The Rather Dated Book Club: Margery Sharp's 'Something Light'.

[FuzzyCaoraDhubh]

Published in 1960, this book is set in 1950s London and concerns Louisa Mary Datchett, Professional Photographer of Dogs, and her particular predicament. Louisa, we are told in the first line, is 'very fond of men', but she has had enough of being a doormat and is turning her life around. She has decided to find a man, not to rescue or to mind, but to marry. With admirable dedication, she sets out on her quest, but this turns out to be more difficult than expected and she ends up with the man that she least expected.

This is a very entertaining story, written in a warm and witty style and I loved reading it. Louisa is a fabulously funny person and I liked her from the outset. She is a thoroughly good sort, whether is it making sure that No.10 gets his yoghurt, bringing the poorly Hugo a spot of cream, dispatching the Admiral to Bournemouth to live with F. Pennon, washing the woolly undergarments of miserable Mr. Clark; she takes on every task with gusto.

There is so much to like about this book! I took note of some lines that I found particularly good. 'I suppose you weren't ever in a harem?' she says to Enid, who has managed to go from one husband to the next without any bother at all. I loved her banter with the milkman, her confidant, who turns up offering dairy products as well as someone to moan at. The wealthy chap who looked like a sealyham, F, Pennon, was a real character. I loved how much he loved Louisa with complete fidelity. He really cared for her. The description of the champagne party at Boyden Court and the advertisement on commercial television were so funny. I also loved the encounters with Andrew McAndrew. I'd like to think that she kept up her photography business afterwards. Perhaps he could get her into some stately homes and she could have her pick of corgis, pekes and poodles to photograph?

Underlying the fun and frivolity, there was the serious matter of how Louisa was managing to keep body and soul together. She was struggling by the end of the book and was down to her last slices of bread and margarine. Sharp didn't dwell too much on her background and upbringing. On page eighty-eight it is mentioned how her parents died in the war and that her aunt had her apprenticed to a photographer so that she could contribute to her board. She didn't have an easy time of it with her aunt and it wasn't easy living as a modern independent woman or a 'femme sole' as Louisa said. ('Is this what the Suffragettes died for'). This book isn't a serious one and was written with a light touch (to mirror the title). One would wonder what might have happened to Louisa if Andrew McAndrew hadn't turned up at the right time. Luckily, he had been looking out for her, her guardian angel in tartan.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable book and quite a tonic. Thanks to whoever recommended it! I have 'The Foolish Gentlewoman' to look forward to next.

Thanks for such a great summary! Not sure I have much to add to that.

This was a very quick, enjoyable read, I loved Louisa, especially for not going ahead and marrying the first two potential husbands. In fact the ending was my least favourite part: unlike the first two, there isn't really a sustained period with Louisa and Andrew McAndrew, which left me wondering, would she not have discovered that he was just as needy as them?

In fact, although as always in a novel from the 1950s there's plenty that is Slightly Dated, there's one aspect that feels very modern: Louisa having to be a sort of general troubleshooter and problem-solver for a succession of men. There are threads complaining about this very thing on here every day...

The Andrew McAndrew storyline happened very quickly. I think he seemed to embody all the right qualities; wealthy, fit, youngish, steady, considerate. Some of the others had their good points, but most weren't suitable husband material. F. Pennon would have been fun, but better as a friend.
I loved the description of her prodigious appetite. 'If you bring me to a dinner table, all you will hear is munching'.

I did like the way Sharp subverted the accepted romantic heroine - a girl with a healthy appetite surely wasn’t at all the thing in novels of the late 50s/early 60s! And Louisa was making her own way in the world with indomitable cheerfulness, despite living in pretty dire straits much of the time. I enjoyed the way she seized opportunities - and created them (not so much that she forgot to put film in her camera….).

A very fun read: I'm sure I wasn’t the only one who kept being reminded of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Thanks Fuzzy for starting the discussion.

I too really enjoyed the novel. It was witty and entertaining, and I thought the dialogue between the characters was brilliant.

One of my favourite ‘rather dated’ moments was when Louisa was marvelling at how hard working Mr Clark was, slaving away ‘winning bread’ for 6 whole hours a day! I think most busy publishing executives nowadays would be thrilled to work as few as six hours a day! The residential hotel (the Broyden?) was also very much ‘rather dated’.

I agree that there are also some decidedly ‘modern’ moments (well, modern for the 1950s), including Mr Clark’s children wanting to leave home and forge careers for themselves, including in industries (working for Rolls’s!) that Mr Clark obviously looked down on. So there is that sense of social change bubbling away as well.

I must admit that the ending surprised me. I was half expecting Enid to chuck F. Pennon for the Admiral, leaving Louisa free to change her mind and marry F. Pennon after all. Something about the Mr McAndrew ending didn’t quite ring true.

Such a fun read. I did think the Andrew McAndrew ending seemed a bit rushed and tacked on, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who could see it a mile off. I loved the description of Louisa’s flat, and the bread and margarine lifestyle. And I smiled inwardly every time F Pennon was mentioned as “F Pennon”; something about it really tickled me.
Another rather dated aspect that struck me was the shock at people watching “commercial television” … what would Margery sharp make of the airwaves today.
Very wittily written, slightly PG Wodehouse, but less arch, somehow? It also reminded me quite forcibly of Jilly Cooper’s early Name novels.
Great fun. I’m now cheering myself down with Rosalind Lehmann and The Weather in the Streets, which is brilliant too but much sadder and my page per minute has gone down a lot, you do have to concentrate!

I loved the front cover & the description of Louisa, but I didn’t like it as much as the rest of you. I think it’s because I just didn’t care enough about the characters as they felt rather artificial. This probably says something about my tastes in reading as I do it when books make me laugh, but I also need that connection to the characters.

I also predicted the ending, but I didn’t really notice McAndrew as a character when he first appeared (which didn’t help with my appreciation of the book).

@StellaOlivettiI remember reading The Weather in the Streets as a teen & it is heartbreaking - especially as the end of Invitation to the Walz seems to hold out so much promise for Olivia & Kate. Only we find that Kate’s romance didn’t work out & then what happens to Olivia 💔