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Loading... A Far Cry from Kensington (New Directions Paperbook) (original 1988; edition 2014)by Muriel Spark (Author)
Work InformationA Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark (1988)
  
Books Read in 2024 (81) » 9 more No current Talk conversations about this book.  dchaikin | Jan 22, 2023 |   Muriel Spark illuminates the politics of the publishers of the past. She pokes fun at the seemingly unattainable ājob in publishingā ā and the many people who seek it. Themes include truth, transformation, and revenge. I particularly enjoyed the first half of this book, before the darkness sets in. I found it an odd mixture of humor and malevolence. I enjoyed the writing and the dry humor. I was unprepared for its abrupt ending. (  ) Castlelass | Oct 30, 2022 |  ) jwhenderson | Jul 2, 2022 | ) hemlokgang | May 19, 2022 | Muriel Spark is in fine form here poking fun at the world of publishing in London in the 1950s ā a world she knew well. But it is also a closely observed milieu full of young war widows, chancers, women of talent, and worried refugees. There are class divisions but the only division that matters, at least to people like Nancy, is between those who are capable and those who are not. Very easy to recommend. ( ) RandyMetcalfe | Apr 21, 2022 |
 ''A Far Cry From Kensington,'' her 18th novel, is the perfect vehicle for her to win over Philistines like me. At the risk of being drummed out of the Book Reviewers Union, I feel the best way to convey the pleasure this novel gives is to compare it to a wonderful old Alec Guinness movie, something along the lines of ''The Lavender Hill Mob.'' True, it follows the rules of art right down the line and illuminates the human condition, etc. But it also meets a trickier challenge, that of being superb entertainment
Set on the crazier fringes of 1950s literary London, A Far Cry from Kensington is a delight, hilariously portraying love, fraud, death, evil, and transformation. Mrs. Hawkins, the majestic narrator of A Far Cry from Kensington, takes us well in hand and leads us back to her threadbare years in postwar London. There, as a fat and much admired young war widow, she spent her days working for a mad, near-bankrupt publisher ("of very good books") and her nights dispensing advice at her small South Kensington rooming house. At work and at home Mrs. Hawkins soon uncovered evil: shady literary doings and a deadly enemy; anonymous letters, blackmail, and suicide. With aplomb, however, Mrs. Hawkins confidently set about putting things to order, little imagining the mayhem that would ensue. Now decades older, thin, successful, and delighted with life in Italy-quite a far cry from Kensington-Mrs. Hawkins looks back to all those dark doings and recounts how her own life changed forever. She still, however, loves to give advice: "It's easy to get thin. You eat and drink the same as always, only half
I offer this advice without fee; it is included in the price of this book." A Far Cry from Kensington has been hailed as "outstanding" (Observer), "wickedly and adroitly executed" (New York Times), and "a comedy that holds a tragedy as an eggcup holds an egg" (Philadelphia Inquirer). No library descriptions found. 
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.85)
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Wikipedia in English (1)
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published: 1988
format: 185-page paperback, 2000 edition from New Direction Classic
acquired: 2021 read: Jan 16-18 time reading: 6:03, 2.0 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: not-quite-contemporary fiction theme: TBR
locations: Kensington and West End, London, 1954
about the author: 1918-2006. Scottish novelist born in Edinburgh
Litsy post
I always find planning to read from my own TBR stacks somehow a little imperfect, but thatās what I did here.
As a recreation of 1954/55 South Kensington and Londonās publishing world, this is something of a masterpiece. Iām clueless about South Kensington, but it wasnāt the ritzy place in the 1950ās that it is today. The short book is little slow in its plot line. But it vividly recreates a textured populated world and has a dark charm.
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I should add that's it's first person and has some humor and I even laughed out loud. This is my third novel by Spark. I found it less ambitious than [The Prime of Jean Brodie] or [Memento Mori], but much more interior than those books, well, at least more relatable and saner than Jean. I loved how she captures these really interesting internal self-reflections of Nancy Hawkins, including the opening paragraph.
Actually, for dedicated readers, I'll share that opening paragraph (this is more skippable than other things here).
So great was the noise during the day that I used to lie awake at night listening to the silence. Eventually, I fell asleep contented, filled with soundlessness, but while I was awake I enjoyed the experience of darkness, thought, memory, sweet anticipations. I heard the silence. It was in those days of the early 'fifties of this century that I formed the habit of insomnia. Insomnia is not bad in itself. You can lie awake at night and think; the quality of insomnia depends entirely on what you decide to think of. Can you decide to think? -- Yes, you can. You can put your mind to anything most of the time. You can sit peacefully in front of a blank television set, just watching nothing; and sooner or later you can make your own programme much better than the mass product. It's fun, you should try it. You can put anyone you like on the screen, alone or in company, saying and doing what you want them to do, with yourself in the middle if you prefer it that way.
Anyway, recommended for Spark fans and anyone else looking to gently visit another time and place.
2023
https://www.librarything.com/topic/347061#8045985 (