Rating: 
Summary: Well, I tried...
Review: I was urged to read this novel. "Hilarious! Hysterical! Will make you laugh aloud!" One friend said she read it while undergoing chemotherapy and laughing out loud, and had the nurses laughing, too. Another friend has this as one of her perennial favorites. I respect both friends, so I gave this a try. I really did. Twice. The second time, I stopped trying to plow through and just skilled around. I admit I did laugh aloud, but only when I was struck by the reflection that these two friends thought it funny. My advice: forget it. If you want to laugh aloud, pick up THREE MEN IN A BOAT (To Say Nothing Of The Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome, and pass on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: What did Aunt Ada Doom see in the wood shed?
Review: If she saw what we all suspect then she has been a crafty old lady playing on the sympathies of all her relatives for 70 odd years. These days she would be in psychotherapy and living on her own; however clever old Ada not only has all her meals in bed but has refused for any of her family to leave the farm even though most of them have married! This abundance of family labour (poorly paid) has made Cold Comfort Farm a profitable venture. When Flora Poste eccentrically decides to place herself with these estranged relatives she sets about "tidying things up" (obviously a compulsive obsessive)! She liberates "Big Business" the prize bull from his dank barn, as well as Elphine the sprite-like granddaughter, as for Seth and the Sukebind the less said the better. A wonderful tour de force of country characters juxtaposed against city sensibilities.
Rating: 
Summary: Cold Comfort Home is hilarious...engaging...entertaining.
Review: If you know someone who is ill...a shut-in...or who just enjoys a good laugh, Cold Comfort Home, is a perfect gift for them all. Flora's creative approaches for bringing the household into better order were wonderful. I giggled and chuckled my way through the book and went into a blue funk when the last page was read. I have spent a lot of time trying to imagine exactly what DID go on in that woodshed...something naughty of that there is no doubt. A must read for anyone with a sense of humor and an appreciation for human foibles.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and charming at the same time...I laughed out loud
Review: If you liked the movie, you'll love the book! I was totally captivated by the Flora character and often found myself laughing out loud at some of the antics the other characters would get themselves into. Very contemporary for its time and I'm sure will stand the test of time as well.
Rating:
Summary: One of the 'must reads'
Review: Imagine Dorothy Parker and Jane Austen as co-authors and you have the style and wit of Cold Comfort Farm.
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC!
Review: Newly-orphaned Flora Poste decides that the hundred pounds per annum left to her by her parents will simply not do. Disregarding her friend Mrs. Smiling's advice that she find employment, Flora seeks out her only relatives to support her. Choosing the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm in Howling, Sussex, Flora sets about making life comfortable and orderly for her bizarre cousins.Setting the action slightly in the future, Stella Gibbons creates a hilariously surreal world pulled straight from Gothic-style novels of the early 1900's where descriptions of the country were prolix, decadent, and elaborate (she precedes those sections with ***). The dark and melodramatic and stereotypical are given much the same treatment Jane Austen gave the original Gothic novels in Northanger Abbey. In general, Gibbons seems to model herself after Austen just as Flora models herself after her favorite books. Flora is reminiscent of Emma Woodhouse (of Austen's Emma), trying to make everyone's life more perfect. Except in Flora's case, it works beautifully. Flora is a cheeky, but dignified character - everything she predicts happens exactly as she says, no matter how wildly preposterous the situation may be. As she begins to straighten out the chaos of Cold Comfort by allowing each member fulfill their dreams - of course, only in proper channels and as neatly as possible - she in effect takes over the family. The last obstacle is Aunt Ada Doom, a woman every inch as formidable as, well, Flora herself. Each of the thoroughly memorable characters are totally unique - I dare you to find any more eccentric and still lovable - with Dickensian names, but not the baggage. This is a book that didn't make me smile or chuckle, but positively laugh with glee. It's clever, witty, sly, and extremely satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly hilarious classic - a must for Austen lovers!
Review: Newly-orphaned Flora Poste decides that the hundred pounds per annum left to her by her parents will simply not do. Disregarding her friend Mrs. Smiling's advice that she find employment, Flora seeks out her only relatives to support her. Choosing the Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm in Howling, Sussex, Flora sets about making life comfortable and orderly for her bizarre cousins. Setting the action slightly in the future, Stella Gibbons creates a hilariously surreal world pulled straight from Gothic-style novels of the early 1900's where descriptions of the country were prolix, decadent, and elaborate (she precedes those sections with ***). The dark and melodramatic and stereotypical are given much the same treatment Jane Austen gave the original Gothic novels in Northanger Abbey. In general, Gibbons seems to model herself after Austen just as Flora models herself after her favorite books. Flora is reminiscent of Emma Woodhouse (of Austen's Emma), trying to make everyone's life more perfect. Except in Flora's case, it works beautifully. Flora is a cheeky, but dignified character - everything she predicts happens exactly as she says, no matter how wildly preposterous the situation may be. As she begins to straighten out the chaos of Cold Comfort by allowing each member fulfill their dreams - of course, only in proper channels and as neatly as possible - she in effect takes over the family. The last obstacle is Aunt Ada Doom, a woman every inch as formidable as, well, Flora herself. Each of the thoroughly memorable characters are totally unique - I dare you to find any more eccentric and still lovable - with Dickensian names, but not the baggage. This is a book that didn't make me smile or chuckle, but positively laugh with glee. It's clever, witty, sly, and extremely satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant book
Review: Not long before she died, I wrote to Stella Gibbons to tell her how much I liked her books - all of them. She wrote back that most readers have only read Cold Comfort Farm. "It's rather like having a brilliant eldest child who puts the rest in the shade", she said. Since, with the exception of Cold Comfort Farm, all of her literary offspring are out of print, content yourself with buying the brilliant eldest book. Flora Poste, a true Virgo, descends on the Starkadder clan and creates calm out of chaos. And as with all good fairy tales, even the Starkadders lived as happily-ever-after as anyone with such a lurid emotional life could. (Note: If you enjoy this book and want to try some of Stella Gibbons' other titles, there are some gems, but they are all quite different in style from Cold Comfort Farm - it is unique.)
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous fun for lovers of English Fiction like Jane Austen.
Review: Open up to nearly any page in Cold Comfort Farm and find
something at which to laugh. It may be one of the long and
dreadful paragraphs the author and former editor has crafted to mock her pretentious clients or it may be a remark on
part of the ridiculous situation she has created for her
characters.
Reminicent of D.H. Lawrence and Jane Austen, the book
lovingly satarizes English Society at the turn of the century
while conforming to the style of long revered authors.
Anyone without a dry sense of humor will NOT enjoy this
book, but you don't have to have a liberal arts background
to enjoy it. I recommend reading the 1964 editon which is
enriched with the cartoons of the New Yorker's Charles
Saxon.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant, affectionate book
Review: Parody is easy to do but hard to sustain or do well, and almost always done as an end it itself--the author saying, "See how wicked and clever I am, and how silly the thing I'm mocking is!" Gibbons' genius is that she while she pokes fun at specific genres and authors (including herself), she actually writes a complete (and well-done) novel, and she treats the characters with affection and a certain dignity. The result is a book that's not only clever, funny, and well-written, but that is also unexpectedly, in the end, sweet and romantic. For those wondering, the 1995 film adaptation (available on DVD right here on Amazon) is remarkably faithful (with understandable trimming, folding and tucking), and likewise hilarious without ever being mean spirited. Both have my highest recommendation. ..bruce..
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