South Riding

[callmemadam]

I bought this early edition of South Riding at the market a while ago. As I’d run out of library books and this is the book of the moment, I decided to read it again. I can only say that I must have been a much more patient reader when I was younger because my constant thought on re-reading is this book is too long and needs editing. I doubt if I’ll finish.




Someone has clipped and pasted into my book a review and cast list for the 1938 film.



The review says that Ralph Richardson is good but ‘hardly a romantic figure’. He’s certainly not my idea of Carne!



I’ll reserve judgement on the BBC series until it’s finished. I sighed when our heroine said to the appointment board, ‘This is 1934!’. Telling us the date or having people introduced by ‘Ah, here comes Mr Gladstone, the Prime Minister,’ is an infallible sign of a bad period drama. Plus, in the book, Sarah is appointed head in 1932. She doesn’t dazzle in red, either, but wears dark brown clothes and sensible shoes.

I’ve only just discovered inside this copy something for my ‘found in books’ album.



4% guaranteed! Those were the days. Now, as I bought some more books at the market this morning, I'll read something different.

Comments

[cornflowerbooks.livejournal.com]

My comment seems to have vanished, so trying again.
Re. the lack of editing, could it have been because the book was published posthumously?
I noticed the anachronistic dialogue in last week's episode - would a 1930s teacher have thanked a pupil for 'sharing' her poem, or whatever it was, in class?

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I think you must have commented without being signed in, which is why your comment didn't show the first time.
I don't know about the editing. There was obviously a market for these great meandering novels; look at J B Priestley. A while ago I tried yet again to read The Good Companions, published about the same time, and gave up on it.
Sharing, yes! One of the very things I picked up on.

[(Anonymous)]

She's a bit too dazzling in red, isn't she? Dorothy Tutin in the original series looked more convincing.
But quibbles apart, I think it works far better as television than as a novel. Like you, I read it years ago - and can only wonder now at the patience of my younger self! There were so many passages that I'd cheerfully slash.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the Dorothy Tutin version, so can't judge.
I am persevering with it at the moment but I get tired of the way every character is given a back story.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

The actress has quite a strong resemblance to the portrait of "Jillian" on the cover of the Virage edition - but she's dressed quite drably. i wonder who the real "JIllian" was?

[ramblingfancy.livejournal.com]

I read it again fairly recently and enjoyed it a lot, but then tended to skip some of the boring bits! I found the Bessy Warbuckle character far too vividly dressed as well. That really is a gorgeous edition though and love the Pall Mall Building Society ad. My find today was in Poole of all places - £3 for lovely dustwrappered fat copy of Priorsford - one with boy and dog. Couldn't resist!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Incredible coincidence! I bought that very same edition of Priorsford at the market yesterday. Pictures later.

[ramblingfancy.livejournal.com]

That is spooky as Dame Edna would say! Looking forward to hearing what else you found. I was good and put a couple of things back as no bargains, but have you read any Stella Gibbons apart from Cold Comfort and Nightingale? Saw one of hers that looked intriguing - White Sand and Grey Sand, but £30!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Spooky indeed. I've read and have Conference at Cold Comfort Farm, which isn't as good as the original. Also once had but sold (idiot!) A Pink Front Door and
Starlight. They're not worth paying a lot of money for, IMO but I wish I'd kept them, if only for the dustwrappers.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

I can't decide whether or not to watch the next episode - the last one had me almost spitting with rage and disappointment - they seem to be trying to turn it into a romantic novel rather than a novel about local government.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I don't think you can really blame them for that! The book is a strange mix of love and politics.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Yeeees - but the letter to her mother makes clear that the book is essentially a fictitious portrait of local government - yet they've cut out the character who is clearly based on her mother, and who is the central character of the book., Also, the wishy-washy "lost love" aspect that the last episodes suggested is a complete misrepresentation of the situation of one of the pairs of lovers - i mean, of course, the headmistress and Carne - they seem to be trying to turn that into the central plot, which is , again, a complete misrepresentation of the book.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

PS I'm speaking from the perspective of being about three-quarters through a re-read - so I'm not speaking from ancient memory

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Grovel! The character hasn't been completely cut - but has been so changed and diminished that I failed to notice her - and the vita scene between her and the headmistress and Carne is embarked on last night, then ended within seconds, completely omitting the exchange that tells the reader so much about all three, and about "Midge".