No Laughing Matter, by Angus Wilson
No Laughing Matter, by Angus Wilson
Well, I'm sure Will's family have done all they can, Miss Rickard. I was only too happy to take on dear Quentin's fees at Westminster, of course. No one looks smarter in his topper, I'm sure. Though I do wish we still has Hopkins, Will. What a sheen he used to put on your father's hats. But there we are; we can't talk about valets on an annuity, can we? I'm lucky enough to have Edith and Cook and Colyer. Though I do all I can for everyone, I must say.
Once again, the 1001 books list falls victim to a craving to include many or all works by certain "important" authors who probably should have been represented by much fewer. Angus Wilson is best known for The Middle Age of Mrs. Elliott and some other early books; No Laughing Matter is known, if at all, as an indication of when his work began to go downhill.
It's hard to read. Just check off the tropes as they come. Children of a once-rich family now fallen on hard times, having to give up privilege in a way presented as if dear little lambs are being pushed into a cold slaughterhouse. Thoughtlessly tyrannical stiff-upper-lip parents. A cockney servant who keeps her real thoughts to herself. The snooty teen who, prior to WWII, decides that Hitler has the right idea, wot-wot. A character gambles away money entrusted to her, at a devastating loss to those who entrusted it to her, and the important loss is supposed to be about her own guilt feelings and the tragedy that she has to go to jail.
The best parts of the book are chapters written in the form of plays, with the siblings as characters talking to one another while play-acting the adults. It communicates the bond between them and how the grown-up behavior comes across to the impressionable young minds. The worst part consists of a triggering episode early in the book, in which the adults drown a litter of kittens behind the backs of the kids who have adopted them. Not highly recommended.
Well, I'm sure Will's family have done all they can, Miss Rickard. I was only too happy to take on dear Quentin's fees at Westminster, of course. No one looks smarter in his topper, I'm sure. Though I do wish we still has Hopkins, Will. What a sheen he used to put on your father's hats. But there we are; we can't talk about valets on an annuity, can we? I'm lucky enough to have Edith and Cook and Colyer. Though I do all I can for everyone, I must say.
Once again, the 1001 books list falls victim to a craving to include many or all works by certain "important" authors who probably should have been represented by much fewer. Angus Wilson is best known for The Middle Age of Mrs. Elliott and some other early books; No Laughing Matter is known, if at all, as an indication of when his work began to go downhill.
It's hard to read. Just check off the tropes as they come. Children of a once-rich family now fallen on hard times, having to give up privilege in a way presented as if dear little lambs are being pushed into a cold slaughterhouse. Thoughtlessly tyrannical stiff-upper-lip parents. A cockney servant who keeps her real thoughts to herself. The snooty teen who, prior to WWII, decides that Hitler has the right idea, wot-wot. A character gambles away money entrusted to her, at a devastating loss to those who entrusted it to her, and the important loss is supposed to be about her own guilt feelings and the tragedy that she has to go to jail.
The best parts of the book are chapters written in the form of plays, with the siblings as characters talking to one another while play-acting the adults. It communicates the bond between them and how the grown-up behavior comes across to the impressionable young minds. The worst part consists of a triggering episode early in the book, in which the adults drown a litter of kittens behind the backs of the kids who have adopted them. Not highly recommended.