Excellent Women

A brilliant novel and excellently narrated!

Excellent.

It is rare that a beloved book is performed so well that the audio version deepens one’s appreciation for the work. This is such a recording. Jane Entwistle creates distinct characterizations for the various people but never in the heavy-handed, distracting way one so often finds. The rich humor is allowed to come through with its subtlety intact. The novel is one of Barbara Pym’s best, a nuanced observation of the challenges faced by an unmarried gentlewoman in post-WWII London as she tries to cobble together a “full life” in a society that has drastically constricted the choices available to her.

I was very disappointed in this book. The characters are rather flat and uninteresting, and no amount of good writing or immersion in the world of manners can make one care for them. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did.