Gaskell's witty and poignant comedy of country-town life, a gently comic picture of life in an English country town in the mid-nineteenth century, ...
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Jun 20, 2011
Laurele
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Great fun! Mrs. Gaskell's gentle yet probing comedy of manners is a book worthy of many readings. There's a lot of dressing up in this book--wearing the perfect hat for the occasion, buying the latest material, dressing a cow in flannel, Peter's ill-recieved jokes. No clear plot, but then I don't usually read for the plots. The character studies here are priceless.
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May 14, 2008
Inder
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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 th 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 th More...
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Mar 03, 2009
Siria
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Beautifully observed and gently funny, Cranford is less a novel than it is a series of vignettes, drawn from the lives of a small group of genteelly impoverished older women in a small town in mid-nineteenth century England. Gaskell is quite gentle with her characters, I think perhaps because she was aware of how limited a life she was creating for them—with all the social restrictions placed on unmarried women, with just enough social status to be unable to work to support themselves, but with
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Jan 02, 2011
Laurel
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To prime myself for Return to Cranford, the new Masterpiece Classic sequel to last year’s award-winning mini-series Cranford on PBS, I wanted to read Mrs. Gaskell’s original novel that it was adapted from. Since I am always short of reading time, I chose instead to listen to an audio recording, my favorite pastime during my commute to work. After a bit of research on Cranford audio book recordings, I settled on the Naxos edition. From my experience with their recording of Jane Austen’s novels I
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May 13, 2008
Laurie
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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
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Mar 28, 2008
Amy
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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 rivet 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 rivet More...
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Apr 15, 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
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Jul 17, 2010
Lisa
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Such a wonderful and delightful book. It was poignant and sweet--sad at times--and laugh-out-loud funny at others. A real joy.
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Feb 14, 2011
Nicole
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This book is so cute and has me laughing out loud. Definitely a new favorite!
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Jun 26, 2011
Minli
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This is the first book I listened to on audio, read by Clare Wille and published by Naxos Audiobooks.
I'm a huge fan of the BBC adaptation with Judi Dench, so I knew I would get to the novel eventually. I started this while in China--sometimes it was easier to just close my eyes and listen than prop open a book and read. Cranford is a fascinating little village, with society dominated by elderly single women because the men (if they are there at all) make themselves scarce. The biggest More...
I'm a huge fan of the BBC adaptation with Judi Dench, so I knew I would get to the novel eventually. I started this while in China--sometimes it was easier to just close my eyes and listen than prop open a book and read. Cranford is a fascinating little village, with society dominated by elderly single women because the men (if they are there at all) make themselves scarce. The biggest More...
Jun 02, 2011
Tony
rated it:
Gaskell, Elizabeth. CRANFORD. (1852). ****.
Back when I took a course in 19th century English literature, Gaskell was one of the authors that was mentioned in passing, but never assigned on our reading list. She wrote several immensly popular books but didn’t fall into the category of literature as defined by the course syllabus. For those of you who don’t know this author, I need to crib from the short intro provided by the publisher. “Elizabeth Gaskell was born Elizabeth Cleghorn S More...
Back when I took a course in 19th century English literature, Gaskell was one of the authors that was mentioned in passing, but never assigned on our reading list. She wrote several immensly popular books but didn’t fall into the category of literature as defined by the course syllabus. For those of you who don’t know this author, I need to crib from the short intro provided by the publisher. “Elizabeth Gaskell was born Elizabeth Cleghorn S More...
Nov 16, 2010
Valetta
rated it: 
"Wonderfully funny" dice la quarta di copertina di questo libro. Direi che è vero, ma solo a tratti. L'atmosfera è sicuramente atipica e un po' sognante: un villaggetto ottocentesco inglese in cui le donne comandano, o meglio imperversano,occupandosi con imperturbabile e sempre uguale leggiadria e ingenuità di ogni tipo di problema, dal colore più adatto ad un cappellino alla moda alla bancarotta della banca locale che minaccia di ridurre in povertà alcune di loro. L'autrice ricorda un
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Sep 18, 2010
Steve
rated it:
Cranford is often called a comedy. There are humorous parts of the book, but it certainly is not funny throughout. And some of the humor might come from readers who do not respect the type of women portrayed in the book.
It was first published in 1851, so it gives a good feel for that time. It is the story of a handful of aging women who live in Cranford, England. Today Cranford is part of Greater London. Back then there was more separation.
Some of the women in the st More...
It was first published in 1851, so it gives a good feel for that time. It is the story of a handful of aging women who live in Cranford, England. Today Cranford is part of Greater London. Back then there was more separation.
Some of the women in the st More...
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Apr 11, 2010
Arukiyomi
rated it: 
The 1001 Books list has totally changed the way I read novels. It’s given me access to writers that have deeply influenced the way I see the world and has given me memories of characters and storylines that have been incredibly powerful. And then it’s introduced me to Elizabeth Gaskell and the trivial wittering rubbish of Cranford.
This is a book about absolutely nothing. I recently thought Northanger Abbey lacked any substance. How very wrong I was. Cranford redefines pointlessness. I More...
This is a book about absolutely nothing. I recently thought Northanger Abbey lacked any substance. How very wrong I was. Cranford redefines pointlessness. I More...
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Oct 31, 2009
Milena
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 21, 2011
Nona
rated it:
I loved this gentle, amusing book.
It is set at the turn of the 19th century and deals with the clique of mainly older widowed or spinster women rather set in their ways in the town of Cranford. It is seen through the eyes of the younger narrator Mary Smith. Mary often visits the town & stays with the spinster daughters of a previous rector, the autocratic Miss Jenkyns & the gentle, diffident Miss Matty, who is the main character of the book and is easily led by the rest of the women. More...
It is set at the turn of the 19th century and deals with the clique of mainly older widowed or spinster women rather set in their ways in the town of Cranford. It is seen through the eyes of the younger narrator Mary Smith. Mary often visits the town & stays with the spinster daughters of a previous rector, the autocratic Miss Jenkyns & the gentle, diffident Miss Matty, who is the main character of the book and is easily led by the rest of the women. More...
Jun 28, 2011
Ellie
rated it:
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell is Victorian literature at its best. A small community-in this case, for some reason populated almost exclusively by women, in which all the events of the larger world occur (love, death, marriage, childbirth, financial struggles) but in microcosmically allowing their repercussions to reverberate more loudly while simultaneously being softened by the arch tone of the book and rather hilarious eccentricities of the town's inhabitants.
I loved this book. I More...
I loved this book. I More...
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May 09, 2011
Whitney
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Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell is a collection of short stories surrounding the small town of Cranford and the eccentric women who live there.
As I said, Cranford is a small town which is high in the population of female. In the first section of the book, every male who enters the town drops like flies making it feel jinxed or like an old fashioned sorority.
Elizabeth Gaskell's novel is a sequence of short stories that all intertwine. I'm typically not a short story reader so More...
As I said, Cranford is a small town which is high in the population of female. In the first section of the book, every male who enters the town drops like flies making it feel jinxed or like an old fashioned sorority.
Elizabeth Gaskell's novel is a sequence of short stories that all intertwine. I'm typically not a short story reader so More...
Aug 09, 2009
julieta
rated it:
I actually read this book just to get over the emotional turmoil I was in after reading abother book (2666). I believe it would be the equivalent of a rebound. And it was a good way out. But I can't say I loved it. Nothing really happens during the short novella, or I should call them short stories.
The women in Cranford don't like doing much. They don't like men (most of them are spinsters, or "old maids", as the returned brother calls Matty). They can't imagine doing business, More...
The women in Cranford don't like doing much. They don't like men (most of them are spinsters, or "old maids", as the returned brother calls Matty). They can't imagine doing business, More...
Jan 30, 2012
Roberta
rated it:
Ambientato in una fittizia cittadina inglese nei dintorni di Manchester, Cranford è un romanzo che ho trovato assolutamente delizioso, ma è anche il tipo di volume che non consiglierei a spada tratta, nonostante trovi indubitabile il suo valore. Si tratta infatti di una di quelle narrazioni dove non accade nulla di veramente importante e manca una vera e propria trama: sono bozzetti, episodi, come quelli che una volta ci si raccontava nelle lettere. Una narrazione senza una coesione interna, sen
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Jul 19, 2011
Teni
rated it:
What a fascinating little book! I decided to read "Cranford" after watching the BBC mini-series "Cranford" and the 2009 Christmas Special, "Return to Cranford" (I loved both immensely), and I wanted to read more about the characters and their humourous intricacies. The writing is rich with detail and Mary Smith makes an excellent narrator, but at times she does go on random tangents. Quite a few major details were quite differently adapted for the mini-series (certa
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Feb 05, 2011
Gregory
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Surprisingly I enjoyed very much following the 'stitched up' lives of the old dowagers of Cranford. Although these characters seemed very oppressed by the social codes they lived by, Gaskell manages to squeeze the humour and emotion out of each one of them. I found the language beautiful and submerged myself in the conversation style of old.
Cranford is a strange world populated only by women(or so it would seem for there are some men about the place)who live and die by their self-infl More...
Cranford is a strange world populated only by women(or so it would seem for there are some men about the place)who live and die by their self-infl More...
Sep 16, 2010
Trisha
rated it:
Cranford has very little in the way of action; the story meanders through various events in the town - death, marriage, tea parties and card parties, magicians, thieves, and fashion shows - and in the end, the book becomes more a collage designed to evoke feeling than a plot-driven novel.
The women of this novel are loveable; afterall, "each has her own individuality, not to say eccentricity": Mrs. Jamieson is the aristocrat even when she falls asleep at a card party; Miss P More...
The women of this novel are loveable; afterall, "each has her own individuality, not to say eccentricity": Mrs. Jamieson is the aristocrat even when she falls asleep at a card party; Miss P More...
Jul 15, 2009
Rebekah
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I am OVER this book. I made it half way.
The introduction states "In the case of Thackeray, or Dickens, or George Eliot, or Charlotte Bronte, there is reasonable doubt as to which work should be placed first; and though each reader has his preference, nearly all would admit that there is much to be said in favor of the views of others; but to prefer any other of Mrs. Gaskell's novels to Cranford would lay the critic open to a charge of eccentricity."
I don't More...
The introduction states "In the case of Thackeray, or Dickens, or George Eliot, or Charlotte Bronte, there is reasonable doubt as to which work should be placed first; and though each reader has his preference, nearly all would admit that there is much to be said in favor of the views of others; but to prefer any other of Mrs. Gaskell's novels to Cranford would lay the critic open to a charge of eccentricity."
I don't More...
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Jun 28, 2011
Don
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A witty study of class, caste and gender in a small English town during the first half of the 19th century.
Whilst rigorously maintaining the prejudices of their breeding, the ladies of Cranford, endowed with humanity and simple good sense, continually transgress their own standards by being kind to servants and, occasionally, admitting men into their presence.
The Jenkyns sisters exemplify the conflicting currents of their society. Stern, authoritarian Deborah and gentle, w More...
Whilst rigorously maintaining the prejudices of their breeding, the ladies of Cranford, endowed with humanity and simple good sense, continually transgress their own standards by being kind to servants and, occasionally, admitting men into their presence.
The Jenkyns sisters exemplify the conflicting currents of their society. Stern, authoritarian Deborah and gentle, w More...
May 30, 2011
Melanie
rated it:
Compared to North & South it might feel like a disappointment at first but then it's Cranford ! It's not the best book out there but It didn't DRAG and it was alright . I failed to find the plot in the novel but I enjoyed reading it nevertheless and found it funny , heartwarming and relatable ! Yes Relatable especially this Part :
" I saw Miss Matty nerving herself up for a confession; and at last out it came. She owned that, ever since she had been a girl, she had dreaded being c More...
" I saw Miss Matty nerving herself up for a confession; and at last out it came. She owned that, ever since she had been a girl, she had dreaded being c More...
Jun 19, 2009
Bridget
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I had not read this book prior to seeing the BBC adaptation of it, starring Eileen Atkins and Dame Judi Dench. But I really enjoyed the series, and received the actual book for a Christmas present.
This is the first of Elizabeth Gaskell's works that I have read, and I was very favorably impressed with it. The story is basically about life in a small English village in the late 1800s, where, as it turns out, there is a wealth of unmarried and/or widowed women. The narrator is a yo More...
This is the first of Elizabeth Gaskell's works that I have read, and I was very favorably impressed with it. The story is basically about life in a small English village in the late 1800s, where, as it turns out, there is a wealth of unmarried and/or widowed women. The narrator is a yo More...
Jun 10, 2011
Mary Ronan
rated it:
Mrs Gaskell is making a comeback. And not just with my online Trollope group, which has been reading Cranford recently and comparing – or rather, contrasting – it with Trollope’s novels. Libraries are acquiring her novels, many are on the shelves of bookstores, and all are easily available through amazon.com. The BBC has produced excellent, and very popular, made-for-TV series of Cranford, North and South, and Wives and Daughters. My alerts with Google and the NY Times pop up with Gaskell as oft
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Jul 06, 2011
Marialyce
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I thought this was a delightful, easy reading story of a town where it seemed spinsters ruled. Although quite stodgy, the ladies of Cranford, were a lovely group who persevered in their ever British attitude, but did look out for their own. Told by an outside narrator, the story relates the ups and downs of life in Cranford or perhaps any Victorian town. The ladies gossiped, set the rules that were strictly adhered to, and generally led a life that we would consider boring by today's standards.
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