The Clothes They Stood Up In - Softcover

Bennett, Alan

3.62

5,965 ratings by Goodreads

9781861970909: The Clothes They Stood Up In

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861970900 ISBN 13: 9781861970909

Publisher: Profile Books, 1998

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The Clothes They Stood Up In - Pocket Size Paperback

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Review:

First published in the London Review of Books in 1996, TheClothes They Stood Up In takes the reader into familiar Bennett territory. Maurice and Rosemary Ransome are a typically dissatisfied, middle-aged, middle-class couple, childless and emotionally withdrawn. "They had no children and but for Mozart would probably have split up years ago. Mr Ransome always took a bath when he came home from work and then he had his supper. After supper he took another bath, this time in Mozart". However, one night, after returning from a performance of Cosi fanTutte, bath, supper, Mozart and everything disappeared. "There is a limit to what burglars can take: they seldom take easy chairs, for example, and even more seldom settees. These burglars did. They took everything".

What unfolds is a brilliant account of the ways in which the lives of the Ransomes are subtly but profoundly changed forever, as Rosemary discovers the joys of shopping at the local Pakistani shop and the limits of counselling, and Maurice fantasises about new CD equipment with which to listen to Mozart. However, just as life begins to return to normal, a letter arrives which throws new light on the Ransome's extraordinary burglary. Beautifully observed and written with a masterly economy of style, Bennett's story packs an enormous amount into just over 100 pages, and has not one but two delicious stings in its tail. --Jerry Brotton

Review:

"'Welcome to the wonderful world of Alan Bennett, deliciously enriched by the voice of the master himself'. (The Sunday Times)"

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