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paul_cornelius's review against another edition
2.0
There are so many stiff upper lips in this novel, I'm surprised any of the characters can manage to utter a word. Or sip tea and smoke cigarettes--their other obsessions. It's the story of the Legation quarter in Peking during the early 1930s. Love affairs bloom among the young, the too young, and the middle aged. The ringmaster of this circus is Mrs. Laura Leroy, who spends the first twenty some odd pages deciding whether to go on a picnic. But it's not a picnic like most of us imagine. No, it's a four day excursion to a Buddhist temple in the hills outside of Peking. Deciding to go, Laura spends the remainder of the novel falling into an affair with a professor of psychology, Vinstead. Along the way, Chinese bandits appear, make some trouble for the picnickers, and then the heat comes and strikes down one of the youngsters.
It's not that this type novel has no place in serious literature. It's just that this book isn't serious literature. Or good fiction. It's lifeless in its description of China, the Chinese, and Peking, where places and people seem remote. Sort of like when I would visit my grandmother's house when I was young and find her expensive furniture covered in plastic. Exquisite taste turned to uncomfortable living. What I really think is going on, here, is that Peking Picnic is a down market version of A Passage to India, with Mrs. Leroy taking up the know-it-all role and queen of instincts that Mrs. Moore displays in Forster's book. Forster's effort is a masterpiece of inner thoughts combining with the imagery of exhausted empire in British Inida. Peking Picnic attempts the same in China. But making it all impossible, for me, is Mrs. Leroy. If ever the word supercilious belonged to a fictional character, it belongs to Mrs. Leroy. But, aha, this all isn't necessarily so fictional. Looking into this novel, critics have explored its connections to actual people living in the Peking Legation Quarter during the late 20s and early 30s. These people are real? Horrible to thinks so. But likely true.
I do see that Ann Bridge also has a mystery series she has written. I may take a look at that. But I'm not sure I'm up to any more of her attempts at serious subject matters.
It's not that this type novel has no place in serious literature. It's just that this book isn't serious literature. Or good fiction. It's lifeless in its description of China, the Chinese, and Peking, where places and people seem remote. Sort of like when I would visit my grandmother's house when I was young and find her expensive furniture covered in plastic. Exquisite taste turned to uncomfortable living. What I really think is going on, here, is that Peking Picnic is a down market version of A Passage to India, with Mrs. Leroy taking up the know-it-all role and queen of instincts that Mrs. Moore displays in Forster's book. Forster's effort is a masterpiece of inner thoughts combining with the imagery of exhausted empire in British Inida. Peking Picnic attempts the same in China. But making it all impossible, for me, is Mrs. Leroy. If ever the word supercilious belonged to a fictional character, it belongs to Mrs. Leroy. But, aha, this all isn't necessarily so fictional. Looking into this novel, critics have explored its connections to actual people living in the Peking Legation Quarter during the late 20s and early 30s. These people are real? Horrible to thinks so. But likely true.
I do see that Ann Bridge also has a mystery series she has written. I may take a look at that. But I'm not sure I'm up to any more of her attempts at serious subject matters.
kdominey's review against another edition
3.0
This book reminded me heavily of The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf with the ex-pat storyline and indeed the ending. The style of writing is dated as it is written in the 1930s and not my usual style so I didn’t really connect with the book. Bridge is very good at writing vivid imagery so that aspect I enjoyed.
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