Customer Reviews

Hens Dancing

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this wonderful little book! It's a light read about a 35 year old mother of 3 children--one a baby--who has just gone through a divorce and is raising her children in a large,ramshackle house in the English countryside.Venetia is suffering from self doubt in a large measure but is actually a wonderful mother who puts her childrens interests first before fussing about a tidy house. I'd recommend this charming and amusing book to anyone but particularly to mothers of young children.

I just loved this book, I've read it at least six times since I bought it a year or so ago, and I currently have it with me, even though I am on the other side of the world from the major portion of my library. Venetia is so real and so normal, so are her children, not at all like so many of the 'made-up' people of popular fiction, and her mother reminds me so much of some of my elderly relatives. There is a hilarious sequel as well, called 'Summertime'. By the way, I don't think it's at all reminiscent of 'Bridget Jones'- Venetia is a rural rather than an urban character, she is a mother (although she's not necessarily any older than Bridget), and she's of a completely different type of background. Rafaella Barker was greatly influenced by the classic 'Diary of a Provincial Lady' (EM Delafield) in writing 'Hens Dancing', and I think she really has evoked the life of the same type of woman today.

I loved this book - almost a modern day Nancy Mitford style. Warm and amusing without bitterness. Great characters. I heartily reccommend it for those looking for a light read with a precise and edgy british writing style.

I read both Hens Dancing and Summertime & enjoyed them immensely. I love this type of fun "women's fiction" book. The book is in diary form and follows Venetia through a year of her life as an eccentric single mother of three. The setting is small town/rural outside of London. She is an artistic type character who can't seem to ever get herself as together and organized as all the other mothers at her childrens' school. The house is never clean, the laundry is never done, her love of gardening never seems to result in a beautiful garden, and random pets & other animals are always creating havoc. It was great fun! I highly recommend this book as well as the sequel, Summertime.

I adored this book and wanted it to go on forever. It was so soothing and so real. I don't think I've ever had a book have such a calming effect on me, especially since the life of the main character was quite chaotic. I suppose it was her calm, unruffled way of dealing with her life, that made me see how trivial most things are. She knew how to focus on the important things in life; her children, family, friends, and all the beauty nature has provided.(both of them!)

I loved this book because it reasurres you that the things you think in moments of self-loathing and doubt, go on in other peoples heads too. The books title character is going through a separation, trying to raise 3 children, and take care of a country house all while dealing with visits from her former husband and his "twenty-something" girlfriend. The kind of book that you want to keep with you for when doubt starts creeping in. It also appeals to anyone who lives in the country or wishes that they did, with frequent descriptions of the animals that she acquires. A brutally honest, and fun book.

I thoroughly enjoyed Rafaella Barker's Hens Dancing. As a mom, I can relate to the joys and trials of raising children. She also deals with the topic of single parenthood and the struggle to balance life in an imbalanced world, and she manages to do so with a delightful sense of humor. This is Ms. Barker's first novel to be published in the States, and I sincerely hope it won't the her last.

Here's the perfect book to tuck in your bag to pull out and read while waiting for another child to finish a lesson. Although hysterically funny is a dry, British sort of way, it is subtly inspirational and infuses one with a can-do attitude. Even on the most hectic days, I am grateful I have never had to use the dog's leash for a belt!

answer - 'chick to chick' - have to read just about the whole book before you find out that the title is from a child's riddle. Very cute book. Really really enjoyed it. She is a bit caustic. It feels much more like a nonfiction than fiction story; like being on the phone with a favorite funny friend who always has you laughing over her day-to-day life. Her struggles with her ex-husband and his wife; the cute and crazy things she or her children do - I really didn't want to put it down. And I'm looking forward to reading the sequel. I just about never like diary style books. But this is the exception to the rule.

Those with a sense for the absurd will adore this book. Venetia the heroine of this fractured tale begins the story married to the loathsome, self absorbed, Charles. Soon Charles leaves her to shack up with "the poison dwarf" Helena. Venetia is left with a rather tumble down house, two scruffy little boys and "the beauty", her new born daughter. How she survives this first year is hilariously expounded upon in diary entries.