Snobs

A Novel

De: Julian Fellowes

Narrado por: Richard Morant

Julian Fellowes, creator of the Emmy-Award winning TV series Downton Abbey, established himself as an irresistible storyteller and a deliciously witty chronicler of modern manners in his first novel, Snobs, a wickedly astute portrait of the intersecting worlds of aristocrats and actors.

"The English, of all classes as it happens, are addicted to exclusivity. Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them."

The best comedies of manners are often deceptively simple, seamlessly blending social critique with character and story. In his superbly observed first novel, Julian Fellowes, winner of an Academy Award for his original screenplay of Gosford Park, brings us an insider's look at a contemporary England that is still not as classless as is popularly supposed.

Edith Lavery, an English blonde with large eyes and nice manners, is the daughter of a moderately successful accountant and his social-climbing wife. While visiting his parents' stately home as a paying guest, Edith meets Charles, Earl of Broughton, and heir to the Marquess of Uckfield, who runs the family estates in East Sussex and Norfolk. To the gossip columns he is one of the most eligible young aristocrats around.

When he proposes. Edith accepts. But is she really in love with Charles? Or with his title, his position, and all that goes with it?

One inescapable part of life at Broughton Hall is Charles's mother, the shrewd Lady Uckfield, known to her friends as "Googie" and described by the narrator---an actor who moves comfortably among the upper classes while chronicling their foibles---"as the most socially expert individual I have ever known at all well. She combined a watchmaker's eye for detail with a madam's knowledge of the world." Lady Uckfield is convinced that Edith is more interested in becoming a countess than in being a good wife to her son. And when a television company, complete with a gorgeous leading man, descends on Broughton Hall to film a period drama, "Googie's" worst fears seem fully justified.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Snobs is everything you would hope for from the writer of 'Gosford Park.' A delicious thoroughbred delight, a guilty treat that is awake to every maddening and appallingly attractive nuance of English social life. The novel somehow contrives to be moral without being preachy or losing for a minute its gracefully shameless delight in the well bred and their satellites. A kind of Louis Auchincloss for our times, Julian Fellowes has written a book that is destined to grace all the bedside tables of all the better houses in the land.” —Stephen Fry, author of Revenge and The Liar

A Great

A fascinating tour through the inner workings of the English upper-upper class, replete with old aristocrats and social climbers, the rich and the riche, sprawling country homes and expensive London flats. Told quietly by a keen observer, with a wide array of well-written characters, Snobs is a National Geographic special on the strange customs and rituals of the landed-gentry and their hangers-on. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Great Characters!

Julian Fellowes has a wonderful sense of humor in this novel. The story line and characters are so endearing.

Loved it!!

Julian Fellowes, what is not to love? Wonderful narration in the best English snobbish form. But of all, I loved the ending and the prologue.

Just Plain Smart and Fun

Easy to enjoy. Moves right along. The author of Downtown Abbey does a send-up of TV shows about modern British Aristocracy.

"A Lesson in British Aristocracy"

What did you like best about Snobs? What did you like least?

I liked that the author writes for Downton Abby. I felt as though I was getting a lesson in how British upper classes conduct themselves, which I found fascinating from a sociological perspective. Similar themes were present, although the characters are not as likeable in this book, but then again, Snobs aren't likeable, are they?

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The central drama left a bit to be desired. If it was Downton Abby in a novel form, that would have been more preferable.