p. 108
Well, I finally just went to the library and checked out a copy and I was a little bummed because I wanted to have my own copy so that I could underline and make notes in the margins so that my posts would have a little more substance and not so much "I liked this because" or "This part was funny" but since I don't have my own copy and I can't make notes in the margins or underline that is probably what you're going to get :)
I should also let you know that I have not seen the movie and know next to nothing about this book other than I saw it listed on a friend's blog and I think I remember her saying that she liked it.
Having said that . . .
What did you think of the Foreword? I thought it was hilarious and definitely written tongue in cheek. The best was when she kept writing, "the vulgar and meaningless bustle of newspaper offices" as an excuse for why her writing could never compare to his. I wanted to know more about this Anthony Pookworthy and discovered that he is fictitious. Then as I read more of her book I had to laugh because it does seem that she is poking fun at all those writers whose books are "records of intense spiritual struggles, staged in the wild setting of mere, berg or fen . . ." Flora doesn't quite seem to fit with all these characters that really seem to have come out of Wuthering Heights (by the way I loved that part where she is talking to Mybug(?) in the cafe about his new book--so funny.) The characters seem one-dimensional, like stock characters that are necessary to a gothic novel. Sexually charged male: check, Crazy old man: check. Dark brooding woman of the house: check,-- and I think that makes them hilarious. Even the setting is fitting. Oh, I also must mention that I thought it was funny when Flora told Meriam about birth control. Ha ha.
Everything is just so exaggerated. The names of the animals and the description of the setting and the characters. I hope I'm not meant to take any of it seriously because I'm not. I'm just laughing and looking forward to seeing the movie.
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2 comments:
I completely agree with you. Once Flora showed up to Cold Comfort, I started laughing my head off. I'm glad you mentioned Wuthering Heights because my book said something about this being a parody, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was parodying. Now it makes more sense. And I too enjoyed the discussion with Mybug about Mr. Bronte. In the movie, I hated him, but in the book he's so much more funny.
So here's my big question. Do you think that Stella likes Flora, or is she a joke too? I think she likes Flora, but then at times Flora seems just as rediculous in the way that she meticulously follows her advice books. And I'm glad you did some research about the forward. I want to know more about it. All in all, this book seems like it has some great potential for interesting questions about the time in which it was written.
I think that Flora is a bit of a joke herself. She has this whole sense of how society should be and she goes about trying to make it so. It's basically her way or the highway. It's been interesting watching her mold Elfine into what Flora thinks is the perfect country wife. I especially thought it was funny when she wanted to take Elfine to a crazy play just so she would know what plays NOT to go to when she was married. It seems that Flora is a manners/society snob. She's funny, though.
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