Christine's review
Excellent Women
by Barbara Pym
Mildred and Everard are mentioned in a number of Pym's other books (in "Less Than Angels" there is a reference to Mildred's being the one who will of course type something).
I've read the book several times over the years, and I saw Mildred differentiating herself from the other spinsters but also recognizing that marriage could be its own kind of trap, which I suppose is borne out by the mentions in the other books!
Christine's review
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
Christine's review
rating:
Someone please explain what is meant by the ending? I thought it was open-ended. Then...
(Spoiler, if this might change your opinion of the story: in another Barbara Pym book, Crampton Hodnet, there is a very brief mention by the characters that Mildred Lathbury married Everard and they went to Africa to study anthropology, even though she was referred to as a very boring wife. The blurb threw me for a spin because I thought the point of Excellent Women was about spinsterhood, and why it's NOT SO BAD, and almost funny.)
Maybe I missed the point.
(Spoiler, if this might change your opinion of the story: in another Barbara Pym book, Crampton Hodnet, there is a very brief mention by the characters that Mildred Lathbury married Everard and they went to Africa to study anthropology, even though she was referred to as a very boring wife. The blurb threw me for a spin because I thought the point of Excellent Women was about spinsterhood, and why it's NOT SO BAD, and almost funny.)
Maybe I missed the point.
Mildred and Everard are mentioned in a number of Pym's other books (in "Less Than Angels" there is a reference to Mildred's being the one who will of course type something). I've read the book several times over the years, and I saw Mildred differentiating herself from the other spinsters but also recognizing that marriage could be its own kind of trap, which I suppose is borne out by the mentions in the other books!
