An Autumn Sowing

This is the rather melancholic tale of a prosperous businessman in the "autumn" of his years (50s) realizing that all he has to show for his life are a silly wife, a preposterous daughter, a grotesquely-decorated house, business acquaintances, and a library full of books that hint at a world of beauty, grace and provenance that he covets even as he resigns himself to accepting that it is beyond his reach. Until a young woman enters his life, and he suddenly discovers himself "sowing" both the passion and pains of love.

I'm not entirely convinced the author, E.F. Benson, knew what he wanted to accomplish in this novel. The first few chapters of the book read as relatively standard period satire, skewering such familiar targets as silly show more wives, self-important priests, and social castes. Somewhere along the way, however, a funny thing happens: Benson appears to develop a certain fondness for his businessman protagonist Keeling - perhaps because poor Keeling at least aspires to passion, or perhaps because Keeling possesses the good sense to fall in love with Norah, Benson's sensible and appealing female lead. Whatever the reason, the novel gradually transitions from satire to sentiment, finally resolving into a climax that's a muddle of both.

Despite the novel's thematic inconsistency, however, I can't find it in me to be too critical. The fact is, I enjoyed Benson's comfortable prose, I found the main characters to be authentic and sincere, the satire was entertaining enough, and if the ending is a bit of a muddle, at least its a decorous muddle, sullied neither by cloying solicitude nor misogyny. An Autumn Sowing may not be an "improving" sort of book; on the whole, however, I felt its merits more than outweighed its flaws. show less

A very difficult book to review. The closest I can come to summing things up is that it feels like existential stoicism. Life disappoints and the most the characters can do is hold on to the brief glimmers of joy life has given them -- and then go on putting one foot ahead of the other and live out their lives with the meaning of (and no further hope for) love.

All and all I would have to say that the feeling I came away with
was... vaguely unfavorable.

It didn't quite go in the direction I thought it would. Not to say that is a bad thing. I expected things to just get worse
and worse one is just left with the feeling that there is no hope left in the universe.

Well, that's not where it went. I was glad when things
worked out the way that they did; which is to say (**spoiler!**) I was glad he didn't run off with his secretary in the end. I was glad they did the honorable thing.

However... Other than that, I was left feeling somewhat empty. The hero loses his true love, he loses the joy of books that he once had, he loses hope and his inner life, and he is left with... what? Sympathy with his show more daughter's plight? The plan to work himself until he's numb so that he won't have to feel the pain of his loss?

I suppose that's an ending. It just wasn't much of a climax to the story.

Not that there was all that much story to begin with. I mean, when I think back over the scenes from this book, I think of people doing clerical work and chatting vaguely over lunch. That's 80% of what I remember from the book. And the other 20% I remember is description of their surroundings.

I was left questioning what this book is about. Is it about finding love and losing it? Or is it about being a gentleman? The "being a gentleman" bit figured strongly into the resolution of the "finding love" plot, but neither of them really seemed to quite reach fruition in my mind.

Oh, I can't say I was left with an entirely unfavorable opinion of
the book. I mean, I always enjoy Benson's descriptions of places and their decorations. I enjoyed the characters he created (my favorites were the mother, the daughter and the minister. They all were vaguely familiar...) But honestly... there just wasn't a whole lot of story in this story, and the story that there was I found somewhat lacking. (A digression: Why does the jacket of this book imply that this book is *humorous*? I'm hard-put to recall a moment that even made me smile.)

FAR BE IT for me to criticise a Benson novel, but
there you have it. I did enjoy some moments of this book, but I was left largely unsatisified. show less

More serious than the Mapp and Lucia books, less sparkling than Dodo, but nonetheless good reading. A touching story of a middle-aged tradesman who falls in love with his secretary.

Great introduction to Benson.