-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Spoils of Poynton (Oxford World's Classics) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Mrs Gareth, widowed chatelaine of Poynton, is fighting to keep her house with its priceless objets d'art from her son Owen and his lovely, utterly philistine fiancée. When she discovers that her young friend and sympathizer Fleda Vetch is secretly in love with Owen, she thrusts her into the battle-line. The power struggle that ensues between the three women leaves Owen vacillating. What is at stake is not the mere possession of tables and chairs; it is, for Fleda, a conflict between aesthetic ideals, ethical imperatives, and her innermost feelings, in which she risks betraying, and being betrayed by, all that she holds most dear.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First serealised in the Atlantic Journal under the title 'The Old Things' this story has got to be the most continously revised of all James' works by himself. He just couldn't seem to leave this story alone over the years, even though the skeleton of the story is quite simple, this becomes deceptive though when the psychology of the characters is taken into account.
Owen Gereth is in love with Mona Brigstock and they are engaged to be married. Owen's mother, Mrs Gereth has taken a shine to Fleda Vetch though, as they seem to have the same tastes and Fleda does love Owen. Not too many problems there you may think, but things come to a head when Mrs Gereth doesn't want Mona to get her hands on the objects d'art at Poynton, the 'spoils' of the title. The spineless Owen is left in a quandary between his mother and Mona, as she has postponed the wedding until Owen can guarantee that the objects d'art are in their rightful place at Poynton. Owen is passed from pillow to post whilst being pressurized to make a stand one way or the other. Fleda can only really look on at what is happening, and it is indeed through her eyes that we can view the manipulation going on.
Mrs Gereth and Mona Brigstock use the objects d'art to play out their powers over Owen. Indeed these items that they are fighting over we don't know much about, as they are only really hinted at; the only item we can be sure about is a crucifix that would seem to be of some value.
This really is a book that needs to be read more than once to be able to gain the full psychology and intentions of all the characters. Also in part due to its ultimate complexity a simple quick review could never do it justice. If you like James then you should like this tale, but be prepared for a shock ending.
Owen Gereth is in love with Mona Brigstock and they are engaged to be married. Owen's mother, Mrs Gereth has taken a shine to Fleda Vetch though, as they seem to have the same tastes and Fleda does love Owen. Not too many problems there you may think, but things come to a head when Mrs Gereth doesn't want Mona to get her hands on the objects d'art at Poynton, the 'spoils' of the title. The spineless Owen is left in a quandary between his mother and Mona, as she has postponed the wedding until Owen can guarantee that the objects d'art are in their rightful place at Poynton. Owen is passed from pillow to post whilst being pressurized to make a stand one way or the other. Fleda can only really look on at what is happening, and it is indeed through her eyes that we can view the manipulation going on.
Mrs Gereth and Mona Brigstock use the objects d'art to play out their powers over Owen. Indeed these items that they are fighting over we don't know much about, as they are only really hinted at; the only item we can be sure about is a crucifix that would seem to be of some value.
This really is a book that needs to be read more than once to be able to gain the full psychology and intentions of all the characters. Also in part due to its ultimate complexity a simple quick review could never do it justice. If you like James then you should like this tale, but be prepared for a shock ending.
Format:Paperback
Maybe this is one of James' easier books to read, or maybe having read a few by now I'm simply finding him more approachable, but whichever it was, I found "The Spoils" a pleasure. It is a funny, though ultimately sad love story and at the same time a cautionary tale about the perils of attaching too much importance to material possessions, however beautiful they are (and also those of being too clever for your own good). I can imagine it would adapt very well. I vaguely remember the Gemma Jones/Ian Ogilvy adaptation on the BBC back in the early days of colour TV in the UK (not that we had colour telly ourselves), and knew it was getting good reviews, but I didn't watch it properly - it wasn't really the thing for a nerdy schoolboy. I would like to see it now, however, but there doesn't ever seem to have been a DVD of it or even a VHS. Pity.
1 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A bloke inherits a load of stuff from his dad; his mum thinks it belongs to her; they talk about it a lot till the house accidentally burns down. Sounds awful, but it's great stuff...
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
