Good Behaviour but not a good experience (From Swindon Advertiser)

Good Behaviour but not a good experience

10:06pm Sunday 2nd November 2008

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Well, just as some books change your life and others take over your life while you're reading them, others just pass you by.

And while Good Behaviour by Molly Keane is perfectly readable, it struck me as nothing special.

It tells the tale of a well-off, but fast descending into poverty, woman in Ireland and her life in the early part of this century.

Born into a good family, she is a misfit, a big-boned gal who can't find a husband, and her life is dictated by good behaviour - her one and only lover merely lies beside her in bed and then makes his excuses and leaves without even kissing her.

She is clearly hemmed in by the intricacies of her posh life and the snobbery she must strive to maintain. But for God's sake, she doesn't even try to rebel. She just puts up and shuts up and that, for me, doesn't make a very interesting heroine.

I think the book is supposed to start with her revenge, in which she inadvertently bumps her oppressive and snobby mother off by feeding her rabbit for lunch. But this supposed black comedy just didn't work for me.

It was predictable (yes, you can guess the twists, you know who's in the closet, you know who's up to no good and with whom - there are no surprises), it was pleasant and it was forgettable.

It was a great subject - the fall of the blessed and wealthy gentry in Ireland in the early 20th century. But it just didn't get to grips with it properly and didn't move me.

Unlike The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle, which I've just started and which made me not do my housework yesterday but made me lie in bed reading for far too long. Hurrah for a good read.