Cranford
Elizabeth Gaskell

Finished reading this but there is feeling that is telling me to stop and cherish whatever left now, delay as much as I can...from the very beginning when I put my hands on this book it have such warm, cozy feeling..reading about each character, their lifestyle, their society and more importantly the time period..just felt perfect...

I don't about others but I have the same feeling when I came back from mountains after spending a lovely time up there always knowing I can come back whenever I could yet a bit sad...

I was introduced to Gaskell by Gothic Tales randomly from Amazon...read some stories and I loved those..based on the stories I read by Elizabeth Gaskell I gott this one too...and again I loved it so so much..more than the Gothic Tales..

It was really boring, unfortunately.

mixed feels. Wholesome but also devastating

What a delightful novel of short, interwoven episodes. In the little town of Cranford, England in the 1840s, the middle-class ladies are unchanging and unchanged. With a colorful cast of characters and humorous scenarios, Cranford is an enjoyable read for anyone who enjoys reading about daily life in 19th c. England. I challenge you not to admire these ladies- particularly Miss Matty, who is an embodiment of goodness and sincerity.

The version had three stories: Mr. Harrison's Confessions, Cranford and My Lady Ludlow. The first two were outstanding but I was bored with MLL.

3 stars-

I’m sad that I didn’t fall in love with this one! This was my first Elizabeth Gaskell, but in reading some reviews, it looks like this may not be typical of her work so I’ll definitely give her another try.

There are some really sweet and poignant chapters towards the end that almost saved this for me, but I found the middle to really be a slog and the humor only worked for me some of the time. I think it’s well written overall, and I think that Miss Matty in particular is really well drawn and inspired most of my interest in this story.

I think that class and respectability are really interesting themes that Gaskell is investigating here, and I love that there is a protofeminist aura in this town of almost all women. I think this novel really paved the way for Gissing’s The Odd Women, which takes some of this thematic material and truly runs with it.

It’s a decent read, but I may not recommend it as a first venture into Gaskell’s novels.

The ending was very satisfying but I had such a hard time getting into this. All the elderly ladies felt the same for a long time.