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Greengates (1936)

de R. C. Sherriff

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964280,606 (3.7)10
Non Commercial - Price may vary. A man retires from his job but finds that never were truer words said than 'for better, for worse but not for lunch'. His boredom, his wife's (suppressed and confused) dismay at the quiet orderliness of her life being destroyed, their growing tension with each other, is beautifully & kindly described. Then one day they do something they used to do more often, leave St John's Wood and go out into the countryside for the day. And that walk changes their lives forever: they see a house for sale, decide to move there, and the nub of the book is a description of their leaving London, the move, and the new life they create for themselves.… (mais)
  1. 10
    The Fortnight in September de R. C. Sherriff (nessreader)
    nessreader: Usually i don't cross-recommend same-author books but rc sherriff does so many genres that i make an exception. These 2 share a warmth and compassion for unglamorous decent people living everyday lives.
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Exibindo 4 de 4
Not as captivating as A Fortnight in September, but in the same category, and from a slightly different angle. While Fortnight was a charming evocation of the power of simple, everyday pleasures, Greengates takes a sly look at the power of commonplace irritations, annoyances, and anxieties - and things.

Tom Baldwin, after forty years as a mid-level clerk in a London insurance company, is retiring. There is a farewell ritual to be observed: a gathering of staff, a formal speech of thanks and good wishes, and the bestowal of a communally-funded, handsome new clock. With his parcel stowed beneath his hat on the commuter train luggage rack, Baldwin falls to musing about the things he'll do now that he is retired, when his eye catches a paragraph in the lower corner of the newspaper: TRAGEDY OF RETIREMENT. A man has hanged himself in his garage, depressed and feeling useless. In a spell of panic, Baldwin urgently conjures up the gardening he'll do, the reading he'll get to, the historical explorations he'll set out on. Because he won't end up like that, no, sir! Sherriff is so good at people's fluctuations of pride, anxiety, depression, determination, ego, hope, and weakness, all during one commuter ride home to his rather dowdy suburban semi-detached where his gentle wife Edith awaits. She is nothing if not supportive, loving, and admiring, but she too is anxious about this new phase of their lives, and wondering how best to sustain it.

Sherriff deploys a gift for the personalities of objects. In the office, a telephone rings "like a spoiled child, annoyed at being left alone," and "someone hurries to soothe it." The introduction of the "little quick-ticking newcomer" clock ("so neat and simple," says Edith) causes the incumbent pendulum clock on the mantel to "[stare] in mild curiosity... [reassure] itself and [continue] its placid beat without further interest." The new clock is placed in the bedroom, where - in the wee hours - its rapid cheap ticking causes it to be bundled into the closet wrapped in a towel.

And yes, indeed, within a very short time, they are driving each other crazy. Baldwin's plans crumble as he falls asleep over his pretentious historical tomes - in Edith's preferred chair. The garden is dried up, slovenly, and unresponsive and he doesn't really know what he's doing anyway. They bicker. They even shout at each other - and again, Sherriff is deft at making us nod in recognition at the details of the irritations and suppressions of such intimate little spats. In a desperate attempt to bring back some peace to their marriage, Edith suggests they travel out to a village where they used to enjoy a certain forested walk in the hills. Restless and grumpy, Baldwin agrees, and they start out having a nice time - until they emerge into a favorite valley view to find... a subdivision! An atrocity! How terrible! But a rather fetching young man says hello, inveigles them into having a look at a model home.. and hooks them.

There follow the highs and lows, the worries and thrills, the despair and recovery of deciding to sell up and move, into an entirely new place, a new home. The Baldwins are the perfect mark: trusting, naive, and the reader swallows hard and hopes that the salesman's oh-so-obvious spiel won't end in disaster and swindle. The prices slyly inflate, construction takes much longer than they thought, the pressure of "oh, these are selling so fast" works its trickery, the "I'm only doing this for you because you are so obviously the right kind of people" seals the deal. It can be hard to tell sometimes where Sherriff comes down on this last issue of caste: ultimately it works on the Baldwins because they are demonstrably not "the right sort," but while they don't realize it, they desperately want to be thought so. They cope, they second-guess, their hopes soar again. But note: one of the first decisions they make in arranging their new home is that they now can each have their own bedrooms.

Social drama ensues: who are the neighbors? Who's going to be in charge of a pretentious proposed social club? Tom Baldwin finds his feet, gains support, and wins the day by ensuring that the club will be privately managed so residents are able to select membership themselves, according to their own standards of suitability and not just open to anyone... a club for which membership is "jealously guarded and not something merely thrown in by a builder with a plot of land!" Sherriff seems to feel this is heroic and admirable... but I'm not totally sure about his opinion. There is an obvious snobbery readily visible in the depiction of the former rubber plantation manager as a vulgarian... who boasts about needing to "hang a few" [racist expletive] workers from time to time... which is appalling. Yet Baldwin (admittedly drunk) has a certain admiration for someone capable of such feats - does Sherriff share his ambivalence? He (and Baldwin) seem more offended by the man's tasteless clothes, heavy drinking, and smarmy manner than they are by his racist brutality, but Tom clearly has his own flaws of judgment.

You may not even like Tom and Edith Baldwin. They may be silly, superficial, slightly ridiculous people. But they are very human indeed, trudging through daily fusses and tribulations, entertaining foolish ideas, failing themselves and each other, and perhaps they only succeed in trivial, selfish endeavors. But they mean well, and as human beings go, there are far worse. ( )
  JulieStielstra | Aug 23, 2023 |
De pensionering van een zakenman uit de buurt van Londen valt wat tegen. Hij zit vol plannen maar alles mislukt. Uiteindelijk vinden hij en zijn vrouw een nieuwbouwproject op het platteland. Ze verhuizen en alles komt goed. Prettig geschreven. ( )
  elsmvst | Mar 18, 2023 |
"It's terrible to think of 'just passing ther time' when there's not much left and it's so terribly precious", 18 July 2016

This review is from: Greengates (Paperback)
Pleasant enough read, telling the story of Tom Baldwin from the day of his retirement from his job in insurance in the City. From the anti-climax of the leaving-present followed by the newspaper he chances upon which reports the suicide of a depressed retiree, Tom determines to spend his days actively and positively.
But as he intrudes upon the domestic routines of his wife and servant, and as his hobbies seem increasingly futile, life becomes unbearable. Until one day Tom and Edith take a country walk and see a lovely new estate being built. And suddenly the possibility of leaving their drab suburb and starting a new life seems a possibility...
Actually nothing earth-shattering takes place in this story - we follow Tom's finances, the selling of his house, the auction of the goods. But it's quite well written and a light, enjoyable read. ( )
  starbox | Jul 17, 2016 |
Greengates is the 1936 novel by R C Sherriff who before Persephone books started re-issuing his novels was probably best known for his play Journeys End.

In his novel A Fortnight in September R C Sherriff wrote about the annual two-week holiday enjoyed by countless ordinary working families. In this novel Sherriff again turns his attention to the working man in the story of Mr Baldwin and his wife. Greengates is a novel about the realities of retirement; it is also a novel about houses and the homes they become. Yet this is also a novel about the dream that was persistent in the 1920’s/1930’s – the dream of a home of one’s own, a home of modern conveniences which would allow the occupants to live a happier, better life. The changes taking place in land use at this time is also highlighted – as we see the continuing urbanisation of parts of the English countryside.

The setting is 1925; and the novel opens on the day that Tom Baldwin retires from the insurance company where he has worked for forty-one years. On his last day at the office Mr Baldwin is allowed rather longer than usual for lunch – told not to hurry back. In the afternoon he anticipates the presentation of a clock that he has witnessed so many times before – happening to other men. He travels back home to the house called ‘Grasmere’ in Brondesbury Terrace that he shares with his wife Edith. The small cheap clock is in a box under his seat as she sits on his commuter train for the final time reading the newspaper. In the newspaper that day is an article about the ‘tragedy of retirement’ and relates the story of a man who never having adjusted to his retirement has killed himself. Tom Baldwin determines to find a purpose – to be active, to do something for which he can still gain recognition. He is, after all, still only fifty eight.

“Mr Baldwin lowered the paper. He felt better for having faced it, in an unexpected way he felt happier. There was no madness in his family: in any case, he had no garage and no beam, and he would never dare abuse the gas-oven while Ada ruled the kitchen. He had read the ultimate, most pitiful thing that could happen from retirement, and gained strength from it. He pitied Mr. Stoner – and despised him. He had killed himself though not knowing how to live: he had been picked out of eternity, given a tiny pinpoint of precious light and blotted it out with a rope over a garage beam: a sordid, pitiful crime.”

It isn’t long before Tom’s retirement takes its toll on both him and his wife Edith. They are unused to being together all day – they each have their own little ways which don’t always fit with the other’s routine. Tom begins to see his history studies and gardening as being all rather futile. Tom even incurs the wrath of Ada, the maid who has lived in their home for years, her routine changes too and she is less than pleased. The light goes out of both the Baldwins, and Tom particularly starts to age.

One autumn day Edith suggests that the two of them take a day out in the country, and enjoy once more the walk they used to take often before the war. The walk culminates in a beautiful valley – and the two look forward to seeing it again. However change has come to the valley – homes are being built within sight of the path they have walked along.

“The desolate charm of it – the wild, fragrant peace – had gone for ever: through the soft gorse field stretched broad hideous gashes of naked yellow clay, and clustering along them, like evil fungus to a fallen tree were hideous new houses – stacks of bricks – pyramids of sewage pipes – piles of white timber – mud stained lorries and sheets of hunched tarpaulin – a nightmare of perverted progress. “

Shocked at the scene before them, the Baldwins encounter a salesman for the development – and despite telling him they are not thinking of buying a new house, are taken around the show house. The wonder of the show house quickly works its magic on the couple – and they are soon persuaded of the benefits of this progress, they begin to see the possibility such a life would offer. This unexpected end to their day out changes their life forever. They trudge home to ‘Grasmere’ with the memory of the beautiful show home at the forefront of both their minds. It isn’t long before they are doing sums, indulging in what ifs – making plans.

Suddenly the Baldwins have a new zest for life. They put their house on the market – with a rather dismissive estate agent – make plans to sell all their old fashioned furniture – and buy new. Edith’s investments are cashed in to help with paying for the new house and contents – and Tom decides that it will be perfectly alright to get a small mortgage to make up the short fall. As giddy as a couple of youngsters they anticipate their new life – as they wait for their new house to be built on a plot of land they picked themselves.

When Tom and Edith first see the development of houses taking shape in the valley they loved so much they are momentarily filled with horror. Soon their dismay is replaced by excitement, they quickly become invested in the developer’s view of the future – these houses seem to be very much the housing ideal of the 1920’s. I must admit I found it really hard to visualise it as an ideal – probably because I think these days we don’t see the building of housing developments in the countryside as quite so ideal – though necessary they might be at times. This post WW1 Shangri-La though while it might herald the sprawling housing estates of the late twentieth century is a considerable improvement from ‘Grasmere’ in Brondesbury Terrace. The Baldwins are utterly bowled over by the mod-cons which the owners of these houses will enjoy, the clean, newness and comfort. The developers are selling more than beautiful houses; they are selling a dream a new way of life. The dream for the Baldwins is a new house in the country, close to a village, and still within sight of the countryside which the Baldwins had previously had to travel by bus to enjoy.

This is a wonderfully engaging novel – I loved Tom and Edith Baldwin – and I was cheering them along the whole time. I wanted them to get the new life they craved. R C Sherriff is so good at portraying the reality of ordinary everyday lives, the small disappointments and triumphs that punctuate our days. There is a timelessness to this novel in many ways, which makes it every bit as relevant today as it ever was. ( )
3 vote Heaven-Ali | May 8, 2016 |
Exibindo 4 de 4
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Non Commercial - Price may vary. A man retires from his job but finds that never were truer words said than 'for better, for worse but not for lunch'. His boredom, his wife's (suppressed and confused) dismay at the quiet orderliness of her life being destroyed, their growing tension with each other, is beautifully & kindly described. Then one day they do something they used to do more often, leave St John's Wood and go out into the countryside for the day. And that walk changes their lives forever: they see a house for sale, decide to move there, and the nub of the book is a description of their leaving London, the move, and the new life they create for themselves.

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