xh’s Reviews > The Hurly Burly and Other Stories: Essential British Short Stories by an English Master > Status Update

“fifty pounds” was the perfect story to wrap up the whole book. every single theme across the book was summarised in this story.

my fav quotes from this story:

“It was better to part so, better from such a figure than from an abject scarecrow, even though both were the same inside.”

“Lally sighed: he was stupid.”

i enjoyed “the watercress girl”… who else can write a toxic relationship this beautifully lmao…

“the field of mustard” - FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!

“the hurly burly”… i don’t even know what to say. it’s excellent. (also very relatable)

finished “a little boy lost” and omfg it is tragic. i have to say the stories are getting more complex and better but not in a way that i can explain.

“ninepenny flute” was very different from the rest - first person POV and not about love. i think it’s great. it spoke obliquely about the cruelty of people… i need some days to gather my thoughts about this one. the story is in what’s not said. again, it’s about working class life, which is always about giving up.

“olivia and camillia” was so good 😭 coppard nailed the description of a homoerotic toxic female friendship, and my favourite quote is “I suspect him, just as I suspect the man who quotes Plato to me”. nice to know softbois existed in the 1920s.

just finished “ring the bells of heaven” and omg while it was meandering i did really enjoy it. the whole wanting you can’t have, and when you’ve gotten it, it never stays and you can’t truly relish it. this dude writes stories of working class people incredibly well.

finished “dusky ruth”. i never thought i’d be so floored by a description of jesus christ. too long for me to post here so go read it. very short but good, haha another loser man who never gets closer to a woman because he has to reckon with her eMotIoNs 🙄

finished “the higgler” and was surprised by how much of a miss it was for me given that the other stories were amazing. in 6 parts i got nothing but blatant (and predictable) misfortune. he has shown that he writes tragedy and irony really well so all of this just felt too on the nose for me. also kinda lost my appetite at the rigor mortis scene. for once, too, the female characters are totally flat. not good.