According to Queeney

Reading another three of Beryl Bainbridge's novels was one of the highlights of the recent Mookse Madness, and left me with a taste for more, particularly of her historical novels. I enjoyed this one a lot, an irreverent but well researched portrait of the later years of Dr Johnson, largely seen via the experiences of Queeney, his favourite and eldest daughter of his patrons Henry and Hester Thrale, at whose Streatham house Johnson spent much of the last 20 years of his life. So a portrait of the private man rather than the public figure Boswell made so well known.

The story is largely told by an omniscient narrator, with each chapter given a one word title, allowing Johnson's dictionary definitions to introduce each of them, and each is show more also followed by a letter written by Queeney in later life.

Bainbridge's wit ensures that nobody emerges entirely unscathed - Johnson is unpredictable and irascible, Hester Thrale is fickle and vain, and her husband Henry wastes his money and eventually kills himself by overeating, but the relationships between them are fairly convincing an three dimensional. So the whole thing is fun to read. I can't really comment on the historical accuracy, as I am not an expert on the period or the characters. show less

This is the second Beryl Bainbridge novel I've read, and I know I'll be reading many more. Because she writes in historical settings and, at least from what I've seen, about very English characters, one has to be willing not to have every detail and reference at hand while reading. One has to be willing to read up at least a little on the central characters (in this case, Samuel Johnson and Hester Thrale) or the central even (in Master Georgie, it was the Crimean War) to best appreciate the nuances of the story, though not to understand the story itself. Other writers might take two or three times as many words to tell the same story, but Bainbridge is careful and spare in her choice of words, making her unusual in the world of show more historical fiction. To my mind, it also makes her superior.

While the historical backdrop is important, but it merely provides the framework for what Bainbridge does most brilliantly, and that is to grant the reader multiple viewpoints on the same events through the eyes of several key characters. The result is that one comes away with a fuller understanding of the story than do any of the characters, while at the same time gaining insight into the pervasive effect of subjectivity in interpreting one's life. None of Bainbridge's characters, no matter how brilliant or how practical, escapes influence of their subjective interpretations of events. To some degree, even the reader is implicated, because the revelations of these varying interpretations come about by degrees, so we are spared a tedious omniscient narrator's view of the characters and events. Bainbridge's doubled and sometimes tripled views of events emerge slowly over the course of the novel, and the insights are all the more rewarding for the delay and the reliance on the reader's memory to fill in the gaps.

The plot of the book is much less important than the manner in which events unfold. In short, the novel covers primarily the twenty-year period in which Samuel Johnson was an intimate friend of Henry and Hester Thrale's. But as Bainbridge is a psychological novelist masquerading as a historical novelist, the real story takes place in the characters' relating to one another and revealing the passions, desires, and fears that drive them. show less

'According to Queeney' is a triumph of style, inventiveness, and most importantly, honesty. It follows the life of Samuel Johnson, the writer of the first English dictionary, and his friends in late 18th century England. The story, I am told, is factually very accurate, although I'm sure a lot of the tales must have been at least doctored by Bainbridge. There simply isn't enough about the man and the society around him to cover every assertion made about him and the events in the book.

The book is full of very interesting and well-drawn characters, from the irascible genius of Johnson himself, to the childhood prodigy Queeney, and her parents, who seem to love only other people. The dialogue sparkles as much as it honestly should. This show more is a compelling piece of historical literature, and I would recommend it to anyone with even the slightest interest in Georgian England. show less

'Clever' rather than enjoyable or illuminating, Bainbridge concocts a believable picture of Johnson's life with the Thrales, told from a variety of perspectives. Sadly the book focuses on the pettiness and cruelty of its protagonists – their rivalries and domestic bickering – and dwells unnecessarily on the crude and salacious. A missed opportunity.

This novel may possibly have had a greater impact on me if I knew anything about the life and times of Samuel Johnson apart from the fact that he wrote a dictionary, and of course that the Life of Samuel Johnson was written by Boswell. But I’ve never read it, and so am unfamiliar with Johnson, apart from the broadest of strokes. But while I may be lacking some of that knowledge I still really enjoyed this book.

We see a much different Johnson here than the one I’ve heard of, not a lot of genius showing, more depression and self-absorption.

The Queeney of the title is a child for much of the book, her mother and father have, in many ways, taken Johnson into their family and it is through this family, the Thrale’s that we see show more Johnson.

There are also letters interspersed with the story, Queeney’s written in adulthood to a cousin looking for information about Johnson. But the main part of the book is not specifically from Queeney’s POV, and this allows us to learn how wrong a lot of what Queeney thought about her mother Hester, was wrong.

This is an amusing little book, full of lines that’ll make you smile. Easy to read, and full of insights and interesting sentences. However, I never really got a sense of time from the book. The characters could have been from any era, not just that of Georgian England. Still, well worth a read. show less

Dr. Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer and English man of letters, became friends with the wealthy brewer Henry Thrale and his wife Hester, and lived with them at their country and London homes for seventeen years. What's known is that Johnson and Mrs Thrale had some kind of flirtation; it doesn't seem to be known how far that went. Queeney is the eldest daughter of the Thrales, who observes her mother, Johnson, and other goings on in the strange household.

This book describes a various episodes during those years. People are always visiting, or going on journeys, or returning from them. The squalor, filth, and illness of the 18th century are described in detail.

There's a lot of tension between Mrs. Thrale and Queeney, for no obvious show more reason except that Mrs. Thrale is a classic narcissist and Queeney defies her. Mrs. Thrale is constantly pregnant but nearly all her children die and she seems to care only for her son and for a daughter who died before the story begins. At one point a family friend reprimands Mrs. Thrale for giving Queeney so many tin pills for worms and for purging her so vigorously, and I'm all, wow, is this going to be Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy in the 18th century? Wild! but no.

I'm not sure what to say about this books. It doesn't have a real story arc; there are various incidents described by an omniscient narrator, interspersed with letters from Queeney written years later that show her to be an unreliable source. If the stories the narrator tells us are true.

If it has a theme it's that of unrequited love: Johnson's for Mrs Thrale, his houskeeper Mrs. Desmoulins for Johnson, Mrs. Thrale for her music teacher. Queeney for her mother.

I liked it, and it stayed with me. That counts for something. show less

I was much entertained by Bainbridge's writing style. Enjoyed that immensely and I would be very willing to read another of her novels.

The story, though, was a hot mess of adult bad behaviors. Not terribly enjoyable.