Monday 21 January 2013

Cheerful weather for the wedding, by J. Strachey

Simon wanted to start the year with a nice Persephone book, Cheerful weather for the wedding, by J. Stachey.  I'm a new convert to the Persephone books, so I immediately jumped at the opportunity and made my first order for these great-quality books.

Before reading the book, however, I reverted to my old tactics, and watched the movie version.  What a delightful, Downton Abbey-ish production, slightly on the romantic side... I was looking forward to see how the written form would be like.

In Cheerful weather, we really intrude on Dolly's wedding day - the whole plot happens during this one day.  We witness the stress, the mess, the laughter and the crying of a family around the preparations for  a wedding.

Of course, it's supposed to be a relatively nice day - whereas I was reading it yesterday, when this was happening in my garden:

Cheerful perhaps, but only from the warm inside...

The weather also prepared me for the atmosphere of the book.  While the film had shone a kind light to all the characters, the book makes no such allowances:  within the first pages already, we get the starkly distressed image of Dolly's mother, Mrs. Thatcham, who tries to find something "cheerful" to describe a good situation - desperately.  Having still the images of the movie, I was suddenly aware that the author did not mean to describe a nice, romantic, aethereal day for the wedding.  

Rather, I believe Strachey wanted to show how an intense day such as this brings, inadvertedly, the true side of the society to the surface and how this is in constrast with what everyone tries to pretend they are. The young generation of Dolly and Joseph (not the man she's marrying) like to 
stir up the wasps' nest a little with a stick and then run away and hide, and then, of course, the wasps run straight upstairs and sting innocent people...

The book has a melancholic feeling throughout the book that I believe it's much more appropriate for the background of the story than the movie version. The doomed relationship of Dolly and Joseph leaves a more intense impact on me after reading and, in the end, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Mrs. Thatcham.  The revelations of the year before give a different aspect to the wedding day and I can understand her wish to have a "cheerful" appearance.  I also felt sorry for both Dolly and Joseph, who, because of the stubborness of their youth, not daring to express their feelings and lying about the depth of love they feel,  destroy what might have been a good relationship.

Now, everyone will go their own way - Dolly will follow her husband as far away from home as possible, Joseph will continue his studies and think who he'll bring along next year, and Mrs. Thatcham will describe all the little details from her daughter's exquisite wedding. We only will have had a look behind the scenes and seen the real faces of all the characters...


10 comments:

  1. I have never read any Perspephone book, it seems like an interesting collection.

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    1. Indeed they are, they're republishing "forgotten" works and their quality is simply great!

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  2. I read this at the weekend, also inspired by Simon, and have my review queued for next week. I must confess I didn't feel as sympathetic towards Mrs Thatcham!

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    1. Indeed, she's not shown in a good light! I want to her the benefit of a doubt, though...

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  3. I love this book - it is one of my favourite Persephones and, I think, easily the funniest - but I think the film sounds awful! I love the sharpness of the characters and how unlikeable they all are under the stress of the wedding day. I am not sure I would enjoy seeing them romanticized and turned into protagonists, especially Dolly and horrid Joseph. After rereading the book over the weekend, the only characters I legitimately like are Kitty (who is so perfectly, horribly seventeen) and Tom and Robert, the squabbling cousins.

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    1. Fully agree with you - the book set exactly the tone required to describe the various situations!

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  4. I had so hoped that the film wouldn't shine a kind light on them! That seems, to me, to defuse the power of the book. But I'll wait and see!

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    1. indeed, I'll wait for your comments when you see the film

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  5. I like your point about 'cheerful' - I thought certain rooms of the house might qualify as cheerful in decor (esp. that tower room of Dolly's), but that's about it. Pleased to find a new blog to follow through the readalong too!

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