Review: A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman

by Margaret Drabble, edited by Jose Francisco Fernandez
publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
date published: May 18, 2011
format: ARC
pages: 215 (208 in the finished edition)
source: won from Goodreads First Reads
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N
challenges: Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge

From Goodreads:

Margaret Drabble’s novels have illuminated the past fifty years, especially the changing lives of women, like no others. Yet her short fiction has its own unique brilliance. Her penetrating evocations of character and place, her wide-ranging curiosity, her sense of irony—all are on display here, in stories that explore marriage, female friendships, the English tourist abroad, love affairs with houses, peace demonstrations, gin and tonics, cultural TV programs; in stories that are perceptive, sharp, and funny. An introduction by the Spanish academic José Fernández places the stories in the context of her life and her novels. This collection is a wonderful recapitulation of a masterly career.

What I Thought

Prior to spotting this book on Goodreads First Reads and entering into the giveaway that I eventually won, I had never heard of Margaret Drabble. That is a real shame, because she has such a collection of vivid short stories that are easy to relate to on a human level. I would have loved to read her work in my British literature courses when I was just starting out in my major. Sadly, I was only introduced to her writing this year.

Each piece in this collection of fourteen short stories sets about examining a particular person. There are a wide array of protagonists, from a lonely man at a party to a jaded English literature teacher. Each one has a different view of the world, a different problem, a different joy, and a different sadness. Ranging from the year 1964 to the year 2000, the stories only progress in the amount of detail found within and the attention paid to the characters they concern.

I found that I enjoyed most of the stories and their protagonists, though there were a few that I just couldn't quite understand. I found that in the case of a story entitled “The Caves of God” left me unsure as to the motive of the protagonist, Hannah Elsevir, a Nobel prize-winning woman who becomes so obsessed with maintaining an unremarkable nature that she becomes obsessed with finding out the whereabouts of her ex-husband, Peter, who has had his name slandered in a recent diary publication. I couldn't quite understand how she transitioned from trying to take on a mousy appearance and marking his name off of public records to tracking him down in foreign countries. She did find peace with her findings, but it still struck me as very odd.

Perhaps my favorite story was “The Dower House at Kellynch: A Somerset Romance.” It was not at all what I expected when I first read the title. There was a greater depth to the story that I really enjoyed realizing. If you ever have the chance to read it for yourself, I recommend it, especially if you're a fan of Jane Austen's Persuasion (you just might recognize Kellynch and the source of its inhabitants). Figuring out what the “romance” actually referred to was a pleasant surprise and made for a thought-provoking read. The protagonist, Emma Watson, may be seen as a calculating sort of character when her motives are taken into account, but the reason behind her motives is a unique one that made her an even more interesting character.

Overall, I really enjoyed my introduction to Margaret Drabble. I have no regrets about entering the giveaway that allowed me the chance to read this collection. I honestly don't know if I would ever have come across them in another way. I give A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman 4 hoots.