Devoted Ladies (picked by a poll)

[Mela]

In a poll for June 2024 won Devoted Ladies by Molly Keane.

Who is going to read it? How do you like it?

If you have read it already, or you are reading it at another (later) time - write here what you think about the book too.

[Please keep in mind to hide spoilers in spoiler brackets.]

[Daniela]

I will read it! I think I will start today!

[Mela]

I am going to read it too. But later, perhaps next weekend I will start.

[Sonia]

This was the first book by Molly Keane I read. I read it during the UK's first Covid lockdown and my rating reflects my experience of reading it during that time. I thought the writing was excellent, but I couldn't warm to any of the characters, they were all unlikeable.
Since reading this I have read another three books by Keane, all similar in their character portrayals but I have come to appreciate them, and Keane's skill in writing them.
The ending in this book is perfect.

[Mela]

I agree with you, Sonia.

I appreciated Keane's style of writing and her wit, but the absurdity and characters were "too much" to me. I gave up. Nonetheless, I don't give up on the author.

[Daniela]

I'm halfway through the book. I was just thinking that at a certain point Jane, Jessica, Sylvester, Hester and Piggy, after being introduced by the author would all find themselves together when I turn the page and that's exactly what happens. I'm curious to see what will happen now but I don't know if I'm liking the book yet. It certainly seems very modern to me, I wouldn't have said it was a book from the 1930s, it reminds me more of Muriel Spark and the 1960s. Of course, I already started it with a bit of prejudice because in my introduction it says:
Devoted readers of M.J. Farrell's hunting romances who bought her new novel, Devoted Ladies, in 1934 to lose themselves in her singular and special world, that of Anglo-Irish in Southern Ireland, and one to which she utterly belonged, were in for a rude shock when they first opened this book.
This introduction made me want to read her previous books, where she talks about Those famous concerns of her four previous novels - horses, romance, snobbery, the world of the landed gentry in Ireland, the hunt as tapestry, the glorious backdrop to life, and the houses of Ireland lying like temples at the very heart of her books
and it didn't make me feel good about reading this book 😄. We'll see how it goes on!
Anyway I have one of those previous books, Mad Puppetstown, so I will read it in the next months.

[Daniela]

I finished the book and I must say that I found it engaging. I would really like to see a film based on this book, London in the 1930s and then the Irish countryside, à la James Ivory so to speak.
The plot is based a lot on power relations between people.
(view spoiler)[Jessica bullies Jane, Joan takes advantage of Piggy's blind devotion, Piggy bullies Hester about money. Everyone takes advantage of every situation where they are stronger than another person. You do and say mean things, you create opportunities to put other people in difficulty, so that you can then go around telling the anecdote and laughing about it and thus be very funny and modern in front of others. Jessica wants to destroy the story of love between George and Jane not to have Jane but "then one could go away and laugh and tell of it".
The most negative character in my opinion is Jessica but the saddest is Piggy, who doesn't even use her real name anymore and uses the nickname that comes from her physical appearance to talk about herself in the third person. (hide spoiler)]

[Mela]

Daniela wrote: "I finished the book and I must say that I found it engaging. I would really like to see a film based on this book, London in the 1930s and then the Irish countryside, à la James Ivory so to speak. ..."

I can see that the plot is engaging, Daniela. Perhaps, some other day I will try it again.