GOOGIE'S BUNCH. (Snobs: A Novel - Julian Fellows)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	Snobs: A Novel - Julian Fellows
Date:	28/07/06 (118 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A super "fly on the wall" look at society.

Disadvantages: Might not appeal to all.

Snobs by Julian Fellowes is a delight. I bought it because it came with good recommendation and it was justified, because the story takes you into the world of the aristocracy, and you seem to get a “fly on the wall” image of who they are very accurately indeed. In fact the character portrayals within the 352 pages of this book delight the reader as the pictures painted with words really are fascinating.

The story revolves around the life of Edith Lavery, an attractive lady whose mother has ambitions for her daughter. Those ambitions rub off on Edith, who, finding herself working in a mundane job in an estate agents office, finds the idea of hobnobbing rather a delight, when she captures the heart of one of the most eligible bachelors around. Charles, an upper crust Earl is charmed by her, and their courtship leads to marriage. The book isn’t really just about the love affair, but the whole ridiculous circus that is part of being “upper crust”. Not only does Edith have ambition, but little by little believes the press image of herself, and I would imagine that it would be very hard not to be pulled into the whole media thing.

I loved the characters in this book, especially that of Lady Uckfield, who is portrayed as the kind of stalwart lady that makes Britishness a kind of gift, though her art is well practiced, and certainly her upbringing would have a lot to do with the image she creates within the story. A strong lady with the ability to triumph in any circumstances, without showing her feelings, and certainly the image I have always felt of the upper crust.

The character that narrates the story is an actor with a good solid background and education, although he remains anonymous throughout the book, and here, I didn’t much like the character portrayed, since he displayed himself as always fair, always the friend, and never the rogue, and in real life, would doubt the authenticity of a character with no flaws. A close friend of Edith throughout the story, he comes over as someone accepted in most circles, whilst telling the story of those who perhaps are not as easily accepted by the aristocracy that they try so hard to impress.

There were some delightful dinner party pieces in the book that had me laughing, and I could actually imagine the portrayals as being true to life. For example, the way in which those that want to be accepted into those circles that are fussy about who becomes part of them try so hard to impress but because of their very lack of class, fail miserably, by over generosity. You cannot buy the kind of class that makes you an acceptable person to the aristocracy. It’s almost like a club and either you are in it, or not. Those trying to become members are indeed the snobs of society, trying to be something that clearly they are not.

It’s a fun book and something that I enjoyed tremendously. Edith’s ambitions sometimes hamper the direction in which her life is taking her, though I won’t give any spoilers here. Suffice to say that you are convinced by the story, and the characters within the pages are very well described and very believable. What I did like was the way in which comparisons were made between the glory of show business, and the glories of being one of the elite in society, and when put on a simple comparison level such as this, it was actually amusing to think of temporarily popular people thinking themselves akin to the upper classes, though in fact so far away from ever being part and parcel of what makes them what they are.

Having never heard of this writer before, I had to admit to there being a similarity in his writing to that of Oscar Wilde, in that the satirical part of the book entertains, makes comparisons, and actually makes sense of perhaps aspects of a society I know very little about, and that makes it stand its’ ground as believable and entertaining.

Charles comes over as probably the most decent of the characters in the book. Misunderstood, and perhaps under-estimated throughout the book, I warmed to the character of the Earl, and his genuine feelings and need to please.

The book is available from Amazon, and I believe would appeal to those who love all things British, and would enjoy, for a moment in time, being that fly on the wall of British aristocracy. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thoroughly recommend it as a “must have”, that will be taken down from the shelf and read, at a future date, with the same enthusiasm with which I read it this time.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Phoenix Press; New Ed edition (February 28, 2005)
ISBN: 0753820099
Available from 6.99 GBP New or a penny from Amazon second hand section, although I like a crisp new book, and this one is worth it new.

Rachel

Summary: A great book.