10. Ratings and Reviews. Does the book belong on the 1001 list?

[Jen]

10. Add your ratings and book reviews here. Does the book belong on the 1001 list?

[[deleted user]]

I gave this 3 stars when I read it and unfortunately my Shelfari review has not transferred over and I can no longer search for it over there :(

While this was only an average book for me, it sparked an interest in the Mitford sisters and I went on to read a biography called (I believe) The Mitford Girls which was very interesting indeed.

Personally I don't think this belongs on the list.

[Eadie]

Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford - 4 stars

This is the 2nd book in Nancy Mitford's trilogy. I read this one after The Pursuit of Love which I prefer to this one. Both these books gives us a great insight into ladies in waiting before WWII. The themes in this book are love, marriage, tradition and snobbery of the British upperclass. Fanny Wincham, serving as narrator in both of these books and she is very believable. Mitford has great wit and humor in portraying her characters which makes the book very entertaining. I would recommend these books to those who enjoy Evelyn Waugh and Jane Austen.

I believe that these books do belong on the list as they show what life was like for young ladies in Britain prior to WWII.

[Anna]

3 Stars

I enjoyed this book. It had some rather amusing parts. I thought of it more as entertainment than anything deeper. I will say that the author's strength was the development of her characters. She really made them dynamic.

[Jan]

3 stars from me.

It was a surprise. I was expecting something more Wildean or Wodehousean. Instead I got something funny and poignant. Mitford mixes insight into human character with gently mocking observations on her social class. It wasn't uproariously funny, but I laughed a couple of times. I enjoyed the observations made about love, marriage and family, and the acknowledgement that we put up with monstrous people within our closest circles in order to keep family life on an even keel. The families in the book might be exaggerated, and their social existence alien to most of us, but they face the same issues of being human as anyone else.

I don't know that I would urge people to read it, though. I think there are better books out there that cover similar ground.

[Diane]

3 stars

I voted for this book because it was described as a romantic comedy. I had just finished 2 books on slavery and thought it would be a nice change. Unfortunately the book did not live up to my expectations. I had just read 3 thought provoking books and when I started reading this one I just had trouble getting into it. I actually started liking the book a bit more after I watched the movie. I did enjoy the book but I don't think it belongs on the list.

[Kristel]

An amusing story written in 1949, featuring life of the British aristocrats in the thirties. The characters are all grossly exaggerated but make for a lot of fun. The novel is described as subversive, funny, and comforting. The most exaggerated character, plainly gay, is introduced, has a life of total pleasure and makes those around him have fun too. He even is allowed his own lover in the end. Lady Montdore is called Mitford's finest creation, a person who is greedy, self centered and rude. This book is about love, marriage, aging and snobbery. The author tells the story of Polly through Polly's distant relative and friend, Fanny. Fanny is the daughter of parents who abandoned her, she is raised by relatives. She lives an ordinary life as she tells the story of Polly, the only child and daughter of Lady and Lord Montdore.

[Pip]

4 stars
I really enjoyed this book and kept wanting to drop other activities to get back to the pleasure of reading it. I can't remember whether it was this or The Pursuit of Love I read as a teenager, but I was so enamoured of Nancy Mitford then that I kept a copy of her essay "U and Non-U" in my bag and loved quoting it to my friends. I think it belongs on the list because of its description of both character and settings and its skewering of the aristocratic life. The aristocrats may be dwindling but the characters in this book are still around.

[Diane]

Rating: 4 Stars
Read: October 2016

This was a fun read about the life of the upper class in pre-WWII England. I enjoyed Mitford's acerbic wit and eccentric characters. Despite how much I enjoyed it I am not sure it really belongs on the list.