat one-dimensional but it’s supposed to be Sophia’s story. I found the ending to be too pat and predictable. However, after reading the introduction, I learned that the book was semi-autobiographical and it sounds like that part was based on her actual experiences. Despite these faults, the book is an absorbing read.
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LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
This book begins and ends with Sophie Fairclough telling her life story to her friend Helen, and we know from the first paragraph that it will end happily. It's good to have that knowledge in mind while reading her tale of love gone stale, dreadful poverty, sickness and sorrow. But Sophie tells
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that story in such a matter-of-fact fashion, from the sunny other side of the troubles, that it almost feels as though it all happened to someone else. I enjoyed this Virago Modern Classic very much. Show Less
LibraryThing member miss_read
Self-consciously fey. I wanted to smack Sophia from page one.
LibraryThing member CurrerBell
I just finished this as part of rainpebble's ALL VIRAGO/ALL AUGUST challenge. It's a sometimes hilarious comedy because of its deadpan, first person narration written in a very simple, childlike voice that reminds me of Gertrude Stein's Gentle Lena. Sophia isn't in any way "simple-minded," though
I think the funniest scene might be the one where "Bumble," a painter for whom Sophia is modelling, takes her and her young son, Sandro, in the car to a house where they'll be staying for the weekend.
Bumble stopped at a cake shop and bought masses of disgusting cakes all covered in imitation cream and jam and gave [Sandro] them to eat. Fortunately, he didn't like them, but thought it a good idea to smear them all over the seat and window of the car. Still it would have made even more mess if he had been sick.
This following an earlier scene in a bus when Sandro had gotten sick all over some woman's umbrella, which, as Sophia explains equally deadpan, had been opened.
If these incidents don't sound as funny in the retelling, it's because you've got to read them in the full, ongoing context of Sophia's naive, deadpan narration.
A definite 5*****.
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-- rather, a bit naive with some serious "self-esteem issues."I think the funniest scene might be the one where "Bumble," a painter for whom Sophia is modelling, takes her and her young son, Sandro, in the car to a house where they'll be staying for the weekend.
Bumble stopped at a cake shop and bought masses of disgusting cakes all covered in imitation cream and jam and gave [Sandro] them to eat. Fortunately, he didn't like them, but thought it a good idea to smear them all over the seat and window of the car. Still it would have made even more mess if he had been sick.
This following an earlier scene in a bus when Sandro had gotten sick all over some woman's umbrella, which, as Sophia explains equally deadpan, had been opened.
If these incidents don't sound as funny in the retelling, it's because you've got to read them in the full, ongoing context of Sophia's naive, deadpan narration.
A definite 5*****.
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LibraryThing member DameMuriel
This book will make you think twice about having children. And getting married. Well, to the wrong person, anyway.
It can be very light and entertaining in places but it has some very sad and disturbing moments as well. There's a lot of poverty in this book and Barbara Comyns probably deals with
It can be very light and entertaining in places but it has some very sad and disturbing moments as well. There's a lot of poverty in this book and Barbara Comyns probably deals with
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poverty better than any writer I've ever read. Show Less
LibraryThing member janeajones
In 1930s London, two recent art school graduates marry in haste and repent at leisure. Sophia, a commercial artist, supports her painter husband, Charles, until she becomes pregnant and loses her job. Financial difficulties and infidelities ensue. The moral of this tale is that if you want to live
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a bohemian life, use birth control. Show Less
LibraryThing member BeyondEdenRock
There is something about Barbara Comyns’ writing that I find completely irresistable. I also find it difficult to explain, but here are three words to start with: clarity, simplicity, eccentricity.
Our Spoons Came From Woolworths is Sophia’s story. It is set in the thirties, but told, some
It was a simple, and very well executed, framing device. And I was very glad that it was there, that I knew Sophia would be alright in the end.
You see, I liked her from the very start. She was engaging. naive, and yet terribly perceptive. And so wonderfully matter-of-fact.
At the age of twenty-one, Sophia eloped with Charles, a struggling artist to live the Bohemian life in London. They were young, they were in live, and so. of course, they gave no thought to practicalities.
Charles painted, oblivious to what was going on around him, while Sophia tried to keep house and earn enough money for essentials. Things like food and rent.
I had my doubts about Charles from the start, but I hoped I was wrong. His family encouraged him to be selfish, and accused Sophia of dragging him towards domesticity and responsibility when he was far too young. But maybe, when the chips were down, his love for Sophia would make him do the right thing.
Sadly, when Sophia fell pregnant I found that my fears had been founded. He hadn’t wanted a baby and so it was nothing to do with him.
A son was born and the family had a few up and rather more downs. Poverty was never too far away.
Eventually, inevitably, the marriage crumbled.
Sophia had to find another life, for herself and for her son. And find it she did.
She found a happy ending too.
A simple story, but it was oh so engaging, listening to Sophia as she speaks of characters, incidents and spoke of people, places, events, the details of her life.
It wasn’t quite perfect: the pace flagged at times, and the happy ending felt a little contrived.
Not many authors could pull off a book like this, but Barbara Comyns could.
It isn’t her best book (that would be The Vet’s Daughter) but it is well worth reading and, I think, the best introduction you could have to her work.
Our Spoons Came From Woolworths is Sophia’s story. It is set in the thirties, but told, some
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years later, to a good friend who didn’t know Sophia then.It was a simple, and very well executed, framing device. And I was very glad that it was there, that I knew Sophia would be alright in the end.
You see, I liked her from the very start. She was engaging. naive, and yet terribly perceptive. And so wonderfully matter-of-fact.
At the age of twenty-one, Sophia eloped with Charles, a struggling artist to live the Bohemian life in London. They were young, they were in live, and so. of course, they gave no thought to practicalities.
Charles painted, oblivious to what was going on around him, while Sophia tried to keep house and earn enough money for essentials. Things like food and rent.
I had my doubts about Charles from the start, but I hoped I was wrong. His family encouraged him to be selfish, and accused Sophia of dragging him towards domesticity and responsibility when he was far too young. But maybe, when the chips were down, his love for Sophia would make him do the right thing.
Sadly, when Sophia fell pregnant I found that my fears had been founded. He hadn’t wanted a baby and so it was nothing to do with him.
A son was born and the family had a few up and rather more downs. Poverty was never too far away.
Eventually, inevitably, the marriage crumbled.
Sophia had to find another life, for herself and for her son. And find it she did.
She found a happy ending too.
A simple story, but it was oh so engaging, listening to Sophia as she speaks of characters, incidents and spoke of people, places, events, the details of her life.
It wasn’t quite perfect: the pace flagged at times, and the happy ending felt a little contrived.
Not many authors could pull off a book like this, but Barbara Comyns could.
It isn’t her best book (that would be The Vet’s Daughter) but it is well worth reading and, I think, the best introduction you could have to her work.
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LibraryThing member larryking1
This writer, a Brit, is a new one for me, as is the case with many of us as our new feminist awareness is putting many literary women back in the forefront of a domain that previously ignored them. Our primary character herein, one Sophia, is a naive but apparently attractive young woman (I say
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this as she is constantly being 'rescued' by reprobates) who finds herself enmeshed in a horrific mariage, terrible in-laws and a laggard husband (aren't they all -- and let's not forget the 'manolescent' boyfriends of today, a plague upon the land!), a pregnancy and delivery from hell (thirties style!), and the class-ridden society of class conscious pre-war Britain. I intend to read more works from B Comyns, a true luminary! Show Less
LibraryThing member PollyMoore3
It's quite an achievement to make the reader laugh and cry at the same time, and this wry, gentle book does it wonderfully. Speaking of Woolworths, I still do miss them. I kitted myself out with their basics about 12 years ago, and most of them are still going strong, even the kettle. They were the
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first casualty in what has now become a general slaughter of much-loved old British high street names. Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
Art student Sophia marries artist Charles in 1930's London, and gives up her ambitions to support him and his art. They live hand to mouth in Bohemian London, with Charles contributing nothing and taking no responsibility for Sophia and later their child. The novel, which is partly
There are issues of sexism, reproductive rights, economic opportunity, and poverty, all narrated in a charming (I know, oxymoronish) manner by Sophia. Comyns begins this as a fairy tale, but it turns real fast. If you've ever read Comyns you know that she relates the prosaic details of everyday life in seemingly straight-forward manner, but there's always something quirky and unsettling lurking beneath the surface. She is one of my favorite writers, and deserves to be better known and more widely read.
3 1/2 stars
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autobiographical, is narrated by Sophia as her life goes downhill to rock bottom before it turns around. There are issues of sexism, reproductive rights, economic opportunity, and poverty, all narrated in a charming (I know, oxymoronish) manner by Sophia. Comyns begins this as a fairy tale, but it turns real fast. If you've ever read Comyns you know that she relates the prosaic details of everyday life in seemingly straight-forward manner, but there's always something quirky and unsettling lurking beneath the surface. She is one of my favorite writers, and deserves to be better known and more widely read.
3 1/2 stars
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LibraryThing member Staramber
There is something lovely about being guided through this novel. It's written in the first person, told by a woman called Sophia. She relates her unhappy early life in a simple, childlike (that isn't to say it's artless) way. She recounts her cooking and the traumatic birth of her first child with
The story opens with Sophia's marriage at 21 to a poor bohemian painter with a family who hates her. There is the only account of birth I have ever read in a novel which is one of the most distressing things I've ever read. To here how poor women gave birth in 1930's London makes me glad that I was born a good 40 or so years later. The second, more comfortable, birth reads like a day in the park after that.
The birth scene is a great example of what happens through the book. A simple childlike prose describes the big and little facts of life. The horror in the language doesn't even attempt to match the horror of the birth just as the joy of the language doesn't attempt to match the joy of falling in love. By not being prescribed an emotion we can feel it all the better.
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the same simple, truthfully voice. The story opens with Sophia's marriage at 21 to a poor bohemian painter with a family who hates her. There is the only account of birth I have ever read in a novel which is one of the most distressing things I've ever read. To here how poor women gave birth in 1930's London makes me glad that I was born a good 40 or so years later. The second, more comfortable, birth reads like a day in the park after that.
The birth scene is a great example of what happens through the book. A simple childlike prose describes the big and little facts of life. The horror in the language doesn't even attempt to match the horror of the birth just as the joy of the language doesn't attempt to match the joy of falling in love. By not being prescribed an emotion we can feel it all the better.
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LibraryThing member sturlington
As a young and terribly naive girl, Sophia Fairclough enters into a disastrous first marriage and tries to raise her young family despite crushing poverty and an irresponsible, disinterested artist for a husband. Sophie's narrative voice is so light and trips along so breathlessly that the reader
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almost overlooks the very real hardships she endures. Her naivete can be funny--she believes birth control is just thinking very hard that you don't want to become pregnant--but she shows great resourcefulness when pretty much everyone in her life lets her down, and her insights into the plight of women are quite sharp. This is a quick and easy but affecting read, only marred by a very rushed and rather fairy-tale-like ending, and I think it gives a good sense of what the Great Depression was like to live through. Show Less
LibraryThing member SadieBabie
Semi-autobiographical & nicely written, I sped through it. At first I was under the impression that the author had captured the attitudes & perceptions of someone living in the 30's, with comments such as "they were foreigners, but I'm quite sure they were of the good kind", until I realised when
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the book was written & how old the author was. I was a little disappointed in certain aspects, such as how the backstreet abortion was really not gone into in any detail & how the end of the story was a little too happy-ever-after for me, but it was a funny & interesting read nonetheless. Show Less
LibraryThing member japaul22
In this mostly depressing novel, a young woman recounts her early adulthood. She married way too young and had a baby right away, lived in poverty, gets ill, husband is unsupportive and leaves her, etc. It was sort of like a first person Hardy novel set in the mid-1900s.
I liked it, but not as much
I liked it, but not as much
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as the other Comyns novel I've read (The Vet's Daughter). I mainly liked the voice of the narrator in this one. She is very straightforward and matter of fact about all the terrible things happening to her. I actually found it sort of funny at times. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1950
ISBN
1590178963 / 9781590178966