Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collections
Publication
Blackstone Audiobooks (2005), Edition: Unabridged MP3, 8h50
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Humor (Fiction.) HTML: Part of a series of novels that center around a pair of high-society matrons, Miss Mapp introduces one of the most gruff and deliciously malicious characters every to grace the literary canon. Readers who love to wallow in the spite, hatefulness, and backstabbing of the doyennes of the upper classes will delight in this book!.
User reviews
LibraryThing member brenzi
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
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.
Show More
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.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Matke
Mapp is much meaner in spirit than Lucia, but the silly situations and surrounding characters make this a fun read for those down moments.
LibraryThing member timeenuf
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
Show More
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. Show Less
LibraryThing member overthemoon
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
Show More
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). Show Less
LibraryThing member millhold
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
Show More
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. Show Less
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
What a disappointment! I read 'Queen Lucia' earlier in the year and was entranced, and had looked forward to this book and the subsequent instalments in the series with great anticipation. This, however, proved to be lamentably wide of the mark.
I found myself lumbering through cloying prose peopled
I found myself lumbering through cloying prose peopled
Show More
with stilted characters, and it proved to be an almost Herculean task to persevere through to the end. Still, that is not a mistake I shall make with any of the rest of the series. Let's just put it down to experience and try to move on to some thing worthwhile. Show Less
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
What a disappointment! I read 'Queen Lucia' earlier in the year and was entranced, and had looked forward to this book and the subsequent instalments in the series with great anticipation. This, however, proved to be lamentably wide of the mark.
I found myself lumbering through cloying prose peopled
I found myself lumbering through cloying prose peopled
Show More
with stilted characters, and it proved to be an almost Herculean task to persevere through to the end. Still, that is not a mistake I shall make with any of the rest of the series. Let's just put it down to experience and try to move on to some thing worthwhile. Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
It has been decades since I read the Mapp & Lucia series and I had forgotten much this entry (2nd in publication order but 3rd in the omnibus). I found Miss Mapp meaner than I remembered but the book funnier (so often the way in satires that the nastier characters are the source of most of the
Nadia May does a marvellous narration so I am glad to have listened to this rather than read my Kindle edition.
Show More
humor).Nadia May does a marvellous narration so I am glad to have listened to this rather than read my Kindle edition.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rosalita
I don't understand why I love the residents of Riseholme and Tilling so much. They really are the most vapid, conniving, hidebound, silly snobs you could ever imagine, and Lucia and Miss Mapp are the worst of the bunch. And yet, when they do occasionally get their comeuppance, I can't help but feel
Show More
a pang. And I'm always eager to read more. Show Less
LibraryThing member etxgardener
This is the second book in Benson's Mapp & Lucia series ans is another charming book of manners set in the provincial seaside town of Tilling in England. Miss Elizabeth Mapp is a well-off woman of a certain age, who sits in her garden window every morning observing the comings and goings of what
Written almost 100 years ago, these characters are recognizable to anyone who lives in a small town today. This is a perfect escapist read for today's troubled times.
Show More
she thinks of as her kingdom. And keeping control of the cast of characters in this village is quite a chore. She is constantly in a contest with Godiva "Diva" Plaistow over who is most au courrant on the latest news and who can dress with the most flair. And what about Captain Puffin and Major Flint They are constant companions spending their evenings sipping whiskey and discussing England's Roman roads. Shouldn't they be paying attention to her? And who will meet the Prince of Wales when he stops in the village to play golf? And when the Countess arrives from Italy - oh my goodness! - what will happen now?Written almost 100 years ago, these characters are recognizable to anyone who lives in a small town today. This is a perfect escapist read for today's troubled times.
Show Less
LibraryThing member starbox
Very well written, quite hilarious tale of a small town (based on Rye), the gossip, feuds, put-downs and efforts at one-upmanship by its residents.
Queen of them is Miss Mapp, who spends her time spying on the neighbours and finding out their every doing- sometimes quite incorrectly.
Benson's turns
Superb.
Queen of them is Miss Mapp, who spends her time spying on the neighbours and finding out their every doing- sometimes quite incorrectly.
Benson's turns
Show More
of phrase are just superb: as the servants hasten to discuss their betters' antics : "She gleaned the information that Mrs Dominic's employer (for master he could not be called) had gone off in a great hurry to the station.."Superb.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Kristelh
Reason read: British Author, June
A fun read about a group of people from a small town who life a social life playing bridge, golf, and gossiping and trying to one up each other.
A fun read about a group of people from a small town who life a social life playing bridge, golf, and gossiping and trying to one up each other.
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Miss Mapp takes advantage of the fortuitous placement of her house to keep an eye on the comings and goings of Tilling. She has a couple of rivals for pacesetter, and she takes advantage of every opportunity to one-up her rivals. She is a proud woman, and will manipulate the truth without a twinge
I alternated between the Project Gutenberg ebook and the Librivox recording so that I could listen while I finished a knitting project. I don’t often do that, but it worked OK with this book. I didn’t find any of the characters sympathetic, but I enjoyed the book anyway. It’s really well done. The chapters are episodic, yet they serve a larger story arc.
Show More
of conscience in order to save face. Occasionally she suspects that her neighbors see through her ruses, but her suspicions are fleeting.I alternated between the Project Gutenberg ebook and the Librivox recording so that I could listen while I finished a knitting project. I don’t often do that, but it worked OK with this book. I didn’t find any of the characters sympathetic, but I enjoyed the book anyway. It’s really well done. The chapters are episodic, yet they serve a larger story arc.
Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
3.5* rounded up for this audiobook edition.
It has been decades since I read the Mapp & Lucia series and I had forgotten much this entry (2nd in publication order but 3rd in the omnibus). I found Miss Mapp meaner than I remembered but the book funnier (so often the way in satires that the nastier
Nadia May does a marvellous narration so I am glad to have listened to this rather than read my Kindle edition.
It has been decades since I read the Mapp & Lucia series and I had forgotten much this entry (2nd in publication order but 3rd in the omnibus). I found Miss Mapp meaner than I remembered but the book funnier (so often the way in satires that the nastier
Show More
characters are the source of most of the humor).Nadia May does a marvellous narration so I am glad to have listened to this rather than read my Kindle edition.
Show Less
LibraryThing member therebelprince
It is no wonder that, when E.F. Benson decided to further the adventures of his divine Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas, he brought her to the town of Tilling. For here, in the first (pre-Lucia) Tilling novel, everything is absurd and hilarious in equal measure. Indeed, Lucia so o'erwhelms the measure in the
My comic ideal.
Show More
later books that it is worth settling in to Miss Mapp to recall how perfect Benson's comic creations are, from the doughty title character to "quaint" (read: queer) Irene, the entire town ready to burst into a frenzy over the hoarding of corned beef or the origin of a recipe for "red currant fool". My comic ideal.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1922 (Miss Mapp)
1929 (The Male Impersonator)
Physical description
7.16 x 6.38 inches
ISBN
0786196998 / 9780786196999