GREENBANKS BY DOROTHY WHIPPLE

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I chose Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple for my “Classic by a Woman Author” for the 2016 Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at the blog Books and Chocolate.  This is the third title that I have read by Whipple after The Priory and Someone at a Distance, both of which I just now realize I read for the last two Back to the Classics Challenges! 

I own all three of these books in the Persephone re-issue editions. Whipple was a very popular author in her day, but fell out of favor (and print) until many of her titles were resurrected by Persephone. I believe she is currently the author with the most titles re-published by Persephone; they currently offer seven of her novels and one short story collection.

Greenbanks is primarily the story of Louisa Ashton, the mother and grandmother of a large, middle class family whom she raised in the family home of Greenbanks somewhere in northern England. The book is set in the first quarter of the 20^th century and there is a very definite theme running through the book regarding the options and restrictions placed on women across the generations, since Louisa grew up very much a Victorian while her granddaughter Rachel comes of age post WWI.  While Louisa’s grown children and their wives and husbands often mystify her, she has a very special relationship with granddaughter Rachel.

There isn’t much of a plot, but it is easy for the Whipple-loving reader to become immersed in the world of Greenbanks without it because she wrote so well and her characters are so exceptionally well-drawn.  Outside of Louisa and Rachel, who are very sympathetic characters, it is worth mentioning Ambrose, Rachel’s father and the insufferable husband of Louisa’ daughter Letty. Most of the time reader just wants to slap him, but occasionally there are small glimpses into his interior and his genuine incomprehension of other people and their motives and behaviors.  I did actually feel a bit sorry for him from time to time.

I find there to be something comforting about the way Whipple writes and the kinds of stories she tells, even though she doesn’t shy away from unpleasant subjects or characters. There is a smooth quality to her writing style, if that makes any sense, that keeps me turning the pages and I very much look forward to trying one of the further 4 Whipple titles from Persephone in future. 

A Separate Peace - Back to the Classics 2016

I first read A Separate Peace as a high school freshman. I can see why this book would be placed on a high school reading list: it is short, the language isn’t too complicated and there are some obvious themes of guilt and redemption to be mined for essays.  This book screams loss of innocence/coming of age.

I didn’t remember too much from back when I first read it, over 30 years ago. On the second read I was reminded of The Lord of the Flies, just with the savagery buried much, much deeper under the surface.  

A Separate Peace is rather dark story of adolescent male friendship.   The narration is given in flashback from the perspective of Gene Forrester, who attended an all-male boarding school located in New England in the mid 1940’s, just on the cusp of the United States entering the war.  Gene is from the south and it is only just barely referenced that his background is less grand, less old-south aristocratic, than he projects to his classmates. To me, this hints at Gene having the tiniest of a chip on his shoulder.

Gene’s roommate and best friend is Phineas (Finny), who is a natural leader, charismatic and popular at the school. Again, it isn’t explicit, but I think it is suggested that Finny is from the right kind of New England Brahman family.  So in short, Gene doesn’t really belong and Phineas does, or at least this is Gene’s perception.

Gene admires Finny, but also wants to set himself apart from him and be recognized for his own merits at school. Gene suspects that Finny is trying to bring him down and sabotage him academically.  Personally, I think the book is ambiguous on whether or not there is any truth in Gene’s paranoia and since the reader doesn’t get any direct insight into Phineas’ headspace, it is hard to say if he is genuine or not.  In any case, Gene’s perceived competition with Finney over their last summer term leads to tragic results.

I re-read this title for the category “Re-Read a Classic from School” in the 2016 Back to the Classic Challenge hosted by Karen on the blog Books and Chocolate.

The Grapes of Wrath-Back to the Classics 2016

My pick for the 20th Century Classic (any book published between 1900 and 1966) for the 2016 Back to the Classics Challenge hosted on Books and Chocolate was The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. My completion of this title is a double whammy, since I am slowly working my way through reading all of the Modern Library's Top 100 and this book is on that list as well. This puts me at now having read 68 out of the 100.   : )

The following quote from Steinbeck about the creation of the Grapes of Wrath was included the introduction by Robert Dermott in the Penguin edition that I read: “I have done my damndest to rip a reader’s nerves to rags …” He certainly met his objective as far as I am concerned; this book wore me out and it made me mad. I admire the novel for its tenacity, but reading it was like figuratively getting punched repeatedly. There were very few light moments, such as when the two younger Joad children use a flush toilet for the first time.

It is amazing to me that the book was researched, written and published during the Great Depression; Steinbeck was writing about something that was happening in real time which gives the novel a real sense of urgency and anger I think. I can understand also why its publication was is/was controversial. Not only is it irreligious and frank about sex, it also is a call to arms politically. However, it is important to note, that regardless of how liberal this book’s politics are, there is only one brief mention of the non-white migrant farm workers of this era. This is not their story even though they must have suffered just as much. And even more discouraging is to think that the type of human exploitation explored in the novel is not something of the past, but continues to happen even now, over three quarters of a century later.

The book has an interesting structure as the longer chapters that chronologically recount the Joad family’s journey from the Oklahoma dust bowl to the alleged paradise of California is interspersed with shorter chapters that read almost like sermons or Tom Waits lyrics.  I found it a challenging read, mostly due to the content.  I had to make myself read parts of it, so I was glad of those shorter chapters because the provided a break from the downward spiral of the family's prospects as they move west.  All in all, a very powerful book which I am glad to have finally read.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

I found it interesting that unlike other classic literary horror characters such as Dracula or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there is almost nothing in the novel Frankenstein that corresponds with the popular image of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster or the 1931 movie.  The introduction by Maurice Hindel from the beautiful Penguin clothbound classic edition that I read (pictured above) notes that Shelley incorporated what was then cutting edge science (galvanism, ie electricity) to allow Frankenstein to bring his creation to life. But it wasn’t even raining on the night of the monster’s creation in the book…so no thunder or lightening needed.  In fact, there is no description of the making of the monster at all; it mostly happens off the page.

What I like most about the book (besides its length, only 225 pages!) was its structure.  It starts off as a series of letters from a dilettante arctic explorer Captain Walton to his sister back in England. In his letters, he tells of rescuing a man who is near death with cold and exhaustion. Once this man is nursed back to health, he relates to Walton his story about why he is alone out on the ice and within the rescued man’s narrative a first person account of the monster’s short and unhappy life is given. So it is a story, within a story within a story, like a set of nesting dolls.

What I didn’t like was Victor Frankenstein’s constant “why me?” moaning and teeth-gnashing, all the while doing nothing to actively change the situation for which he and his hubris is directly responsible.  It isn’t just that he comes off as unsympathetic, but I found most his behavior unaccountable. I much preferred the monster’s narrative over Frankenstein’s and while the monster’s actions are equally despicable, I feel as if I understand where his motivations lie.  There are also some preeettty craaaazy leaps of faith the read must make in order for the story to hang together. For example, not just that Victor was able to make a man from left over body parts, but also things such as how the monster just happens to find three intact novels in the forest, he just happens to be able to eavesdrop on a Turkish girl learning French enabling him to learn French, etc.  This really strained my credulity.

Of course, what is fantastic about the book is the questions it asks about humankind in the here and now (like all great science fiction). Certainly one of the questions the book raises can be extrapolated to modern man and modern science:  just because we can do something (split an atom, genetically modify corn, clone sheep, etc.) should we?  And just how much responsibility do we have for our creations when they escape our control? But for me, most important and most poignant is the question of who is the real monster of the story.

I read this for the  2016 Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate for the Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Dystopian Classic category

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

While The Pickwick Papers is considered Charles Dickens’ first  novel, it actually began as a commission to write brief, satirical sketches about a private Gentlemen’s Club to accompany comic drawings for serial publication.  However, Dickens soon convinced his publishers that this should be the other way around and the drawings should be commissioned to accompany his ever mushrooming story regarding the adventures of the members of the Pickwick Club.  [There is also a rather sad side story of the original illustrator, Robert Seymour, committing suicide after the first two issues were less successful than anticipated and whispers of Dickens’ bullying ways contributing to his untimely demise.  Dickens addresses and defends these rumors in the preface to the 1867 edition which was included in the Modern Library Classics edition that I read which is pictured above.]

Since I did know the history of the book prior to reading it, I readily noticed as it went on that the chapters got longer, the plot more convoluted and the character arcs more apparent. Most importantly, the titular Pickwick starts off as object of ridicule but ends up (along with his faithful servant Sam Weller) being the hero of the book. The notion of satirizing private clubs is eventually dropped and replaced with social critiques of Victorian society which will later be more fully expressed in subsequent Dickens’ novels such as Bleak House and Little Dorrit. All this makes for a slightly rambley and inconsistent read and no doubt there were humorous bits I didn’t fully grasp since I am so far removed from the type of society Dickens was satirizing, but nevertheless I did really enjoy it.   

I don’t know if The Pickwick Papers is the best place to start with Dickens, but then again, maybe it is or rather maybe it doesn’t really matter? Martin Chuzzelwit will forever remain my favorite if only because it was the first book of Dickens that I read and made me fall in love. I admit the superiority of certain other works by Boz, but that title will always be on the top of my list for purely sentimental reasons!  And certainly The Pickwick Papers has everything that I love about Dickens, exaggerated characters, humorous pokes at human nature, sympathy for the poor, indignant anger at hypocrisy, etc.   So perhaps this first novel is absolutely the best place to start, because if you like this “sampler’, you will probably like the rest of Dickens as well!

This book was my read for the category of 19ths Century Classic in the 2016 Back to the Classic Challenge hosted by Karen on the blog Books and Chocolate.

THE LOST WORLD by Arthur Conan Doyle

I read The Lost World as my Adventure Classic for the Back to the Classic Challenge 2016 at the book blog Books and Chocolate.

The reader’s enjoyment of The Lost World will definitely depend upon her (a) suspension of disbelief and (b) her ability to look past the racial stereotypes of the Victorian/Edwardian era.  Arthur Conan Doyle is, of course, much better known for Sherlock Holmes than for the adventures of Professor Challenger, who  is introduces in this book and who went on to be featured in two further novels and two short stories.  The Lost World was a fun sort of romp in its way, but I doubt I will ever read any further adventures of Professor Challenger. Personally, my window to have read and really enjoyed this type of book was probably some time in my tween to early teen years, back when I did read a couple of Jules Verne and HG Wells books.

The book is very short (less than 250 pages) and the plot is fairly simple: Professor Challenger, a pompous yet intelligent bull of a man, alleges to have discovered a land that time forgot somewhere deep in the Amazon, but no one believes him because all of his evidence was accidentally destroyed upon his return. Intrepid newspaperman E.D. Malone, always on the lookout for a good story, is also seeking out a daring and dangerous assignment in the hopes of impressing the woman he loves.  Malone, along with big game hunter Lord Roxton and biologist Professor Summerlee, band together to travel to the Amazon to try to either prove or disprove Challenger’s claim. Adventure ensues!

As I mentioned above, there are more than a few unfortunate racial stereotypes to be found in the book, along with attempted genocide, slavery, and a general belief in the superiority of “civilized” white Europeans over any other group. I can’t put my finger on why these attitudes bother me in some books but in others (like The Secret Garden), they do not.   What I did enjoy about The Lost World was the sense of adventure and discovery expressed in the story.   It is hard to imagine today that there is a square foot of the earth’s surface that hasn’t already been surveyed and catalogued but I think a person at the turn of the 20th century could very well conceive of an undiscovered island or plateau just waiting for scientific discovery and research.  I also loved the illustrations (drawings and faked photos) in the book. I am a total sucker for that type of thing!

I don’t regret reading this at all, but as I wrote above, I think I read this book too late in life. I had a similar experience with two other Victorian classics: Dracula and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but for different reasons.  I honestly enjoyed the forward written by Michael Crichton, in the Modern Library edition that I read shown above, more than I did the actual book.

THE SMALL HOUSE AT ALLINGTON by Anthony Trollope

The Small House at Allington is the fifth book in Anthony Trollope’s 6 book Barsetshire Chronicles series and it was my choice for the category “A classic which includes the name of a place in the title” in the 2016 Back to the Classic Challenge hosted by Karen on the blog Books and Chocolate. With its emphasis on making a “good” marriage and its loose plot surrounding two marriageable sisters who are upper class but impoverished, the book reminded me a tiny bit of Austen, but still written in Trollope’s particularly endearing, witty style.

The story begins with an introduction of the Squire of Allington, Mr. Christopher Dale, who lives in the Great House; rejected by his beloved many years before, Squire Dale has never married. In fact, this type of stubbornness is supposed to be a Dale family trait and it will echo throughout the novel; once a Dale makes up his or her mind, they never go back. The squire’s heir is his nephew Bernard Dale, a young officer in the Engineer corps. Mr. Dale also has two nieces Lillian Dale (Lily) and Isabelle Dale (Bell) who live with their widowed mother in the Small House, more or less upon the squire’s charity. Their mother pays no rent for the use of the house and garden and the squire has financially aided his nieces from time to time, basically allowing them to be raised as if they were part of the landed gentry, when in fact they are poor relations and would have a much lower social standing if they had had to rely only on their mother’s small income.

When Bernard brings his friend Adolphous Crosbie to visit at the Great House, romance ensues. During this visit, the squire informs Bernard of his wish that Bernard marry Bell. Meanwhile, Crosbie, who is very charming but also exceedingly ambitions, falls in love with Lily, though he erroneously assumes that the squire will settle money on her upon her marriage. However, Lily is also loved by neighbor John Eames, a young, somewhat awkward man, just beginning to make his way as a clerk at the Income Tax Office in London.  

For Trollope fanatics, there is also a small sub-plot involving Lady Dumbello (the former Griselda Grantley who was featured in the fourth book of the chronicles, Framely Parsonage), Mr. Plantagenet Palliser (who will figure in the the Palliser Novels I assume), and a lovely cameo by Mr. Harding of the first book in the series, The Warden.

In terms of the plot, I found that the book really represented a break from any previous Trollope novel I have read (which admittedly is not that many, just seven so far); I was so sure from the outset that I knew how it would end and I was so, so wrong. There is no neat bow tying up all the storylines by the last page, which is rare in my experience of Victorian romances in general.

In any case, I loved it. I particularly liked the portraits of Crosbie and John Eames, seeing where they paralleled and where they diverged; in fact I liked both characters a lot, even though they both behave very badly at times. And I also really enjoyed the Trollope take down of the aristocratic but morally bankrupt de Courcey family.