strange but interesting

I think this was actually, inadvertently, a novel about the effects of childhood sexual abuse really. There is some evidence, I have read, that girls who are sexually abused as children struggle with their total powerlessness in that situation. As they develop into puberty they can sometimes learn to use their bodies and desirability in a transactional sort of way, to get things they want, often just affection. If you see Arabella in this light perhaps her choices make more sense. She is the only one not driven by lust, certainly not for him anyway, she just wants him to like her and assumes (correctly) that he will want her. perhaps the relationship with Anne is more romantic and deeply felt, but ultimately she just wants to be in their marriage in a way she never can. The sideline of the despair of Janet... is this supposed to foretell her future somehow? interesting. The only point that bothered me was that the day after the abortion, when she confesses that she bleeds through far more sanitary towels than she imagined she would need, she dresses in white jeans! As if!

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Good, though dated

I've read a lot of novels written in the '70s but this one definitely seems to have dated the most. Old fashioned clothes, food, drink, and attitudes combined to give this, to me, dull feeling of another age. I was astounded by how much alcohol the main characters drank. These days they would all be regarded as having a drink problem. However, all this is not the book's fault and I did enjoy it; the narration was wonderful as you'd expect from Eleanor Bron. Not this author's best though

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A time piece

I enjoyed this book very much. Howard’s characters live in a moral universe I don’t fully understand, but like being there with them for their collective journeys.

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Nothing much happens but unputdownable

Would you consider the audio edition of Odd Girl Out to be better than the print version?

Yes. There is a lot of minutiae in Elizabeth Howard books, which give great richness in an audiobook but might be tempted to skip in print.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Most interested in the husband

Which character – as performed by Eleanor Bron – was your favourite?

The odd girl out. I had expected to find her very irritating but the narrator brought empathy to her role

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not so much emotional as stimulating. Very interesting 'read'.

Any additional comments?

Eleanor Bron is a fantastic narrator. I often find women narrators have dreadful hissing or whistling 'S's which drives me up the wall. Eleanor Bron both knows how to talk properly and brings great depth to the characters and description.

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10 people found this helpful

Wonderful story.

Wonderful use of language to tell the story.
You can really imagine Ann Edmund and Arabella.

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Totally Absorbing

Wonderfully Read by a brilliant narrator. Heartbreaking story impossible to put down. Such cruelty. Multilayered and satisfying.

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Great story beautifully read

I enjoyed the detail, the people, the tangled web of deceit and truth. Elisabeth Jane Howard is my favourite author.

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Different

I’m undecided on this. Half vacuous characters. I’ve listened twice and still don’t really understand the value of the sun story. Not bad, not one of her best.

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1 person found this helpful

A disappointing story

Eleanor Bron is a brilliant narrator and brings the best it is possible to the story the story is a huge disappointment especially after just reading the five Cazalet Chronicles.

It starts well, bringing the characters to life in her inimitable way. Then it appears to become a platform for a debate between the equality of the sexes and uses this to break apart a perfectly functional and extremely happy marriage. This marriage would’ve been a case of what you’ve never experienced you’ve never missed, but the odd girl out has made sure both parties know the physical pleasures that are available to them and what their life could be like if they continued in a totally selfish vein, rather than respecting each other’s boundaries and routines as they always had. If they’d been unhappy in the first place this could have been acceptable, but the fact they weren’t makes the whole premise of the story ridiculous. Extremely disappointing!

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3 people found this helpful

Wonderful

As always with E J Howard the story is enthralling and the writing first class I love books written in the time and style they are set in The reading was also excellent I shed a few tears and am so pleased that women's lives are better in the present

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1 person found this helpful