In Sweet William, Beryl Bainbridge takes the darkly comedic tone that she previously used in her novel The Bottle Factory Outing and turns it into something even more bitingly ironic and disturbing. This marked change is in part due to the focused subject matter of this novel. The novel’s unassertiv...
Two young women somehow get together and get themselves a job in a factory that bottles wine. The factory is run by Italians and all the other workers are Italian. Freda is 26 and is tall and "plump"—something like 5'10" and 225 lbs. She thinks of herself as an aspiring actress and carries herself a...
Having the knowledge that Beryl Bainbridge’s novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the understanding that the novel was listed as one of the 100 greatest novels of all time by The Observer can consciously and unconsciously color the reader’s immediate expectations when approaching her n...
Generally, Beryl Bainbridge seemed like a very nice person, who apparently worked as a professional theatre reviewer without ever giving a bad review. It's my guess that she took rejection hard, since a romance gone very bad and a detail from her own autobiography seem to coincide in this book.She a...
Wow, the first Europa I didn't like. I just couldn't connect with this story about two people on a road trip to California to find the mysterious Mr. Wheeler. Who are these people? Why are they making the trip? Bainbridge tells the story with less than the minimum exposition; you have to feel your w...
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