The Chinese Room

by Vivian Connell

The Chinese Room, first published in 1942, is a novel combining a mysterious string of anonymous letters with the sex lives of the main characters: the exploits of Nicholas, a banker; the sexual awakening of his wife, Muriel; and Nicholas' affair with Sidonie, his secretary and mistress. Set in England in the 1940s, The Chinese Room was very popular despite attempt to censor the book, and underwent numerous reprintings into the 1960s. Author Vivian Connell (1909-1981) was the author of a number of novels, plays and short stories. (less)

Genres: Fiction

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1942

Reviews

[Michael David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't have read this novel a year ago, honestly, but because we transferred to a suburban area, my time for commuting became more than an hour instead of just a few minutes. As I've never been really fond of wasting my time on social media or the Internet (and I can't really play DotA inside a van), I decided to pick up on my reading. After all, I would have more time.

It has come to a point that I've been better able to scan through works I'm not too fond of, and read through the works that I do like. Because I could read either two or three books on a good day, I annihilated my backlog last week, and had bought most of the good books from the second-hand bookstore I patronize.

Nowadays, I just judge books by their cover art. Since this book had a minimalistic but well-mixed color scheme, I bought it. I guess when the blurb says it's 'one of the most daring novels in the English language,' it means that it's sensual in nature.

The story was horrible, and the characterization left much to be desired. Simply put, because a couple didn't talk about their feelings, they became frigid toward each other and sought solace in other partners. When they finally discovered the power of sexuality (gasp! shock!), they have sex and end happily ever after.

The novel is quite misogynistic: there is one major character, Sidonie, who is beautiful, intelligent, and efficient. Because of her ectrodactyly, however, she was unable to become close to men due to her fear of being exposed. The male protagonist, Nicholas, eventually tears her out of her shell, but that's all. In the end, while she's innocent and kind, she's just another mistress, although Muriel, Nick's wife, looks kindly upon her.

It's not a masterpiece. It's not Tropic of Cancer. I guess I had a kick out of it because I'm a guy, and guys like sex. Beyond the lurid details, however, is an empty story with poorly-constructed characters. I didn't hate it, though. It was just thoroughly mediocre.

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely odd book. Connell tries to say something about the class structure (and the marriage ritual) in England and it's effects on the sexual lives of couples. I thought this was the most interesting part of the novel. Here the erotic content (which resulted in Dial Press having to stop publication of the book) relates to the married couple and their attempts to embark on more fulfilling sexual relationships. Will they part and take up with new partners or will they rediscover the passionate attraction for each other which appeared when they first met each other only to be subsumed under the social conventions of the day? Mixed in with this theme is a rather ludicrous mystery of anonymous letters and a silly ending with a gasp ! rather unbelievable coincidence.

Yes it's flawed and somewhat overlong with a slow-moving middle section, the erotic content is mild with the passing of the years, some racist terminology etc. of it's time yet it still has a certain charm.

[Nancy]

This is about the emotional and sexual awakening of a young british woman who has been brought up extremely conventionally, as well as the internal and sexual lives of her husband, and his mistress, with a minor mystery of who is sending anonymous letters to the husband. there are some incisive passages, such as the young husband's realization as he watches the old men napping in the stolidly traditional men's club he belongs to: "They slept... and waited for death in this club as a man might wait for death in his own coffin. The clubs were the coffins of old England."
The book was a huge best-seller during WWII in both the UK &US--had 18th printing in 1965. Connell wrote lots of pulp-y (i.e., Gold Medal paperbacks) mysteries. hope i can find some of them! this is a link to a review of this book and a movie based on it, made in 1968 by Albert Zugsmith, who also wrote the screenplays for Written on the Wind, Touch of Evil, and others. Who knew?

http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=1875

[Dixie Goode · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had this yellowing paperback on my shelves for decades, since picking it up at a yard sale. i finally decided to start it in the hopes that I could quickly decide it wasn't worth reading, and then be able to have one less book cluttering up my bedroom. Instead I found it to be very interesting and there were several times I stopped and highlighted quotations that seemed insightful into the human psyche. Instead of being the piece of old, erotic fiction I anticipated, this was a well written and fascinating glimpse into the mental processes of delightfully original characters.

[Chazzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out as a mystery but then wandered on to questions of morality, fidelity in marriage, late awakening to sensual pleasures and then at the end back to the mystery and solution of. It was not my cup of tea, but I skimmed throught the middle as I wanted to know the solution to the mystery.

If you enjoy a more psychological line of writing, this would be a book for you. It takes place in the 1940s in England.

[JJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my style. i gave it a go but non fiction romance stories like this are not my style of book. Could not get into it.

[Lola Le Grange · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great book, but as it was written in the 40's the writing was difficult to read...not flowing as with new books of our era.

[Sue Lipton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like "The Group," this was WAY ahead of its time

[Jasmine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not bare to finish this. 1 star is way too much for this book. Gotta get rid of it asap. :(