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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN num: 9780140188691
ISBN number: 014018869X
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 240
Printing Date: February 01, 1996
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Sale Popularity Level: 104105
Studio: Penguin Classics
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Flora Poste, orphaned at twenty, decides to go and live with her relatives at Cold Comfort Farm. Once there she discovers they exist in a state of chaos and feels it is up to her to bring order. From the author of LIGHT AND EASY.
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Rated by buyers 
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Cold Comfort Farm is an amazingly great read, surprisingly entertaining, and the way the author handles accents and local dialect, you can actually hear the words in your head as you're reading them. By the way, I highly recommend the movie, too. It's one of the best screen adaptations of a novel I've ever come across. A real tribute to the book.
Rated by buyers -
If you liked the movie you'll love the book.
And if you love this book, you'll also love Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer. Flora has a great deal in common with Sophy.
Rated by buyers -
I've been hearing about Cold Comfort Farm for years and finally got around to reading it. I was not disappointed and Gibbons' skillful use of language and ridiculous over the top plotting make it laugh out loud funny. I've heard or read references to "I saw something nasty in the woodshed" and the "sukebinds" for years but never quite "got them" until now. Like Dickens even Gibbons' minor characters are well drawn, memorable and often hilarious carictures. Yes the book is surreal but close enough to reality for us to enjoy and identify with the characters and plots. I was a little distracted by Gibbons setting the story in the "near future" but got used to it and enjoyed the clever writing. Anyone who loves Wodehouse (especially Bertie and Jeeves) should find this a delight. The movie is subsequent on my list of DVDs to see.
Rated by buyers -
This is a great novel for anyone who has had a steady diet of Austen and Bronte. The poor-girl-meets-rich-man-and-lives-happily-ever-after scenario and its variations are lovely if somewhat fantastical stories. But they do get wearisome after a while. I mean, after reading Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Jane Eyre, one almost starts to believe that being orphaned and poverty-sticken is the surefire method of finding true love.
Fortunately, Stella Gibbons felt the same way, and offered up this little gem. While it follows the same basic recipe as all the other British chick lit of its day, my new best friend Stella had a little satirical fun with the ingredients.
A very brief, non-spoilerish synopsis:
Heroine Flora Poste, recently orphaned, considers her options, then blithely moves in with her cursed and dismally nutso cousins in the countryside. Each of her relatives is almost cartoonlike in their complete dysfunctionality; and all of them need some serious "tidying up." Luckily Flora is just the girl to take up the work. There is the terrible and invisible Aunt Ada Doom, pious and furious Cousin Amos, morose Judith, virile Seth, sullen Reuben, and waiflike poetess Elfine. I won't ruin the ending, but the inherant absurdity of her relatives, mixed with Flora's matter-of-fact attitude about life makes for terrific amusement all the way through.
Rated by buyers -
Flora, orphaned at 20 with limited means, has few options, and goes to stay with her cousins the Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm. They are a mixed bunch to say the least. Flora's attempts to civilize and organize them are hilarious. Let me just say that hygiene is fairly low on their list of priorities.
The language and turn of phrase in Cold Comfort Farm is absolutely superb, some of which are unique to Stella Gibbons, but I find have already infiltrated my everyday thoughts.
There are definitely echoes of Jane Austen especially touches of Emma Woodhouse in Flora.
This book is hilarious from start to finish, and there are some amazingly witty turns of phrase. It is written by an English author. The British often allow their readers to draw their own conclusions, so some things are left to your own imagination. For instance what was so nasty that shocked Ada Doom in the woodshed? What terrible deed had befallen Flora's father? Did the goat survive?
Stella Gibbons has written a modern masterpiece and credits her readers with intelligence.
Definitely recommended and a definite keeper. The whole family has enjoyed it. My husband laughed so much when reading it, the kids thought he was having a fit!
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