The Shielding of Mrs ForbesGraham Forbes is a disappointment to his mother, who thinks that if he must have a wife, he should have done better. Though her own husband isn't all that satisfactory either. Still, this is Alan Bennett, so what is happening in the bedroom (and in lots of other places too) is altogether more startling, perhaps shocking, and ultimately more true to people's predilections.The Greening of Mrs Donaldson Mrs Donaldson is a conventional middle-class woman beached on the shores of widowhood after a marriage that had been much like many others: happy to begin with, then satisfactory and finally dull. But when she decides to take in two lodgers, her mundane life becomes much more stimulating ...
Smut : Two Unseemly Stories
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'Frank, funny and entertaining' --Financial Times
'A marvellous little book' --Independent on Sunday
'A marvellous little book' --Independent on Sunday
Book Description
Unexpected tales from the master of short fiction
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 36 people found the following review helpful
By P. Burnard
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Readers used to Bennett's style should enjoy these two, rather short, stories. As usual, Bennett explores the oddities of peoples' lives and the strangeness of language. The first story is probably the better. The second is a bit 'clunky' and you get the feeling that Bennett rushed to finish it.
As always, the author creates people you can care about. There is nothing gross or too explicit in these stories. As is often the case with Bennett, the characters are quaint rather than smutty. My only real reservation is how slim this volume is (or must be if I wasn't reading it on a Kindle.) In a full price book, we might reasonably expect at least one more story.
As always, the author creates people you can care about. There is nothing gross or too explicit in these stories. As is often the case with Bennett, the characters are quaint rather than smutty. My only real reservation is how slim this volume is (or must be if I wasn't reading it on a Kindle.) In a full price book, we might reasonably expect at least one more story.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
In his dotage there can be little doubt that Alan Bennett
is, indeed, a National Treasure! It is his incomparable
capacity to dignify the small details of lives lived quietly
behind net curtains; his dry, droll humour and perhaps above
all his innate humanity which makes his work so enjoyable.
These two stories, read by Mr Bennett, in this fine BBC Audiobook
recording, produced by Gordon House, find him as his hilarious best.
His capacity to combine the ordinary with the grotesque in these
tales stands up well to best which he has written in a long career.
His voice has become an old friend; a Maiden-Aunt of a voice whose
pursed lips seem evermore tightly drawn into a tight disapproving bud,
the better to deliver his unseemly observations! A voice overheard on
the top deck of a bus or across the liver and sausages on a butcher's
marble slab. The hidden and quietly improper voice of Little England.
Mrs Donaldson, in 'The Greening Of Mrs Donaldson, is a marvellous
invention. A widow who, to expand her horizons, takes on a job of
role-playing pathological conditions to medical students (another kind
of Naked Civil Servant' if you will!) I had not know that such an occupation
existed until now but Mr Bennett brings the gory details to life in all
their grisly scatological splendour! That her two lodgers also deliver
more than a little spice into her lonely world should not be begrudged.
Hilarity and pathos hold hands like familiar but uncomfortable bedfellows.
'The Shielding Of Mrs Forbes' is a wonderful confection too. A story
about secrets that are not really very secret at all. The small horrors
which lurk in the embers of a failed suburban marriage : lies, prejudice,
pretension and hypocrisy hung out like washing, with no hope of drying,
on a cold, grey, damp Northern morning. An unforgivingly vivid narrative.
There is a bit of swearing here and there (which Mr Bennett manages to
make sound more dirty than it might do in almost any other mouth!) so a
little caution might be in order if you have young ones around and don't
want to have to deal with embarrasing explanations. That said, it's a hoot!
'Smut' manages to be both seedy and quite precious in equal measure.
Highly Recommended.
is, indeed, a National Treasure! It is his incomparable
capacity to dignify the small details of lives lived quietly
behind net curtains; his dry, droll humour and perhaps above
all his innate humanity which makes his work so enjoyable.
These two stories, read by Mr Bennett, in this fine BBC Audiobook
recording, produced by Gordon House, find him as his hilarious best.
His capacity to combine the ordinary with the grotesque in these
tales stands up well to best which he has written in a long career.
His voice has become an old friend; a Maiden-Aunt of a voice whose
pursed lips seem evermore tightly drawn into a tight disapproving bud,
the better to deliver his unseemly observations! A voice overheard on
the top deck of a bus or across the liver and sausages on a butcher's
marble slab. The hidden and quietly improper voice of Little England.
Mrs Donaldson, in 'The Greening Of Mrs Donaldson, is a marvellous
invention. A widow who, to expand her horizons, takes on a job of
role-playing pathological conditions to medical students (another kind
of Naked Civil Servant' if you will!) I had not know that such an occupation
existed until now but Mr Bennett brings the gory details to life in all
their grisly scatological splendour! That her two lodgers also deliver
more than a little spice into her lonely world should not be begrudged.
Hilarity and pathos hold hands like familiar but uncomfortable bedfellows.
'The Shielding Of Mrs Forbes' is a wonderful confection too. A story
about secrets that are not really very secret at all. The small horrors
which lurk in the embers of a failed suburban marriage : lies, prejudice,
pretension and hypocrisy hung out like washing, with no hope of drying,
on a cold, grey, damp Northern morning. An unforgivingly vivid narrative.
There is a bit of swearing here and there (which Mr Bennett manages to
make sound more dirty than it might do in almost any other mouth!) so a
little caution might be in order if you have young ones around and don't
want to have to deal with embarrasing explanations. That said, it's a hoot!
'Smut' manages to be both seedy and quite precious in equal measure.
Highly Recommended.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written and read, highly entertaining, and slightly shocking
20 Jun 2011
By Roland Davis
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
If you liked Alan Bennett's TV monologues ("Talking Heads") or his autobiographical essays ("Untold Stories"), you might as well get Smut straight away. It has the same incisive wit and observation and delightful turn of expression.
If you aren't familiar with his writing, it is intelligent, entertaining, and funny, but in a deadpan, wry style, not laugh-aloud. His dour Yorkshire accent is perfectly suited to the style. For that reason I would strongly recommend the audio version, and I wouldn't be surprised if it there was no print version.
Be ready for some very explicit sex. If you are unsure whether it would offend you, I would suggest giving it a try. Although there are some graphic moments, it is extremely witty and - I hesitate before using the word "unique" but Alan Bennet finds a genuinely unique and delightful angle on the subject.
If you aren't familiar with his writing, it is intelligent, entertaining, and funny, but in a deadpan, wry style, not laugh-aloud. His dour Yorkshire accent is perfectly suited to the style. For that reason I would strongly recommend the audio version, and I wouldn't be surprised if it there was no print version.
Be ready for some very explicit sex. If you are unsure whether it would offend you, I would suggest giving it a try. Although there are some graphic moments, it is extremely witty and - I hesitate before using the word "unique" but Alan Bennet finds a genuinely unique and delightful angle on the subject.
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4.1 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Smut
Love Alan Bennet, have just seen his latest play, but did not like these stories at all. Read them for our reading circle and all 10 of us were very disappointed. Read more
Published 2 days ago by kz spark
5.0 out of 5 stars
A bit different!
Alan Bennett never disappoints, always surprises! I enjoyed these two stories- the book is aptly named-which are both amusing and thought provoking, disarmingly simple, beautifully... Read more
Published 10 days ago by Mary Bronte
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two very (for Bennett) unseemly stories.
Brilliant Bennett at his most outrageous.
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Published 17 days ago by ba
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Bennett.
This is such fun to listen to. Read by Bennett he puts the exact and perfect inflections in his inimitable style. Very rude, very funny. Buy it.
Published 1 month ago by Lily
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very funny book
But I hope you are not going to require me to review all three or four copies that I have bought, because I give them to other people an I believe devoutly that books by living... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Philippa Pigache
4.0 out of 5 stars
Alan Bennet strikes again
In the rather repressed British middle class, women strike back and to things they would never have been expected to do, such as accept becoming peepers instead of being paid for... Read more
Published 1 month ago by N. A. Papandreou
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not what you expect
Both stories made good reading, well worth the money I paid for them. I can't think there is anything more I can add.
Published 1 month ago by Geoffrey Blakey
1.0 out of 5 stars
Realistic Title
Possibly the most accurately titled and subtitled work I have ever come across. Please note that I did not say 'enjoyed
Published 2 months ago by John Bailey
2.0 out of 5 stars
Alan Bennetts "Smut"
Quite frankly I didn't think much of this. It was disappointing (very 1950s) and I was waiting for something to happen.Very mildly titillating in a modest way.
Published 2 months ago by Jill Keeber
1.0 out of 5 stars
Alan Bennet
This was such a disappointment after reading so many works from one of our 'national treasures'. Nice to know he has black days.
Published 2 months ago by Sheila Goddard
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