From the Bookshelf of Reading the 20th Century…

Cold Comfort Farm

Stella Gibbons,

Roz Chast (Illustrator)

Start date: February 1, 2019

Finish date: February 28, 2019

Discussion: Group reads

Why we're reading this: Our February 2019 theme is humour. Many consider February to be the most depressing month of the year so …more
[close] Our February 2019 theme is humour. Many consider February to be the most depressing month of the year so what better than a group read we hope will make us smile, chuckle, laugh and maybe even guffaw. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons won the group read poll

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What Members Thought

Aug 19, 2018 Sara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-purchase, humor

I have been planning to read this for some time, and had it on my Kindle from a “deal” a few years back--so, when the Classics group chose it, I decided the time was right. I find it so hard to write a review about a book that does nothing for me. I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it--it is just floating around in la-la land for me.

It is meant to be a farce, a parody of society, but it misses the mark for me and just comes off as a bit silly and unrealistic (so the thing that makes it what it is ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Nov 24, 2018 Ivan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, re-reading

Still one of my favorites. I've just finished reading this for the third time - and I'm still smiling. The author tried to be prescient and add futuristic things like phones with screens (Facetime? Zoom?), a film producer wants another Clark Gable and says: "he was famous 40 years ago" - which makes you stop and scratch your head - "what year is it supposed to be in this narrative?" However, these things don't spoil the story. I just glossed over them - and, in my mind, the action takes place in ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 15, 2022 Sabahat rated it did not like it

Read 5 chapters and did not find in it what certain lists I had found it on suggested I might. Reminded me of Elizabeth Taylor’s Angel, which I also did not like and eventually abandoned, so I suppose that makes sense. Though why I would find both on lists purporting to suggest stuff similar to Barabara Pym’s, I do not know.

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2019 Belinda Carvalho rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2019

Book club read, set aside half-way through

I wasn't quite in the mood for this while reading it but even in spite of this, this really reminded me of an inferior version of Evelyn Waugh's work. The humour a bit too forced, too old-fashioned or just too British to work for me.
The writing itself is gorgeous but I just couldn't really imagine the characters or the farm very well and life really was too short to go on with the book for me. I think I'll wait for a new BBC adaptation of this. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 12, 2012 Val rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: group

Stella Gibbons is poking fun of the rural multi-generational family sagas which had been very popular at the time she was writing. The treatment is rather heavy-handed, but it is great fun guessing who she is parodying at various points in the book.
Elfine in her wild-child phase is straight out of Mary Webb, Amos might be an exaggerated version of a George Eliot character, Seth would fit nicely into a Brontë novel, Reuben and Adam into a Hardy one, while Flora herself is an updated Austen heroin ...more

1 like · Like · see review