Cold Comfort Farm (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) by Stella Gibbons Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Cold Comfort Farm (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)
Book Review: A Book Rich In Characters
Summary: 5 Stars
Alive Flora Poste's father is wealthy, but upon his death (not uncommon in English novels) Flora finds in reality he was"disconcertingly" poor. She sets out to find relatives to "live on" rather than find an occupation. Flora turns down offers from the expected/obvious relatives, to go live with the Starkadders, (a strange lot) at Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex. Once there we meet the most colorful and strange characters with names such as Caraway and his son Harkaway, and a grandfather named Agony Beetle. There are crop diseases with names such as King's Evil, Queen's Bane and Prince's Heritage.No matter how many times I've read this book, it stills brings laughter and enjoyment. Ms. Gibbons is an author that brought you the sounds and smells of Cold Comfort Farm through the pages of book. I felt almost transported in time and place as I became engrossed in this book. I recommend it highly!
Book Review: A book to pass the time
Summary: 2 Stars
I first saw the movie, then decided to read the book. Well, I was confused by the timeline. This book was first published in 1932, yet one of the characters makes reference to Clark Gable and Gary Cooper being hot "20 years ago." Another reference is made of a man, Flora's date for a dance, who served in a war "in '46." I can't imagine Flora being escorted by a man over 90 years old (as he would have had to be if he served in 1846) yet it is clearly not yet 1946 in this book. Perhaps the author had a rather simplistic view of the future, where nothing has changed since 1932? So this has disturbed me ever since I read this book. Granted this is a work of fiction but when Flora is talking to her friend Mrs. Smiling at the beginning and she deduces from her cousin's name "Judith" that the husband will be Amos and the sons Reuben and Seth...well, I had no idea how she pegged that (because they ARE all named those things). I assume it's a Biblical reference, but how many people are going to know that?
With almost all the characters Flora meets in Sussex, she is omniscient about them. She tells us all about how they think and what they will say and wear just by meeting them for the first time, and of course she is always right. I suppose we are meant to feel that Flora is an excellent judge of character but it seems to me that she was TOO right all the time. Like the author is hammering home Flora's sense of character judgment. They are almost all one-dimensional and Flora is easily able to sum up each character and make a simple decision which results in the improvement of each person. Too easy.
Otherwise, if you can mentally transport yourself to a decaying English farm in the '30s, where owners of small planes can simply land them in convenient fields, enjoy yourself.
Book Review: A brilliant book
Summary: 5 Stars
Not long before she died, I wrote to Stella Gibbons to tell her how much I liked her books - all of them. She wrote back that most readers have only read Cold Comfort Farm. "It's rather like having a brilliant eldest child who puts the rest in the shade", she said. Since, with the exception of Cold Comfort Farm, all of her literary offspring are out of print, content yourself with buying the brilliant eldest book. Flora Poste, a true Virgo, descends on the Starkadder clan and creates calm out of chaos. And as with all good fairy tales, even the Starkadders lived as happily-ever-after as anyone with such a lurid emotional life could. (Note: If you enjoy this book and want to try some of Stella Gibbons' other titles, there are some gems, but they are all quite different in style from Cold Comfort Farm - it is unique.)Book Review: A brilliant, affectionate book
Summary: 5 Stars
Parody is easy to do but hard to sustain or do well, and almost always done as an end it itself--the author saying, "See how wicked and clever I am, and how silly the thing I'm mocking is!" Gibbons' genius is that she while she pokes fun at specific genres and authors (including herself), she actually writes a complete (and well-done) novel, and she treats the characters with affection and a certain dignity. The result is a book that's not only clever, funny, and well-written, but that is also unexpectedly, in the end, sweet and romantic. For those wondering, the 1995 film adaptation (available on DVD right here on Amazon) is remarkably faithful (with understandable trimming, folding and tucking), and likewise hilarious without ever being mean spirited. Both have my highest recommendation. ..bruce..
Book Review: A delightful send-up of gothic literature
Summary: 5 Stars
A novel written in the 30's but set in the 50's and based on a style that had begin to be popular in the 19th century, this book certainly presents a time warp of surealism. However, it is an incredibly amusing and deft parody of the cheesy gothic romances that we all secretly enjoy.
Thoroughly modern Flora, recently orphaned, decides to spend the rest of her life mooching off of her relations so she ventures out to Cold Comfort Farm to live with distant cousins. She is shocked, absolutely shocked, at the completely backwards way they live and promptly procedes to spiff up the place: finding careers for all the young men, men for all the ladies, and discovering exactly what DID happen in the woodshed.
It is perhaps going to far to say that it is completely timeless, and the reader must remember that the events are supposed to happen in a future which is now passed... but it is still a delightful and entertaining read for today.