Miss Mapp

I've read the entire Mapp & Lucia series a few times and have come to the conclusion that Miss Mapp is my favourite character. Such a crafty mischief-maker! The machinations and intrigues of the residents of Tilling are hilariously entertaining. Major Flint and Captain Puffin are known to have bibulous disagreements but it was Puffin's belligerent confrontation with Miss Mapp that made me laugh so hard it brought tears to my eyes: "You say I'm drunk, do you? Well I say you're drunk." On this nth reading, I'm awarding 5 stars yet again.

I've sat around and had discussions with friends about the genius behind the show Seinfeld: how can "a show about nothing" have run for so many seasons, and still manage to maintain its freshness and hilarity to this day? That's exactly what I asked myself after I finished reading Miss Mapp. This is the third book in a series of six books (Make Way for Lucia) written by E.F. Benson spanning the early 1920s and ending in the late 1930s. A few times when I was asked to describe what I was reading as of late, I would get flustered about how best to explain it because...it really is a book about "nothing in particular." Boring, you say? Far from it! I'm going to try to get my bearings in gear so that after reading this review hopefully you're not scratching your head, and wondering what the heck that was all about. Benson effectually peels the cover off of the town of Tilling, an idyllic English village on the coast, and lets the reader peer directly onto the comings and goings of the townsfolk. At its core is a group of genteel society folks living quiet lives that revolve around delicate routine: "...the days would scurry by in a round of housekeeping, bridge, weekly visits to the workhouse, and intense curiosity as to anything of domestic interest which took place in the strenuous world of this little country town." Miss Mapp runs this town like a true queen bee, and it's hilarious to watch her quash any attempts at revolt, and monopolize the town gossip and use it to her advantage...always. Mapp is a pretty ruthless character, and though not my favorite, I felt uncomfortable that a lot of her feelings and thoughts resonated with me. I always wonder how Benson knew so much about women. There are so many rules that are never said, just understood. When are these things ingrained into us? I especially loved the secondary characters, and how they added so much to the flora of the town. Diva, Miss Mapp's arch nemesis, is one of my favorite characters. She is equally as cunning as Mapp, but she has more of a heart. Quaint Irene, the town bohemian who wears men's clothes, and Mrs. Poppit, the rich widow who throws her money in everyone's faces with her fancy dinners, are just a couple of the folks that liven up the town. If you're ever in the mood for a good laugh, you will definitely be in for a treat with this book and series. I can't wait to crack into the next book.

Mapp is much meaner in spirit than Lucia, but the silly situations and surrounding characters make this a fun read for those down moments.

Where to start? The backstabbing machinations of the two-faced, gossiping, vindictive characters in this book would better people a YA high school clique novel. Don't tell me that I just don't get it-- because of the time period in which it was written--I've read lots of things written in this time period, and set in this time period. For the most part, these people are just selfish, and mean to each other for no other reason. Regardless, it's like an accident: you don't want to look, but you feel compelled. Miss Mapp, and her friends (?), while tedious, were entertaining.

Miss Elizabeth Mapp sits most of the time behind her bay window which gives her a vantage point over the main street of her village, Tilling, and especially over the houses of her neighbours, Captain Puffin and Major Flint. A lot of bridge is played and there is a tedious duel between Captain and Major that goes on and on and on. This one I will remember as the book of the cut-up chintz curtains. It is my least favourite of the six (I already read the last three in the volume Lucia Victrix).

One of the fabulous E.F. Benson novels of English village life and all its machinations. I love all the Mapp and Lucia books, and reread them regularly. While Miss Mapp is one of my favorite characters, this book has always seemed to me to be a bit darker than the Lucia books. Miss Mapp, as a book and as a character, seems to be just the tiniest bit darker and more vindictive than Lucia. Still, this novel is great fun and from time to time even approaches the laugh-out-loud level, even after many re-readings.

Forty-ish Elizabeth Mapp, much like the heroine of the last book in this series, Lucia, places great stock in the latest news in her village of Tilling. The first person in possession of the latest tidbits has a tactical advantage over her neighbors. Therefore, she maintains a vigilant surveillance of her neighborhood from her garden room window, where “anger and the gravest suspicions about everybody had kept her young and on the boil.”

Written in 1922, there is very little here to remind readers of the horrid war that effected so many in those years following World War I. By design, this is a light-hearted, humorous look at life in an English village and reading it at this point in time gives the reader a glimpse of a time long ago when people took time for tea, had servants, found pleasure and importance everyday occurrences and lived an entirely different kind of life.

Miss Mapp’s primary nemesis is her fellow village resident Godiva Plaistow and the two carry on a hilarious give and take relationship as they try to one-up each other. The main thrust of their one-upmanship occurs as they vie against each other to out-create various dresses. In addition, directly across from Miss Mapp reside two bumbling gentleman, retired military men, who enjoy daily golf outings and take pleasure in each other’s company over a drink or two in the evening.

Every morning at the appointed time village residents fill the streets with their market baskets ready for their purchases, which according to accepted mores, must be kept covered so that no one knows what’s been procured. And Miss Mapp certainly follows all the rules and makes sure that others do so as well. She meets her match, however, when the Contessa comes to town:
”Miss Mapp’s head was in a whirl. The Contessa said in the loudest possible voice all that everybody else only whispered; she displayed (in her basket) all that everybody else covered up with thick layers of paper. If Miss Mapp had only guessed that the Contessa would have a market basket, she would have paraded the High Street with a leg of mutton protruding from one end and a pair of Wellington boots from the other…But who could have suspected that a Contessa…”

It’s hard to over-emphasize the power Miss Mapp has over her fellow village residents or the skill Benson displayed in creating dialogue that dripped with irony and humor. Absolutely delightful.