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loriraderday's review against another edition
5.0
Really good but do not read this for a lighthearted happy ending or you will be ruined.
kimbofo's review against another edition
3.0
A book about a bookshop seems hard to resist, right?
Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop — first published in 1978 — has languished in my TBR for years, but I was only encouraged to read it after I watched the film adaptation last week (it’s streaming on SBS on Demand for anyone in Australia who fancies checking it out). Unfortunately, the film was a bit on the dull side (despite great performances from Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy), so I wanted to find out whether the book was better.
And it was.
While the film is faithful to the novel in terms of dialogue, characters and plot, it somehow fails to capture the subtle humour and the little digs at busybodies and those who wish to keep a good woman down, as it were.
And it also neglects to even mention the supernatural element of the storyline in which the lead character, Florence Green, is pestered by a poltergeist (or “rapper” as the locals call it). Perhaps the filmmakers thought that might distract from the main storyline, which is a bittersweet tale about a widow who opens a bookshop against the wishes of the community “elite” who would rather an arts centre was established in the town.
Set in East Anglia, in 1959, the book is essentially a comedy of manners. It’s about petty-minded villagers who rail against Florence’s plan to open a bookshop in the small town of Hardborough on the coast — although it’s never made entirely clear why they think it is so objectionable.
Florence is kind-hearted but she’s also determined to do her own thing. (And maybe that’s why the locals are so against a bookshop being set up — women, after all, should be home makers and looking after children, but Florence is widowed and child free and she has a dream she wants to fulfil.)
She buys the Old House — “built five hundred years ago out of earth, straw, sticks and oak beams” — which has been vacant for years and is rumoured to be haunted by a poltergeist.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop — first published in 1978 — has languished in my TBR for years, but I was only encouraged to read it after I watched the film adaptation last week (it’s streaming on SBS on Demand for anyone in Australia who fancies checking it out). Unfortunately, the film was a bit on the dull side (despite great performances from Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy), so I wanted to find out whether the book was better.
And it was.
While the film is faithful to the novel in terms of dialogue, characters and plot, it somehow fails to capture the subtle humour and the little digs at busybodies and those who wish to keep a good woman down, as it were.
And it also neglects to even mention the supernatural element of the storyline in which the lead character, Florence Green, is pestered by a poltergeist (or “rapper” as the locals call it). Perhaps the filmmakers thought that might distract from the main storyline, which is a bittersweet tale about a widow who opens a bookshop against the wishes of the community “elite” who would rather an arts centre was established in the town.
Set in East Anglia, in 1959, the book is essentially a comedy of manners. It’s about petty-minded villagers who rail against Florence’s plan to open a bookshop in the small town of Hardborough on the coast — although it’s never made entirely clear why they think it is so objectionable.
Florence is kind-hearted but she’s also determined to do her own thing. (And maybe that’s why the locals are so against a bookshop being set up — women, after all, should be home makers and looking after children, but Florence is widowed and child free and she has a dream she wants to fulfil.)
She buys the Old House — “built five hundred years ago out of earth, straw, sticks and oak beams” — which has been vacant for years and is rumoured to be haunted by a poltergeist.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
xenasrad's review against another edition
2.0
Very simple, descriptive writing. Painted a portrait of the community in a really short novel.
rowanandtarot's review against another edition
4.0
A brilliant look at small town people and politics. Florence Green decides to establish a bookshop in an old building against all sorts of odds and against the wishes of the town matriarch who wanted the building for her own project. After living in a small town for over thirty years, I have seen stories like this play out time and again. I love the characters of Florence Green, Christine Gipping, Raven, Mr. Brundish, and Wally. I have known various Violet Gamarts and Milo Norths. Although this is not the most exciting of books, it is extremely insightful and realistic. I am in awe of the writer.
fictionwriter's review against another edition
4.0
The first I've read by Penelope Fitzgerald about a woman trying to start a bookshop in a small town...she is living a life of quiet desperation, but one which engages the reader In its exploration of the corrosive qualities that can come to a community through one or two self absorbed people. The ending is one of the saddest I've read in a long time.
mrscottaustin's review against another edition
2.0
It was a quick read, and the characters were very believable. Many of them made me mad the same way A Confederacy of Dunces made me mad because they were obnoxious but believable. Luckily, the protagonist is likable.
jonfaith's review against another edition
4.0
My expectations were a bit Pym-ish. The Bookshop promised all sorts of apt visions, austerity, widows, spinsters, modernity, the Church. Well there were traces of such harbored within, but the bend bent elsewhere. I was actually reminded of Murdoch's Sandcastles, the provincials backbiting like crabs, human spirit crushed by petty jealousy. It was perfect day for this here: cats and dogs all day.