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kismazsola's review
3.0
Ezt a történetet tényleg csak a LibriVoxon hallgattam elalvás előtt, mosogatás, fogmosás és fürdés közben. Azért találtam egyáltalán rá, mert az egyik nagy kedvencem, Elizabeth Klett olvassa fel. Az ajánló szerint Jane Austen kedvelői ezt is élvezni fogják. Ez egy nagyon nagyvonalú ajánlás. Nem véletlen, hogy Emily Eden nevét még csak nem is hallottam soha.
Egyébként egy kedves kis történet volt egy maréknyi szereplővel (gyakorlatilag 3 család), akiknek beleláttunk kicsit a mindennapjaiba. Ott van a friss házas, várandós fiatalasszony, aki várja haza az urát; a szomszédai, akik szerintem az igazi főszereplők, maguk a megtestesült kedvesség minden középszerűségük ellenére. És persze egy bárói család, ahol pedig van egy árva unokahúg, csak hogy színesítsük a palettát. Valóban arról a rétegről olvashatunk, amit Jane Austen is bemutat a regényeiben, de azért minőségben egyáltalán nem éri el azt a szintet. Senkinek és semminek nincs mélysége.
Spoiler
Egy kedves komédia természete(llene)sen rózsaszínfelhős véggel.cdvicarage's review
3.0
I can't recommend this edition as the ending was missing, not that I needed the last few paragraphs as it was fairly obvious how it ended!
wolfsonarchitect's review
4.0
This is a well written comedy. It starts with a take on class-based stereotypes and then humanizes the characters. Unfortunately, it includes a depiction of a Jewish family a la the Rothchilds who are written with typical Victorian prejudice.
michael5000's review
2.0
A Victorian comic novel, quite light but not obnoxiously so. Eden wrote in a much plainer writing style than many of her contemporaries, which makes the text feel less obviously "old" than most nineteenth century novels. There are long stretches when you could mistake it for being 80 years younger than it actually is.
helena_chris's review
This book just doesn't have rhyme or reason, no story line, and no coherent story telling.
melindamoor's review against another edition
4.0
Warning!: contains elements of casual and matter-of-fact Victorian antisemitism that was a product of its time but offends the modern reader.
"The only thing more gratifying to find than a good book is a good book which has been neglected." Phyllis Rose, literary biographer
3,75 stars rounded up for this light and entertaining Victorian comedy of manners, published in 1859. It very much reads as if it were the literary child (or at least a cousin once removed) of
[ai:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588941810p2/1265.jpg] and
[ai:Oscar Wilde|3565|Oscar Wilde|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1521044377p2/3565.jpg]
"Aunt Sarah's good sense stepped in: she thought it better that young married women should have a fixed income, whatever it might be called, pin-money or allowance. They knew then what they ought to spend, and all their little charities, or any presents they wished to give, would be the fruits of their own self-denial, and she even hinted that the most devoted and liberal husbands would, after a certain term of married life, object to milliners' bills, and become possessed with an insane idea that their wives were extravagant and always asking for money. And although Colonel Hilton said it was impossible he could ever be such a brute as that, yet he thought Aunt Sarah's advice sensible."
I very much tend to agree with Miss Rose, especially as it concerns [a:Emily Eden|141789|Emily Eden|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1333222891p2/141789.jpg], who was totally unknown to me until Goodreads was kind enough to recommend it to me, because "I liked Jane Austen's books". So, a big THANK YOU goes to Goodreads.
Emily Eden was born in 1797 when Jane Austen had probably already finished First Impressions. How exciting. :)
Apparently Jane Austen was EE's favourite author and her influence can definitely be discovered in [b:The Semi-Detached House|10301752|The Semi-Detached House|Emily Eden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358731923l/10301752._SX50_.jpg|11205015].
Undoubtedly, it is lighter and the social sphere is higher. Its set is the Victorian aristocracy to which Emily Eden belonged -her father was the 1st Baron Auckland-. There are some great portrayals, memorable characters, some -though usually- light and witty social observance, and a potential to even more.
The story tells about the unlikely relations between two families from different social classes.
The lovely, young Lady Chester -recently and happily married- is about to have a baby so she is not allowed to accompany her husband to Berlin on a diplomatic mission.
He leaves her in a semi-detached house whose other half is occupied by a solidly middle-class family, the wife and daughters of a sea captain. The Chesters and Hopkinsons take to each other despite their different backgrounds.
Their foil comes in the person of the ostentatious, nouveau riche, social climbers Baron and Baroness Sampson, who are of Jewish origin. Here, there were also resemblances to [b:The Way We Live Now|149785|The Way We Live Now|Anthony Trollope|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453026230l/149785._SY75_.jpg|2152551] by [a:Anthony Trollope|20524|Anthony Trollope|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1199114248p2/20524.jpg].
Phyllis Rose calls it ''The Merchant of Venice' in English country dress."
"The only thing more gratifying to find than a good book is a good book which has been neglected." Phyllis Rose, literary biographer
3,75 stars rounded up for this light and entertaining Victorian comedy of manners, published in 1859. It very much reads as if it were the literary child (or at least a cousin once removed) of
[ai:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588941810p2/1265.jpg] and
[ai:Oscar Wilde|3565|Oscar Wilde|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1521044377p2/3565.jpg]
"Aunt Sarah's good sense stepped in: she thought it better that young married women should have a fixed income, whatever it might be called, pin-money or allowance. They knew then what they ought to spend, and all their little charities, or any presents they wished to give, would be the fruits of their own self-denial, and she even hinted that the most devoted and liberal husbands would, after a certain term of married life, object to milliners' bills, and become possessed with an insane idea that their wives were extravagant and always asking for money. And although Colonel Hilton said it was impossible he could ever be such a brute as that, yet he thought Aunt Sarah's advice sensible."
I very much tend to agree with Miss Rose, especially as it concerns [a:Emily Eden|141789|Emily Eden|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1333222891p2/141789.jpg], who was totally unknown to me until Goodreads was kind enough to recommend it to me, because "I liked Jane Austen's books". So, a big THANK YOU goes to Goodreads.
Emily Eden was born in 1797 when Jane Austen had probably already finished First Impressions. How exciting. :)
Apparently Jane Austen was EE's favourite author and her influence can definitely be discovered in [b:The Semi-Detached House|10301752|The Semi-Detached House|Emily Eden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358731923l/10301752._SX50_.jpg|11205015].
Undoubtedly, it is lighter and the social sphere is higher. Its set is the Victorian aristocracy to which Emily Eden belonged -her father was the 1st Baron Auckland-. There are some great portrayals, memorable characters, some -though usually- light and witty social observance, and a potential to even more.
The story tells about the unlikely relations between two families from different social classes.
The lovely, young Lady Chester -recently and happily married- is about to have a baby so she is not allowed to accompany her husband to Berlin on a diplomatic mission.
He leaves her in a semi-detached house whose other half is occupied by a solidly middle-class family, the wife and daughters of a sea captain. The Chesters and Hopkinsons take to each other despite their different backgrounds.
Their foil comes in the person of the ostentatious, nouveau riche, social climbers Baron and Baroness Sampson, who are of Jewish origin. Here, there were also resemblances to [b:The Way We Live Now|149785|The Way We Live Now|Anthony Trollope|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453026230l/149785._SY75_.jpg|2152551] by [a:Anthony Trollope|20524|Anthony Trollope|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1199114248p2/20524.jpg].
Phyllis Rose calls it ''The Merchant of Venice' in English country dress."
axl_oswaldo's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
<b>2.5 stars</b> rounded down
It is very sad when you are completely sure you will love one book, but once you finish it, your experience turns out not to be that successful. This is basically what I lived reading <b>The Semi-Detached House</b>, one of the two novels written by the Victorian novelist, Emily Eden.
It was just when I read other reviews here on Goodreads that I realized this situation was probably my fault, since you have to be in the right mood in order to enjoy this type of novel, a novel where 'nothing' happens from beginning to end.
I'm kind of a sucker for plotless novels, and I'm not talking about those experimental novels with stream of consciousness or a lot of crazy stuff—which are also my cup of tea, by the way—but about those stories where literally nothing is happening, a novel about manners, customs, society, gossip and the like, everything but plot or not mainly focused on character development. So, when I picked up this book, I knew beforehand what I was about to read—I'm always curious about my readings and therefore I try to look for any information regarding the author, their style of writing, topics that they usually talk about in their books, etc.—and although <b>The Semi-Detached House</b> is supposed to be a wholesome, charming, beautiful story about some people living together in a semi-detached house and overall about their neighborhood, it turned out to be a really insufferable and extremely boring experience.
Sorry but I couldn't help but feel I was wasting my time at some point reading this book. Many people say this novel is very Austenish, and I can see why and I'd probably agree on that, however, neither the style of writing nor the descriptions are similar to any Jane Austen novel I have read so far. For instance, Eden's prose was somehow plain and somewhat monotonous, I would say it had no soul, so to speak. Moreover, the characters were basically the same, from cover to cover, and it was even impossible for me to make a distinction between them; in short, they were so shallow with no dimension (perhaps with only one exception).
Again, I can see the resemblance between this story and an Austen novel, and as far as I am concerned, Jane Austen was Eden's favorite author, so it makes sense there are some topics in her novel that reminds you of your favorite Austen story, however, as I said before, if you are not ready for a story of that kind—though you already know there will not be a story, properly speaking—you won't have an enjoyable, remarkable experience.
Finally, I wouldn't like to say this novel was really terrible—even though the author decided to wrap up her story with a telegram, and where a situation is solved just like that, with no further explanation and with only one line at the end of the book—perhaps in other circumstances the experience would have been different; this time, it was a disappointing one nevertheless. That being said, there were two characters who were so likable, Mrs. Hopkinson and Rachel, that I really cared about them throughout the whole book, and if I ended up being interested in the story at some point, it was because of them. The rest of the characters were tolerable yet forgettable, nothing else to say.
I know my review is mainly a negative opinion, but I'm not giving up on this author; I would like to give Eden's first novel—<b>The Semi-Attached Couple</b>—a shot in the distant future (it was her second published book, though she wrote it 30 years before <b>The Semi-Detached House</b>) and to see if that one is my thing despite my first experience. Next time I will make sure that I am in the right mood to read such stories before picking them up.
<b>“Oh dear! how unamiable I am when I am with my uncle and aunt," thought Rachel, "thoroughly detestable I may say, and yet when I am with those girls, or little Charlie, I can be as good as gold, and so tame that that baby can lead me; I do believe evil qualities are more catching than measles.”</b>
It is very sad when you are completely sure you will love one book, but once you finish it, your experience turns out not to be that successful. This is basically what I lived reading <b>The Semi-Detached House</b>, one of the two novels written by the Victorian novelist, Emily Eden.
It was just when I read other reviews here on Goodreads that I realized this situation was probably my fault, since you have to be in the right mood in order to enjoy this type of novel, a novel where 'nothing' happens from beginning to end.
I'm kind of a sucker for plotless novels, and I'm not talking about those experimental novels with stream of consciousness or a lot of crazy stuff—which are also my cup of tea, by the way—but about those stories where literally nothing is happening, a novel about manners, customs, society, gossip and the like, everything but plot or not mainly focused on character development. So, when I picked up this book, I knew beforehand what I was about to read—I'm always curious about my readings and therefore I try to look for any information regarding the author, their style of writing, topics that they usually talk about in their books, etc.—and although <b>The Semi-Detached House</b> is supposed to be a wholesome, charming, beautiful story about some people living together in a semi-detached house and overall about their neighborhood, it turned out to be a really insufferable and extremely boring experience.
Sorry but I couldn't help but feel I was wasting my time at some point reading this book. Many people say this novel is very Austenish, and I can see why and I'd probably agree on that, however, neither the style of writing nor the descriptions are similar to any Jane Austen novel I have read so far. For instance, Eden's prose was somehow plain and somewhat monotonous, I would say it had no soul, so to speak. Moreover, the characters were basically the same, from cover to cover, and it was even impossible for me to make a distinction between them; in short, they were so shallow with no dimension (perhaps with only one exception).
Again, I can see the resemblance between this story and an Austen novel, and as far as I am concerned, Jane Austen was Eden's favorite author, so it makes sense there are some topics in her novel that reminds you of your favorite Austen story, however, as I said before, if you are not ready for a story of that kind—though you already know there will not be a story, properly speaking—you won't have an enjoyable, remarkable experience.
Finally, I wouldn't like to say this novel was really terrible—even though the author decided to wrap up her story with a telegram, and where a situation is solved just like that, with no further explanation and with only one line at the end of the book—perhaps in other circumstances the experience would have been different; this time, it was a disappointing one nevertheless. That being said, there were two characters who were so likable, Mrs. Hopkinson and Rachel, that I really cared about them throughout the whole book, and if I ended up being interested in the story at some point, it was because of them. The rest of the characters were tolerable yet forgettable, nothing else to say.
I know my review is mainly a negative opinion, but I'm not giving up on this author; I would like to give Eden's first novel—<b>The Semi-Attached Couple</b>—a shot in the distant future (it was her second published book, though she wrote it 30 years before <b>The Semi-Detached House</b>) and to see if that one is my thing despite my first experience. Next time I will make sure that I am in the right mood to read such stories before picking them up.
<b>“Oh dear! how unamiable I am when I am with my uncle and aunt," thought Rachel, "thoroughly detestable I may say, and yet when I am with those girls, or little Charlie, I can be as good as gold, and so tame that that baby can lead me; I do believe evil qualities are more catching than measles.”</b>
patrisias's review against another edition
3.0
I have read that Emily Eden is considered the Victorian Jane Austen. She also reminds me of EF Benson in some of those scathing characterizations. However, Eden lacks the depth that both Austen and Benson bring to their work. She also does not create the kind of characters that are beloved through generations. That said, this is a solid story and a very welcome retreat into civility and sensibility.
jowmy4's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5