Cranford

by Elizabeth Gaskell
this edition: Penguin Books 2008
187 pages

If you loved the Masterpiece Theater presentation of Cranford on PBS, you will love this book. While the miniseries was drawn from several of Gaskell's books, many of the main characters play a role in the novel Cranford, as you can see in the lovely picture of Miss Mattie Jenkyns on the cover.

Cranford is not a plot-based novel; in fact, there is not much of a plot at all. It is more a collection of observations of the women of Cranford with some delightful "vignettes" (okay, I'm borrowing that word from the cover) to tie them all together. The narrator is Mary Smith, but we don't learn much about her except that she has her "own individual small econom[y]." She writes, "I am not above owning that I have this human weakness myself. String is my foible. My pockets get full of little hanks of it, picked up and twisted together, ready for uses that never come. I am seriously annoyed if anyone cuts the string of a parcel, instead of patiently and faithfully undoing it fold by fold." Well, as I said, we don't learn much more about Mary because she focuses her writing on capturing glimpses of the idosyncratic female residents of Cranford.

I could probably write a two- or three-page list of funny lines from the book, but I think what I'd like to do instead is extol Miss Mattie Jenkyns. I am so pleased that she graces the cover of the novel, because by the end of the novel we realize that Miss Mattie is truly the star, the sweet honey that holds the story together. I am trying not to be too biased because Dame Judi Dench (whom I adore - have you seen her in "As Time Goes By"? beautiful lady!) portrays her in the miniseries. But I do think she was wonderfully cast, and the Judi Dench is appropriately concealed in the layers of fabric, ribbons and bows to sweetly portray little Miss Mattie. I was so heartbroken that Miss Mattie did not ever have the chance to marry her true love. She would have made such a selfless and kind wife and mother. She is so thoughtful, considerate, circumspect and humble that I cannot imagine any egocentric fool not acknowledging her pristine spirit. All this and the novel is not too saccharine-sweet because Gaskell fills it with such good warm humor and a little bit of tragedy. It is just a perfect balance that makes it a delight to read. One other bonus: it's not very long, and it reads quickly, so if you need a good pick-me-up read, I would strongly recommend this one!

I also wanted to say that in previous posts I have complained about the impressionist approach to portraying characters. In truth, this novel is a bit impressionistic because it is narrated in first person by a narrator who could not possibly give us all the deep dark psychological explorations of characters that is the hallmark of Victorian literature I love. Well, I hope I am not biased towards this novel simply because it is Victorian, but I actually really enjoyed the impressionist approach here and felt that I did have great insight into the makeup of the several characters portrayed. As I said, it's a little bit of a light read, not your typical heavy and dark Victorian novel, but I found it utterly refreshing and enjoyable.