I'm sure that I read some of the Jeeves and Wooster novels by P G Wodehousewhen I was younger. But I had never heard of the Blandings series so this, it's first, was all new to me. Whilst not as dated as I thought it might be, it was certainly not laugh out loud as more modern comedies such as Eleanor Oliphant. Whilst amusing and witty, it's strict linear structure did it no favours. I won't be reading any others.
This book is probably more suited to someone closer to the age of our precious narrator Frances who is twenty one. All four main characters come under that same description. To me, they were caricatures of modern middle class Dubliners. Frances is very bright on an intellectual level, streets ahead of me personality wise at the same age. Some of Sally Rooney's descriptions were really off the wall. "The air felt helpless and trapped on the streets". A first time novelist experimenting and going over the top. Just don't get me started about the ending!
Surprisingly for an Anne Tyler novel, I found the first half slow and irritating, populated by mostly ordinary, superficial characters. The book traces the lives of Michael and Pauline, a married couple who steadily grow apart. The ten chapters find them at different stages of their relationship. It is only half way through that, suddenly, we are pitched into a real adventure for the now mature husband and wife. The pace picks up and races through the remainder of a story of typical Tyler domestic drama. One thing I did find interesting was that America also had rationing during the second world war.
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