Cranford (Oxford Bookworms Library, Level 4)
by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Tricia Hedge
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 503)
Read in May, 2008
Ah, so delightful! I loved this. It's really a series of vignettes, and, if there is a plot at all, it doesn't show up until halfway through. But it's so funny! And sad! And it's all about women! I laughed aloud a few times, and almost cried a few other times.
Sigh. I'm such a sucker for this stuff. But I loved it. Despite its disjunctive narrative, I read the whole book in less than three days. But I'm strange that way.
For Happy (I would alert readers to spoilers, but ther...more
Sigh. I'm such a sucker for this stuff. But I loved it. Despite its disjunctive narrative, I read the whole book in less than three days. But I'm strange that way.
For Happy (I would alert readers to spoilers, but ther...more
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Read in June, 2008
I thought I had read this book before, so when I sat down to watch Masterpiece Theatre and didn't recognize the storyline, I pulled it off the bookshelf and started rereading. Anyway, the television adaptation weaves in several stories that aren't in the book (what else is new?) but really, I thought the book was great without it.
Cranford is a town where there are a lot of old women (and very few men). Most of the women pride themselves on never having married--or if they have, the men alw...more
Cranford is a town where there are a lot of old women (and very few men). Most of the women pride themselves on never having married--or if they have, the men alw...more
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Read in May, 2008
This is all Philip Glenister’s fault. I watched the miniseries because he was in it, and the miniseries reminded me that I’ve been meaning to read more Gaskell ever since I read North and South while at Trinity. Then it turned out that Glenister’s character isn’t even in this volume, the first in a loose series about the fictional town of Cranford. “Loose” is a good word to describe the book as a whole: it was written in instal...more
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Read in August, 2006
I think I slept through this one. *snort* Rated as a “classic” (obviously), it did absolutely nothing for me. The writing was good enough, I suppose, but all I remember is a bunch of nosy boring women, pontificating on life, and none of it interested me at all. I did however mark one passage that I enjoyed made me smile….
FAVOURITE QUOTE: “And with three new caps, and a greater array of brooches than had ever been seen together at one time, since Cranford was a town, did Mrs. Fo...more
FAVOURITE QUOTE: “And with three new caps, and a greater array of brooches than had ever been seen together at one time, since Cranford was a town, did Mrs. Fo...more
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Read in May, 2008
With two episodes of the Masterpiece adaptation behind me, I figured I should read this to avoid having it completely spoiled. The film writers had a job adapting this, I have to say, with the novel's first person narration, ironic narrative voice, and the serial nature with characters/plotlines coming and going quickly. I wonder where some of the film characters - Dr. Harrison, for one, or the little boy who poaches - who don't appear at all in the novel come from...are they in one of Elizabeth...more
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Read in March, 2008
This was really a very slim volume, but it was broken up into connected but quite separate stories - which is why it took me so long to read it. I picked it up here and there between other reads.
A charming book, easily read and discussing much the needs and efforts at gentility of a group of aging spinsters in the town of Cranford. We get a great sense of their economy and desire to remain in their stations in life - in spite of limited resources.
Not exactly a riveting book, but wo...more
A charming book, easily read and discussing much the needs and efforts at gentility of a group of aging spinsters in the town of Cranford. We get a great sense of their economy and desire to remain in their stations in life - in spite of limited resources.
Not exactly a riveting book, but wo...more
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Read in April, 2008
I was disappointed with my first reading of this. The story is about this small village with this group of older women that keep to their own class and have no need for men. We read it for our book group and I thought it had an interesting premise and was excited to read. I kept waiting for the book to go somewhere. A new character would be introduced and I would think they were going to liven the story, changing up their little group. But no, about as quick as they were introduce they woul...more
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Read in April, 2008
I was at first puzzled by the narrator's description of Cranford as a town of Amazons, populated mainly by women. There appeared to be plenty of male characters, and the women--an assortment of Victorian spinsters and elderly widows--hardly seemed warriorlike. Yet while Gaskell describes her characters' eccentricities and petty concerns with sympathetic humor, she also conveys immense admiration for women's courage and resilience in the face of loss, for how women deal with social constraints, a...more
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It is a magically simple but unbelievably fine depiction of lost class.
A bunch of old ladies in a small town trying hard to maintain the aristocratic way of living when big industrial city beside them took all the men from their community. Elizabeth Gaskell being herself a unionist and the wife of a social activist clergy man mixed her early socialism with anti modern morals of characters who live in pre -industrial town and the combination is very witty and thought provoking. Easy to read and ...more
A bunch of old ladies in a small town trying hard to maintain the aristocratic way of living when big industrial city beside them took all the men from their community. Elizabeth Gaskell being herself a unionist and the wife of a social activist clergy man mixed her early socialism with anti modern morals of characters who live in pre -industrial town and the combination is very witty and thought provoking. Easy to read and ...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
GH addicts
I had a professor in college who used to assign us readings from Gaskell as part of the "social history" aspect of whatever class I happened to be taking with him that semester. I remember enjoying it then, but I must admit I picked this up solely because of a PBS miniseries I saw on the television a couple months back. And oh, I did enjoy this book. It was catty and witty and positively delightful. I flew through it, laughing all the way.
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
Lovers of 19th century English literature
I decided to read this after watching the mini-series on TV. Gaskell is so full of compassion and appreciation for her characters they almost seem real. It was laugh out loud funny but also a tear jerker. It is refreshing to read a book of this time period about a woman of a certain age instead of a pretty, young, marriage-minded heroine. I loved the friendship and camaraderie between the older single women in this small town.
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Jenny by:
Just picked it uprecommends it for: People who like the author and sugary sweetness
I listened to this book on tape, and if I had been reading it I would not have made it through. I was a very quiet book, all about the lives of the ladies and gentlemen of Cranford in Regency England. I suppose it could be described as "charming", but to some (i.e. me) it's just plain boring. Not the authors best work, read Wives and Daughters instead. Even though it wasn't completed, it's much better than this novel.
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Read in March, 2008
After reading other novels by Gaskell this really shows up as a magazine piece, or I should say, pieces, as it is a collection of short stories. Does not allow for the same depth of emotion as, say, North and South, but it is nonetheless a charming collection of stories, which tells of a world that was slower and more measured, and where a community of women relied almost exclusively on each other for society.
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Read in January, 2008
I read this after watching the BBC series and it has made me really appreciate the skill of the person who adapted it. The novel is a series of separate stories which, while well written, lack a narrative thrust. The tv version synthesised characters and events and made for a far more entertaining version.
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Read in April, 2008
I loved this book. Elizabeth Gaskell's sense of humor was great in this book. There were so many quotable passages. There's yet to be a book by Gaskell that I have not liked. Each chapter of the book stood out almost as a seperate story, which made reading the book very easy. Overall the story about a little town and the women who live there was delightful. A must read for Gaskell fans.
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Read in January, 2008
In order to feel adequately prepared for the upcoming screening of 'Cranford,' courtesy of the BBC, I decided to go on a bit of a Gaskell marathon. First stop, Cranford. It was a lovely story. It was funnier and more light-hearted than the other Elizabeth Gaskell I had read. Plot was not complex, just tales of country life that were gently intertwined. Really enjoyable.
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Read in May, 2008
This is a sweet tale of the little old ladies living in a small town in England. It's told from the perspective of a young visitor, including her affectionate yet sly remarks about the quirks of life in Cranford. The story mostly follows Miss Matty, a elderly, dimwitted but incredibly kind spinster. This book is a wonderful slice of life, but there's not great deal to it.
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Michelleluster by:
Brena Bailey
This is a very sweet collection of stories from Elizabeth Gaskell, who I recently learned is much more famous (or infamous) for a completely fabricated biography of one of the Bronte sisters. Can't wait to find that one, because she certainly knows how to paint her characters as what they are (funny, rude, simple, etc) but still make them mostly tolerable.
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Read in April, 2008
On notice from a co-worker that Cranford has been adapted for TV and is coming to Materpiece Theater very soon, I read the book. Originally the story was published as a serial of stories and I think the novel remains disjointed. It's been kinda fun trying to make up my own screenplay though. I'll let y'all know how I did once the BBC version airs!
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Read in June, 2008
Light hearted tales of the women of Cranford. This book made me laugh and want to cry, always a good oombinaiton. The author took a different approach to telling the story. Although the narrator is a character in the story, she is undeveloped and I'm led to believe is a representation of the author herself.
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