Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

"Rather dated"

169 replies

ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 24/07/2022 01:01

I just finished reading a book, published in 1977, set either 1975 or 1976. I went on Amazon to look at some reviews (I know these are not worth reading, for the most part; often I have seen "Boring" or "Rubbish" as a "review") because sometimes there are some interesting ones.

Someone has written that the book is "rather dated". What do they expect 45 years later for heavens' sake???

OP posts:
Original poster
ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 29/07/2022 00:25

DorritLittle · 28/07/2022 19:44

I love Lynne Reid Banks @Antarcticant. I read those books several times. I also like Margaret Drabble. Thanks for the Andrea Newman recommendation, will have a look.

I also liked Room at the Top and Saturday Night Sunday Morning.

Adrian Mole... ah, loved that programme (and theme tune). Have never read the book.

I was going to mention Margaret Drabble too, the trilogy starting with The Radiant Way.

OP posts:
Antarcticant · 28/07/2022 19:50

Oh, yes, I like Margaret Drabble too.

A good method of finding rather dated books is to go round charity shops and scan for creased orange-spined Penguins with a vaguely raunchy-looking photograph on the front cover (whether the actual story is raunchy or not) Grin

DorritLittle · 28/07/2022 19:44

I love Lynne Reid Banks @Antarcticant. I read those books several times. I also like Margaret Drabble. Thanks for the Andrea Newman recommendation, will have a look.

I also liked Room at the Top and Saturday Night Sunday Morning.

Adrian Mole... ah, loved that programme (and theme tune). Have never read the book.

Antarcticant · 28/07/2022 19:13

Another 'rather dated' writer I've enjoyed is Lynn Reid Banks. 'An End to Running' is my favourite but the L-Shaped Room trilogy is also good.

Antarcticant · 28/07/2022 19:05

Oh, yes, great recommendation Fluffymule. They really bring back the Thatcher era for me.

Fluffymule · 28/07/2022 19:03

The early Adrian Mole books chronicle life in the 80's in some detail.

I remember mentions of Royal Weddings, Politics, The Falklands War, famine, the Aids epidemic, unemployment, the ozone layer and so on (not to mention the more niche interest he had in the Norwegian Leather Industry)

As Sue Townsend wrote them as his diaries I wonder if they remain immune from being considered 'dated', now or in the future.

Antarcticant · 28/07/2022 19:01

DorritLittle · 26/07/2022 21:56

I love this sort of book too. On my list. Anyone got any other recommendations? Novels, preferably about about families or just life in the 60s/70s/80s.

Rather dated ones, that is :-)

Andrea Newman is good for rather dated books, complete with rather dated attitudes. She is best known for 'Bouquet of Barbed Wire' which was famously serialised on TV, but she wrote lots of other novels.

JaninaDuszejko · 28/07/2022 18:47

Interestingly there seem to be very few novels written in the 1920s that talk about Spanish Flu. It's briefly mentioned in Cold Comfort Farm and there's an American writer who wrote a short story but I'm not aware of anything else.

The AIDS epidemic was written about from the experience of the gay community almost immediately and still is but we don't really see in culture how scared everyone was anymore, the 1995 film KIDS is probably the best example.

Original poster
ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 27/07/2022 09:58

JaninaDuszejko · 27/07/2022 08:11

Agree with a PP it's code for sexism or racism or homophobia that is now unacceptable. Or that the writing style feels slightly old fashioned (I think some mid century writing can feel quite stylised now, in the same way that the filmography in 1960s films or TV series can feel that way) or some of the concerns of the characters feel dated (e.g. in High Fidelity by Nick Hornby there's a subplot about AIDS which feels dated now). It's never about the period setting.

This makes me think about Covid in literature. I was of the opinion that I didn't want to read about it in fiction, ever, and I don't ever want to read a book about a pandemic, but if I were reading a book in 20 years' time set in 2021, I would expect a reference to it in the same way as if I was reading fiction set in 1941 I would expect WW2 to be mentioned.

OP posts:
JaninaDuszejko · 27/07/2022 08:11

Agree with a PP it's code for sexism or racism or homophobia that is now unacceptable. Or that the writing style feels slightly old fashioned (I think some mid century writing can feel quite stylised now, in the same way that the filmography in 1960s films or TV series can feel that way) or some of the concerns of the characters feel dated (e.g. in High Fidelity by Nick Hornby there's a subplot about AIDS which feels dated now). It's never about the period setting.

DorritLittle · 26/07/2022 21:56

I love this sort of book too. On my list. Anyone got any other recommendations? Novels, preferably about about families or just life in the 60s/70s/80s.

Rather dated ones, that is :-)

Antarcticant · 24/07/2022 11:14

Ooh, thank you - not one I have read so it's going on my list.

Original poster
ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 24/07/2022 11:12

Antarcticant · 24/07/2022 10:44

Do you mind if I ask what the book was? I love books that are a slice of 70s middle class life!

I agree 'rather dated' is a silly remark - I wonder, though, if what they meant by this was that the book hasn't aged well, which might be a valid point.

The Road to Lichfield by Penelope Lively.

OP posts:
Original poster
ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 24/07/2022 11:11

Sadik · 24/07/2022 10:42

Usually 'rather dated' is code for racism / sexism / homophobia in my experience - so I suppose a warning to people before they buy the book to make them aware. Not the case here though?

No there was none of that at all, though most of the the characters were white middle class apart from a group of "Indian teenagers" listening to cricket on the radio. The word "gay" was used a few times, but in the sense of being bright and cheerful. As in when Fred Flintstone had a gay old time.

OP posts:
Antarcticant · 24/07/2022 10:44

Do you mind if I ask what the book was? I love books that are a slice of 70s middle class life!

I agree 'rather dated' is a silly remark - I wonder, though, if what they meant by this was that the book hasn't aged well, which might be a valid point.

Sadik · 24/07/2022 10:42

Usually 'rather dated' is code for racism / sexism / homophobia in my experience - so I suppose a warning to people before they buy the book to make them aware. Not the case here though?

Original poster
ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 24/07/2022 10:38

I enjoyed it as a slice of 1970s middle class life and the references to shops that no longer exist. Maybe the reviewer considered it is dated because nobody Zoomed or WhatsApped or slid into anyone's DMs or there were no mention of celebrities or reality TV!

OP posts:
MsAmerica · 24/07/2022 01:43

Well, I erupt in rage whenever I hear someone condescendingly say that Jane Austen is "rather dated."

ClumpingBambooIsALie · 24/07/2022 01:02

Some books age better than others.