Snobs

I loved this book -- it was a delight -- a veritable social study of the upper classes: complete with all the taboos, refined class distinctions, social no-nos and in jokes. It was thoughtfully written, the plot was good, the characters well drawn and developed, and the humour delicious. The story of a pretty English blonde from the upper middle class who social climbs her way into a marriage with an Earl from an old established aristocratic farmily ("it took 600 hundred years to become us") this tale describes the preoccupations and stress of joining an exclusive club, and shows that life at the top is not all it is cracked up to be, or even what we fondly imagine it should be. Julian Fellowes writes with all the charm and wit of a contemporary Nancy Mitford or E.F. Benson. As I am an Englishwoman it was like going home.

Edith Lavery is the beautiful daughter of a wealthy accountant and his wife who aspire to marry their daughter into the aristocracy. She manages to enthrall Charles, Earl Broughton, heir to the Marquess of Uckfield, when she meets him as a day visitor to his "stately home"(shades of Hyacinth Bucket)and they marry, to the delight of her mother and the total dismay of his.After nearly two years of boredom, Edith realises that the fairytale life that she had imagined accompanied the title of Countess, just simply didn't exist and she succumbs to the charms of an actor who is starring in a tv series, using the familys country home as its backdrop. Simon is stikingly handsome in a slightly effeminate way and, as sex with her worthy but dull husband has never been more than perfunctory, embarks on a sizzling affair with ends with her leaving her husband and moving into a small flat with her handsome but totally self obssessed lover. The gilt wears off the gingerbread after 8 months and poor stupid Edith does everything she can to win back the trust of her husband. The story of a certain type of hangers-on who live in the shadow of the truly uppercrust is bitingly spot-on and the efforts that they go to in an effort to be included with that set is really pathetically accurate. This was SUCH a good laugh, albeit a slightly guilty one!

"Snobs" by Julian Fellowes is a thoroughly delightful read that I've just, unfortunately, come to the end of. I might be tempted to refer to the book as "satire," in that Fellowes makes caustic observations on the behavior and mindset of the British upper class, its hangers-on, and those who aspire to enter its orbit if not its rarefied atmosphere. To me, an American with no first-hand experience of this world, these observations, as well as the depiction in general, sound dead-on. But I have trouble with the "satire" label in that Fellowes' characters are such full-blooded, three-dimensional character studies. These are people that one begins to care about, despite sometimes atrocious behavior and the fact that many of them are, indeed, snobs. The book is extremely well-written, and is an utterly absorbing, satisfying read. For a few precious hours, i feel i entered this foreign but often charming world, rubbed shoulders with upper-class cads, twits, and "arrivistes," and came to appreciate the level-headed moral center of the novel, the narrator. I came away feeling I had gained some understanding of this world, even while i consider myself fortunate not to have to reside there for any time. Well done, Mr. Fellowes! I look forward to his future efforts in fiction.

This book is an Anglophile's delight. If you are a fan of Masterpiece Theatre, Jane Austen, William Thackeray, Noel Coward, et al., then this is your perfect cup of tea. SNOBS is immersed in the lives of the upper crust of British society and with those outsiders who desperately aspire to become a part of this rarified, privileged world. The plot centers upon the initially fortitious marriage of a beautiful, middle class young woman to a wealthy Earl from an illustrious British family. The Earl is earnest but dull and his new wife quickly tires of him and their lifestyle. Consequenly she creates a scandal by embarking on an affair with an extraordinarily handsome but callow, supercilious actor. This rather pedestrian, derivative plot is nonetheless made up for by Fellowes scintillating prose. He knows his territory well and provides the reader with an entertaining, clever and oh so sophisticated work. The author's witty aphorisms concerning the upper set are exceptionally fun and insightful: "The English, of all classes as it happens, are addicted to exclusivity. Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them." "The upper classes are not, as a whole a complaining lot. As a group they would rather not 'go on about it'. A brisk walk and a stiff drink are their chosen methods of recovery whether struck in the heart or the wallet...it is not lack of feeling that marks them apart, rather it is a lack of expression of feeling." "The English always say you shouldn't have bothered to thank them, when, of all races on earth, they are the most unforgiving when one does not." Despite Fellowes satirical and acerbic commentary concerning the snobbish and frivolous nature of the English upper crust, the overall tone of this book leads one to believe that the author has a personal fondness and high regard for this set. On a relatively minor negative note, Fellowes continuously alternates the narrative voice from the first person to the third person. I found this to be rather awkward and disconcerting. However, I MUST SAY (as the Brits repeatedly do), all minor criticisms aside, this novel is a joy and a delight.

It's a hoot. "Snobs" is a frothy, funny, in the cross-hairs look at life among the distant, devious, and sometimes demented British upper classes. Dare you to read a page or two and put it down. Impossible! However, this rib-tickling romp is what we've come to expect from the Academy Award-winning author of Gosford Park. What else from the man whose son is named Peregrine and his dachshund Fudge? Fellowes well knows the pretentiousness of the privileged but describes it with such warmth and wit that readers, rather than feeling antipathy toward the titled, simply come to look upon these folks as a tad daft and highly amusing. There doesn't seem to be a malicious word in this author's vocabulary - only merriment. A jovial, easy-going sort, the narrator is an actor who knows the right people, although he was not born to be one of them. He's about 30 years of ago with a bright outlook on life and a good friend, the young, beautiful, clear complexioned Edith Lavery. "She was a type, albeit a superior example of it: the English blonde with large eyes and nice manners." As the story opens Edith is employed, rather unhappily so. Her future, she believes, rests in finding a wealthy husband. She's learned her lesson well from her mother, Stella, who was once a debutante but did not marry well. Stella yearns, longs, and dreams of the day when somehow she will gain entry into the upper echelons of London society. What will open these gilded doors for her? Daughter Edith. As luck or fate would have it, Edith does find a wealthy husband. He's not only rich but he's Lord Charles Broughton. His ancestral home is Broughton Hall, a portion of which is now open to paying guests. Much to the distress of his overbearing mama Charles proposes to Edith, they marry, and he brings her to live in the hallowed Hall. Barely eight months into their marriage Edith sees Charles as perhaps more frog than Prince Charming. She finds his friends supercilious and small-minded, his mother a harridan, and her duties as the wife of a future Earl endlessly boring. He is rather dull, plodding, and lacking in imagination. But, he adores her and she now has every luxury of which she dreamed. We read, "She was...sufficiently honourable about the Faustian pact she had made to wish to keep it." That was before she met Simon Russell, an ego driven actor who was"astonishingly good-looking, but in truth the trailer was better than the feature." Simon believes a liaison with Edith will better his career considering all the publicity such an affair would engender, so he sets about winning her. She's hardly a challenge. Before long the two run off together, breaking Charles's heart and setting forked tongues wagging. What Simon did not realize was that Edith's currency would be worthless once she left Charles, and what Edith did not realize was that Simon's theatre friends would be quite as stand-offish and exclusive as the upper class had been. The alr