Quartet in Autumn

It would be hard to overpraise this book.It is the early 1970s in London and the four co-workers are nearing retirement. They are in office jobs so meaningless that,once they have retired, they will not be replaced--a lovely, heartbreaking metaphor that is just one of notes that grace this spare tale. Nothing about them is extraordinary. Another reviewer complains that the characters are not fully developed -- but I thought that the lack of the fullness of character was yet another metaphor. Character is not always expressed by exposing the thoughts of the figures: actions, choices, clothes, meals --everything contributes to knowing something more about each of the men and women in the story. They are English from a time when that meant one was reserved, undemonstrative, and self contained, and the very opposite of the flashy times in which they find themselves. They do not expose themselves and are never on display. But the reader comes to know them well.Marcia moves towards madness as her quirks harden into unreality. Edwin tries to arrest time, and change, by trying to stay within the timeless rhythms of the Church. He is disconcerted to find that the the Church is changing. Norman (who might fairly be called the least developed of the protagonists) is angry--a grumpy old man who does not quite know why he is unsettled. And Letty (whom my imagination thought was Pym's picture of herself)in her very quiet and polite way may have found what are, to her, wings. For at least three of the Quartet, change is not obvious. It is not 'edgy' or trendy or even much affected by the rest of the world. They follow personal, quiet and generally unheralded journeys. Much like yours and mine.As one ages, the world changes without one quite noticing it--details are different, the frames of reference moved and, unless a sharp eye is kept, the idea of what is considered normal becomes a trifle alien. Pym captures the sense of alienation that arises merely from living longer. For a while there, I thought it would become depressing (especially to me, at my age)but -- perhaps because the characters do not wallow in their fates -- the result is a soft, individual, important redemption. These people are not writ large, but are sized exactly as you and I might be, if truth were told. The plot is there,and there are foreshadowing hints, all quietly and powerfully done. There is a tremendous sense that Pym is telling the truth through a clear, astonishingly perceptive and occasionally amused eye.A word about the writing. When a writer can evoke scene, character and context with a minimum of adjectives and, in a few lines, complete a picture that tells the reader all the writer intended, that is craft. The reader has the sense that the book is not a sentence longer or shorter than it needs to be. Pym's point of view is not at all condescending but she doesn't miss much, either, and conveys it so cleanly and clearly that the reader is pulled effortlessly along. I finished the book satisfied -- and it was not until I thought about it a bit that I realized I should be in awe of Pym's combination of insight and control. I read the book in a few hours but I suspect it will take me longer the next time I read it. If you love to read writing -- and especially if you are no longer young (and not quite old), you will love this book.

Filled with dry, ironic humor, Quartet in Autumn, first published in 1977, is a poignant depiction of the lives of four elderly people, who have worked together in London for several years. All of them live alone, and none of them have much of a life outside of their repetitive, intellectually deadening jobs. They treat each other only as colleagues and not as friends, both in and out of the office and have never socialized, visited each other's houses or apartments, shared a lunch hour together, or come to know each other as human beings.Pym develops her wonderfully unique characters separately, rotating the point of view and the narrative among them. Letty, "fluffy and faded, a Home Counties type," regrets that she never had the opportunity to marry; by the time the war ended she was thirty and Opportunity had passed her by. Marcia, by contrast, is eccentric, living in the decaying and not maintaining even a semblance of neatness. She has never bothered to remove from a bed a hairball from her long-dead cat. Edwin, a widower, fills his free time with church activities, enjoying his "lunchtime church crawl" and his evenings filled with Masses which celebrate obscure church events. Norman, has no social skills and alternates spending his lunch hour at the the library, where he reads the newspaper, and at the British Museum, where he has been seen viewing the mummified crocodiles, a mini-symbol for the characters themselves.When the two women retire, life for all of them changes dramatically, and when the men decide to take the "old dears" to lunch several weeks after they retire, the four of them have their first social occasion, with mixed results. It is the death of one of the characters which eventually draws the three survivors together again, and as they consider what kind of funeral services the person would want, what memories each of the others has of that person, and what this implies regarding their own mortality, they finally begin to interact and become truly human.Pym is very funny, her images and description of events incomparable. Though the novel has little "plot," it is an extraordinarily memorable and moving novel of characters who are dealing with their own aging and mortality. Pym is so good at capturing the real feelings of real people and revealing their unspoken needs that careful readers, regardless of their age, will be stunned at the amount of information Pym is able to convey within a few words, images, or sentences. The characters' commitment to minding their own business and "not being any trouble to anyone" overwhelms their abilities to reach out. Pym calls a spade a spade, and her ironic depiction of old age is one that no one nearing that age will ever forget. Mary Whipple Excellent Women (Penguin Classics) An Unsuitable Attachment No Fond Return of Love Some Tame Gazelle

Lonely old people resist opportunities for connection. One dies.Well written, I guess, and thoughtful, but very spare. As a possible alternative try her wonderful “Excellent Women.”

Four faint seniors migrate toward retirement and its aftermath from shallow, timorous existences in life. Very dull and not really fit for critic comparisons to Jane Eyre's work!!!

Barbara Pym has taken the mundane and made it interesting. Her characters are so realistic it took me back to my teenage days temping in London offices. In terms of boredom, the experience was so traumatic I took flight to Kathmandu on an overland bus... but that's another story.Quartet in Autumn charts the journey of four nearly-retired colleagues as they face their final day of employment and beyond. This is a compassionately drawn, in places bleakly humorous portrait of the quiet suffering endured by many people as face the unknown.I particularly like it because it's set in London in the 1970s and is very much a work of its time.

Sadder than her books from the 50s (but the church still lingers in the background).But excellent writing, full of poignant thoughts of what it's like to grow old.Still an underrated writer. If you haven't read Barbara Pym don't start here but try 'Excellent Women' or 'Jane and Prudence' for starters. 'Crampton Hodnet' ( though unpublished in her lifetime ) is also highly recommended.

I love Barbara Pym. For me she is like the British Anne Tyler. She has an astute wit, a great eye for character and a knack for writing about ordinary people in an extraordinary way. Nothing in particular ever really happens, but life is never dull the way she writes about it. In this story of four people who have very little in common except impending old age, there is humour, wit and sadness. Beautifully observed.

You either love or loathe Barbara , I think. I love her. The sharp, dry humour is cleverly disguised as comment. She obviously has great affection for the type of person she depicts but is not above noticing their peculiarities either. In this book the characters may seem a little one-dimensional but we should ask ourselves why this is. The ending leaves a distinct question for us to ponder but unlike many stories that end in this way I didn't find it awkward or unsatisfactory. Physically the books are quite short so it's worth trying one especially at the price. The covers in this series are a bit unattractive and could easily lead one to think that the books are dry and dreary. There is an advantage to this, though, as the lack of any illustration doesn't plant any kind of picture in one's mind. These are grown up books for grown up people who appreciate subtlety and a story related in good English.

However much we sit around and moan about taxation, benefits and the welfare state this novel highlights how terrifying life used to be before the safety nets were put in place.Add to this you have the loneliness of retirement and the impact it has on single people.Gosh I have made it sound depressing. It isn't.There is a great deal of humour in the characterisation and the situations the characters find themselves in. I particularly like the social worker.I first read this in my 30's and recently read it again in my late 50's and perhaps even enjoyed it more this time.