Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym (January 2023)

[Roman Clodia]

Marcia and Letty must be about the same age as Excellent Mildred but what distinguishes them is Mildred's sharpness and willingness to engage with people, she hasn't lost her curiosity or sense of risk. That scene where Letty confronts her new Nigerian landlord and his wife invites her in to dinner and she says no is so indicative of how she refuses life. Sad, but also a bit frustrating.

[WndyJW]

I often give books I think I should like 2nd or 3rd chances because it’s often about timing for me. I start more books than I finish and many of those I’ve started before, put down and picked up again.

[Roman Clodia]

I'm 60% in and getting increasingly anxious about Marcia...

Just got to the reunion lunch at the Rendezvous... paid for in part with Norm's luncheon vouchers. Hard to fathom how he's remained single all his life, the generous charmer!

[Nigeyb]

Loving these updates RC

[Roman Clodia]

I've finished! Fantastic book but about as dark and bleak as Pym is going to get.

Marcia's story - gulp - and such an indictment of the group that they keep reassuring each other about her 'oddity' and that she's never been a big eater as she literally wastes away before their eyes, so that they don't have to take any responsibility or put themselves out by showing some actual concern about her.

I didn't think this was a book essentially about aging or retirement: it seems to me this quartet have always disengaged from life and they're a pathetic, pitiful, friendless, loveless, joyless lot. That's their safety zone. My impression is that they've been like this all their lives. Contrast with the 80 year old landlady who Letty moves in with who has more will and energy than all four put together.

I didn't see any optimism at all: Letty's final line 'life still held infinite possibilities for change' just reiterates that the possibilities are always there but that this group will never grasp them: Letty scurries away from the woman who tries to make conversation in the cafe and rejects the dinner invitation from the Nigerian pastor and his wife.

I think it's all brilliantly done but so different in mood from the earlier sunny Pyms.

My rambling review is here: www.goodreads.com/review/show/6013342969

[Nigeyb]

Hurrah


So glad you had a more successful experience this time round

[Roman Clodia]

Nigeyb wrote: "Bobs were quite common amongst men and boys in the early 70s. When I was a kid, and before I took control, my mother would just cut my fringe and the back and sides. So never thinned it. The result? A bob."

Just reading the old posts and love this image of the Nigeybob 🤣

[Roman Clodia]

Nigeyb wrote: "Though perhaps there was a little bit of tragedy?"

Huge tragedy in my view. Marcia's story is so powerful, I feel there's a whole other Pym revealed there, perhaps prompted by her own breast cancer? I got anxious halfway through about Marcia and found her life emotionally devastating. Such wonderful writing to imply all this obliquely without any melodrama or sentimentality.

[WndyJW]

It was night and day to Excellent Women, but I did like this one very much.

[Brian E]

WndyJW wrote: "It was night and day to Excellent Women, but I did like this one very much."

Quartet in Autumn is Night and Excellent Women is Day??