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Snobs & Past Imperfect

3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 · rating details · 14 ratings · 4 reviews

"The English, of all classes as it happens, are addicted to exclusivity. Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them."
The best comedies of manners are often deceptively simple, seamlessly blending social critique with character and story. In his superbly observed first novel, Julian Fellowes, winner of an Academy Award...more

Paperback, Omnibus, 855 pages

Published 2011 by Phoenix

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Mar 29, 2012 Nisha-Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

What's clearest from these two books is that Julian Fellowes is above all a chronicler and analyst of social class. And yes, that drags the narrative down frequently, tried even my very indulgent and very fond patience. Yet his saving grace is the utter charm of his wry sweet and occasionally silly/dirty voice. Every time I could feel my exasperation reaching snapping point, there'd be a joke or an observation that would make me smile, laugh or just want to hug him.

Snobs was very much the dryer...more What's clearest from these two books is that Julian Fellowes is above all a chronicler and analyst of social class. And yes, that drags the narrative down frequently, tried even my very indulgent and very fond patience. Yet his saving grace is the utter charm of his wry sweet and occasionally silly/dirty voice. Every time I could feel my exasperation reaching snapping point, there'd be a joke or an observation that would make me smile, laugh or just want to hug him.

Snobs was very much the dryer of the two novels, a consciously constructed social commentary. I was actually surprised to find I did care about the main couple by the time the story wrapped up.

Still it was with a lot of relief that I found Past Imperfect had a very clear and dramatic framing device. And oddly similar to the most recent Julian Barnes novel which I had just finished, The Sense Of An Ending. The cleverness of that mystery kept me reading even as the red herrings and dead ends frustrated me. What I really didn't like as it went on was realising just how unlikeable each character was, that I couldn't find myself loving any of them, not even fondness for our protagonist. They were all, to use a Heyer phrase, lacking bottom. A certain tarnish to the souls, a certain impurity to their characters that rubbed me raw.

I did guess the secret about a fraction earlier than I was meant to, I think, and I can't say the main relationship of the novel moved me in any particular way. I wonder if anyone was, if that was ever the point. If Snobs was the examination of a class, Past Imperfect was the documentation of that class particularly in the Sixties, something unexpected to me.

I'm not sure I would ever recommend Julian Fellowes as a novelist but I do still adore him to bits. The tenderness and acute observation of him shines through despite his limitations in the form and that reminds me why I love his work in other forms. There's no saying how fabulous that combination is, how grateful I am for it.(less)

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Jan 09, 2013 Marybeth added it

I loved both books for all their own merits, but also in counterpoint to the Downton Abbey television series on PBS. Mr. Fellowes brings a great deal of droll authority and touching wisdom to the subject of life among the English classes.

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Dec 16, 2012 Dagmar added it

Liked Snobs very well, but disliked Past and Imperfect.

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Aug 24, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Couldn't really get into this. I liked the idea that it was about going back to a group of 'friends' from 40 years ago, and I was interested in the dying years of 'Society' but it was a bit repetitious. I only made it half way.

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About Julian Fellowes

Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes DL known as Julian Fellowes, English actor, novelist and screenwriter.

Fellowes is the youngest son of Peregrine Fellowes (a diplomat and Arabist who campaigned to have Haile Selassie restored to his throne during World War II). Julian inherited the title of Lord of the Manor of Tattershall from his father, making him the fourth Fellowes to hold it. He was educat...more Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes DL known as Julian Fellowes, English actor, novelist and screenwriter.

Fellowes is the youngest son of Peregrine Fellowes (a diplomat and Arabist who campaigned to have Haile Selassie restored to his throne during World War II). Julian inherited the title of Lord of the Manor of Tattershall from his father, making him the fourth Fellowes to hold it. He was educated at Ampleforth College, Magdalene College, Cambridge and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

He played the part of Kilwillie in the television series Monarch of the Glen. Other notable acting roles included the part of Claud Seabrook in the acclaimed 1996 BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North. He has twice notably portrayed George IV as the Prince Regent in the 1982 television version of The Scarlet Pimpernel and the 1996 adaptation of Bernard Cornwell's novel Sharpe's Regiment.

He wrote the screenplay for Gosford Park, directed by Robert Altman, for which he won an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen in 2002.

His novel 'Snobs' was published in 2004. It focused on the social nuances of the upper class. Fellowes has described himself as coming from the "rock bottom end of the top", and drew on his knowledge of Society to paint a detailed portrait of the behaviour and snobbery of the upper class. 'Snobs' was a Sunday Times Best Seller and has now been published in many countries.

In the 1970s he also wrote romantic novels, using the names Rebecca Greville and Alexander Morant.

He launched a new series on BBC One in 2004, Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder, which he wrote and also introduced on screen.

He also penned the script to the current West End musical Mary Poppins, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Disney, which opened on Broadway in December 2006.

In late 2005 Fellowes made his directorial debut with the film Separate Lies.

He is the presenter of Never Mind the Full Stops, a panel-based gameshow transmitted on BBC Four from mid-2006.

On 28 April 1990, he married Emma Joy Kitchener (a Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Michael of Kent, and great-great-niece of the 1st Earl Kitchener) and assumed the name Kitchener-Fellowes by deed enrolled with the College of Arms in 1998.
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