Navidades en Cold Comfort Farm

Por Stella Gibbons

Un libro sabroso y adictivo, en el que Stella Gibbons se vale de toda su magia narrativa para mostrarnos el lado más cándido, divertido y perspicaz de la sociedad de su época.Stella Gibbons ya nos fascinó con las aventuras de La hija de Robert Poste y con esa moderna fábula londinense de la "Cenicienta" titulada Westwood. Ahora, en lo que se ha convertido en una de las grandes sensaciones del año en el Reino Unido, una Gibbons en estado de gracia nos ofrece Navidades en Cold Comfort Farm: dieciséis chispeantes y deliciosas historias repletas de personajes que viven rodeados de un glamour y una frivolidad que van repartiendo por fiestas, picnics y encuentros amorosos, y que culminan en el relato que da título al volumen, una precuela de su obra maestra, La hija de Robert Poste, donde se nos narra una sangrienta e hilarante cena de Navidad años antes de la primera visita de Flora Poste a Cold Comfort Farm, la granja de la Inglaterra profunda que daría título a la saga.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Impedimenta
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 1 dic 2013
• ISBN: 9788415979036

Stella Gibbons

Stella Gibbons nació en Londres en 1902. Fue la mayor de tres hermanos. Sus padres, ejemplo de la clase media inglesa suburbana, le dieron una educación típicamente femenina. Su padre, un individuo bastante singular, ejercía como médico en los barrios...

Vista previa del libro

Comentarios para Navidades en Cold Comfort Farm

[jon1lambert · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

A collection of short stories, some better than others.

[michael5rimmer · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This was my Christmas read for 2013. Despite a little initial disappointment that the book contains only two Christmas-themed stories, that feeling was ameliorated by the quality of the writing.Mainly concerned with the doings of middle- to upper-class folks of the inter-war years, if there is a connecting motif between the stories it would seem to be that of redemption, perhaps making an Easter marketing more appropriate (though probably less lucrative).These are quiet stories about people trying to find meaning in a world which seems fragile and shallow. More often than not they succeed, but Gibbons deftly avoids over-sentimentality, leaving the reader with the feeling that things actually might get better.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

A collection of short stories written and set pre-WWII. They are, perforce, very class conscious, with characters who behave as though they're in straitjackets made of conventionality. Some, like "The Little Christmas Tree" or "The Hoofer and the Lady," are quite sweet; people try to do the right thing and are gently, unobtrusively rewarded for it by making connections with other people who understand and appreciate them. Others are terrifyingly sad, like "Sisters," in which an older woman tries to help an unmarried mother and is destroyed by it. A great number of them are about being happy with what little one has, with being unambitious and (especially for women) pliant to convention. I found these dreadful and soul killing, and got quite depressed by the prospect of Gibbons' contemporaries reading them and thinking they were wise. I also quite enjoyed "The Murder Mark," an unconventional murder mystery, and the unrepentantly unserious characters in "Poor, Poor Black Sheep." To my surprise, I quite loathed the story I originally checked this book out for: "Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm" isn't funny, it's just a bundle of terrible people being terrible at each other, with a saccharine bit between Elfin and Dick Hawk-Monitor tacked on at the end. I think I was supposed to laugh at how awful everyone was, but they just seemed sad and poor.

[lyzzybee · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

December 2011 - borrowed from AliOnly one Cold Comfort Farm and 2 Christmas stories, but it didn't matter, as this was a lovely set of proper, traditional short stories, each with a proper plot and characters. They were a little predictable, but in a comforting way, well-written and soaked in pre-WWII ways of life and society. Reminded me a bit of the Dorothy Whipple short stories I read recently.

[cariola_6 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I'm sorry to report that this book, which I had so looked forward to as a holiday read, was quite a disappointment. Only two of the stories have anything whatsoever to do with Christmas, only one of those takes place on Cold Comfort Farm, and that story doesn't do justice to the Starkadders so many of us know and love. The collection as a whole is quite mediocre. Focusing on small town characters, most of them loners or quiet eccentrics, the author attempts to put them into situations that give them moments to shine . . . but it doesn't really work for me. The collection wasn't exactly awful, just dull. I was so disappointed that I think I'll have to watch the wonderful DVD version of Cold Comfort Farm to regain my enthusiasm for Gibbons.