Excellent Women

De: Barbara Pym

Narrado por: Jayne Entwistle

Excellent Women is one of Barbara Pym's richest and most amusing high comedies. This is Barbara Pym's world at its funniest.

Mildred Lathbury is a clergyman's daughter and a mild-mannered spinster in 1950s England. She is one of those excellent women - the smart, supportive, repressed women whom men take for granted. As Mildred gets embroiled in the lives of her new neighbors - anthropologist Helena Napier; Helen's handsome, dashing husband, Rocky; and Julian Malory, the vicar next door - the novel presents a series of snapshots of human life as actually, and pluckily, lived in a vanishing world of manners and repressed desires.

©2016 Barbara Pym (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Excellent Book!

Pym's ability to weave vivid and living characters is simply amazing. You get drawn into this book like you are living along with Mildred. Larkin called Pym the most underestimated novelist of the century. Read this and find out why!

A small story written in a big way.

I haven't listened to a book on Audible that I've enjoyed as much as this one in a very long time. No car crashes, no unbelievable happenings, no vampires or zombies. Just a lovely story about women, and in particular one woman, living in London, post two world wars and written so beautifully that one recognizes the emotions, the uncertainties and the realization that not being a wife does not diminish the life of a woman - she can still be an excellent woman. I could not stop listening to this gem.

Terrific reading of Pym's sly, hilarious novel

Would you consider the audio edition of Excellent Women to be better than the print version?

Both are faithful to the other.

What other book might you compare Excellent Women to and why?

Pride and Predjudice. Clergyman's daughter, Mildred Lathbury, is as obtuse as Elizabeth Bennett when it comes to seeing that a man adores her.

Which character – as performed by Jayne Entwistle – was your favorite?

All of them! Entwistle does a great job with the whole ensemble.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No--I wanted to stretch it out as long as possible

Any additional comments?

I only wish there were more of Barbara Pym's novels available as audiobooks/

Clever Slice of Life that belongs in your library

This story alone is a wonderful read and the narrator makes it a wonderful experience!

church snd kinship

well constructed, literate, domestic problems. At first glance seems simple but it isn't. Good reader.

Simplicity and Humor

This was such a pleasant read! Sweet and humorous. I enjoyed the innocence and simplicity of the story and found myself wanting to listen every spare moment.

At last a Barbara Pym

If you could sum up Excellent Women in three words, what would they be?

Funny, touching, smart.

What about Jayne Entwistle’s performance did you like?

Jayne Entwistle did an excellent job. Her voice was well suited to the book and she did a super job of distinguishing the characters by tone and accent.

Any additional comments?

I have read this book many times and listened to it as well in the old days when it was available on audio cassette. I was always hopeful that Audible would obtain the several titles written by Barbara Pym and I hope they soon add more. At least "Quartet in Autumn" and "Less than Angels" and "Some Tame Gazelle".

A special taste

If you know Barbara Pym, you will know that she writes about the lives of upstanding modest churchgoing women in postwar England to whom nothing very much happens. Within that understood framework, this book is exemplary, and the narration was perfect. I'd like to see more Pym on Audible.
This is not a book for those looking for action, romance or high drama, but it is written with an economy and sensitivity worthy of Jane Austen.

Meh...

This was a strange read, it's a lot to do about nothing. It was just a step into the everyday lives of a group of people that are connected by geography. I almost quit reading it several times but curiosity about the characters pulled me back in. A clean cozy with good narration.

Not a cozy little book

What a dreadful tale is told! Did those in Pym's contemporary readership see the tragedy written large in Mildred's life?

Pym has written a cautionary tale for spinsters of any period.