Living Without Sex (Virginia Fly Is Drowning - Angela Huth)

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	Virginia Fly Is Drowning - Angela Huth
Date:	31/07/07 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good obervational humour

Disadvantages: Unsatisying

I’m not sure where I picked up Virginia Fly Is Drowning by Angela Huth. I got it second-hand, so it might have been from a charity shop or an online book swap site. It’s not a very old book, my edition having been published in 1996, but it was first published back in 1972. The cover price on my paperback edition is £5.99. Amazon Marketplace has it available for 1p upwards!

The idea for the story is a rather charming one. Virginia Fly is a thirty one year old art teacher who lives at home with her parents – her annoying mother and hard-done-by father. Her quiet life of anonymity is suddenly threatened when Virginia has her fifteen minutes of fame, when she is featured in a TV documentary. The subject is her virginity – not something she really wants flashed around the nation, but she is ever optimistic of it leading to romance and seduction.

The novel begins well. I was interested in the characters and Angela Huth writes well and with great observational humour and dry wit. Virginia Fly is a woman who seems lost in the modern day, her ways and dress more reminiscent of the Victorians. She is admirable in some ways, but pathetic in others. She is good at her job, but fails to sparkle at anything. She is unfulfilled and is apparently happiest when lost in a fantasy world.

Her parents are wonderful characters. Her mother is overbearing, dominant, house proud and a snob. When her daughter gains TV exposure, her mother invites the neighbours round to watch it with her, leading to the farcical situation of the neighbourhood sat around discussing the status of Virginia’s virginity!

Her father is quiet, his personality pretty much suppressed by his wife’s. When glimpses of the real him come through though, he is warm and caring, albeit rather a tragic figure in some ways.

Virginia’s quest for love, sex, romance and marriage introduces us to several male characters. There is her American penpal Charlie, who finally comes to the UK to meet her, after twelve years of correspondence – surely a sign he is going to propose to her? Then there is the professor, a friend she goes out to concerts with, but their constant formality with each other surely means any intimacy is unlikely? Then a man called Ulick Brand, who is introduced to her by the wonderfully well-meaning Mrs Thompson. Could he be Virginia’s Mr. Right?

Mrs. Thompson is my favourite character in the novel, especially her unlikely friendship with Virginia’s mother. Their backgrounds are so different, but they form a great friendship. Some of Huth’s best writing comes from the scenes involving these two women.

The novel may sound rather like chick lit from the plot, but it is far removed from that genre. The ‘almost steamy’ parts stop well short of anything approaching erotica and it is a book you could happily loan out to your grandmother. It is more like Mary Wesley or Barbara Pym, both authors I enjoy. However, although there are flashes of brilliance in Angela Huth’s writing and some laugh-out-loud classic moments, overall, the novel disappointed me.

I think one of the main problems is that Virginia Fly is irritating. Although there are points when I sympathized with her, most of the time, I just wanted to give her a good shake and a long lecture. The last few chapters show her indecisiveness, which becomes annoying and by the end of the book, I really couldn’t have cared less who she married, if she married or if she jumped off a bridge. I began wishing Mr. Fly would run off with Mrs Thompson, so the novel would end up with some life in it!

It isn’t a bad novel, but it just became a tad tedious. Like Virginia Fly’s intact status, I too felt unfulfilled by the end of it. It’s a quick read at only 189 pages, but on reflection, I could have spent my time reading something much better.

Summary: Some good bits but overall, rather unsatisfying.