Good Behaviour (VMC Designer Collection)
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Review
** 'An extraordinary tour de force (VOGUE ** ''A witty, black comedy of manners... a memorable novel by an Irish writer whose only equal is Elizabeth Bowen.’ )
BOOKSELLER ** 'A fine novel, wickedly alive (VICTORIA GLENDINNING, SUNDAY TIMES ** 'Enchanting’ )
EDNA O'BRIEN, OBSERVER ** 'May well become a classic among English novels (NEW YORK TIMES ** 'The very best of Anglo-Irish writing’ )
CLARE BOYLAN
BOOKSELLER ** 'A fine novel, wickedly alive (VICTORIA GLENDINNING, SUNDAY TIMES ** 'Enchanting’ )
EDNA O'BRIEN, OBSERVER ** 'May well become a classic among English novels (NEW YORK TIMES ** 'The very best of Anglo-Irish writing’ )
CLARE BOYLAN
Bookseller
'A masterpiece'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This blackest of black comedies ranks alongside Ford's 'The Good Soldier' as a merciless portrait of the emotionally repressed landed gentry in the early part of the twentieth century. Its naive narrator, Aroon, recalls a life straitjacketed by 'good behaviour' - that code of manners peculiar to her class - and it is left to the reader to see through her blind misinterpretation of events and piece together a story of tragic self-delusion. It is all done flawlessly with wit and panache and the lightest touch, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This beautifully written book evokes a sense of time and place -but nothing is what it seems. From the children's nanny's flirtation with the master of the house, to the secret "love that dare not speak it's name" between the narrator's brother and the handsome schoolfriend - there are subdued and dangerous secrets. Layer upon layer of scandalous behaviour is unravelled, softly, cleverly and always subtle - good behaviour is a theme that the characters in this book certainly never adhere to! It's truly wonderful!
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A multilayered portrait of a young girl coming of age. Nothing is as it seems - a mother who is anything but motherly, a brother who is gay, the brother's friend whom the main character Aroon St Charles believes loves her, runs off with a school chum. All these set backs for Aroon are deftly or naively excused under the guise of "Good Behaviour" It's only when the family home is left to Aroon by her father does she feel redeemed in any way. A simple story, however each time I read it I find more about the characters. Perhaps the best example of characterisation I have ever read, and as a social history of the landed class in Ireland - unsurpassable!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
YOUTHFUL AUTOBIOGRAPHY
I enjoyed this novel.It tells of the youth of a landed daughter in an Anglo-Irish setting.It was a well written and moving book. Read more
Published 27 days ago by bibliophile
A painful story wonderfully crafted
Aroon St Charles, aged 57, tells us of the first thirty years or so of her life. She was born before the first World War into an Anglo-Irish Protestant landed family living near... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ralph Blumenau
My favourite book in a fine new cover
'Good Behaviour' is my favourite Molly Keane book. Keane wrote under her own name, and, earlier as M J Farrell. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Morganlefay
Good Behaviour
A brilliant book, bought as a replacement for my original which has worn out, great service, thankyou.
Published on 27 Dec 2009 by L. Culverhouse
Spiteful brilliance
Covering the same sort of area as Elizabeth Bowen's book The Last September, but without the Anglo-Irish conflict coming into play, this book concentrates entirely on domestic... Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
Not as good as I expected
Different to my prefered writing style, as the author implies several stories that are never really developed, leaving the reader to imagine and create their own story line for... Read more
Published on 26 May 2007 by Christina
Marvellous Read
What a gorgeous book, and anything but a simple story. The book is full of sexual liaisons: the governess, the maid, the brother, the friend, the sisters, and particularly the... Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2007 by Mrs Jones
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