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10th out of 23 books
—
10 voters
The L-Shaped Room (Jane Graham #1)
In this bestselling classic novel which became a famous film, Jane Graham, alone and pregnant, retreats to a dingy attic bedsit in Fulham where she finds unexpected companionship, happiness and love.
Set in the late 1950s, the 27 year-old unmarried Jane Graham arrives alone at a run-down boarding house in London after being turned out of her comfortable middle class home by...more
Set in the late 1950s, the 27 year-old unmarried Jane Graham arrives alone at a run-down boarding house in London after being turned out of her comfortable middle class home by...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
January 1st 2004
by Vintage Classics
(first published January 1st 1960)
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This was a strange one. Having read and enjoyed the Indian in the Cupboard as a child, I was intrigued by the idea of reading a 'grown-up' novel by the same author. It was not a great book - characters were characters instead of people was my main complaint and it had the feel of a soap opera or a Romeo and Juliet love story where people seem to have no brains and fall victim to the passion of love when it suits the plot. The strangest part of the book was the constant racist and anti-Semitic co...more
It must be more than 10 years since I read this book, originally bought for me by my mother but lent out somewhere on life's path. It was appropriate though that on a wet day in March I happened across a battered old hardback edition in my local library and took it home for a happy re-read.
This book exudes the feel of the early sixties, and is surprisingly honest about taboo subjects at the time - single mothers, prostitution, abortion, racism, and homosexuality. Jane is in her late twenties and...more
This book exudes the feel of the early sixties, and is surprisingly honest about taboo subjects at the time - single mothers, prostitution, abortion, racism, and homosexuality. Jane is in her late twenties and...more
This isn't the edition I have. I would add my copy to the goodreads database except it was published in 1975 and has a horrible reeks-of-70s, are-these-even-the-right-characters cover. Every time I look at it I giggle and grimace simultaneously. Also in my edition, on the last page there's a lone ad to buy The Joy of Sex for only $5.95. Woot! I wonder if I sent in the voucher now if I could still get it for such a groovy price.
Anyhow. The L-Shaped Room. In my opinion, not nearly as good as Marga...more
Anyhow. The L-Shaped Room. In my opinion, not nearly as good as Marga...more
Mar 23, 2011
Leslie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2011,
20th-century-fiction
I raced through this book. It's easy to read and the heroine––stubborn, smart, capable––is easy to like. The casual slurs she drops about blacks, Jews, and homosexuals are nasty, but they accurately reflect ordinary thinking in the late '50s; that fact doesn't make them more acceptable, but it does put them into a context. Of course, the viciously casual rejection of such people as being outside social norms and thus undeserving of respect resembles the attitude directed at pregnant single women...more
In London, in the late 1950s, society did not look kindly upon unmarried women who fell pregnant.
Jane was nobody’s fool.
She had been an actress, with a touring company, and she was doing well. She didn’t have much money, but she managed, she was happy doing what she wanted to do with her life. But Jane got on the wrong side of a difficult actor, and was ‘let go’.
She was too proud, too independent, to go home and so she took a job in a cafe. And she made a success of it, working diligently and in...more
Jane was nobody’s fool.
She had been an actress, with a touring company, and she was doing well. She didn’t have much money, but she managed, she was happy doing what she wanted to do with her life. But Jane got on the wrong side of a difficult actor, and was ‘let go’.
She was too proud, too independent, to go home and so she took a job in a cafe. And she made a success of it, working diligently and in...more
3 likes · like · see review
I felt that there was a certain truth to Jane. She was a contrary little snob filled to the brim with a toxic mix of self-pity, racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia. But I didn't think other aspects worked very well. Aunt Addy arriving on Christmas morning was a bit silly; why hadn't Jane previously mentioned her caring and unconventional spinster aunt as a potential source of support?
If you read this, you need to be prepared for:
"A surge of the powerful negro odour preceded him."
"You might just...more
If you read this, you need to be prepared for:
"A surge of the powerful negro odour preceded him."
"You might just...more
Really enjoyed this book. I was hooked from the start by the narrator, Jane, who has a compelling voice. Some of the interest for me is in how much times have changed. Jane is unmarried and pregnant and experiences huge amounts of prejudice as a result, which is hard to imagine now (thankfully). This could be a depressing book, but actually is mostly about the unexpected kindness of the people she meets and therefore isn't.
It is a first person narrative and there are some unpleasant remarks on...more
Although certain aspects of this novel (namely the attitudes towards race) do feel a little dated now, the basic premise of this novel is still excellent. The reactions towards the unmarried mother in this story are presented in a heartfelt and genuine manner. The way in which relationships develop and grow are quite lovely. Having read The Millstone earlier in the year it was interesting to read another novel of a similar period, covering a similar topic. Banks certainly presents 1960's pregnan...more
Oct 03, 2011
Evelyn
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary,
read-in-2011
The L-Shaped Room is one of those books that was incredibly brave and daring for its time (1960) and I feel like I would have perhaps enjoyed it a lot more had I read it back then. I didn't really warm to the main character Jane very much, a young pregnant woman who has been kicked out of her family home by her father. She ends up renting the 'l-shaped room', a shabby and dirty flat in the rough end of town, with prostitutes in the basement and begins to interact with the various other tenants....more
1 like · like · see review
A few weeks ago I happened to catch the 1962 film with Leslie Caron on TCM and liked it so I tracked down the book, which I liked as well. It is about a young, pregnant woman who's father has thrown her out and she goes to live in a boarding house. She vows to herself not to become involved with the the other tenants while she decides what to do with her life as that will only complicate her situation. Of course she does and it does. It was a good story, kept me interested, nice detail. It was,...more
I read this as a teenager, and it was probably the first teenage book I read. As such, it made a huge impression on me and made me think about gritty social issues which I had never before considered: abortion, teenage mothers, poverty. These were all things which I had no actual first-hand experience of, and the idea of the multiracial society was worlds away in my provincial town. I didn't realise that there were sequels to 'The L-Shaped Room'. It would be interesting to read the whole series...more
This is one of my favourite books, which I read a few years after it was first published in 1960. It will be difficult for young readers to credit that fifty years ago it was considered a disgrace for a woman to have a baby out of wedlock and that her parents might disown her for doing so. The heroine of "The L-Shaped Room" even intends to keep her baby, which would have been unthinkable for most girls in 1960, when they were sent to homes for unmarried mothers and had their babies taken away fr...more
4 1/2 While many would find this book quite dated, I loved it. In London, Jane has taken a room in a boarding house after she becomes pregnant and her father makes her leave the house. The house is dated and dreary, and the first night in her room, Jane sees bugs crawling out of her mattress. But she makes a home for herself and becomes involved with the characters in the house. I loved Jane's braveness and lack of self-pity. There are two books that follow about Jane and her child that I look f...more
1 like · like · see review
May 19, 2010
Ian Russell
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
social historians, nostalgic Brits, everyone
Attitudes to unmarried mothers, black immigrants, and casual sex have changed so much since, this story has become a real period piece. Nevertheless, with that in mind it is a good story, very well written, and an insight into the mind of an emotionally repressed British society on the cusp of the swinging 60s. Looking back, who'd have thought it?
Lynne Reid Banks made me feel for her characters, both good and bad, all totally believable and all victims of a mindless conformity. A great read, I r...more
Lynne Reid Banks made me feel for her characters, both good and bad, all totally believable and all victims of a mindless conformity. A great read, I r...more
This was published before the sixties swung (1960) and is the story of Jane, an upper middle class girl of 27 who finds herself pregnant and single. She moves out of her father’s house, into an L-shaped room in a dodgy house in a dodgy area.
Her self-awareness and the way she analyses her feelings and those of people around make the novel transcend its period – although she dislikes Toby’s “useless fund of self-knowledge”. At times she wants to punish herself, and telling her father was like a bu...more
Her self-awareness and the way she analyses her feelings and those of people around make the novel transcend its period – although she dislikes Toby’s “useless fund of self-knowledge”. At times she wants to punish herself, and telling her father was like a bu...more
I liked this book. It's a sad little tale following a pregnant girl/woman who has got 'knocked up' after a brief fling. It follows her life over a year and how she copes with it in an age where unmarried mothers are excluded and shamed.
You do feel for the character but there were lots of points where I'd have given her a slap and told her to get a grip as she was wishy washy. Perhaps that's my personality but I do recommend you read it to see if you agree.
You do feel for the character but there were lots of points where I'd have given her a slap and told her to get a grip as she was wishy washy. Perhaps that's my personality but I do recommend you read it to see if you agree.
Written in the late 60s or early 70s, this is the story of an unmarried, young, pregnant woman. Her father kicks her out (which seems strange to a modern reader) and she takes a room in a nasty house on the wrong side of the tracks. She ends up meeting many interesting people, one of who is a love interest.
I enjoyed reading about how she goes about making a home for herself in her "L-shaped room," though it's obvious she's in denial about her pregnancy. I also enjoyed the quirky characters. My...more
I enjoyed reading about how she goes about making a home for herself in her "L-shaped room," though it's obvious she's in denial about her pregnancy. I also enjoyed the quirky characters. My...more
This is a wonderful read. It's about the trials, tribulations and joys of unmarried pregnancy, set back in a time when this was very frowned-upon.
A girl is thrown out by her father, and rents a cheap squalid room as she feels she deserves nothing better. This is the story of her journey from this state, and a denial of the reality of the coming baby, to an acceptance of them both. It all takes place in the L-shaped room, which she comes to love.
A girl is thrown out by her father, and rents a cheap squalid room as she feels she deserves nothing better. This is the story of her journey from this state, and a denial of the reality of the coming baby, to an acceptance of them both. It all takes place in the L-shaped room, which she comes to love.
This is a ripper. I loved all the characters in this book. In particular the protagonist was very easy to relate to. A good story for anyone who has ever found themselves in a huge hole without any apparent way out. Life seems to have a way of sorting itself out. I would like to read the sequels "The Backward Shadow", and "Two is Lonely".
My mother in law gave me this book. I haven't seen the film. I thought it had a lot to offer, particular in the character of the protagonist. I didn't find her very likeable: too privileged and a bit ditsy, but nonetheless she seemed realistic for the time. I didn't really have a problem with her racism or homophobia which seemed entirely in character.
I didn't like the ending which was a bit fairytale for me.
I didn't like the ending which was a bit fairytale for me.
Loved this as a teenager and recently re-read (on Kindle I think) but it really, really hasn't stood the test of time. The 'other worldliness' of the characters she meets just comes over as racism now. Worth a look for a snapshot/female pov of the 'Angry Young Man' movement but not as a contemporary read.
Just re-read this for my reading group, having returned to it at regular intervals since I first discovered it about 20 years ago! Very dated in some ways (uncomfortably so in some respects - eg. casual homophobia and racism!) but in others still really compelling with a lot of very real likeable characters.
I read this book a long time ago. I read it for school, we have to read a list of books in English, Dutch, German and French. I liked the book so much I read Two is lonely and My darling Villain as well. I imagine it would be abit dated today but also very British.
I read this back in the 1960s, so my memory is vague. The young, unmarried pregnant protagonist moves into a rooming house with occupants whose social status is quite different from her own. She learns tolerance and gains courage to face her situation.
A good read about a female working class girl in England. Part of a "bed-sit" genre including Shelagh Delaney. Discusses the difficulty of being a single girl trying to make her way in a world focused on men.
This set of books is one of my all time favourites. Read first when I was late teens/ early twenties and read again last year - made much more sense the second time from my years in between....
Feb 10, 2012
Helenb
added it
Read this book too many years ago to remember, 1981 I think, on holiday in Toronto. Had a massive impact on me as a teenager. Must read it again to see if it resonates so well with a 40 something!
Putting aside the 'of-its-time' racist and sexist aspects, what most annoyed me about this book was the 'happy ending', the unrealistic coincidences throughout so much of the book and the stereotypes of cad / writer/ landlady etc. However, I can see why it was a ground-breaking book and it was a reasonably enjoyable read.
Aug 01, 2011
Julia Michell
added it
Excellent record of English family values towards the middle of the 20th century and confirmation that the reputation 'slum landlord' never ceases to alter. Depressing though.
What astonished me about this book was the way attitudes have changed towards unmarried mothers, and black people, since the time the book was set. Such arachaic views being expressed by the characters....I could scarcely believe it.
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Lynne Reid Banks is a British author of books for children and adults. She has written forty books, including the best-selling children's novel The Indian in the Cupboard, which has sold over 10 million copies and been made into a film.
Banks was born in London, the only child of James and Muriel Reid Banks. She was evacuated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada during World War II but returned after...more
More about Lynne Reid Banks...
Banks was born in London, the only child of James and Muriel Reid Banks. She was evacuated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada during World War II but returned after...more
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Apr 19, 2010 03:18pm