Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Back to the Classics Challenge 2019: A Glass of Blessings


Unlike the single, excellent women who have been the mainstay of the other Pym novels, the protagonist of A Glass of Blessings is a young, married woman.   She and her husband, Rodney, have settled into a complacent but comfortable, childless marriage.  They live with her mother-in-law, Sylvia, in Sylvia’s London home in the mid 1950’s.  Between Rodney’s hours at the office, Sylvia’s assistance at home and the servants, Wilmet has little to do. She thinks she would like to do good works and she attends services at a nearby Anglican church regularly. But she hasn’t yet developed the kind of dedication or flair required for the selfless activity of organizing church bazaars or rummage sales. 

Image result for a glass of blessingsWilmet yearns for something more exciting from life. When she meets with her best friend Rowena, they reminisce about their time spent in Italy during the war when they were both WRENs and their now husbands were then dashing officers.  Throughout the book, Wilmet entertains the idea of an affair (or maybe just some heavy flirting). She considers a relationship with Piers, the rather feckless brother of Rowena.  Also, Rowena’s husband Harry would like to be more than just friends with Wilmet. And there is a darkly handsome new assistant priest at St. Luke’s…

A Glass of Blessings was a very low-key sort of romantic comedy; not much happens, yet subtly lots of things happen. Interestingly, it was narrated in the first person. I checked and of the six Pym novels I’ve read so far, only Excellent Women was also in first person.  For what ever reason, I feel that worked better with Mildred in Excellent Women, maybe because Wimet is often fairly clueless and I often wished for some authorial confirmation that she was being obtuse. 

Now that I know to look for them, I found many connections/references to other characters from Excellent Women, Less Then Angels and No Fond Return of Love as well as one to one I haven’t read yet (Jane and Prudence) which provided an added layer of enjoyment to the book. Some one needs to write a companion book listing all the characters and places and their crossovers for the entire Pym oeuvre similar to what Hilary Spurling did for Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time series. 

I read this for the Back to the Classics Challenge 2019 run by Karen at the blog Books and Chocolate for the category “Classic by a Woman”.

13 comments:

  1. I really need to read Barbara Pym. Having seen so many positive reviews and comments about her work, I'm not sure why I've never tried any of her novels. Thanks for a great review, Ruthiella!

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    1. Thanks for the comment jenclair! It took me a long time to get around to reading her books too, despite high praise from other bloggers. The first book I read was A Few Green Leaves and I liked it but didn't love it. It wasn't until I read Excellent Women that I became a true fan. :D

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    2. Correction: The first book I read was Some Tame Gazelle. I've not yet read A Few Green Leaves. OOPS.

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  2. Hi Ruthiella, great commentary. I loved Excellent Women and it sounds like Glass of Blessings may not be up to that level. Still all of Pym's books are worth reading. She is very observant about himan nature and her books or at least Excellent Women contain gentle humor but with a sting to it.

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    1. I think that Excellent Women was a perfect book and it is hard to live up to perfection! A Glass of Blessings was really good, however and I agree, all her books are worth reading!

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  3. What a good choice for this classic category. You know I love Pym, but I haven't read this one yet. You'll like Jane and Prudence. :)

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    1. Thanks for the comment Lark! I have a copy of Jane and Prudence on my shelf. Maybe I should read that title next! :D

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  4. Ruthiella,
    I haven't read my lonesome copy of Jane and Prudence yet either. It sits tidily on the shelf as all of Pym's books seem to do. They're not as sloppy as some books standing near them, for example!
    I'm so glad to see your review of this one, and will note it. I will be purchasing and reading them all, because I just love to reread them.
    Hurrah for you as you conquer your Back to the Classics Challenge books. I am having a dreadful time truly settling in on the Asia, Africa, Australia, Oceania category. It's tying me in knots, and I think for now I should move on to another category, and put that one on the back burner.
    Have a lovely weekend, won't you?

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    1. Thanks for the comment Judith! I do love looking at my small collection of Pym novels. They don't all match but I love buying them as I need to or as I find used copies.

      I haven't tackled the the Asia, Africa, Australia, Oceania category yet but I think it will be challenging for me too...especially since I do want to try to read books I already own.

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  5. This does sound slightly different from her others (though I've only read three). I hadn't realised she laced in connections to her other books - it's been too long since I read any to remember any details to look out for, I suspect.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Simon! The books are chock full of brief character cross overs which adds an extra layer of enjoyment to reading them in my experience.

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  6. I’m thinking about doing a Pym year next year—I enjoyed reading about this one, which I hadn’t heard of and which does sound like a bit of departure from her usual mode, though with connections back.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Jane! I can't wait to hear what Pym you choose (if you do choose) for next year! I am really enjoying my leisurely stroll through her oeuvre.

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