Customer Reviews

Miss Hargreaves,

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

 

 

Reason for Reading: I love British literature written during the first half of the 20th century and all the books reprinted in The Bloomsbury Group sound delightful.

Summary: Norman Huntley and his friend Henry are visiting an old church and while speaking to the keeper, on a lark, they invent an eighty-plus old woman, Miss Hargreaves, giving her quite an eccentric character, a cockatoo, and a bath she takes with her everywhere. Still having a good laugh they write a letter to this fictional character at the hotel where they've got her staying on her travels. The lark takes a downward spiral when they receive a reply back and shortly afterwards Miss Hargreaves arrives in the village complete with cockatoo and bath. She latches onto Norman like a dear, long lost friend and Norman's once sedate life as choir member, organist and bookstore helper turns upside down with the havoc created by the imaginary but very real Miss Hargreaves.

Comments: This book is simply put, a pure delight! Though written in 1940, the story is set sometime prior WWII and with an offhand remark about WWI we can surmise the story takes place in the 1920s or early 30s. The wonderful British village life filled with a variety of characters is a joyful story. Miss Hargreaves is a most eccentric character and her appearance turns the conventions of the town topsy-turvy. She descends upon Norman and completely takes over his life with her devotion. Creating episode after episode within the village and church community Baker's novel starts off as a hilarious farce. But when Norman can't take it anymore, close to losing his girlfriend, he tells Miss Hargreaves he's done with her and she can do as she like. This causes Miss H. to disappear for some weeks and Norman realizes that he's become a bit fond of the old girl. When Hargreaves returns she's not the woman she was before, she snubs Norman, puts on airs and her former escapades are completely forgotten as she becomes the new centre of the village's society.

Norman and Miss Hargreaves's relationship is a wonderful story. I often felt it compared to that of a parent and a child, with Norman taking the parental role since he 'created' Miss Hargreaves. Miss H. starts off as the doting child thinking Norman is the centre of her universe then after an argument she turns into the defiant teenager who ignores Norman and does what she wants. At this point Norman realizes the feelings he has for Miss H. are genuine and he loves her as a parent; he tries to make her see reason and is forever turned away, banging his head against a wall, and yet he keeps returning for more as his love is coupled with responsibility. While the story is filled with whimsy, there are also to be found great moments of pathos and the ending will tug at your heart strings.

Both Norman and Miss Hargreaves are astounding characters. While they appear to be at odds for the majority of the book, there are profound moments that they share together sometimes through speech and other times simply through a shared look. They are very compelling characters not soon to be forgotten. The secondary characters are also full of life from Norman's little sister Jim, who taunts him frequently, to the church's righteous Dean, who is a bit too full of himself, to Norman's scatterbrained bookstore owner father, to Henry, the one who helped Norman create Miss Hargreaves yet can't quite believe it isn't all some trick.

A delightful book, highly recommended to fans of British cozies. The author wrote fifteen novels and I certainly wouldn't mind trying another.

Norman Huntley and his friend Henry are tellers of very tall tales. They can make up stories on the spur of the moment, their stories are not to cause harm or to lie, but merely the fanciful tales of two young men who laugh at their own silliness.

One day, while on holiday, they visit a church in Lusk, mostly to get in out of a downpour. They meet the sexton of the old village church who unlocks the door of the church so that Norman and Henry can come in out of the rain. Norman and Henry begin to spin a tale about having known the former church vicar. From the tale of the former vicar, springs Miss Hargreaves, a friend of the former vicar.

Norman and Henry decide to send a letter to the fictional Miss Hargreaves, and then lo and behold, Miss Hargreaves shows up at the railroad station, in Norman's hometown.

Norman's life becomes entangled with his own creation and literally comes close to driving him out of his mind. Miss Hargreaves is alternately thrilled to be Norman's friend and then becomes estranged from her creator when Norman begins to be sorry for ever having created her.

This is a whimsical and engaging story about two young men and their tales come to life. I enjoyed the story and recommend it as a good read for those enjoying fantasy and the supernatural.

This is a mean little book about a mean little man who creates a little old lady and then treats her shamefully. The narrator of the story, Norman, is a total narcissist and believes that everything that happens is only about him. He believes that he created Miss Hargreaves so that the only significance she has is how she affects him, so it does not matter how he treats her. The relationship has been compared to that between a parent and a child, but a child does not exist just as an object for the parent's use. A more apt comparison would be with Frankenstein who created a monster and immediately set out to destroy it.

Norman shows the same attitude towards "real" people in the story such as his girlfriend who he likes when she is pleasant but considers throwing off when she begins showing signs of having a mind of her own.

The humor and the quaint description of English country life do not overcome the fact that we are asked to sympathize with such a mean character who fails to receive his well deserved comeuppance in the end.

I loved this amusing story, just the kind of book for wintry, blue days when it is good to read just for escape. Well written, with lots of twists and turns. Will make anyone think twice about...won't spoil, but you will think twice.

This novel reads like a short story that has been strung out to novel length, but should've stayed short. That's not to say it isn't an entertaining read: the premise is good and the beginning and end are intriguing. However, it does drag in the middle. A good, light, moderately humorous holiday novel.

Miss Hargreaves is a delightful book, unlike any other book I've read. The closest I can come to describing it is a bit of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (with Bertie Wooster as Dr. F) mixed with a pinch of Alice in Wonderland. Pure fantasy, and very amusing! Originally published c.1939-40, but timeless really, like Wodehouse stories.