Artfully entertaining…On one particular subject Bennett is incomparably brilliant: role-playing, which is the meat of both stories.” —Simon Schama, Financial Times (London)
“Bennett's humor consistently resides in the logic of the parenthetical aside, the comedy of the false appearances or misperceptions being challenged or disabused.…Mrs. Donaldson is not as unconventional as she thought herself, and no one around Mr. Forbes is where—or who—they pretend to be.” —The Guardian (London)
“Tender and comic…This is Bennett's world, where repression is never far from the sexual act….Good, old-fashioned British humor with the lightest of subversive twists.” —The Independent (London)
Two charming novellas by British playwright, actor, and author Bennett (The Uncommon Reader) make up this slender volume. In the first, "The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson," a respectable widow gets her daily dose of excitement by delivering Oscar-worthy performances to medical students, playing the roles of patients with a range of medical symptoms and conditions. This keeps her busy until her lodgers, a medical student and her boyfriend, behind on the rent, offer her payment in the form of a sexual performance, allowing her to be the voyeur. Hilarity and self-discovery ensue. In the second story, "The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes," another proper but less sympathetic matron is dismayed to learn that her good-looking son is about to marry a woman she considers too plain for him. Never mind that the fiancée is rich and brainy. And never mind that her narcissistic son is actually gay. Protecting Mrs. Forbes from that knowledge becomes the focus of everyone connected to her. Hilarity and subterfuge ensue. VERDICT As when Mr. Forbes gets turned on by murmuring naughty words like arse and fanny to his prudish wife, the smut here is of the tamest variety. Bennett's stories guarantee deliciously wicked fun. Recommended for all.—Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.
Kinky hijinks rattle teacups among the British bourgeoisie in the latest from Bennett (The Uncommon Reader, 2008, etc.). The book consists of two stories, "The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson" and "The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes." While no more a hottie than Margaret Thatcher, widowed, cash-strapped 55-year-old Mrs. Donaldson rents out a bedroom in her home to a young couple. Her daughter's skeptical—"The first condom in the loo…and she'll soon change her tune"—but student lodgers Laura and Andy are presentable. This proves crucial, when, behind on rent, they present Mrs. D. with barter—a presentation of themselves, feckless, doing the deed. My heavens! Even more so, when she finds herself agreeing. But things have changed since hubby ("an unobjectionable man") departed, and Mrs. D. is spreading her wings. For one thing, she's taken a job at the hospital, enacting, for doctors-in-training, roles of ill patients, and when the part demands disrobing, she discovers a curious willingness. Soon she's hooked on the in-house freak show; when L. and A. depart, she mourns its loss. She gets on with life, though, perhaps a tad wiser…and warmer. In Bennett's next tale, Betty is smitten with fiancé Graham Forbes, dashing, doting and younger, but seems in no way wise to something awkward: He's gay (he spends the night before his nuptials with a boy named Gary). The Forbes folks initially pooh-pooh the match (they suspect she's Catholic!), but Graham, who'd married for money, in time startles himself by actually liking Betty: She's sharp, funny and understanding, and, with his sweetheart, the novelty even of hetero-sex is nice. Eventually, Graham's secret comes out—as do others ("Mr. Forbes still from time to time sleeps with his daughter-in-law and leads a vigorous fantasy life on the internet…"), but the Betty/Graham union continues satisfying. While the message in these bagatelles isn't clear, it probably has to do with acceptance. Odd and oddly charming.
