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Rating: 
Summary: Funny but hard to read
Review: ...who finished this book thinking that Korda was a pompus twit with more money than good manners. His condesending observations of his neighbors left me irritated time and time again, as well as the name dropping and implied superiority of himself vs. the "lowly" country folk.
If you discounted the snide comments, the first part of the book was pretty interesting. However, the last 4 chapters became rambling and could have been condensed into one chapter.
It was great reading the reviews from the Hewitts on this forum. It made me remember that there are ALWAYS two sides to every story, and that Mr. Korda took some literary license in his book.
Rating: 
Summary: A good, light summer read!
Review: Having read some of the previous negative reviews, I am impelled to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It doesn't pretend to be more than a classic big-city-boy-moves-to-the-country memoir, with lots of hilarious anecdotes. Korda's experiences are not meant to instruct us; he simply shares his intimate, entertaining tales. The fact that the joke's on Korda much of the time (the pig auction, the hardware store, etc.)is part of the book's charm.I must admit that I enjoyed some of the name dropping, especially when the VIPs in question looked ridiculous (remember the Goldmans and their stuffed lion?).
Rating:
Summary: Funny but hard to read
Review: I don't deny the author's sense of humor. In general it's a funny book. But his writing skills hardly qualify him for an editor in chief of a major publishing house. Why? Because he tends to write very long sentences, wandering off in the middle. Very often when I finish a sentence I already forget what he was talking about at the beginning of it. I suspect he is trying to show off that he is English. In fact I get a very strong impression that he is a snobbish person, not very personable or pleasant, not the type of person you will like unfortunately.
Rating: 
Summary: it will take more than a tuna melt to make Korda "country".
Review: I have to agree with the other reviews that this book falls a little short of the target. I disagree, however, with criticism that Korda focuses his ridicule on the country folk. I thought he poked equal fun at his various big wig guests from the city. What struck me, and why I can't give the book a favorable review, is that I'm not sure that Korda is aware that he himself is ultimately one of the saddest characters - naive, gullible, short-sighted and arrogant. The only person in the book who seems to escape having fun made of them is Mr. Korda (even his wife comes across as a beautiful 'get-what-she-wants princess). A little self depreciation would have gone a long way.
Take, for example, this final line from chapter seven: "The trick is to become just plain folks somehow, however you manage it - and if it takes the occcasional tuna melt, so be it". Lines like that inevitably indicate that Korda believes he is extraordinary, but for the good of the people around him, willing to stoop to the level of everyone else. That's why so many people are turned off by the book. The central character in the novel needs some development.
Rating:
Summary: A good, light summer read!
Review: I read the book and did find some parts that were somewhat entertaining. However, after reading the previous reviews I can't add a great deal more. Yes we know there is wealth, yes we know that you basically created a city around you and you would think the people of Pleasantville were on their knees everyday thanking God for the Kordas. I am sure they are nice family, and as a past city dweller some things I can relate too, however not enough to keep me interested. What really set me on age was the constant name dropping. Passages that had nothing to do with the subject at hand. Out of nowhere you would see things, "I can remember my father and John Huston, the famous director of.., blah blah blah, or some clche would be thrown out and he would say, So and So of such and such film studios would be described that way (sorry I can't quote directly here I don't have the book in front of me), I found it annoying and pompous. The book would have been better had he stuck to the subject, not mentioned 14 times his wealth and went off on tangets (Like I seem to be doing now.. LOL) and do we really care that his wife would ride her horse in the rain in a bikini? Too many pointless comments and aimless directions.
Rating:
Summary: An Affair of the Heart
Review: Like an affair, a relationship with this country house was quickly made and not admitted-for a long time. But Korda grows to be a quirky, appreciative, open admirer of the old farmhouse and the local people. As befitting an editor, the author's style is fluid with a gently humorous viewpoint.
Famous people, as guests, are mentioned, sometime hilariously. The changing scene from rural to suburban in this and other areas is considered, along with the tendency of Americans to pursue the last, 'unchanged' home locale. Still Dutchess County retains a feel at least in Pleasant Valley, of country land and people.
Korda's deeply felt respect for the wiles and wisdom of local
people and his willingness to eat at The Diner, go to the Fair,
raise pigs, run a cross-country event on his property, trade car stories and employ half the county wins him respect from these people. Perhaps in the end, he knows he belongs to the house more than it belongs to him and his wife. The place is at last called 'the Korda farm."
Rating:
Summary: An Affair of the Heart
Review: Like an affair, a relationship with this country house was quickly made and not admitted-for a long time. But Korda grows to be a quirky, appreciative, open admirer of the old farmhouse and the local people. As befitting an editor, the author's style is fluid with a gently humorous viewpoint.
Famous people, as guests, are mentioned, sometime hilariously. The changing scene from rural to suburban in this and other areas is considered, along with the tendency of Americans to pursue the last, 'unchanged' home locale. Still Dutchess County retains a feel at least in Pleasant Valley, of country land and people.
Korda's deeply felt respect for the wiles and wisdom of local
people and his willingness to eat at The Diner, go to the Fair,
raise pigs, run a cross-country event on his property, trade car stories and employ half the county wins him respect from these people. Perhaps in the end, he knows he belongs to the house more than it belongs to him and his wife. The place is at last called 'the Korda farm."
Rating: 
Summary: Conspicuous consumption in the country
Review: My name is Kathy Hewlett, wife of a family member who use to live on "the old Hewlett farm". Mr. Korda must be mistaken. As I read page 22 of Mr. Korda's book I have to disagree with his reference to "but the Hewlett's had long since fallen on hard times, either through improvidence or bad farming, sold off their land in bits and pieces until there was nothing left, and now lived in trailers scattered all over the local country-side." Some of the Hewlett's are alive and well in upstate NY living on a thriving dairy farm in Otego, NY. The farm was not sold off bit by bit, it was sold to purchase the upstate NY farm. The owners of "The Hewlett Farm" since then have sold it bit by bit. I would be pleased to hear from Mr. Korda to learn more about where he researched his project. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Starts with Promise and runs out of Steam
Review: The New York Times sparked my interest in this age-old literary subject--city dweller finds renewal in the country, with all the highs and lows and informative or interesting tidbits of making the transition. My interest in this subject goes all they way back to Crazy-White-Man (Sha-ga-na-she Wa-du-kee) by Richard Morenus, published by Rand McNally and Co. in 1952. So, I am not a newcomer to the genre. In fact, my wife and I recently put the finishing touches on a 3-year restoration of a century-old lodge on an island in Maine. Therefore, I do not place a low rating on this book without careful thought and regret. Usually, one thinks that if the Times views a book as newsworthy, it will be a bit special. In this case, I think it is Korda's professional connections in the publishing industry (and not the merit of the piece) which earned the publicity, and possibly the initial printing. Korda would like the reader to believe that he is about to introduce them to the quaint, evolutionary transition of a (very, very sophisticated) city couple and a country estate from strangers to partners, each helped to reach the synergy by a cast of colorful local citizens with special skills and memorable characters. The book fails, however, to continue its early, promising pace, and eventually trails off into a series of random recollections, failing to develop the supporting characters in favor of repetitive, gratuitous references to Mrs. Korda's achievements as a horsewoman, and Mr. Korda's irrelevant pride in having read the classics. In the end, the country life which Mr. Korda portrays seems as shallow and trite as the city life he almost left behind. He is more often a disconnected observer than influential participant, and leaves the reader wondering whether, for the Kordas, the country really matters.
Rating:
Summary: A touch of snobbery
Review: Witty and hilarious anecdotes, well observed and cleverly described, make up the first part of this book. Apparently Mr. Korda ran out of material, for he has resorted to a series of faintly condescending tales of how his presence elevated the tone of the neighborhood to extend to book length what should have been an amusing article. There is a distinct sense of "not quite our class, dear" in his descriptions of his neighbors, his adopted countryside, the available local food, and the level of ambient taste. A bit less self-congratulation would have made this book more palatable.
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