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Available
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Publication
Publisher Unknown (1969)
Description
A story about the sometimes troubled truths of relationships.
User reviews
LibraryThing member brenzi
Barbara Pym was up to her wily tricks again when she wrote The Sweet Dove Died. For three quarters of the book, she created a protagonist, Leonora Eyre,who is just about as unlikable a character as I’ve run across in literature. Pretentious, arrogant, controlling, possessive and honed in on all
As the story opens, Leonora has passed out while bidding at a Sotheby auction on “that dear little book”. She is immediately ministered to by widowed antique shop owner Humphrey Boyce and his twenty-four year old nephew James, who is learning the business. One thing leads to another and soon Leonora, approaching late middle age and unmarried, has inserted herself into their lives completely. Although Humphrey attempts to strike up a romantic relationship with Leonora, she seems to have eyes for young James, spineless wonder that he is, who seems to be happy to fill whatever role she might want. She, in turn, must control every aspect of his life. When he meets young Phoebe, an untidy English major whom he unexpectedly beds down, things start to heat up and Leonora has to intervene to make things right, or as right as she deems necessary. Good-bye Phoebe. In the meantime, James goes on a month long buying trip in Spain and Portugal where he meets the charming, and apparently gay, Ned, an American who is about to begin a one year sabbatical at the British Museum. James finds he is confused, sexually, and Ned will pose a much greater challenge to Leonora’s hold on her young friend and force her to face the twin demons of loneliness and old age.
Pym’s characterizations of these fascinating characters and their interactions are what makes the story so riveting. As the narrative moves towards its conclusion, Pym’s choice of a Keats’ poem to title her work, makes perfect sense and sums up Leonora’s problem beautifully:
I had a dove, and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving;
O, what could it grieve for? Its feet were tied
With a single thread of my own hand’s weaving…
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that is “just right,” in her estimation, she grated on my nerves at every turn of the page. So how come, with about a quarter of the book left to read, my feelings toward her changed completely to feelings of sympathy? It’s just Pym, doing what she does best: making the reader reconsider and change their mind by degrees until Leonora becomes a sweet, misunderstood woman, whose loneliness has finally caught up with her.As the story opens, Leonora has passed out while bidding at a Sotheby auction on “that dear little book”. She is immediately ministered to by widowed antique shop owner Humphrey Boyce and his twenty-four year old nephew James, who is learning the business. One thing leads to another and soon Leonora, approaching late middle age and unmarried, has inserted herself into their lives completely. Although Humphrey attempts to strike up a romantic relationship with Leonora, she seems to have eyes for young James, spineless wonder that he is, who seems to be happy to fill whatever role she might want. She, in turn, must control every aspect of his life. When he meets young Phoebe, an untidy English major whom he unexpectedly beds down, things start to heat up and Leonora has to intervene to make things right, or as right as she deems necessary. Good-bye Phoebe. In the meantime, James goes on a month long buying trip in Spain and Portugal where he meets the charming, and apparently gay, Ned, an American who is about to begin a one year sabbatical at the British Museum. James finds he is confused, sexually, and Ned will pose a much greater challenge to Leonora’s hold on her young friend and force her to face the twin demons of loneliness and old age.
Pym’s characterizations of these fascinating characters and their interactions are what makes the story so riveting. As the narrative moves towards its conclusion, Pym’s choice of a Keats’ poem to title her work, makes perfect sense and sums up Leonora’s problem beautifully:
I had a dove, and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving;
O, what could it grieve for? Its feet were tied
With a single thread of my own hand’s weaving…
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LibraryThing member rainpebble
The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym
I's a bit difficult to write a review on this book after reading those of brenzi, Heaven-Ali and lauralkeet. They have all three done an exceptional job with their reviews.
I will begin by saying that I did not find Leonora totally unredemptive. I will agree that
It is my understanding that Ms. Pym wrote The Sweet Dove Died based partly upon a relationship she had with a younger antique dealer.
This is the story of Leonora Eyre. She is a fading beauty, wealthy & self-centered. She has always traded on her looks, her charm and enjoyed the many admirers who would come to take her out for quaint little dinners and make her presents of flowers, books and small Victorian antiques.
As the story begins she has just met two antique dealers; 60ish widower Humphrey and his oh, so handsome 20ish nephew James. Humphrey, as most men do, falls for Leonora but Leonora falls for his nephew James. And thus begins a curious triangular relationship. Of course all is perfectly innocent though not by the desires of some of those involved. Things become increasingly complicated when Leonora discovers that James has a girlfriend of sorts; the rather hippieish Phoebe. She is just about able to deal with this development when she is completely undone by James who has returned from Spain having begun a romantic relationship with Ned, a selfish but attractive American academic, whom he met on holiday.
The mood of this book is a bit or actually much darker than most of Pym's works. But I think that all in all I appreciated it more than some of her earlier works which are much lighter. She is a wonderful writer and I enjoy all of her books.
I's a bit difficult to write a review on this book after reading those of brenzi, Heaven-Ali and lauralkeet. They have all three done an exceptional job with their reviews.
I will begin by saying that I did not find Leonora totally unredemptive. I will agree that
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she was totally absorbed with self but she did attempt to be kind to the neighbor with all the cats and she tried to hide some of her dispicable qualities from others at times. But she really was self absorbed and only thought of others as in regards to herself.It is my understanding that Ms. Pym wrote The Sweet Dove Died based partly upon a relationship she had with a younger antique dealer.
This is the story of Leonora Eyre. She is a fading beauty, wealthy & self-centered. She has always traded on her looks, her charm and enjoyed the many admirers who would come to take her out for quaint little dinners and make her presents of flowers, books and small Victorian antiques.
As the story begins she has just met two antique dealers; 60ish widower Humphrey and his oh, so handsome 20ish nephew James. Humphrey, as most men do, falls for Leonora but Leonora falls for his nephew James. And thus begins a curious triangular relationship. Of course all is perfectly innocent though not by the desires of some of those involved. Things become increasingly complicated when Leonora discovers that James has a girlfriend of sorts; the rather hippieish Phoebe. She is just about able to deal with this development when she is completely undone by James who has returned from Spain having begun a romantic relationship with Ned, a selfish but attractive American academic, whom he met on holiday.
The mood of this book is a bit or actually much darker than most of Pym's works. But I think that all in all I appreciated it more than some of her earlier works which are much lighter. She is a wonderful writer and I enjoy all of her books.
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LibraryThing member Porius
Leonora Eyre is as delicate as any fussy feathered creature in a Keats poem. She has a desire to make everything perfect, as a matter of fact, she treasures lovely objects more than she does her fellow humans. When the 'cold pastoral' call goes out, or 'forlorn' is the warning, her ears are
As usual clothes are important. The wrappage is never adventitious:
And now Ned was looking at her in a most curious way. His eyes moved from her face, down over her body and legs; even her feet did not escape his scrutiny. . . Ned's appraisal was completely lacking in sexuality or desire. But after a while Leonora realized what he was doing - simply calculating the cost of her clothes and everything about her, including her hairstyle, make-up, jewellery, and even her shoes.
We get a feel for Leonora with this next bit as much as anything else:
'Just give me a dutiful kiss,' said Leonara lightly.
He bent to kiss her cheek, his hands touching her stiffly lacquered hair, the feeling of which gave him a slight shock as if she were made of some brittle unreal substance. 'Darling,' he said, 'they're so beautiful. Did Humphrey go with you to buy them?'
Leonora had just given her young 'love interest' an expensive birthday present. I read this searching novel in one sitting. For a slow reader like myself, I'll often read several pages aloud, this should tell you something. If you are slow on the up-take, what I'm telling you is that there is much pleasure in the reading of THE SWEET DOVE DIED.
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unhearing, she's right at home among the fussy birds or the greek receptacles. Though she does show when push comes to shove in the world of 'romance' a surprising capability to deal with a what can only be called a negative. As usual clothes are important. The wrappage is never adventitious:
And now Ned was looking at her in a most curious way. His eyes moved from her face, down over her body and legs; even her feet did not escape his scrutiny. . . Ned's appraisal was completely lacking in sexuality or desire. But after a while Leonora realized what he was doing - simply calculating the cost of her clothes and everything about her, including her hairstyle, make-up, jewellery, and even her shoes.
We get a feel for Leonora with this next bit as much as anything else:
'Just give me a dutiful kiss,' said Leonara lightly.
He bent to kiss her cheek, his hands touching her stiffly lacquered hair, the feeling of which gave him a slight shock as if she were made of some brittle unreal substance. 'Darling,' he said, 'they're so beautiful. Did Humphrey go with you to buy them?'
Leonora had just given her young 'love interest' an expensive birthday present. I read this searching novel in one sitting. For a slow reader like myself, I'll often read several pages aloud, this should tell you something. If you are slow on the up-take, what I'm telling you is that there is much pleasure in the reading of THE SWEET DOVE DIED.
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LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Barbara Pym does unlikeable, yet marginally sympathetic, women like no one else. In Sweet Dove we have Leonora Eyre, an unmarried woman of a certain age who lives alone and likes it, so she believes, until she meets Humphrey Boyce and his nephew James. Although she considers herself too old for
Reviewed in August 2013
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romance (and one wonders whether she was ever very much interested in it) she begins to spend a good deal of time with each of them, forming a very strong attachment to James in particular. Pym brilliantly illuminates Leonora's character, showing the reader some melancholy truths about this "perfect" lady, who can see the motes in everyone's eye but her own. I seem to say this every time I pick up one of her novels, but this may be my favorite Pym so far.Reviewed in August 2013
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LibraryThing member tzelman
Once again, several women contending for an unworthy man. Small potatoes, but delicious!
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
Books by Pym are always concerned with the inner lives and details of people living quiet, retiring lives in England . As always, there are frustrated love-affairs, slightly uncomfortable dinner parties, and carefully examined friendships. Thirty years passed between Pym’s first novel and this
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one, and the time has clearly made an impression. Most obviously, there is a sizable queer presence in these books. Moreover, the parties and thoughts of the young people described are finally approaching modernity. I initially hated the main character, a middle-aged woman of delicate tastes and beautiful manners. Snobby, self-contained and selfish, she gives little and requires much from the people around her. She’s an older, less dynamic Lily Bart, and it’s actually quite disturbing. But as the book goes on, the subtleties of her situation and mind are revealed, and she slowly becomes more sympathetic. By the end, her own desperate loneliness has been exposed, but because she finally recognizes the truth—that she *is* lonely, and so are other people—it seemed a happy ending to me. Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
There is something succulent in the late novels of Barbara Pym, like deliberately over-ripened fruit, or a haunch of game hung for an extended period. One feels that Pym knows her characters almost too well, and that she may not particularly like them. Yet she spends time with them, and invites us
The elegant Leonora is ageing more or less gracefully. She enjoys the attentions of men, both older and younger, whilst knowing how to keep restrictive commitment at bay. She may always know the right word or gesture, but like Henry James’ prose, which is alluded to, she can come across as cold. Of course that suits some English men perfectly, especially those who would be somewhat overwhelmed by a real passionate relation with a woman. Sexual relations, which are subtext in the early Pym novels, are rendered explicit here. However, they remain curiously unreal, no doubt because they were never Pym’s object. And that raises the question, what really is Pym’s object in this novel? The answer lies in the reading, and I suspect will change as you read it again and again. As I will. Always recommended.
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to do the same: slightly distasteful women, ambiguous and calculating men, vapid gentlewomen, and the ever-charming clergyman (here occurring only as a brief fellow train traveller sharing a table for tea). So how does Pym take a character one doesn’t particularly like, such as Leonora Eyre, and in the space of a single short chapter render her entirely sympathetic, even pitiable? Only exquisite mastery of her craft could explain Pym’s remarkable affect upon her reader.The elegant Leonora is ageing more or less gracefully. She enjoys the attentions of men, both older and younger, whilst knowing how to keep restrictive commitment at bay. She may always know the right word or gesture, but like Henry James’ prose, which is alluded to, she can come across as cold. Of course that suits some English men perfectly, especially those who would be somewhat overwhelmed by a real passionate relation with a woman. Sexual relations, which are subtext in the early Pym novels, are rendered explicit here. However, they remain curiously unreal, no doubt because they were never Pym’s object. And that raises the question, what really is Pym’s object in this novel? The answer lies in the reading, and I suspect will change as you read it again and again. As I will. Always recommended.
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LibraryThing member lauralkeet
This novel centers on three friends: Humphrey, James, and Leonora. James is Humphrey's nephew, and an assistant in his antique shop. Leonora is a middle-aged woman -- younger than Humphrey and older than James -- and enjoys flirtatious relationships with both men. She expects their attention, and
As you might expect, the story is bittersweet. Pym lightens the mood with supporting characters like Leonora's "crazy cat lady" friend Liz, and Ned, a young American with designs on James.
Although the novel was published in 1978, the characters and story seemed more "vintage 1950s" with the odd references to sex and cannabis thrown in to modernize. Still, I always enjoy Pym's work and found this a pleasurable comfort read.
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enjoys receiving little gifts, without having to give much in return. She arranges for James to rent a flat in her house, and enjoys their "platonic living together" arrangement. But when James' attentions stray to younger and possibly more compatible partners, she becomes jealous and tries to manipulate events in her favor. All the while poor Humphrey sits on the sidelines, a steady reliable friend with desires to take the relationship further, but Leonora is oblivious to this opportunity.As you might expect, the story is bittersweet. Pym lightens the mood with supporting characters like Leonora's "crazy cat lady" friend Liz, and Ned, a young American with designs on James.
Although the novel was published in 1978, the characters and story seemed more "vintage 1950s" with the odd references to sex and cannabis thrown in to modernize. Still, I always enjoy Pym's work and found this a pleasurable comfort read.
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LibraryThing member rmaitzen
As I was finishing this novel, I had the feeling that it was a better book than it seemed. It's so slight and told with such lack of overt -- anything -- that the first impression it gives is of an unnecessarily acerbic triviality. But I'll keep thinking about it and maybe write up a proper blog
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post in a bit. Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
Among Pym's oeuvre this novel is my personal favorite with its richly drawn characters including Leonora Eyre, an attractive and elegant, but essentially selfish, middle-aged woman. She becomes friendly with antique dealer Humphrey Boyce and his nephew James. Both men are attracted to Leonora, but
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Leonora prefers the young, good-looking James to the more "suitable" Humphrey. While James is away on a buying trip, Leonora discovers to her annoyance that he has been seeing Phoebe, a girl of his o...more Among Pym's oeuvre this novel is my personal favorite with its rich characters including Leonora Eyre, an attractive and elegant, but essentially selfish, middle-aged woman. She becomes friendly with antique dealer Humphrey Boyce and his nephew James. Both men are attracted to Leonora, but Leonora prefers the young, good-looking James to the more "suitable" Humphrey. While James is away on a buying trip, Leonora discovers to her annoyance that he has been seeing Phoebe, a girl of his own age. Leonora makes use of Humphrey to humiliate Phoebe, and turns out a sitting tenant in order that James can take up a flat in her own house. She does this in an apparent attempt to control his life. While abroad, the bisexual James has begun a relationship with an American, the amoral Ned, who later follows him to London. Ned pries James out of Leonora's grasp, only to reject him for another lover. James attempts a reconciliation with Leonora, but she refuses to give him a second opportunity to hurt her, and settles for the admiration of the less attractive Humphrey. As with all Pym's fiction, the novel contains many literary references, notably to works by Keats, John Milton and Henry James. Show Less
LibraryThing member veracite
Pym is a dry, subtle, witty, kind writer. Her characters in this book are dreadful and ordinary and sympathetic.
I recommend reading other reviews of this book here on GR.
I recommend reading other reviews of this book here on GR.
LibraryThing member LyzzyBee
(9 January 1991)
I think this is the most Elizabeth Taylor-y of Pym’s novels (Pym and Taylor readers, do you agree?). We meet cool (cold? calculating?) Leonora, who uses her accidental encounter with Humphrey and his nephew James to entwine them into her life, getting all their useful aspects
I think this is the most Elizabeth Taylor-y of Pym’s novels (Pym and Taylor readers, do you agree?). We meet cool (cold? calculating?) Leonora, who uses her accidental encounter with Humphrey and his nephew James to entwine them into her life, getting all their useful aspects
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without having to engage in any of the messier or more uncomfortable side of human relationships. She is unable to see the parallels between her obsession with James and her friend Meg’s difficulties with her own young male friend, even when parallels between the young men’s lives come into sharp focus, and dispatches those who cause problems with ease and aplomb. Yet somehow we do feel sorry for this lady with her empty life and continual polishing in this quietly impressive novel which Pym described as a study in selfishness (picked up at the conference). Originally read this in the early 90s and I’m not sure I’ve got a review written down. I did remember many parts of this although not the plot as such. Show Less
LibraryThing member KayCliff
The sweet dove died, written 1963-9, recounts affairs of `unmarried, unattached, ageing women' (both Leonora and Meg) with much younger men -- as it might be, Pym with the real-life Roberts or Jay. The novel features antique shops and auctions, as does Pym's diary of the period, in which she
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records bidding for Sharpe's Birds of Paradise at Christie's and attending a sale at Sotheby's, as well as enjoying a creamy cake at a Buttery after visiting the dentist (26 Sept. 1965), just as Leonora attempts to do; and, in Bond Street, seeing `a young man sitting alone in a grand antique shop' and reflecting, `A woman admirer might be a great nuisance always coming to see him'. Show Less
LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
8.23.19: This novel is rich for analysis from so many angles. Really excited to be presenting on it next month!
LibraryThing member ParadisePorch
Barbara Pym continues on a path away from the genteel middle-aged ladies of the Anglican church. The Sweet Dove Died is named for a line from Keats:
I had a dove, and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving;
O, what could it grieve for? Its feet were tied
With a single thread of my
This is the feeling encapsulated in Pym’s story.
Lenora, a middle-aged woman befriends well-to-do Humphrey, 60, and his nephew James. Unwilling to admit her aging, she is in love with the 25-year-old nephew while the uncle is enthralled by her. Lenora uses that situation to her best interest until James is enticed away by the young American, Ned.
As in life, the situation leads only to unhappiness all around. I love that Pym didn’t sugar-coat the outcome.
Read this if: you enjoy tales that look honestly at relationships between men and women, in a satiric fashion. 4 stars
I had a dove, and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving;
O, what could it grieve for? Its feet were tied
With a single thread of my
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own hand’s weaving.This is the feeling encapsulated in Pym’s story.
Lenora, a middle-aged woman befriends well-to-do Humphrey, 60, and his nephew James. Unwilling to admit her aging, she is in love with the 25-year-old nephew while the uncle is enthralled by her. Lenora uses that situation to her best interest until James is enticed away by the young American, Ned.
As in life, the situation leads only to unhappiness all around. I love that Pym didn’t sugar-coat the outcome.
Read this if: you enjoy tales that look honestly at relationships between men and women, in a satiric fashion. 4 stars
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LibraryThing member tloeffler
Leonora Eyre is being wooed by Humphrey, an antiques dealer, but she has far more interest in his (much younger) nephew James. While Humphrey pursues Leonora, Leonora pursues James, who enjoys spending time with Leonora, but is also seeing Phoebe, making Leonora jealous, until James takes up with
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Ned, an American he met at an antiques auction.....it's a good read, but Lordy, I wanted to slap every single one of them. Show Less
LibraryThing member ponsonby
This very late entry in the Pym canon is much harder and cynical than her earlier work. It still has the elegance of phrase but more cutting, and the heroine (?) is very hard to sympathise with. As usual, one or two characters from the earlier books make very fleeting reappearances. This is not
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vintage Pym; but it's still beautifully written and much better than A Few Green Leaves or An Academic Question. Show Less
LibraryThing member pgchuis
This was definitely less optimistic than earlier Pym novels, and less amusing, but I still found it entertaining. By the end I was sympathizing with everyone except the amoral Ned.
LibraryThing member MarilynKinnon
Leonora Aire is the epitome of middle class 1930s/40s woman with time on her hands in Sloane Sq faills in love with young man from Antique shop. Fantastic sly details of social nuances and misfits and snobbery! Wonderful audio rendition by Sheila Hancock.
LibraryThing member japaul22
I am a huge Barbara Pym fan, but this one gets a pan. It was written later in her life and I think she tried to get a different vibe by throwing in some sex, references to cannabis, and a main character who has relationships with both men and women. But the weird thing is that her main character,
Only recommend for Barbara Pym completists.
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Leonora, is really just like all the main characters in her earlier novels. So it felt confusing. Only recommend for Barbara Pym completists.
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LibraryThing member therebelprince
One of Pym's most incisive and observational novels. A strange beast, this, flitting between points of view and always so darned ironic, every line left with half of it unspoken, asking the reader to intuit, and do so much of the work, but always led on by the wry human insights Pym seemed to do so
Leonora Eyre, independently wealthy (although not absurdly so), seems to feel an emptiness in her life but she can't quite express it. She certainly doesn't understand work, and she's not inclined towards charity, but she is too intelligent to truly enjoy the mundane circularity that weighs down the life of the ordinary person. And, yet, she's not intelligent enough to be an academic, as so many Pym characters are (one gets the sense that her grasp of poetry is half-hearted much of the time). All of this makes her an odd fit for a central character in a Pym, and perhaps this is why I found myself more absorbed by the younger characters who are more my age. James, Phoebe, and - yes - Ned, that American whom many Pymmians consider the greatest villain in her entire oeuvre, although I don't necessarily think he's any more to blame for anything than Leonora is.
This is an affecting and enjoyable read. It's an unusual Pymin that her decision to centre on Leonora puts us at more of a remove than usual from the tertiary characters, and renders James - the second most important character - as secondary himself. But I'll be glad when next Sweet Dove comes up in my Pym rotation, to enjoy its variety from the usual world of musty Pym academe, and for the pleasures she always offers as a novelist.
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well. Leonora Eyre, independently wealthy (although not absurdly so), seems to feel an emptiness in her life but she can't quite express it. She certainly doesn't understand work, and she's not inclined towards charity, but she is too intelligent to truly enjoy the mundane circularity that weighs down the life of the ordinary person. And, yet, she's not intelligent enough to be an academic, as so many Pym characters are (one gets the sense that her grasp of poetry is half-hearted much of the time). All of this makes her an odd fit for a central character in a Pym, and perhaps this is why I found myself more absorbed by the younger characters who are more my age. James, Phoebe, and - yes - Ned, that American whom many Pymmians consider the greatest villain in her entire oeuvre, although I don't necessarily think he's any more to blame for anything than Leonora is.
This is an affecting and enjoyable read. It's an unusual Pymin that her decision to centre on Leonora puts us at more of a remove than usual from the tertiary characters, and renders James - the second most important character - as secondary himself. But I'll be glad when next Sweet Dove comes up in my Pym rotation, to enjoy its variety from the usual world of musty Pym academe, and for the pleasures she always offers as a novelist.
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Subjects
Original publication date
1978
Other editions
Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym (Paperback)