Rate this book

The Man In The Wooden Hat (2009)

by Jane Gardam(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1933372893 (ISBN13: 9781933372891)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Europa Editions

series

Old Filth

review 1: Old Filth was written from the viewpoint of Edward Feathers, Old Filth. This book is written from the viewpoint of Betty, his wife. She spent WWII in a Japanese internment camp. They met in Hong Kong. There were no whistles and bells in their romance; it was a marriage of convenience for them both. The understated, staid British approach to life's challenges was beautifully presented by Gardam. There was some redundancy from Old Filth but I saw that as necessary to further understand each person's approach to problems. Old Filth was addicted to work, his way of maintaining his stability which oftentimes excluded Betty without second thought. Betty found happiness and love without losing her sense of independence. I will miss this series!
review 2: Wow, ... morethis is a wonderful book. Jane Gardam is an author that I blow hot and cold with - some of her books I have loved while others I've not been able to get on with at all. Old Filth, the book to which this is a sequel, distinctly fell in to the former category and I enjoyed reading The People on Privilege Hill, the collection of short stories that followed soon afterwards and which took some of the characters in Old Filth a little bit further. Somehow, though, the fact that there was first one and then another full length sequel had passed me by, so I was delighted to find them both in handsome US Europa Editions in the Oxfam bookshop by Whitby harbour (how did they get there? I often wish that second hand books could tell the story of their lives and the readers through whose hands they have passed). The Man in the Wooden Hat tells Feathers' wife's story and we see their marriage, the complex relationships between both of them and Veneering, largely through her eyes. Jane Gardam has a beautiful, glancingly lyrical style that never fails to delight with its sudden sharp perspectives on human relationships, the natural world, ageing, and love. All this is gilt with a tart and surprising humour. Sheer delight. less

Download links for: The Man in the Wooden Hat

Advertising