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brynpemery's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
pagesofpins's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
4.0
Dorothy Whipple has Jane Austen's shrewd eye for people in society and how they think and behave in ways that are unintentionally comical, as well as the comforts and beauty of describing everyday lives of women. Her working class characters strive for a wider world than they have, and are sympathetic even when poorly behaved. This book read like a BBC period drama, and I thought of The Paradise more than once.
The plot features a love pentagon, and one particular pairing I hoped wouldn't happen, but it did. From a literature standpoint, it fits beautifully with the overall themes of the book on experience being a costly but excellent teacher, but it still made me wince, and then roll my eyes. I also felt Wilfred was rather ill used. He seldom has any good fortune at all. Nonetheless, I would read the author again.
The plot features a love pentagon, and one particular pairing I hoped wouldn't happen, but it did. From a literature standpoint, it fits beautifully with the overall themes of the book on experience being a costly but excellent teacher, but it still made me wince, and then roll my eyes. I also felt Wilfred was rather ill used. He seldom has any good fortune at all. Nonetheless, I would read the author again.
mcsangel2's review against another edition
4.0
I'm taking a week's staycation and binging on persephone books. Couldn't put this one down!
hannhsmth's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
trudy26's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
bookbuyingaddict's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
andrew61's review against another edition
4.0
I never fail to enjoy Dorothy Whipple who captures people's lives with such skill and makes even the most modest of lives into the greatest of dramas.
When teenage Jane Carter sees a vacancy in a local clothing shop for a worker, and she succeeds in applying for the position her life changes and we follow the story of her rise but also the vagaries of her personal life.
Both a social history of the life of shop girls in the early 20th century, and a story of class, this book had me turning the pages as I would the best of thrillers.
If you haven't tried Dorothy Whipple I would recommend heartily.
When teenage Jane Carter sees a vacancy in a local clothing shop for a worker, and she succeeds in applying for the position her life changes and we follow the story of her rise but also the vagaries of her personal life.
Both a social history of the life of shop girls in the early 20th century, and a story of class, this book had me turning the pages as I would the best of thrillers.
If you haven't tried Dorothy Whipple I would recommend heartily.
wendoxford's review against another edition
4.0
How can you do anything but love a book that describes things as "efflugent" ....people becoming "empurpled" and turning to Marcus Aurelius for advice because he is "all embracing"? Let's hear it for Dorothy Whipple!
melindamoor's review against another edition
4.0
What a little, shiny Pearl of a BOOK.
"Unfortunately, readability is not a quality that is studied in universities; thus no literary critic has ever defined what makes Dorothy Whipple’s domestic, everyday books so gripping."
Quoted from the website of Persephone books and I couldn't agree more, but it is one of those cases when Simple, Humdrum & Everyday win easily over Convoluted, High Drama & Extraordinary and what a spectacular Victory it is.
Also from the Publisher's website:
"As Jane Brocket writes in her Persephone Preface: the novel ‘is a celebration of the Lancastrian values of hard work and stubbornness, and there could be no finer setting for a shop-girl-made-good story than the county in which cotton was king.’ And the cultural historian Catherine Horwood has written about this novel: ‘Dorothy Whipple was only too well aware that clothes were one of the keys to class in this period. Before WW1, only the well-off could afford to have their clothes made: yards of wool crepe and stamped silks were turned into costumes by an invisible army of dressmakers across the country, and the idea of buying clothes ready-made from a dress shop was still unusual. Vera Brittain talks of “hand-me-downs” in Testament of Youth with a quite different meaning from today. These were not clothes passed from sibling to sibling but “handed down from a rack” in an outfitter’s shop, a novelty.’ High Wages describes how the way people shopped was beginning to change; it is this change that Dorothy Whipple uses as a key turning point in her novel."
"Unfortunately, readability is not a quality that is studied in universities; thus no literary critic has ever defined what makes Dorothy Whipple’s domestic, everyday books so gripping."
Quoted from the website of Persephone books and I couldn't agree more, but it is one of those cases when Simple, Humdrum & Everyday win easily over Convoluted, High Drama & Extraordinary and what a spectacular Victory it is.
Also from the Publisher's website:
"As Jane Brocket writes in her Persephone Preface: the novel ‘is a celebration of the Lancastrian values of hard work and stubbornness, and there could be no finer setting for a shop-girl-made-good story than the county in which cotton was king.’ And the cultural historian Catherine Horwood has written about this novel: ‘Dorothy Whipple was only too well aware that clothes were one of the keys to class in this period. Before WW1, only the well-off could afford to have their clothes made: yards of wool crepe and stamped silks were turned into costumes by an invisible army of dressmakers across the country, and the idea of buying clothes ready-made from a dress shop was still unusual. Vera Brittain talks of “hand-me-downs” in Testament of Youth with a quite different meaning from today. These were not clothes passed from sibling to sibling but “handed down from a rack” in an outfitter’s shop, a novelty.’ High Wages describes how the way people shopped was beginning to change; it is this change that Dorothy Whipple uses as a key turning point in her novel."
flappermyrtle's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second Persephone Book I read, and I was once more touched by the aura of feminine culture and community surrounding it. High Wages deals with the life of a shop girl in the 1910s and leaves nothing out; the happy Sundays off, the boredom of rainy days in the shop, the meanness of employers and the support of workers among one another. Though Jane's life certainly goes uphill in the novel, it's not a glorified rags-to-riches story, and attention is paid to the less pleasant sides of being a working class girl. Especially the relationships with women coming into the shop are put down sharply, the class-system still in place and enforced by rich women treating the lower classes like filth. The same goes for Jane's thoughts on all these women buying, buying, buying and being so utterly focused on appearance - why? The issues raised are still relevant today, I felt, which made the story even more appealing.
It's a very easy read - I read its 300+ pages in one day, compelled to keep reading and find out more about Jane, her friends and her customers. There's a lovely story here, but also subtle commentary on society at the time, and the roles given to women in this society. A must-read for every smart woman who also loves dresses!
It's a very easy read - I read its 300+ pages in one day, compelled to keep reading and find out more about Jane, her friends and her customers. There's a lovely story here, but also subtle commentary on society at the time, and the roles given to women in this society. A must-read for every smart woman who also loves dresses!