tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post2326577171073553504..comments2024-02-10T19:58:20.327+00:00Comments on Stuck in a Book: The Garrick Year - Margaret DrabbleStuckInABookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-64346362869179267112013-01-29T16:48:31.410+00:002013-01-29T16:48:31.410+00:00Thanks for coming back and adding a comment! I do...Thanks for coming back and adding a comment! I do take your point, they're both bad (there's no innocent victim here)... I wonder why, except for narrative purposes, Emma took her husband's decision lying down? She doesn't seem like the kind of woman who would slavishly do what her husband wishes - it would seem to me more in character if she'd just said "Screw you, I'm staying here and doing my job."StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-47466021789854158252013-01-29T16:06:48.643+00:002013-01-29T16:06:48.643+00:00I didn't really read your review back when I m...I didn't really read your review back when I made the earlier comment because I knew I was going to read the book. I knew you weren't a big fan of it so I tried to figure out while I read the novel what your beef might have been. I guessed correctly that you would be at least superficially annoyed by the London v. countryside angle. Drabble certainly does take a heavy hand to that doesn't she? I think I saw Emma as less selfish than you did. Her husband's complete unwillingness to consider her own career aspirations was perhaps the most selfish thing in the book. The adultery of course, is a different thing entirely. And I think both parties were pretty guilty, but even then Emma never "consummated" her adultery while her husband did.Thomas Hogglestockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14284352537015457974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-39763561820532227552012-12-10T12:09:35.041+00:002012-12-10T12:09:35.041+00:00I've liked a fair number of ner books, but lat...I've liked a fair number of ner books, but lately I am reassessing how much I like her. Having said that, I really loved Seven Sisters and think it is Drabble at her most enjoyable. I actually recommend this one to people generally, not just to those who want to read Drabble.Thomas Hogglestockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14284352537015457974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-42700550244933903922012-12-03T21:03:22.795+00:002012-12-03T21:03:22.795+00:00I am definitely getting the sense that I shouldn&#...I am definitely getting the sense that I shouldn't touch her more recent novels with a barge pole! And yes, if her marriage was anything like the one in this novel, I'm not surprised they separated (!)StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-30819560596677610072012-12-03T21:02:46.758+00:002012-12-03T21:02:46.758+00:00I will bookmark that to read - I wonder what they ...I will bookmark that to read - I wonder what they will have in common!StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-85839274443614934072012-12-03T21:02:25.772+00:002012-12-03T21:02:25.772+00:00That's an interesting perspective on it, thank...That's an interesting perspective on it, thanks. Maybe I just wasn't the right reader for the book - turns out theatre is a sacred cow for me!StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-52102037081503159432012-12-03T21:01:43.054+00:002012-12-03T21:01:43.054+00:00Haha! Well, I adore The L-Shaped Room (read three...Haha! Well, I adore The L-Shaped Room (read three times, and love more each time) so I doubt it would compare in my mind, but I'll give it a go. The film, on the other hand, was only ok, to my mind. And why make her French?StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-90425838867704327192012-12-03T21:01:01.623+00:002012-12-03T21:01:01.623+00:00Nope, she decides halfway through the novel that s...Nope, she decides halfway through the novel that she hasn't got time any more (!) and goes over to formula, which the nanny administers!<br /><br />Thanks for another recommendation for The Millstone :)StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-67378663882039102302012-12-03T21:00:20.888+00:002012-12-03T21:00:20.888+00:00Right-o! I do have a few of Forster's dotted ...Right-o! I do have a few of Forster's dotted around my shelves, but none from more than about 10 years ago, I don't think.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-27889447827605658862012-12-03T20:59:49.146+00:002012-12-03T20:59:49.146+00:00Don't worry, Christine! I'm glad to have ...Don't worry, Christine! I'm glad to have been able to form an opinion about Drabble, and equally happy to change it later...<br /><br />Interesting to say that she's no worse than the men - I thought David was a little less awful, but I agree that practically nobody comes out of the novel well.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-12261439427191281812012-12-03T20:58:50.842+00:002012-12-03T20:58:50.842+00:00Drabble and Clive Swift is a curious thought!
I ha...Drabble and Clive Swift is a curious thought!<br />I have seen her myself - she quite often comes to the Bodleian, although I have only seen her once. StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-20711707751655024692012-12-03T20:58:16.002+00:002012-12-03T20:58:16.002+00:00Thanks, Liz, I look forward to your thoughts on re...Thanks, Liz, I look forward to your thoughts on rereading The Millstone - I'm definitely still going to give it a go at some point.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-53518855370833055652012-12-03T19:56:24.651+00:002012-12-03T19:56:24.651+00:00Hello, Simon. I read Margaret Drabble's early ...Hello, Simon. I read Margaret Drabble's early novels in the 60s, and I did enjoy Jerusalem the Golden, The Waterfall, The Millstone and The Garrick Year at the time, but I doubt if I'd re-read any of them now. After that, I think her books became turgid and pretentious and lost all connection with real life. I can only assume she wrote 'The Garrick Year' in reaction to her marriage to Clive Swift, from whom she separated! I completely take your point about her "heroine" in that book....Her sister, A.S.Byatt, at her best, is a much better writer, I think. Sue Gedgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01387494692709639043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-80480391808520421712012-12-01T18:47:36.136+00:002012-12-01T18:47:36.136+00:00I picked up The Garrick Year after reading an essa...I picked up The Garrick Year after reading an essay titled "The Two Emmas" by Roger Angell in The New Yorker--and Jane Austen's Emma is my favorite book. Link:http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/08/090608fa_fact_angellSSThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371094515049581523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-44339879304772480232012-12-01T08:04:15.143+00:002012-12-01T08:04:15.143+00:00I read The Garrick Year back in the 60s and (being...I read The Garrick Year back in the 60s and (being only 16 or 17 at the time) found it racy and fascinating! The theatre background would have been one of its attractions for me. I seem to have lost my copy and I've been wanting to re-read it this year as one of my daughters has been a "trailing spouse" with a new baby in Stratford and I do very much recognise that theme of alienation/resentment. Drabble herself had been an actor with the RSC so some of the themes of this novel must arise from her own experience and realisation that it wasn't going to be her lifelong career. Must hunt a copy down as memory is shaky after 40+ years!blue handshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02641583999123384078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-82586474826021374622012-12-01T02:12:13.086+00:002012-12-01T02:12:13.086+00:00I read The MIllstone again last year but couldn...I read The MIllstone again last year but couldn't get past the heroine being such a passive drip; which was pretty much what I thought about her when I first read it in the 1970s. <br />Much preferred The L-Shaped Room. Fond memories of not being allowed to watch it on television because it was 'unsuitable.' maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13955194101659665925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-35565670256964849852012-11-30T21:22:27.562+00:002012-11-30T21:22:27.562+00:00Isn't breastfeeding one of the things that she...Isn't breastfeeding one of the things that she does all day? However, I much preferred The Millstone and The Waterfall - still own my original 1960s copies - Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-87245958206224121112012-11-30T16:48:54.974+00:002012-11-30T16:48:54.974+00:00I read all of Drabble in the 60s and 70s and then ...I read all of Drabble in the 60s and 70s and then gave up on her as I found her writing became more and more mannered. I tried re-reading some of her earlier ones last year but found I was no longer in sympathy with them, if I ever was!<br /><br />Do try margaret Forster, a contemporary of Drabble and, in my opinion, a much better writer. I have been re-reading her and will be writing about her soonElainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17739410242766153431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-49915703322382293482012-11-30T16:48:01.447+00:002012-11-30T16:48:01.447+00:00Oh dear, now I feel guilty, because I was one of t...Oh dear, now I feel guilty, because I was one of the people who mentioned this in your Five From the Archives post! I think it's the only Margaret Drabble that I enjoyed, and I rather liked the irreverent tone. And I know Emma is annoying on occasions, but nobody treats her seriously,people judge her purely on her looks. David spends a lot of time ignoring her, and seems to expect her to uproot herself and move at the drop of a hat. She's bored... (so were Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina. And while I don't condone her behaviour, she's no worse than the men in her life.Christine Hardinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09814026435889782750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-8043168087467393162012-11-30T09:27:07.066+00:002012-11-30T09:27:07.066+00:00I've only read one Drabble - That was 'The...I've only read one Drabble - That was 'The Radiant Way' and I can't remember enough about it to recommend or otherwise!<br /><br />I do remember seeing her on a train though - I'm pretty sure it was whilst we were on holiday in New York! Small world eh? She was with Michael Holroyd her hubby, and David Swift (Henry from Drop the Dead Donkey etc, and brother of Drabble's first husband Clive Swift!(actor in Keeping up appearances etc). They looked as if they were enjoying themselves.Annabel (gaskella)http://gaskella.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-71086430151344882782012-11-30T05:48:29.213+00:002012-11-30T05:48:29.213+00:00I remember The Millstone as being marvellous and q...I remember The Millstone as being marvellous and quite like L-shaped Room indeed, although I haven't read it for years. Tell you what: I'll add it to the Month of Re-Reading in January, and let you know then. Apart from that, she is a writer of ideas and sometimes I feel she does come off as a bit whiffly, but I remember The Peppered Moth being good. Liz Broomfieldhttp://www.librofulltime.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-16766600264360957122012-11-30T02:53:24.075+00:002012-11-30T02:53:24.075+00:00I not read Ms. Drabble, and am less likely to read...I not read Ms. Drabble, and am less likely to read her now. So no suggestions from me, alas. ;-)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06906212382849291562noreply@blogger.com