Mrs Weber's Diary

by Posy Simmonds

product_description

Genres: Comics, Humor, Fiction, Graphic Novels

Hardcover

First published October 11, 1979

About the author

Rosemary Elizabeth "Posy" Simmonds MBE is a British newspaper cartoonist and writer and illustrator of both children's books and graphic novels. She is best known for her long association with The Guardian, for which she has drawn the series Gemma Bovery (2000) and Tamara Drewe (2005–06), both later published as books. Her style gently satirises the English middle classes and in particular those of a literary bent. Both of the published books feature a "doomed heroine", much in the style of the 18th- and 19th-century gothic romantic novel, to which they often allude, but with an ironic, modernist slant.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book collects together strips by Posy originally published in The Guardian during the 80s. People who don't like The Guardian say it's read by a bunch of left-wing liberal types whose minds consist of a half-digested mush of PC clichés. But you can't accuse the newspaper's editors of lacking a sense of humour. George Weber, the main character in the strip, is a marvellous parody of the stereotyped Guardian reader: lecturer in sociology at the local polytechnic, he's writing a huge treatise on semiotics that will obviously never be published or even completed, while his long-suffering wife Wendy, a part-time illustrator of childrens books, keeps the household together and looks after their six kids. Irrespective of whether your politics are left or right, if you're at all familiar with the British middle classes you're going to giggle every few pages.

I'm having trouble thinking which episode I liked best, but maybe the one where George has booked himself in for a long-overdue vasectomy. We get to see his painful dreams, starting with an episode from the Crimean war. Phallic cannon thunder in the background, and Wendy turns up as Florence Nightingale. (Wounded soldier: "Is that the lady with the lamp?" George: "That was no lady, that was my wife!") The scene then switches to a confrontation with George's boss, who's making changes to the curriculum. ("NO!! You're not going to cut BOTH of them, are you? My research AND my teaching?") Suddenly, he wakes up shaking his head and wearing a disapproving frown.

"This is MUCH too Freudian!"

[Elizabeth]

I do love Posy Simmonds. This isn't exactly a long or difficult read and I've probably read it 20 times. But I really love it for its somewhat painful, wry portrayal of the late 1970s british middle class. I guess I see myself in Wendy and my father in George.

[Esparkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of it seems horribly contemporary

[Jo Cameron-Symes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read that stands the test of time, especially the parts regarding the gentrification of London and the exploration of middle class angst.

[Tom Nash · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Posy Simmonds, particularly her laceration of middle-class sensibilities. For me, this book was a bit on the gentle side, particularly compared to some of her other work.

It's in a diary format, which does give the book structure, but I'm not sure it completely works for me personally - it just felt a little like it didn't tie the illustrations together. I'd have been happy just with the strips!

It does do a great job of throwing you into the pretentious world of middle-class writers, and no-one is really spared the mockery - and if you're a fan of Simmonds' other work, you'll be happy enough with this. But it's not quite up there with, say, Tamara Drewe... so I'd recommend reading that first if you're not sure where to start with her.

[Adrian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing with Posy Simmonds; this book collates some of her work for the Guardian from the late 70s and early 80s. The comic strips take a satirical look at the middle classes, gentrification, liberalism. Some of the themes are certainly timeless but I did find it dated in places.

[Marko8 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a treat. I really like that it's a mixture of diary and comics and the strips are such a delight. Very fun and light and I really enjoyed the art style.