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Julian Fellowes,creator of the Emmy-Award winning TV series Downton Abbey,established himself as an irresistible storyteller and a deliciously witty chronicler of modern manners in his first novel, Snobs, a wickedly astute portrait of the intersecting worlds of aristocrats and actors. "The English, of all classes as it happens, are addicted to exclusivity. Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them." The best comedies of manners are often deceptively simple, seamlessly blending social critique with character and story. In his superbly observed first novel, Julian Fellowes, winner of an Academy Award for his original screenplay of Gosford Park, brings us an insider's look at a contemporary England that is still not as classless as is popularly supposed. Edith Lavery, an English blonde with large eyes and nice manners, is the daughter of a moderately successful accountant and his social-climbing wife. While visiting his parents' stately home as a paying guest, Edith meets Charles, Earl of Broughton, and heir to the Marquess of Uckfield, who runs the family estates in East Sussex and Norfolk. To the gossip columns he is one of the most eligible young aristocrats around. When he proposes. Edith accepts. But is she really in love with Charles? Or with his title, his position, and all that goes with it? One inescapable part of life at Broughton Hall is Charles's mother, the shrewd Lady Uckfield, known to her friends as "Googie" and described by the narratorâ??-an actor who moves comfortably among the upper classes while chronicling their foiblesâ??-"as the most socially expert individual I have ever known at all well. She combined a watchmaker's eye for detail with a madam's knowledge of the world." Lady Uckfield is convinced that Edith is more interested in becoming a countess than in being a good wife to her son. And when a television company, complete with a gorgeous leading man, descends on Broughton Hall to film a period drama, "Googie's" worst fears seem fully justified… (mere)
I picked this book up because it was written by the guy who wrote the scripts for Downton Abbey.
It really has very little plot and is more of a character study of the aristocrats and wannabes. It's not a comedy of manners, because it's not presented in a satirical way. It is a glimpse inside the world from an observer on the fringes. It seems nearly to be a Roman a Clef. The author admits that he was born and raised on the edge of this world and went to debutante dances and the like, so he is writing from experience--Talk about "write what you know..."
This is a great book for anyone fascinated by the British Aristocracy. It tells the secret codes that they use to know who is a real aristocrat and who is just a social climber. It reminds me of some friends' parents from the Main Line. The way they can put you in your place and let you know you are "not really one of them" and you don't realize what a put down it was because they are all sooo polite.
If you are interested in the Royals and British Aristocracy, this is a must read. If you are looking for a juicy soap opera, this isn't really it at all. Like the Britissh,it's all very low key. ( )
Fellowes starts out with a scathing satire that morphs into a farce before becoming a tragedy which all too neatly resolves at the end. This could be an interesting and biting commentary about the social aspirations of those just outside (below) the British aristocracy, the lame efforts of the aristocracy to ward off those aspirations, and the dissipation of both by arrogance -- not to mention ephemeral actors of fleeting notoriety. But there needs to be some hook, some dynamic interaction, at least one character to sustain a reader's interest. Having spent considerable time in Northumbria, I understood the remoteness of the aristocracy from locals and most everyone else, the closed and small world they inhabit; I even understood the upward aspirations that marriage into the aristocracy can fulfill -- but entails a cutting of most if not all threads to the previous class. Consequently, I enjoyed some scenes, laughed aloud at several, and was hoping for something like the brilliant screenplay/film 'Gosford Park," but on the whole 'Snobs' was disappointing. ( )
I just kept thinking "what am I doing here?". It's like that time I read a romance novel. P. G. Wodehouse it is not. And I'm not much of a fan of that either. ( )
Fellowes can certainly write a decent sentence; his prose is as refined as his vowels.
But what is the point of his book? However rarefied their realm, novels must speak of the wider human condition, of universal truths. The characters in Snobs don't even run the gamut of emotions from A to B; they start at A and then, distracted by the sight of dear old Googie guffawing at the other side of the room, they hiccup to a standstill.
Which would be fine were this a biting satire. It is not.
Julian Fellowes,creator of the Emmy-Award winning TV series Downton Abbey,established himself as an irresistible storyteller and a deliciously witty chronicler of modern manners in his first novel, Snobs, a wickedly astute portrait of the intersecting worlds of aristocrats and actors. "The English, of all classes as it happens, are addicted to exclusivity. Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them." The best comedies of manners are often deceptively simple, seamlessly blending social critique with character and story. In his superbly observed first novel, Julian Fellowes, winner of an Academy Award for his original screenplay of Gosford Park, brings us an insider's look at a contemporary England that is still not as classless as is popularly supposed. Edith Lavery, an English blonde with large eyes and nice manners, is the daughter of a moderately successful accountant and his social-climbing wife. While visiting his parents' stately home as a paying guest, Edith meets Charles, Earl of Broughton, and heir to the Marquess of Uckfield, who runs the family estates in East Sussex and Norfolk. To the gossip columns he is one of the most eligible young aristocrats around. When he proposes. Edith accepts. But is she really in love with Charles? Or with his title, his position, and all that goes with it? One inescapable part of life at Broughton Hall is Charles's mother, the shrewd Lady Uckfield, known to her friends as "Googie" and described by the narratorâ??-an actor who moves comfortably among the upper classes while chronicling their foiblesâ??-"as the most socially expert individual I have ever known at all well. She combined a watchmaker's eye for detail with a madam's knowledge of the world." Lady Uckfield is convinced that Edith is more interested in becoming a countess than in being a good wife to her son. And when a television company, complete with a gorgeous leading man, descends on Broughton Hall to film a period drama, "Googie's" worst fears seem fully justified
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