- Paperback: 112 pages
- Publisher: Profile Books; 1st thus. edition (6 July 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1861970900
- ISBN-13: 978-1861970909
- Product Dimensions: 14.6 x 9.4 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 127,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
First published in the London Review of Books in 1996, TheClothes They Stood Up In takes the reader into familiar Bennett territory. Maurice and Rosemary Ransome are a typically dissatisfied, middle-aged, middle-class couple, childless and emotionally withdrawn. "They had no children and but for Mozart would probably have split up years ago. Mr Ransome always took a bath when he came home from work and then he had his supper. After supper he took another bath, this time in Mozart". However, one night, after returning from a performance of Cosi fanTutte, bath, supper, Mozart and everything disappeared. "There is a limit to what burglars can take: they seldom take easy chairs, for example, and even more seldom settees. These burglars did. They took everything".
What unfolds is a brilliant account of the ways in which the lives of the Ransomes are subtly but profoundly changed forever, as Rosemary discovers the joys of shopping at the local Pakistani shop and the limits of counselling, and Maurice fantasises about new CD equipment with which to listen to Mozart. However, just as life begins to return to normal, a letter arrives which throws new light on the Ransome's extraordinary burglary. Beautifully observed and written with a masterly economy of style, Bennett's story packs an enormous amount into just over 100 pages, and has not one but two delicious stings in its tail. --Jerry Brotton
Product Description
The Clothes They Stood Up In is Alan Bennett's first story. Like Charles Dickens' novels which were first published in magazines, it originally appeared in the London Review of Books - which the author says 'seems to me (and not just because I occasionally contribute to it) the liveliest, most serious and also the most radical literary periodical we have'.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One evernt can change a life.,
By
This review is from: The Clothes They Stood Up In (BBC Radio Collection) (Hardcover)
The Ramsons have been burgled while out at the opera. This is the story of how this childless and unhappy couple coped with this event. With all their processions gone we learn how they never used most of them. And how Mrs Ramson discovers a little of what life has to offer after the robbery. It is an excellent story of 2 people who for years have been living in the same flat in body but with no love and very little to look forward too. Except Mr Ramson who has his stereo. The tale tells of how the furniture ends up in a warehouse and the effects of that on the Ramsons. Typical Bennett, sad, funny, accute, dry,excellent. A joy to listen too. And Mrs Ramson finally begins to live...
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Fable,
By
This review is from: The Clothes They Stood Up In (Paperback)
I first read this story back in 1996, when it appeared in the London Review of Books and was somewhat surprised to see it as a tiny book some five years later! With dry British satire, Playwright Bennett recounts the story of the Ransomes, who return from the opera to find their flat stripped totally bare--even the wires are clipped flush with the wall. They are middle-aged, middle-class, childless, and totally fail to connect with each other. Life has obviously been quite empty for both of them as they have their little routines (hers seem to revolve around pleasing him), but no friends or family. Once the shock of the bizarre burglary wears off, they must attempt reinvent their home from scratch. Fortunately this does not become a new agey lesson on how our possessions actually possess us, but rather a fable about starting over. Mr. Ransome looks to recreate his previous existence (albeit with higher-end stereo equipment), while Mrs. Ransome is forced to frequent daring new shops (a Pakistani grocer's, a thrift shop!). As she takes these small steps into the broader world, she is reawakened to life's possibilities. The bizarre mystery of the theft is finally revealed, and things end happily, if rather predictably. A neat little tale that takes about an hour to read
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A master at work on his craft,
By
This review is from: The Clothes They Stood Up In (BBC Radio Collection) (Hardcover)
The greatest joy afforded by Alan Bennet is that he can read his own books better than anybody else can and the fact that he has recorded so many is proof of his own deserved self confidence.
This cautionary tale displays Bennett's toying with a certain class of human being ~ English, middle class and basically bored with the rut that they have carved for themselves and how a disruption in their lives rather than destroying them gives them a second chance to look at what they have made of their lives and to change it. The tale itself is of a tradition of bizarre story telling, precise, succinct and improving. I can think of no greater comfort than being read to by Alan Bennett
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