Customer Reviews

Crampton Hodnet: A Novel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Crampton Hodnet," a novel of Oxford, entertains and amuses in a way few books do. Miss Doggett, the upright spinster who entertains hapless Oxford youths at tea parties in her dark North Oxford home; Jessie Morrow, her companion (who reappears later in "Jane and Prudence"); their curate lodger, the vicar and his wife, Miss Doggett's cousin, the academic Francis Cleveland, his vague but charming wife Margaret, Francis's brilliant student, Barbara Bird, and many others enrich the cast of an enchanting novel The plot is more vigorous than in some of Pym's later works, and one laughs from beginning to end. Treat yourself some rainy afternoon.

I completely disagree with the 'one star' reviewer. He or she hit the nail on the head with the observation that it was completely unfair that the 36 year old curate gets a nineteen year old girl while the 36 year old woman is an isolated spinster. That's exactly what is great about this book. The observation that a talented, kindly, humorous, intelligent woman is socially 'worthless' compared to a fairly buffoonish man of a similar (middle) age is one of the things that makes this book brilliantly -- not exactly dark, but certainly unwavering. And Pym's lovely, detailed, understated style makes every page an incomparable treat. Incomparable, because Pym's literary gift doesn't shout at you -- I don't know why she wrote, but you don't get the impression it was with Proustian status in mind, thank goodness. Or maybe with literary status in mind, but the thought must have been accompanied by the sort of self awareness that few people possess -- I don't -- that allows them to thwart their desire to impress and instead lets them simply impress through their service (in this case, to the reader). I can't describe the richness of her style, but it is incredibly evocative without ever distracting from the narrative of her story. She combines Colette's facility with detail with the humility of -- a popular novelist? I love Barbara Pym's books and I am so grateful to her for writing them. I recommend that every woman read them, and every man who likes reading too.

Though always insightful and just stunningly human, Barbara Pym's novels do tend to blur into one another, fraught as they are, with spinsters and vicars who take tea on rainy days and wonder about what is "suitable." But this one stands out.

Oh sure, there's a vicar and a tender young curate and a couple of spinsters and lots of tea and a few unsuitable dresses, comments, situations, and even romances; but in this, Barbara Pym's first novel, the characters are funnier, and the farce is one shade broader.

Think of this as the BEST one. That will help you sort it out.

I sent this book to a younger friend, in her early thirties, for Christmas, thinking that she would enjoy the writing and the humor. Her thank you note read: "I just finished CRAMPTON HODNET last night and LOVED IT!"

If you haven't read any books by Barbara Pym, get CRAMPTON HODNET today!

Haveing never read a Barbara Pym book, I wasn't sure what to expect. What I did find was a book that had me going back and forth between chuckling and feeling horribly sorry for some of the characters. Barbara Bird didn't elicite any feelings of affection...quite the opposite. She was so caught up in academia and unrequitted love, that that is how she thought her affair with Mr. Cleveland was supposed to panout. Miss Doggett made me think of Hyasinth "Bouquet" and had me laughing out loud at times. I couldn't stand Mr. Killegrew and his mother. They had nothing better to do then meddle in everyone elses business. The characters I admired the most were Miss Morrow, Mrs. Cleveland and Mrs. Wardell. Mrs. Clevelands dusty house, her shopping trip to London...all true to life and not caring what anyone else thought...or trying not to. The dons and the students, trying to keep up academic pretense...haveing worked in academia for many, many years, I have to say that this is all too true. The pettiness is there, the nosiness, the one-upmanship...it's all there. Reading this book made me glad to be out of a college envrionment and away from that classist and elitist society, which Pym so very aptly writes about!

A slow, gentle read which I think you'll enjoy.

Barbara Pym is a writer with a light touch and a wonderful sense of humor. I enjoy reading and re-reading her novels for the atmosphere she creates around her cast of earnest British students, church ladies, professors, vicars, aunts, and spinster companions as they mix and mingle, wonder and worry, take tea, attend jumble sales and go about their middle-class lives.

This is a somewhat ordinary tale about an ordinary village in England. Barbara Pym is a gentle writer and treats her characters with respect and so it is a pleasant read for a rainy day or a long flight, but there is nothing exciting or gripping about the story and it is hard to get pulled in to the emotional side of it. A young spinster, past her prime, has a chance at a single vicar and doesn't quite pull it off. A middle-aged college professor whose marriage has become dull tries to have an affair with a student and doesn't quite pull that off either. The whole concept of Crampton Hodnet I thought had a lot of promise and I rather wish she had developed that whole theme a little more. A rather dull end to a dull saga about ordinary people living boring lives in England. As a sort of documentary about everyday life it has some value and its certainly not offensive in any way but I didn't get really why Barbara Pym appears to have quite a following. I will not pick up another of her novels.

I thoroughly enjoyed Pym's Excellent Women and Quartet In Autumn. However, I was just unable to find anything humorous about a middle-aged college professor's foolish seduction attempts with a young, female student of his. It's not funny, it's pathetic and banal. Why is thirty-six year Jessie portrayed as an over-the-hill old maid yet the handsome curate of precisely the same age ends up with a nineteen year old, youngest daughter of Lord Somebody at the end of the story? It's an old-fashioned plot that hasn't stood the test of time. I thought the curate's matrimonial choice demonstrated shallow regard for money, youth and beauty. It became too much, the clash between gossiping, nasty-minded old women versus the horny old men striving to demonstrate their virility. Did my mother-in-law write this? The attitudes expressed in this tedious tale had none of the sincere wit of Jane Austen and none of her sympathetic characterizations. Was I supposed to identify with Jessie? She was the only character with any indication of a thoughtful, sensitive introspection yet she ended in the same dreary spot, still in a position of humiliation, on a bleak day, as part of the furniture.