Customer Reviews

Old Wives' Tale, The

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm certainly not the only person in the world who thinks of this book as a masterpiece. The fact that H.G. Wells, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf all praise this book as being so is one of the reasons I picked it up. In spite of that, I really read it without set expectations.

Briefly, to say what has already been said before, The Old Wives Tale is exactly that - a tale of three women who marry in very different circumstances. Mrs. Baines, the mother, is a life who is only briefly touched upon. However, the seperate lives of the two sisters, Sophia and Constance, are the crux of the book. Each life takes its' turn. We are first told about Constance, then about Sophia, and finally, about their reunion. Constance, whose name is not a coincidence, lives a simple provincial life, and Sophia, whose name also matches her persona, chooses romance and adventure. There is only one villain, and yet, he is perhaps the most powerful and chilling of all villains, Time. His grasping, clutching, suffocating presence is ever felt throughout the book, and looms even larger once that final page is turned. In the end, Sophia and Constance each pay the price for their choices, and the true cost of those choices is left for the reader to decide. As unique as we are, we will each believe something different about Sophia and Constance in the end, and that is precisely the point.

To sum up the experience of The Old Wives Tale, a tale of three women living their lives, and their lives changing them (or perhaps not changing them, is that it is the most honest approach to human psychology I have ever read. The lives we read about, Mrs. Baines, Sophia, Constance, and even those who surround them, could be anyone's. In fact, most of us can find someone in this book we could point to and say "that's me". No character, no matter how brief their exit or entrance into this story, is insignificant. Each person gives us a fresh perspective on the human response to events and to, of course, other humans. The three main characters are presented with sheer, unsympathetic, yet respectful honesty. We are not introduced to inhuman, perfect, idealistic souls in this book. Nor are we looking through the eyes of the wicked. Instead, we are searching the souls of ordinary people and in the end, are left with a question about our own existence.

In fact, it should be a large clue to readers when they see that the title of the fourth section is, What Life Is. It is here that something occurred which I totally unexpected, and it left me quite shaken - in fact, desperate. I found that I had been brought from the comfortable vantage point of observing these fictional lives, which are at times inexplicably amusing and heroic, to a sudden uncomfortable sensation that the characters were real and had turned toward me - the reader - begging the question "What of your life? What have you done with it? What have you accomplished?"

That subtle change of vantage point was shocking, and ingenious. Without criticizing his own creation, the author was able to communicate the importance of living our lives to the fullest without telling us how. This fact alone shows great wisdom. Sophia and Constance experience remarkable things, no more remarkable than most people, but remarkable just the same. Each reacts differently because they are different, and each has a different idea about how to find happiness and how to deal with life's disappointments. Both are frequently of the opinion that they could improve someone else's life, yet have not found real satisfaction in their own. Each makes mistakes, and each perform the heroic. The author will on the same page be blunt about their faults and tender with their plight. He tells their story without judgement, and yet in the end, you feel you have read a very wise judgement on the nature of the human race. Here, reader, you will find no prescription for life, but a question that begs a diagnosis. The author makes it starkly clear that the remedy, or whether a remedy is even required, is up to you.

The Old Wives Tale is not a dark story. It is not a comedy. It is not high adventure or mystery. In fact, it is many of these things put together to create something REAL. And it has shaken me to the core.

I first read this wonderful book many years ago. Recently, I happened to pick it up again (before giving it to my daughter to read), and thought, well, I'll just read a few pages, to see if it's as good as I remember it to be. I stayed up all night rereading it. "The Old Wives' Tale" is a heartbreaker, but superb. As somone else has pointed out, there's a real villain in the book, but the villain isn't human: it's Time. It's difficult for me to imagine anyone reading the last few lines without being touched. I agree with Somerset Maugham: I feel presumptuous even praising it. For those who were "disappointed" with it, may I say, with another commentator, that these people will probably be disappointed with The Day of Judgment.

This is the second Bennett book I read set in the Five Towns area (the first was Anna of the Five Towns). This book is longer and more complex but carries on the direct form of writing that seems to characterize Bennett's work. The direct, simple form of his prose draws the reader in and involves her in the experiences in these two women's lives. The ending, though expected, is still tragic and leaves the reader to reconsider what life is and just how it affected the sisters. I wish I could find more books by him about the five towns. I read voraciously and am always surprised by how moved I have been by Mr. Bennett's work. Readers will not be disappointed if they give him a chance.

The continuing saga of a mother and her two daughters.Mrs Baines is the middle aged boisterous woman who runs rule of the family business as her invalid husband lies in wait of his demise.The Baines` have two young daughters-Constance ( intelligent and stable)and Sofia (beautiful and flighty).the ideal of the story was to examine how one would perceive "a Mrs Baines" if you were to encounter her on the street or in a cafe.would you see her as an old rude lady?Would you be able to invision the possibility that in her younger days she was as Constance and Sofia are? And ther lies the basis of the story-how does one go from being a beautiful,fun loving girl to a boisterous old lady.Well as the story delves further into their lives we witness everything that happens and therefore shapes their lives.In real life events, whether large or small will determine our next path in life and here we get to see where they end up.
A terrific read for something written in 1908.

I am largely a reader of non-fiction and I determined I should undertake more fiction so I started with a recommendations list. When I counted the pages in this novel, I thought "Oh, no! I will never complete this book!" I honestly couldn't put it away until I had completed it.

The book focuses on two sisters, Sophia and Constance. These sisters are opposite each other in most ways except the family traditions. Each takes a different path in life. Sophia pursues happiness and Constance seeks the appropriate traditional life - no waves for this girl.

Sophia becomes independent but remains unhappy, it seems. Constance does what is right, but to me seems unhappy as well. Several readers ask if Bennett liked his characters. Seems as if Bennett chose to keep their character's as un-romantic as possible. There are no fairy tale endings in this book.

Despite the gloom and despair I found The Old Wives Tale a compelling read. I wanted happiness to fill their lives but it never seemed to come. The read was inviting and not at all tedious.

The Old Wives' Tale is not in any way a challenging read, but it is enjoyable and seems to be an accurate reflection of the gradual effects of time on a way of life as embodied in the Baines sisters. Bennett seems especially acute in his observation of the way habit eventually defines personality for both sisters and the grand movement of history only appears sweeping in retrospect.

I am surprised by some of the earlier reviews of this novel. They seem to criticism of Bennett's source of inspiration rather than of the novel itself. Which of us has not seen an individual at some stage of development and been struck by the revelation that he or she was once an infant or teenager or young adult? This does not imply condescension.

Bennett's portraits of Constance and Sophia are largely sympathetic. He does not see either as faultless and in some ways both are pathetic, but his object is to show us the whole range of each of his heroines' lives so that when we find them late in life to be stubborn and incapable of change, we can see the source of their defects without condemnation. Readers need only ask themselves at the end of novel whether he likes the sisters or not to gauge whether Bennett's portraits are sympathetic.

It is hard for me to see how anyone could finish this novel wondering whether Bennett likes these women.

I was so happy to see so many positive reviews of this wonderful novel. When the Modern Library published it's list of the 100 Best Books of the Century, I decided I should attempt to read them all. In the end, I am about a quarter of a way through the list and I am continually glad that I took on the challenge since it has led to me wonderful, but more obscure, novels from the last century, this being one of the best examples.
When I picked up the Old Wives Tale I had a similar thought to a previous reviewer: there was no way I was going to finish this book. But after reading Bennett's introduction and starting the first few pages, I found myself intrigued by this family. They are so normal that you find yourself relating to them, whether good or bad. They lived through such changing times, but for the sisters, whether they were in Bursley or Paris, life went on as usual. That is probably the most remarkable thing about this book. No matter what people live through, they generally are unaffected by the larger world around them. It's the private lives, the inner workings of a household or the change in ownership of their homes, which really troubles or changes them. In the end though, Bennett's old wives are what compels you to finish the story since you want to see how their lives end and how their relationship to each other changes through the years. Bennett stays true to human nature throughout the work, there are no death bed confessions or wild changes of character. In the end there is just one woman left standing, trying to keep time from pushing on and changing her world.

Bennett is a master storyteller and he combines just enough detail with dialogue to get the point across and get the reader through the book. His prose is very precise and I found myself surprised from time to time that this book was published in 1908. There is much in this book that can relate even to our lives today.

No sensitive, thinking person can read "The Old Wives' Tale" without
being immensely touched and moved by it. Bennet's story of two
sisters who pursue vastly different lives is tough-minded, wise
without being cold, emotional without being sentimental (some-
thing that even Dickens was scarcely capable of). The story grips
one like a thriller, but the book is far more than that. The last section
"What Life Is" reminds us that truth is just as often felt in the the
heart as perceived in the mind. And the only response one is left
with is, "yes, now I see." A VERY great book.

discriminating readers will not be disappointed with this novel. it's a wonderful old-fashioned tale; bennett has a terrific sense of humor about his characters and life. marvelous period detail. i also highly recommend clayhanger.

Although more than 600 pages long, this books reads very well and is not easy to put down. Yet it is not a thriller but basically a story of two sisters who follow very different paths.

In the style of authors like Flaubert, this is a male author writing mainly about the lives of two sisters, within the context of the potteries in England and Paris in France around the second half of the nineteenth century. There are times when one would have wanted more about the thinking of the male characters.

In some ways the ending seems an anti-climax. After reading about 600 pages there is an unspoken expectation of something dramatic. But that did not happen. This is simply a story of two sisters, Constance who stays at home, gets married, had a child and follows a lifestyle common of people of her generation. Her sister Sophia, on the other hand, much more restless and wanting more out of life, elopes but then is left on her own in Paris where after a lot of hardship and hard work, becomes a very strong and wealthy woman. Bennett has got a wonderful style of writing. All the descriptions, like the execution in Paris are detailed in such a way that the author becomes completely involved.

In many ways this is a detailed social history of the shopkeepers in England. Relations with customers and with servants are as important as the following of the protocol at marriages and deaths. What is also interesting is the way in which lifestyles were changing, especially when the small shop with everything made by hand is replaced by a big outlet for mass-produced goods.

Well worth a read.