Class [Hardcover]

Jilly Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1979

Describing herself as “upper middle class”, Jilly claims that snobbery is very much alive and thriving! Meet her hilarious characters! People like Harry Stow-Crat, Mr and Mrs Nouveau-Richards, Samantha and Gideon Upward, and Jen Teale and her husband Brian. Roar with laughter at her horribly unfair observations on their everyday pretentions — their sexual courtships, choice of furnishings, clothes, education, food, careers and ambitions…

For they will all remind you of people that you know!

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Highly entertaining, acerbic and wickedly observant…certain to become as much part of the verbal shorthand as was Nancy Mitford’s U and Non-U, a generation ago”
—The Economist

“Enormously readable and very funny”
—Cosmopolitan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

An Expose of the English Class System

With drawings by Timothy Jaques

"Witheringly funny, illuminated by astonishing brilliance" - Observer

"Enormously readable and very funny" - Cosmopolitan

Synopsis: Jilly Cooper challenges the assumption that England nowadays is a classless society, and sets out to show how snobbery is alive and well and at home in the English mind. She chronicles the social attitudes and lifestyles of Harry Stow-Crat and his peers, Mr and Mrs Nouveau- Richards, and Jen Teale and her husband Bryan, and makes characteristically wry observations on the courtship behaviour, choice of furnishings, appetites and ambitions of the "merry-tocracy", the "telly-stocracy", and many other inhabitants of castle, Victorian terrace and council flat. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Methuen Publishing Ltd (October 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0413373606
• ISBN-13: 978-0413373601
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,686,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny and Frighteningly Accurate, October 15, 2001

By 

Tracey A. Nettell (Houston, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Class (Mass Market Paperback)

This very amusing and thorough look at the British class system (up to the late 70s when it was written) is so accurate it can make you laugh one minute and cringe the next. To a large extent, much of it still applies today but in some areas things have lightened up a little I think (hope!). Jilly Cooper has a wicked sense of humour and a very easy style which made this book a very enjoyable read. Bravo! Pip, pip.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely spot on!, July 24, 2001

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Class (Mass Market Paperback)

I found this to be a screamingly funny view of the levels of society in England in the 60's and 70's.It's a bit dated now but I'll swear that all of us can accurately place people we know in one of these categories--the top layer-more concerned with their animals and blithely unaware of any other layer---the upper middles --not quite so unaware and all the others, some of whom are desperately trying to keep up appearances . The lowest social layer of all are, strangely enough, most like the topmost layer in that they are totally confident in their milieu and don't give a damn about anyone else!! I kept recognising people that I knew and slotted them into what I thought was their layer but quite probably, a lot of them would consider themselves to be at least one layer above that which they really belong.It's a real hoot!!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun, July 16, 2002

By 

Diego Banducci (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Class (Mass Market Paperback)

Jilly Cooper is a popular English journalist/novelist who turned her attention to the subtleties of the English caste system back in the seventies. Coming from a privileged background and being blessed with an acerbic wit, in addition to being a self-described coprophile, she was ideally situated to take on the task; the lady clearly knows her subject.

Although the accompanying illustrations are somewhat dated (bell bottoms, anyone?), the observations are timeless, and for the most part are as applicable to the American class system as the English. The one exception is the aristocracy, which one is born into in England, inheriting both property and title as a matter of right. As a result, English aristocrats have that wonderful "Up yours!" attitude that the American upper class can only aspire to. Readers interested in the antics of the Young Royals (they of the single-digit IQs and hands with six fingers) will find this book especially interesting

This book invites comparison to "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System" by Paul Fussell, which it closely resembles, both in sharpness of observation and uproarious humor. The Fussell book assumes more of a sociological perspective, however, while Ms. Cooper's style is that of the gossip columnist/confidante.