Barbara Pym had been on my to-read list for a while now, so when I saw Some Tame Gazelle at a book sale, I snatched it up immediately. I was not disappointed.
A quick summary: Belinda and Harriet are two sisters (and spinsters) who live together. Harriet loves doting on young curates, while Belinda has been in love with the Archdeacon for years now. The Archdeacon is, by the way, married. The book talks about things that happen in the town, including the arrival of two gentlemen and a few marriage proposals.
The back cover of the copy I have includes one review in which the reviewer says that Barbara Pym’s novels “remind me of Jane Austen loose in Cranford.” After reading the book, I have to agree. The novel, with the small-town atmosphere and the spinsters, definitely reminded me of Cranford. The writing was very enjoyable, with some great comments here and there which you could easily miss if you don’t pay attention.
I did a quick online search to learn more about Barbara Pym and read that she wrote Some Tame Gazelle when she was still pretty young, and when writing the book, she was supposedly imagining what she, her sister, and her friends would be like when they got older. I thought that was really interesting!
One thing I kept thinking about while reading this novel was blindness and how so many times we don’t see things that are extremely obvious. One thing that comes to mind is this: Belinda seems to be smart and sensible, and yet she doesn’t seem to see what a jerk the Archdeacon is. Personally, I did not like him at all, and wonder what Belinda sees or ever saw in him. And that leads me to wonder: in what ways am I blind, not seeing what is clear to everyone else? Most importantly, how do we who are blind learn to see?
I enjoyed Some Tame Gazelle very much. It is the type of book that is good not necessarily because of the plot or the story, but because of the writing and the pleasure reading good writing gives. I look forward to reading some more of her books in the future.
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