Reading the Classics discussion
Past Group Reads
>
Cranford - Chapters XI - XV
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Jenn, moderator
(new)
Nov 04, 2013 03:21PM
Mod
reply
|
flag
I was glad at least one person had a baby in the novel. I was afraid the population of Cranford was about to die off completely.
OH MY GOSH! (view spoiler) Yes, I was as astonished as the Cranford ladies. I also relate with the use old clothes in your house and if someone arrives you have to run and put something more dignified.Also, I found that was really loyal and kind that the ladies waited for the aproval of Mrs Jamieson before they visit L.Glenmire, even when L.Glenmire is nicer and a better company.
This book grow on me probably cause I am a sucker for gossips haha.
I just finished the book, and all sorts of descriptive words are flooding to mind. Charming, chocolate box, quaint, warm fuzzy. It's been so long since I've read a book with a happy ending, I just don't know what to do with myself. It's made my week.
It was such a sweet book I had to read something very dystopian right afterwards.
Since the beggining of the book we can see a really close and loyal comunity, always looking for each other, but in chapter IX you can see the extent of this loyalty. The true friends, in the good and the bad. That lady who can barely mantain herself but give more than she could to help Matty. That was really touching.And hey! I finally know the name of the unknown narrator :)
And in the final chapters (view spoiler)
You know? After I got over the fact of the unknown narrator, the lack of sarcasm and got the hang of the humor I was able to enjoy myself a loooot.
This book literally grow on me until I was truly inmerse in the stories of this group of devoted lady friends. I was surprised with them and sad with them. I'm not sure that I would read other Gaskell's book, it is really hard to find a copy in spanish of her, and as you can read, my english is not good enough to read an entire nobel in victorian english. But I was gratefully surprised with this one! :D
I think you make a very good point, Karel, in the lack of sarcasm - there is irony ... PLENTY of irony, but not sarcasm. Gaskell loves these people in the same way that Garrison Keillor loves the inhabitants of Lake Wobegon.The other thing I love about this book is the way it punches home the truth that tragedy and heroism exist in small lives and small events just as much as in great events.
Lobstergirl wrote: "I was glad at least one person had a baby in the novel. I was afraid the population of Cranford was about to die off completely."In fact, I'm now reading The Children of Men and it's actually reminding me of Cranford's lack of babies - (view spoiler).
I can't remember which where events happened, so I'll post here to avoid spoilers. Just finished, and believe that to be one of the best books I've read in a long time.The writing was so subtle and detailed, the insular life was perfectly captured. We know that others live in Cranford, but our only interest is in our ladies - which of course reflects THEIR interest. The small group has a surface of snobbish exclusion, lead by Mrs Jamieson, but scratch that veneer and each of them has a heart of gold and their actions betray a caring soul that their words would fain have denied. The scenes among the town after Miss Matty loses everything reminded me of It's A Wonderful Life, except that the givers preferred their acts to remain unknown.
Overall, as I've said before, the tone of loving mockery is reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon stories, and just because the events we're told of are everyday, the things that still happen around us all the time, it doesn't mean that they're not tragic, monumental or heroic. The melodrama of an Anna Karenina, Prince Myshkin or Raskolnikov is not of more more than the quiet bravery and fortitude of a ruined Miss Matty, just because they protest louder.
Can't edit on my phone, so please excuse the occasional incorrect autocorrect in my last post :)
Lobstergirl wrote: "I was glad at least one person had a baby in the novel. I was afraid the population of Cranford was about to die off completely."I was about to post a comment about the dearth of children in the book. On the surface, Cranford seems a gentle, sweet place, though of course with little ripples under the surface, but still, just a nice village. But actually it's so sterile. No children. No men who count (and the few who might, die early on). Where's the future for Cranford when the old ladies die off?
Thinking about which made me wonder what Gaskell is up to here. She's normally a fairly political/social writer. Mary Barton, North and South, and Wives and Daughters all have social commentary elements in them.
Cranford doesn't seem to have these, at least on a casual reading, but I'm wondering whether there is something more going on with Gaskell. I'm not sure yet whether, or if so what, but the story seems so benign for Gaskell that I wonder...
Everyman wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "I was glad at least one person had a baby in the novel. I was afraid the population of Cranford was about to die off completely."I was about to post a comment about the deart..."
But perhaps that lack of young people is the social commentary for this book -- the dying off of this type of village life with the coming of the railway.
Actually, there ARE children - we're told of all the children that come to buy sweets from Matty when she opens her tea selling emporium - what there aren't are men or children within the aging genteel circle of ladies that Mary resides within, among the Miss Mattys, the Mrs Pole's or Mrs Fitz-Adams - you shouldn't take the narrator as an omniscient goddess, we're getting life edited through the spectacles of Mrs Jamieson's entourage, not Cranford as a whole, which is obviously far more vibrant than we're told.
Everyman wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "I was glad at least one person had a baby in the novel. I was afraid the population of Cranford was about to die off completely."I was about to post a comment about the deart..."
But perhaps that lack of young people is the social commentary for this book -- the dying off of this type of village life with the coming of the railway. "
I agree, Leslie - that was Gaskell's intent with this book, to document a way of life that was already disappearing when she wrote it, before it was gone and forgotten. But I had never really made the connection that the village itself might die out because it was composed of mostly single/widowed ladies, so thanks for pointing that out, Everyman!
Finished it up last night (this thread only goes through Chapter 15, but I have a chapter 16 in my edition -- was that an error in posting the thread title, or is chapter 16 only in some editions?)I was a bit disappointed in the ending. It was so totally saccharine sweet. I like a bit of bite in my books -- don't need a whole lot, but some. The early chapters did have some bite, with the three deaths coming on fairly quickly, but after that, except for Mattie's financial woes, it was all such smooth sailing that if it hadn't been a discussion book I would have put it aside unfinished.
It's a slow book to start, but I found myself drawn into the story and smiling at the various antics of the townspeople, and even tearing up with the quiet help for poor Matty! Agreed, it does represent the dying out of the old ways (the chapter notes in my edition make multiple mentions of the fact that the styles around the town are about 20 years out of date, that they're simply not keeping up with the rest of the world, which is why the frequent references to fashion are actually very important). The birth of a baby in the end makes me think that there's a spark of hope, that the older ladies being drawn into the lives of the younger (Martha) breathes new life into things. Plus they are pushing the boundaries of convention, by having Martha and her husband dwell with Matty, having the ladies call on other families who are out of fashion, etc. Yes, they are prissy, uppity ladies in some ways, but they have good hearts when it comes down to it. I was glad when Peter showed up because the lack of male characters made the story feel rather skewed (although that's a nice change of pace from a lot of male-dominated literature). It was a bit sappy, but it was kind of a nice break from some of the more "heavy" books I've been taking in lately. It's sweet, might even be worth a re-read at some point, though certainly not the most amazing I've ever read. I found it nostalgic and thoughtful and a nice escapism.
