From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

Excellent Women

Barbara Pym

Start date: April 1, 2022

Finish date: April 15, 2022

Discussion: Classics Corner

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What Members Thought

Apr 04, 2022 Katy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

If you are looking for plot, action, and excitement, Excellent Women is probably not the book for you. It is a quiet account of one woman's observations and perceptions during a little over a year in her day to day life. Mildred Lathbury is an excellent woman, one of those reliable church women who polish the brass ware, run the jumble sales, arrange the flowers and do all manner of things in their parishes but remain in the background. Yes, events occur. The vicar of her high Anglican parish be ...more

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May 14, 2022 Mary Ellen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5
Mildred Lathbury has a dull, predictable life,with a part-time job assisting Gentlewomen in Distress, involvement in various activities for her High Church Anglo-Catholic parish and frequent visits with the unmarried vicar and his sister, her apartment with her modest evening meal and washing hanging up in the kitchen. That life is interrupted by the arrival of new downstairs neighbors, a former Naval officer and his anthropologist wife.

All this would be dull as dishwater (in which Mildred's ...more

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Apr 04, 2022 Barbara rated it really liked it

This was my introduction to Barbara Pym and now I am a fan. Will be reading more though this is supposed to be her best.

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Oct 21, 2007 Kristin rated it it was amazing

I read this for a class with no expectations and found it really enjoyable. The character reminded me a tad too much of myself as this approaching spinster at 30, but her wit was very Jane Austen-esque, as was her life circumstances and social circle. Unlike an Austen novel, there were a number of very pointed remarks about men, how they do what they want not what is helpful to the women around them and it shows a realistic but depressing view of society where the women that are sought after and ...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

The novel that asks the question can you write an interesting book about a dull person?

Judging by the responses on Good Reads, the jury is out. I enjoyed having Mildred Latherly with a pot of hot tea available on all occasions while being perpetually disappointed with everything.

"Naturally the meal did not come up to my expectations, though the food was very good." ...more

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Apr 20, 2015 Katy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I read this back in 1982, so I do not remember any details, other than how much I enjoyed Barbera Pym's subtle humor and her excellent writing. I went on to read two other novels Quartet in Autumn and An Unsuitable Attachment, which were also very enjoyable and amusing. ...more

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