By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
How to explain the soothing yet buoyant effect that Barbara Pym’s two best novels have on one? Excellent Women and Some Tame Gazelle are both wonderfully therapeutic reads for people fed up with modern life. And also for those who just love relationship novels laced with dry humor. I re-read Excellent Women every ten years or so since it is so enjoyable, and I was delighted to see that cutting-edge literary critics have decided that Barbara Pym is once again making a comeback. She’s made a couple of comebacks since her books were published in the ’50s, as new generations discover her subtle charm.
Set in post World War II England, Excellent Women lets us share in the joys and disappointments of one Mildred Lathbury, who leads a mild-mannered life, as one of those “excellent women” who is always helping out in the parish. There are many uncomfortable life situations that Mildred is drawn into that she believes exceed her experience of men and relationships, but she carries on admirably, much to her surprise.
From the gently mysterious beginning to the satisfyingly concluded ending Excellent Women is a wonderful throw-back of a story.
