Quartet in Autumn
This is the story of four people in late middle-age - Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia - whose chief point of contact is that they work in the same office and they suffer the same problem - loneliness. Lovingly, poignantly, satirically and with much humour, Pym conducts us through their small...
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This is the story of four people in late middle-age - Edwin, Norman, Letty and Marcia - whose chief point of contact is that they work in the same office and they suffer the same problem - loneliness. Lovingly, poignantly, satirically and with much humour, Pym conducts us through their small lives and the facade they erect to defend themselves against the outside world. There is nevertheless an obstinate optimism in her characters, allowing them in their different ways to win through to a kind of hope. Barbara Pym's sensitive wit and artistry are at their most sparkling in "Quartet in Autumn". 'An exquisite, even magnificent work of art' - "Observer". 'Barbara Pym has a sharp eye for the exact nuances of social behaviour' - "The Times". 'The wit and style of a twentieth century Jane Austen' - "Harpers & Queen". 'Barbara Pym's unpretentious, subtle, accomplished novels are for me the finest examples of high comedy to have appeared in England during the past 75 years ...spectacular' - "Sunday Times". 'Very funny and keenly observant of the ridiculous as well as the pathetic in humanity' - "Financial Times".
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780330326483 (0330326481)
Publish date: 2004-08-20
Publisher: Pan Books
Pages no: 186
Edition language: English
Dispassionate to the point of discomfort, "Quartet In Autumn" is filled with strong insights unburdened by empathy. "Quartet in Autumn" follows the changing lives of four people who have worked in the same office for some years and who are now approaching retirement. The quartet is made up of t...
Wow. What a depressing read -- particularly so, the first half of the book (or thereabouts). We're meeting four main characters who thoroughly seem to be passengers, not drivers of their own lives, in a trajectory from nowhere to nowhere (and not necessarily a different part of nowhere, either) --...
I think that if this had been the first Pym book I'd read, I would have had a very different perception of her style and thought process. Not better or worse, just very different. In a sense, this does feel like a successor to Excellent Women. In another time, Letty and Marcia might have been two ...
I don't think that I can talk about this book without revealing a major plot point, so if you are planning on reading, skip this review! This book had a very different tone from our first Pymalong, Excellent Women. Where Excellent Women was rueful, A Quartet in Autumn was somber. I still liked it,...
Barbara Pym gives us glimpses into the lives of four people - two men and two women, working together in an office, all approaching retirement, each living a solitary life. By constantly shifting points of view, she gives us insights into their own thoughts and feelings as well as those of the peopl...
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