Customer Reviews

Nightingale Wood

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

 

 

I had to request this book through an out of state library because it is so rare, particularly here in the U.S. I hope it is put back into print because it is quite good. Maybe not as good as Cold Comfort Farm but anyone who likes Stella's masterpiece would probably enjoy this one. It basically follows her usual fairy tale format, with just a bit of Jane Austen thrown in and focuses on life in a small village and its upperclass residents (and some of its lower class ones). I won't go into the plot details as there is a fairly lengthy description on Ms. Gibbons' nephew's website. It would be difficult to convey the best part of the book, which is the biting humor, so you'll have to check it out for yourself, which I urge anyone who liked Cold Comfort Farm to do.

Lovers of Stella Gibson's Cold Comfort Farm (her first novel), should know this is a wiser, deeper and funnier book. Using fairy tales and Shakespeare comedies as plot devices (The Tempest, A Mid-Summer's Night's Dream, Cinderella, Snow White and Red Rose....)and set in an Essex Village in 1938, it examines (punctures) the British class system and middle-class snobbery, anti-semitism and the totalitarian family system. The characters are funny, human and the writing is wonderful...and it ends as all comedies should in a marriage (or two) and paired sets of lovers...

Viola is newly widowed when she's invited by her husband's family to come live with them in Sible Pelden. There's Mr. Wither, who's a fantastic bore; Mrs. Wither, who doesn't quite care for her new daughter-in-law (due to the fact that she's the daughter of a shop owner); and Tina and Madge, their middle-aged daughters who have never quite grown up and are waiting for something to happen to them. The story follows these characters and others over the course of a year, the highlight being a charity ball at which a local eligible bachelor named Victor Spring will be present.

One of the things that Stella Gibbons is famous for was her sense of humor, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Nightingale Wood. Stella Gibbons's humor is a little more maniacally funny, but the characters and plot of this one never fail to be entertaining.

There's a very surreal, Midsummer Night's Dream-esque feeling to this book--all kinds of people slipping away to the woods to conduct love affairs, licit and otherwise. So, often, this book reads like a fairy tale--a fairy tale with a twist, especially since the two Prince Charmings in this book doesn't always have the purest intentions...

The characterizations in this novel are especially strong. Viola isn't quite what you'd expect from a woman who married someone twenty years older than she; but she's all the more interesting for that because there's so much more to her personality than meets the eye. Mr. Wither is, as described above, a frightful bore; Madge is a middle-aged woman who's never totally grown up (as seen in her childlike delight over her new dog Polo); and Tina is a woman just dying to be loved. Well, she gets her wish, but not in the way she expected... the only character I didn't tally love (for good and for worse) was Victor Spring, who was a bit stereotypical; and every time Saxon, the chauffer, appeared, I kept thinking of Thomas from Upstairs, Downstairs. Also, the plot moved a bit too quickly in some places. However, this is a well-written, funny novel; I actually found myself guffawing out loud in several places. This book is definitely worth a read if you enjoy this type of novel. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I haven't read Stella Gibbons's other, better-known book, Cold Comfort Farm; a problem that I should remedy as soon as possible.

I was glad to get my hands on a copy of this book. Unlike Cold Comfort Farm, however (which I read over and over again), I probably won't re-read this one. I didn't warm up to any of the characters. Still, Gibbons' wit and humor shines through in places, and there are garden parties, a memorable dress, moonlit drives, and holidays at seaside resorts - so if you like the 1930s, the language, settings and atmosphere of the novel will be of interest, anyway!

How anyone could give this book any less than five glowing stars eludes me!
If a person is intuitive at all about human nature,and/or the British Class system, they would love this book.
I only have time to read about an hour each day, and as I read, I could hardly make myself put the book down. Even though this was written in the first quarter of the 20th century, and, by today's standards, may seem to be a bit plodding and overly detailed, all of the writing is necessary to set the mood, and, interestingly, tobuild up a certain kind of suspense.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys amusing insight into human nature.
This is far superior to "Cold Comfort Farm"; much more discerning and interesting!

I've never read any of Stella Gibbons's books, but decided to pick this up and found it a delightful surprise. It's romantic but not hopelessly so if you know what I mean. The characters could easily have been little more than stereotypes, but Gibbons fleshes them out nicely with quirks and foibles. Gibbons wrote with deft humor and real wisdom and insight into people and the British class system of that era.

Such a shame that almost all of her other books are out of print. Someone needs to correct that. I would definitely like to read more Stella Gibbons.

Although she uses the framework of love stories, Gibbons' viewpoint is both realistic and ironic, but I found the irony less heavy-handed than that of "Cold Comfort Farm". One similarity is the way in which she simultaneously sympathizes with and laughs at her characters, who find themselves out of sync with their social or cultural peers. Ironically, given her ridicule of both highbrow and middlebrow, Gibbons is now seen as middlebrow, when she is remembered at all.

I read this book because I have long loved "Cold Comfort" and was curious to see what else Ms Gibbons wrote. It is a romance, a story centrally concerned about the pairing off of men and women, which is a genre I've never really had much thirst for. I'm afraid that all the comments here comparing it to fairy tales and "The Tempest" left me half expecting some fantasy elements in the story, but though the comparisons are not inapt, it is not in that sense that they are meant. There is no fairy godmother in this Cinderella story. This is a story of fairly ordinary things happening to fairly ordinary people. It's also not a wild parody like "Cold Comfort." No legs fall off cows and the sukebind does not bloom. But there is plenty of quiet humor. Ms. Gibbons views every character, rich or poor, clever or (mostly) dimwitted, Capitalist or Communist, with a sharp critical eye, but somehow also finds something lovable about every single one. It's not a must-read classic like "Cold Comfort", but I liked it pretty well, and enjoyed seeing what kind of writer Stella Gibbons matured into.

This is a take on the Cinderella story, set in England in the 1930's. Viola has been left without any significant income after her husband's death. While she would like to remain in London, she is forced to go live with his family in the country. There the Withers are a dour lot, with Mr. Withers bossing everyone around, Mrs. Withers looking down at her as she was a former shop girl, Tina, wasting herself away, and Madge who just wants a dog and to play golf and tennis at the club. Viola dreams of a better life and falls for the handsome, rich bachelor, Victor Spring. While at the Spring's charity ball, she catches his eye, but Victor already has a fiancee and she is not amused. The book leads you to initially believe that Viola is our Cinderella, but there are more romantic situations than initially appear. In the meantime, Tina has fallen for the chauffeur, and Victor's cousin dreams of escaping to a life in a garret, surrounded by authors and her favorite books. While some of their wishes come true, they don't necessarily lead to the happy endings that you might expect.

This book was so very satisfying, I smiled all the while I was reading it. Such a gentle book and so much fun. The characters are very well drawn. It's funny. It's a fairy tale but who writes those any more? I would recommend it highly.