I picked this one up solely on my wonderful experience with The Uncommon Reader. I think my expectations were far too high. Two longish short stories which did not do anything very much for me.
Described as unseemly, the words are very apt as I was not very comfortable with the two stories - in fact not even with the two titles. The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson, middle aged, comfortably widowed and then a turnaround in behavior. Not a fling which would have been par for the course but something different!
The Shielding of Mrs Forbes deals with again a middle class woman with an attractive son who is gay and here keeping up appearances is of paramount importance.
I should have found them funny or even slightly humourous but I found them rather dull. I did finish the book because I was hoping for something more but by the end - it was still slightly flat for me.
Both stories are about what people would think and do, and how they would react if they actually know the truth so it was a bit of play acting throughout. The story also deals with how sex is handled with an almost Victorian attitude in the 20th century and the only happy handling of a sexual relationship was between a father in law and daughter in law!
Not my best read for 2012.
Well you startled me with the title of this post!
ReplyDeleteSorry it wasn't what you expected. I guess that's what you get for reading smut :-) LOL
What a disappointment - I had high expectations for that book too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed The Uncommon Reader too but I think I will skip this book. It doesn't sound like something I'd like either.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry? One of my coworkers at the library said it was wonderful. I haven't read it yet (hopefully I will get to it in the next 2 weeks) but it has received excellent reviews here and might be something you'd like.
Hi Mystica,
ReplyDeleteI haven't read anything by Alan Bennett, although I have watched a couple of television adaptations of some of his work.
The synopsis for 'Smut', actually sounds quite good and it would be a book which I would possibly have read, even though I am not really keen on short stories.
Your thoughts however, have taken the shine off the idea rather, so I can't see me rushing out to buy it anytime soon!
Thanks for being so honest,
Yvonne
I felt the same - loved Uncommon Reader but found these stories rather dull and lacking in humour. Glad to know I wasn't alone!
ReplyDeleteI just picked up The Uncommon Reader this week. Looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteI've never read The Uncommon Reader, so I didn't know what to expect when picking up this one. I did like it, if only because it was a great reminder that we can never know what a person is truly like. I'm sorry you weren't as impressed.
ReplyDelete