Rating: 
Summary: Pure Delight!
Review: 'Cold Comfort Farm' is a hilarious parody on the sometimes overwrought, back-to-nature styles of D.H. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy. But don't be put off if you are not familiar with these authors. If you have ever had a giggle or two about a steamy 'bodice-ripper' or an author who goes on and on---- and on with descriptions of the morning dew, the heaving ocean, and the joys of primitivism; 'Cold Comfort Farm' is a perfect antidote.Orphaned, genteel, and somewhat financially embarrassed Flora Poste decides to spend a year living off some carefully selected relatives. Though her worldly, soignée London friends are appalled at her choice, Flora has her reasons. She plans to make herself indispensable to her god-forsaken, rural extended family who reside in Howling, Sussex at Cold Comfort Farm. The Howling, Sussex branch has unforgettable characters such as over-sexed Seth, fragile free-spirited Elfie who scampers over the moors in a scarlet cape, Amos who is called by God and a Ford Motor Van, and Great Aunt Ada Doom who 'saw something nasty in the woodshed' and has been afflicted ever since. Not only is 'Cold Comfort Farm' funny and sly, it is curiously comforting for Flora succeeds famously in exactly what she set out to do. She never takes a misstep or loses her fastidious equanimity. I found there has been a movie made of the book in 1995, and I have it on order. If it is half as funny as the book, it will be a wild success. A wonderful read and highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A wicked satire and a wonderful book in its own right
Review: 'Cold Comfort Farm' should be appended to copies of 'Wuthering Heights' as an antidote for the kind of teenage girl who becomes all moony after reading about Heathcliff (having been one myself, I feel qualified to give this advice). 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' are wonderful and essential reading, but to read a book that so wickedly deflates their melodrama is a delight. Flora Poste is a joy, and the characterisation of her ridiculous relatives is spot-on. Read 'Cold Comfort Farm', it is a pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful send-up of gothic literature
Review: A novel written in the 30's but set in the 50's and based on a style that had begin to be popular in the 19th century, this book certainly presents a time warp of surealism. However, it is an incredibly amusing and deft parody of the cheesy gothic romances that we all secretly enjoy.
Thoroughly modern Flora, recently orphaned, decides to spend the rest of her life mooching off of her relations so she ventures out to Cold Comfort Farm to live with distant cousins. She is shocked, absolutely shocked, at the completely backwards way they live and promptly procedes to spiff up the place: finding careers for all the young men, men for all the ladies, and discovering exactly what DID happen in the woodshed.
It is perhaps going to far to say that it is completely timeless, and the reader must remember that the events are supposed to happen in a future which is now passed... but it is still a delightful and entertaining read for today.
Rating:
Summary: A Book Rich In Characters
Review: Alive Flora Poste's father is wealthy, but upon his death (not uncommon in English novels) Flora finds in reality he was"disconcertingly" poor. She sets out to find relatives to "live on" rather than find an occupation. Flora turns down offers from the expected/obvious relatives, to go live with the Starkadders, (a strange lot) at Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex. Once there we meet the most colorful and strange characters with names such as Caraway and his son Harkaway, and a grandfather named Agony Beetle. There are crop diseases with names such as King's Evil, Queen's Bane and Prince's Heritage. No matter how many times I've read this book, it stills brings laughter and enjoyment. Ms. Gibbons is an author that brought you the sounds and smells of Cold Comfort Farm through the pages of book. I felt almost transported in time and place as I became engrossed in this book. I recommend it highly!
Rating:
Summary: A Book Rich In Characters
Review: Alive Flora Poste's father is wealthy, but upon his death (not uncommon in English novels) Flora finds in reality he was"disconcertingly" poor. She sets out to find relatives to "live on" rather than find an occupation. Flora turns down offers from the expected/obvious relatives, to go live with the Starkadders, (a strange lot) at Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex. Once there we meet the most colorful and strange characters with names such as Caraway and his son Harkaway, and a grandfather named Agony Beetle. There are crop diseases with names such as King's Evil, Queen's Bane and Prince's Heritage. No matter how many times I've read this book, it stills brings laughter and enjoyment. Ms. Gibbons is an author that brought you the sounds and smells of Cold Comfort Farm through the pages of book. I felt almost transported in time and place as I became engrossed in this book. I recommend it highly!
Rating:
Summary: funny and insightful
Review: An amazing achievement. Effectively and humorously satirizesthe pious, self-important breast-beating of the gothic mentality. Atruly liberating revelation for anyone that grew up in a rural, anglo-saxon, backwoods community.
Rating:
Summary: If you haven't read this book you've missed a lot
Review: Cold Comfort Farm is a book that will stand rereading time after time. Nothing seems to dull the invention of the writing and the characters seem to keep on developing each time I read it. It's a great book to read if you're feeling miserable (it goes down pretty well on the beach too)
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Wit
Review: Cold Comfort Farm is a superbly written parody of the typical 1900's novel of English country life. Flora after being educated and raised in comfortable affluence finds upon the death of her father she is pennyless. After much deliberation and advice to the contrary from her friends she decides to become a parasite on her relatives. Her relatives the Stackadders are a strange collection living on Cold Comfort Farm deep in rural england ruled by an old woman who once saw "something nasty in the woodshed." Flora intrudes and moves the stackadders lives firmly into the 1900's. A brilliant satire that is so rich in description and humor that you appreciate more each time you read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Cold Comfort Farm
Review: Cold Comfort Farm is slightly better than reading the melodramatic novel it parodies---but just barely.
Rating:
Summary: Cold Comfort Farm
Review: Cold Comfort Farm is slightly better than reading the melodramatic novel it parodies---but just barely.
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