Looking at the cover to the left, you can see that this is not your ordinary Brit-Lit. Written in 1932, it is a comic parody of so-called "rural literature" that was popular in the years previous. Although I found it very entertaining and funny, a lot of the parodic elements must have gone right over my head.Cold Comfort Farm is inhabited by a host of quirky characters each with a flaw that Miss Flora Poste, the civilized city girl, is determined to fix. Old Adam Lambsbreath washes dishes with a twig and takes care of four cows who's limbs mysteriously fall off. Seth is a gigolo of sorts who really just longs to be in the "talkies." Amos preaches hellfire and damnation in all his conversations. Aunt Ada Doom has not left her room at the farm for many years because she "saw something nasty in the woodshed" when she was a little girl. There are quite a few more characters that Flora seeks to change with her "how-to" book on Higher Common Sense, which is written in both German and Latin. While not for everyone, I very much enjoyed this zany tale of some very colorful characters.
Note: This was Book Buddies December selection. I just joined this group blog this month, and I love it because they pick a book each month and discuss it throughout the month as you're reading it. It looks like January's book will be Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff.
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