Precious Bane

Rating:
Summary: A Timeless Look at Women
Review: After finishing "Precious Bane" by Mary Webb, enjoying it thoroughly, and reflecting upon the story, I came to the obvious question many people ask after finishing a good book, "What was this all about?"
Superficially, "Precious Bane" tells the story of Prudence Sarn, a poor young woman living during the late 18th century in England with her mother and brother on their farm. Prue was born with a cleft pallet and throughout the book struggles with her personal issues about her appearance and how other people outside of her countryside view her due to her "hare-shotten lip." Prue enjoys the solitude and hard work on the farm, the interactions with her neighbors, The Beguildy's, and the rare trips to the market with her brother Gideon. Though Prue rarely deals with people outside of her family, she does find the opportunity to come into contact with the Beguildy family: Jancis, who is in love with Gideon, Missis Beguildy who befriends Prue when Jancis is sent away, and the Wizard Beguildy, who teaches Prue how to read and write. Additionally, Prudence occasionally has the opportunity to spend time with women from around town on Christmas and during the cakings. As well, for a great deal of the book, Prue talks about her love affair with the weaver Kester Woodseaves who she first met when he was called to weave the wedding linens for Jancis and Gideon, and who she eventually ends up marrying by the end of the book.
The story is told through Prudence Sarn's eyes, as in the fashion of a diary or journal looking back on the events of about 10 years past. Over time, we see how Prue develops into a woman, doing manual labor on the farm, spinning, and spending time with other characters. She grows from one unaware of her appearance, to one suddenly embarrassed, and finally to one trusting of those who love her. The timelessness of this plot line, coupled with Mary Webb's writing style and dramatic emphasis on nature make "Precious Bane" a book worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: PB has become one of my favorite books
Review: I am a senior in high school. I read this book under reccomendation from both my father and sister. Precious Bane truly was a breathtaking story. It's a shame it's out of regular print; I think if more people knew about this book, it would be much more widely read. I reccomended it to all my friends in school, and we together convinced our English teacher to use it as material for the course. Unfortunatly we all might have to pay the hefty $14 price if the school won't pay for it! I was hoping to find some used or paperback editions but alas my search has been to no avail!

Rating:
Summary: An amazing book
Review: I inherited a 1920's hardcover copy of this book when my Grandmother died- it had always been one of her favorite books. When I read it, I begin to see why. My Grandmother was a person whose spirituality was unconventional, and this is a theme that strongly runs through this book. Traditional Christianity is there, but so is ecstatic spirituality inspired and manifested by nature. She sees God in nature. There are many many beautiful passages where the heroine is literally transported spiritually by the slight of flowers, or the songs of birds. Traditional beliefs and local magic are explored in detail and with an amazing lack of Judgement ( folklorists take note), and the Wizard, though he is not expected to go to Heaven, is a friend to a poor disabled girl and teaches her many good things. Her struggle for a "normal" life with her disability, a hare-lip, is very touching and inspiring. The author also deals with bigotry, persecution and rejection of those who are different, and the difficult question of what truly manefests Goodness- is Goodness something people truly strive for, or do most people simply go through life follow social pressures? Is the Wizard, who reached out to Prue and helped her with and open heart, a "better" person then the hard hearted comformity driven Churchgoes who would not even allow the Wizard's ( staunchly Christian) wife to enter their homes, condeming her to a lonely life?
There is Magic here, and unearthly beauty seen though the eyes of a sensative young girl, and what must have been a very different exploration of true human nature in those rigid times. A thoughtful, highly recommended book.

Rating:
Summary: A truly romantic story
Review: I watched the last five minutes of the "PBS version" in '89 or '90, and it was so beautiful that it haunted me for years. Once I had found the book, I had little patience with the text's "accent", and I couldn't read it. A couple of years later, I was determined to conquer the book. I finally came to the realization that it's a love story. The dialect became easy, and I couldn't put the book down. Although the subject matter can be heavy at times, it's a must read for true romantics. Jane Eyre, eat your heart out!

Rating:
Summary: A truly romantic story
Review: I watched the last five minutes of the "PBS version" in '89 or '90, and it was so beautiful that it haunted me for years. Once I had found the book, I had little patience with the text's "accent", and I couldn't read it. A couple of years later, I was determined to conquer the book. I finally came to the realization that it's a love story. The dialect became easy, and I couldn't put the book down. Although the subject matter can be heavy at times, it's a must read for true romantics. Jane Eyre, eat your heart out!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, must be read
Review: I've just read Precious Bane and it was very moving. It should be better-known, her style is excellent, the characterisations extremely vivid, and the twist in the plot at the end quite unexpected. Prue Sarn is not at all your typical wet 19th c heroine, she is intelligent, sensitive, and assertive (which is why she gets into trouble with the society of her day). The Precious Bane of the title is usually interpreted as being her hare lip, which is certainly a very prominent theme in the book, but it could also be interpreted as the money after her which her brother Gideon constantly strives, which causes so much misfortune. And the hero is really good too, an animal rights campaigner before his time.

Rating:
Summary: A classic and mysterious romance.
Review: In a time plaqued by superstitions of witches and evil, welearn that there is hope for all of us not-so-pretty girls.

Rating:
Summary: A Timeless Look at Women
Review: Like a previous reviewer, Stella Gibbon's pastiche of the English rustic romance, 'Cold Comfort Farm' sprang to mind in the early stages of Mary Webb's 'Precious Bane'. But it must be borne in mind that Gibbon's book can be as easily read as a lampoon of the un-romantic no-nonsense 'bright young thing' of the twenties,as it can a pastiche of the English rustic romance. Furthermore,as I read on, this cynical thought was quickly replaced by a different one: that the book bears closer resemblence to Thomas Hardy than it does to Gibbons, or , for that matter, the works of the Brontes (the rustic romance as bestseller!)which may be hallmarks of style, but can hardly be read as sensitive examinations of the human condition. Webb writes from the heart. While the story is as romantic as a fairy tale, there is a subtltey in her writing, and a fatalistic view of the natural world that suggests a deep spirituality combined with mental resolve. The character of Gideon is comparable to Hardy's tragic figures such as Boldwood in 'Far from the Madding Crowd" or the mayor of 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'. The fact that this book was written some eighty or ninety years ago by a woman, that its central character is a woman, and that the Webb chose to write using words and phrases of indigenous dialect has probably meant that it has been treated as a quaint piece of naive rural handicraft, rather than the deceptively careful literary construction that it is. If one of Hardy's characters had written a book, this is the book they would have written.

Rating:
Summary: Like a Hardy character come to life
Review: Like a previous reviewer, Stella Gibbon's pastiche of the English rustic romance, 'Cold Comfort Farm' sprang to mind in the early stages of Mary Webb's 'Precious Bane'. But it must be borne in mind that Gibbon's book can be as easily read as a lampoon of the un-romantic no-nonsense 'bright young thing' of the twenties,as it can a pastiche of the English rustic romance. Furthermore,as I read on, this cynical thought was quickly replaced by a different one: that the book bears closer resemblence to Thomas Hardy than it does to Gibbons, or , for that matter, the works of the Brontes (the rustic romance as bestseller!)which may be hallmarks of style, but can hardly be read as sensitive examinations of the human condition. Webb writes from the heart. While the story is as romantic as a fairy tale, there is a subtltey in her writing, and a fatalistic view of the natural world that suggests a deep spirituality combined with mental resolve. The character of Gideon is comparable to Hardy's tragic figures such as Boldwood in 'Far from the Madding Crowd" or the mayor of 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'. The fact that this book was written some eighty or ninety years ago by a woman, that its central character is a woman, and that the Webb chose to write using words and phrases of indigenous dialect has probably meant that it has been treated as a quaint piece of naive rural handicraft, rather than the deceptively careful literary construction that it is. If one of Hardy's characters had written a book, this is the book they would have written.

Rating:
Summary: It transcends sentimentality.
Review: Mary Webb transcends sentimentality in this charming novel of Shropshire life. The reader's spirit is elevated by the moving journey of Prue and Weaver, as they strive for survival admidst the suffocatingly superstitious & weirdly fascinating world of their time. The book uses dialect and folklore to create a vividly poetic, and at times horrifying portrait of a society we can scarcely imagine at the end of the 20th century.