Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym

Warm, witty and wonderful. Pym gives us glimpses of human nature with all its flaws, but with such sympathy that we cannot help but love her characters. The best novels help us to develop our empathy, or what Eliot called "fellow-feeling," toward mankind. Such books teach us to be as forgiving of the flaws of the characters as we are of our own flaws, and so learn empathy toward real people. This is one of those rare books. It give us glimpses of humanity so close to us that we will smile in recognition of the face in the mirror. I have read this book several times, and find that it never gets old. Pym gives us romance with all of its false starts, hesitancies and doubts still intact, yet leaves us feeling happy in the end that all works out for the best. Literature really doesn't get any better than this.

No comments:

Post a Comment