L-Shaped Room (New Portway Reprints) [Hardcover]

Lynne Reid Banks (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

Harriet Walter gives a sensitive and humorous rendition of this tale of a young woman who takes up residence in a sordid room in London after being turned out by her father. Walter does justice to Lynne Reid Banks's delightful and diverse characters--serving up a cast ranging from sweet-but-tough Jane (the unmarried and pregnant heroine), to a West Indian jazz musician, to the cranky landlady with louse-filled beds. Walter's graceful narration perfectly suits the self-revelatory nature of the story and leads gently toward the tale's sweet, if predictable, conclusion. Listeners will surely know they're in the hands of an excellent storyteller. R.B.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Chivers Press; New edition edition (September 4, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862206200
• ISBN-13: 978-0862206208
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Lynne Reid Banks is a best-selling author for children and adults. Her classic children's novel 'The Indian in the Cupboard' has sold nearly six million copies worldwide. She was born in London in 1929 and worked as an actress, writer and TV news reporter. Lynne has written thirty books: her first, 'The L-Shaped Room', was published in 1960. She now lives in Dorset, where she continues to write. Lynne says that writing for children comes much more easily than writing for adults. Tony Ross was born in London in 1938. He has worked as an art director at an advertising agency, a graphic designer, a cartoonist, a teacher, a film maker and as a Senior Lecturer in Art at Manchester Polytechnic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect, January 14, 2001

By 

Vicki Leigh "Melusine Bee" (OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The L Shaped Room (Hardcover)

I stumbled upon a copy of this book in a Goodwill store and purchased it for a whopping $0.50. What an investment! It is obvious that Ms. Banks was testing her writing mettle when she penned this story. Some of her amature enthusiasm does show through--but it is rare. For the most part, this is a brilliantly written book about love, fear, shame and redemption. None of the characters in this book is a sketch--each is full-bodied and bursting with life. Each person has problems, real ones we can all identify with, and each must work out the solutions for him/herself. But they are all the better for it.

Our heroin is not quite the model of viture we are used to: She is pregnant from a brief encounter with a man whose name she doesn't even mention until half-way through the book. Because of the ignorance of the times, she is forced out of her father's home, out of her job, and into a small and strange apartment. The people she meets in this apartment building help shape her, help make her realize that her life is not over due to one mistake. Her life has just begun--and there are plenty of mistakes yet to make.

The book is filled with memorable scenes and passages. For me, the passage where she finally reveals the name of the baby's father sticks in my mind. Not because it is such a big revelation. Quite the opposite. It is something tiny, trivial. He has changed her life forever, and yet he is nothing. Just that once sentence produced a cold lump in my stomach.

Please, if you can find a copy of this book, buy it. Unfortunately, the sequel does not live up to its predecessor. The sequel does have its moments, and I enjoyed reading it, but for my money, "The L-Shaped Room" is in a class of its own.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving story of compassion, shame, love and hate., March 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The L-Shaped Room (Audio Cassette)

This story has everything behind it - love,hate, shame, compassion, sympathy, loneliness, understanding. It shares the troubles of a rejected young hopeful being who struggles through a pregnancy without the people she thought had loved her, her father, her friends, her family. Through the want of no help, she finds in a place of shabbiness called home, the L-Shaped Room, true friends, true love and the love for a child she never thought to be a reality.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, poignant and provocative reading., February 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The L Shaped Room (Hardcover)

Poignant story of a young women who had to make some tough choices. The author takes her readers on a journey of shame, forgiveness and an unbreakable spirit. Truly timeless.