The Queen In Hell Close by Sue Townsend
Nov. 28th, 2011 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Whether in the guise of a 13¾-year-old adolescent, a transvestite PM or the Queen reduced to living on a council estate, Sue Townsend has been brilliantly satirizing British life for more than twenty years. Penguin publish all of Townsend’s hilarious Adrian Mole books and The Queen in Hell Close is an extract from The Queen And I, a brilliant acerbic take on a Royal Family in dire straights.
Released by Penguin as part of a ‘taster’ book series given away with The Times and Starbucks in 2007, this is an extract from Sue Townsend’s 1992 book THE QUEEN AND I, which imagines Britain as a republic with the Royal Family stripped of their wealth and privilege and relocated to a council estate. The problem with the extract is that even in 2007, this would have felt dated. For starters, Princess Diana is still alive and still married to Prince Charles, albeit having doubts about her marriage. In 1992 this was probably hilarious. Knowing the history in between, it loses something.
The extract mainly focuses on the Queen who has no money, has been forced to apply for benefits but in the meantime has nothing to feed her family with. Townsend clearly feels a lot of affection for the Queen, who’s struggling to cope with where she’s wound up and still trying to make the best of it, even though Prince Phillip is confined to bed with depression. There’s satire to be had from her battles with the DSS to get emergency cash to tide her over and a hint at something more sinister going on with forces determined to crush the Royal Family once and for all.
Characters are broad brush at best, plot is slow as the novel seems to me more about introspection and everything just feels out of date. All in all, this extract, while inoffensive wouldn’t make me rush to buy THE QUEEN AND I and in truth, it left me feeling meh about the whole thing.
The Verdict:
Even in 2007, this extract from Sue Townsend’s 1992 satire, THE QUEEN AND I, would have been outdated, with its positing of Diana and Charles still married albeit in a world where Britain in is a republic and the Royal Family forced to live on a council estate. Because it’s so dated and because the writing uses such broad brush strokes (except perhaps in relation to the Queen herself, who Townsend portrays with affection) there wasn’t enough here to entice me to buy the main novel.
Whether in the guise of a 13¾-year-old adolescent, a transvestite PM or the Queen reduced to living on a council estate, Sue Townsend has been brilliantly satirizing British life for more than twenty years. Penguin publish all of Townsend’s hilarious Adrian Mole books and The Queen in Hell Close is an extract from The Queen And I, a brilliant acerbic take on a Royal Family in dire straights.
Released by Penguin as part of a ‘taster’ book series given away with The Times and Starbucks in 2007, this is an extract from Sue Townsend’s 1992 book THE QUEEN AND I, which imagines Britain as a republic with the Royal Family stripped of their wealth and privilege and relocated to a council estate. The problem with the extract is that even in 2007, this would have felt dated. For starters, Princess Diana is still alive and still married to Prince Charles, albeit having doubts about her marriage. In 1992 this was probably hilarious. Knowing the history in between, it loses something.
The extract mainly focuses on the Queen who has no money, has been forced to apply for benefits but in the meantime has nothing to feed her family with. Townsend clearly feels a lot of affection for the Queen, who’s struggling to cope with where she’s wound up and still trying to make the best of it, even though Prince Phillip is confined to bed with depression. There’s satire to be had from her battles with the DSS to get emergency cash to tide her over and a hint at something more sinister going on with forces determined to crush the Royal Family once and for all.
Characters are broad brush at best, plot is slow as the novel seems to me more about introspection and everything just feels out of date. All in all, this extract, while inoffensive wouldn’t make me rush to buy THE QUEEN AND I and in truth, it left me feeling meh about the whole thing.
The Verdict:
Even in 2007, this extract from Sue Townsend’s 1992 satire, THE QUEEN AND I, would have been outdated, with its positing of Diana and Charles still married albeit in a world where Britain in is a republic and the Royal Family forced to live on a council estate. Because it’s so dated and because the writing uses such broad brush strokes (except perhaps in relation to the Queen herself, who Townsend portrays with affection) there wasn’t enough here to entice me to buy the main novel.
