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Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: Unusual book Review: A bit strange. A story of English bottle factory workers and their interactions, meant to represent the modern urban reality. Interesting as an allegory of women's status in society, but not very engaging or convincing.
Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: Unusual book Review: A bit strange. A story of English bottle factory workers and their interactions, meant to represent the modern urban reality. Interesting as an allegory of women's status in society, but not very engaging or convincing.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Legs Review: A wrist rolls the ruby red liquid of the fermented grape, and then pauses, and the glass is watched. For wine does not indiscriminately settle in a glass like lesser liquids. It falls in lines, and by these lines the spirit is partially judged, its legs are appraised.I have read enough of Ms. Beryl Bainbridge's writing to state comfortably that there is probably no topic that she cannot spin a great tale from. "The Bottle Factory Outing", is above all else about people, which is in keeping with the author's previous work. The primary characters are two women that while they share the same bed, with an impenetrable wall of pillows between them, could not be more different. One is passive, almost a victim, desiring more not to upset her day-to-day existence than to stand up for herself. The other is a warrior defending not only what she perceives as her territory, but any turf that may catch her eye as well. The former may be an unsure individual, however she does not delude herself. The latter has confidence that causes her to believe that which she wants despite any reality she witnesses. The book is unique as it has more than one instance when the story could reasonably end. The story is in no way overextended, just marvelously structured. The event of course is the employee outing and all that takes place from the early morning start, to a surrealistic second act, and finally the disturbing close of the third. Personalities that have become familiar do not conduct themselves in keeping with the book's start. Honor, which is repeatedly called upon to justify, draw or inflict guilt, becomes many things other than an honorable trait. And finally some of the worst traits of humanity do not begin and end with a single act, but are repeatedly compounded by a rationalized conspiracy. If you have never read this writer's work, you most probably have missed enjoying a wonderfully talented mind. You may pick a work of hers at random and not be disappointed. And the next time you raise a glass of wine, I guaranty you will think of this book.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Classic Bainbridge Review: Beryl Bainbridge has a wonderfully dark and twisted view of the world. This book is a classic example of her ability to take 'ordinary' suburban characters and situations and turn them in to something quite extraordinary. This was the first Beryl Bainbridge book I ever read - and it remains one of my favourites. It would make a great independent movie...
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: excellent portrayal of down side of life Review: beryl bainbridge is excellent in her droll, very british sarcastic way of portraying people on the down side of life, no matter how hard they try to get a leg up over the edge separating htem from any kind of true happiness or even an hones tunderstanding of themselves, something or someone is always there to push them back down. very sad ending becuase you hjave to have regret at seeing the real waste of a death is the way the person lived their life before it ended. very good story
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Delicious black comedy Review: It was a toss up between "The Dressmaker" and"The Bottle Factory Outing" when I decided to check outBeryl Bainbridge. I plumbed for the latter - the quaintly offbeat storyline was curiously enticing, promising both "funfull" reading and a sense of the ridiculous - black comedy in short. I wasn't disappointed. The novel is populated by largely unsympathetic characters but Bainbridge's empathy for their sense of desperation and need to find some form of escape from their drudgery makes them funny, touching and ultimately very human. I found her prose accessible, uncomplicated and highly enjoyable. The blurb at the back of the book promised more. But the ending is simply delicious..and hilarious.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Delicious black comedy Review: It was a toss up between "The Dressmaker" and"The Bottle Factory Outing" when I decided to check outBeryl Bainbridge. I plumbed for the latter - the quaintly offbeat storyline was curiously enticing, promising both "funfull" reading and a sense of the ridiculous - black comedy in short. I wasn't disappointed. The novel is populated by largely unsympathetic characters but Bainbridge's empathy for their sense of desperation and need to find some form of escape from their drudgery makes them funny, touching and ultimately very human. I found her prose accessible, uncomplicated and highly enjoyable. The blurb at the back of the book promised more. But the ending is simply delicious..and hilarious.
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