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I am in the library and have to select a book for this task. I do not know what to choose so I see a list of popular English books and a cozy farm cool on it. The lid looks funny and after I read the small text at the back of the book, it looks funny and fun to me.
b. It's a very funny book, not hard to read. Some parts of the book are a bit weird, so I have to read them twice before I understand what's being said. Sometimes writers write text like the people in the book say words, with an accent. But it's also pretty funny to read. The story is full of humor and nonsense: I like it a lot. Too bad no one knows the secrets in this book, so that's an open end for me. Nevertheless, this book has and ends happily.

Summary

1. The main character in this book is Flora Poste. He is 19 years old and an orphan.

2. Flora stayed in the first days after her parents died with a friend, Mrs. Smilings. Mrs Smilings thinks she should get a job and learn how to work, because she's well educated with a lot of comfort. But Flora wrote letters to her relatives in Scotland, Sussex and other parts of England, because she wanted to stay there and help with the house. Mrs. Smilings says that she can not live from her relatives, but Flora insists she will stay with her relatives. He selected the Starkaddar family from his nephew in Sussex, who lives in Cold Comfort Farm. She had to leave the man she loved, Charles, but she did not want to admit it. At Cold Comfort Farm there are many people: there are 4 cousins, Micah, Urk, Caraway, and Harkaway. Niece's niece was Judith Starkadder, and her husband was a hell-fire-and-sulfur preacher, named Amos. Their children are Reuben, whose life is farming, and Seth, a boy who is obsessed with girls and sex. Then there are two half brothers Amos: Luke and Mark, and an old man named Adam Lamsbreath. He quietly fell in love with the soft and sweet Elfine, who seemed very young to me. Adam also kills aimlessly, Feckless, Graceless and Pointless, cows, every day. The only bull they have is called Big Buisness. Another important person is Aunt Ada Doom, who says he 'sees something in the shed' but the book never tells what he actually sees there. He also knows about some family issues with Flora's father, but it also remains a secret to the end. More people help on farming but they are not important to the story.

3. Flora wants to change the whole farm, take care of everything and put in order in chaos. At first she was a civilized woman, but she changed as she got to know people on the farm. But while he improves his farm, he also improves the people there and it is not good. He's really manipulating people, and people are happy, but the end result is the destruction of the Starkaddar family. But the book should be funny so you actually have to take things that are not serious. Flora wrote her experience to Mrs. Smilings. The letters are short, but very funny: with many criticisms of Starkaddars.

4. So, in the end, agriculture is more chaotic than ever. Flora sent a letter to Charles, who told him that if he could not stay there again, he would come and take him with his plane. So Flora packed her bag and left a note on the table in the kitchen. Without saying goodbye to one of Starkaddars he left the ranch with Charles on the plane.

5. I think the theme is you can not change and manipulate people, because the only result you get is a problem.

The author writes like any other author I think. He's really good at writing funny things so I think it's a good quality of his writing. Funny he wrote in 'English-accent'. It's not so easy to read but it's clearer to the reader as to what the person is saying.

His character is well portrayed so it's not hard to remember who he is when he comes back in the story. The author describes in fact everything that is really good, landscaping, farming, rooms on the farm and other areas that occur in the book. You are really involved in the story because you know so many things that are there.

I can not find in the book for how long the Flora stays with the Starkaddar family, but I think it is a few months in the summer, because the summer day happens and the season is pretty good.
You can read every thought of all the characters, except some secrets that only Judith, Amos, Adam and Aunt There Doom knows.

Theme

I've created the theme of this book in summary. Flora wanted to change too much on the farm and manipulate her relatives but it ended up completely wrong. It seems that agriculture is improving but after all it is useless. The title is the name of the farm: Cold Comfort Farm. 'Cold' and 'comfort' are in conflict with each other, it does not really go together. So the farm has a strange name and I think it describes the atmosphere on the farm.

History of literature

1. This book was published in 1932.

2. Stella Dorothea Gibbons was born in 1902 in London. He went to North London Collegiate School and studied journalism at University College in London. He worked for about 10 years in various newspapers, including the Evening Standard. He first wrote a book of poetry in 1930. His first novel was Cold Comfort Farm and he won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for him in 1933. He wrote seven other novels, some of which also played at Cold Comfort Farm, and 2 short stories . . In 1950 appeared He Collected Poetry. She married in 1933 with actor and singer Allan Webb and they have one daughter. Stella Gibbons was released in 1989.

3. The story has nothing to do with the political / economic situation in Britain in the 20s. This is a book with a message that you should not try to change a person's life. But it is a satire, so do not take everything too seriously.

4. I have not read any novels or short stories from other Stella Gibbons so I can not compare this book with others.

Critics

1. Funny parts have a really positive way for me: they make me laugh and laugh is good for you! I also love that story ends quite happily, with Flora and Charles flying away and deeply in love. But before that happened, Flora became very bland because she left the farm alone with the problems she made!

2. The really interesting part is the funny parts, so I just picked a few of them: when the author introduced the cow with funny names, when Flora asked Seth Face grimacing he says fast that he does not need to know! Another great part is when Adam Lambsbreath, who fell in love with the young Elfine, learned that Graceless lost one of his legs, but he did not realize it before, because he was so in love.

3. As I said at no. 1 here, Flora leaves the farm without saying 'goodbye', but she leaves only a short note. That's not very tolerant of him, I think, he made the farm even more chaotic! Other things I do not like are the long descriptions of everything.

4. Behind-close the book is an excerpt from the Independent: "Delicious ... Cold Comfort Farm has the sunniness of PG Wodehouse and comunic comic from Evelyn Waugh's Scoop". I do not know these books so I can not compare but it sounds good because 'delicious' and 'sunniness'.

5. I do not know that manipulating people can create such problems. I think you do not have to run away like Flora, it's bland. You should try to help them and give them their normal life back, well, if they still want you in their home ofcourse!

6. As I said before, it's not too hard to read and I love the writer writes 'English-accent'. And I can understand the jokes even though some of them are really English proverbs. But the dictionary can help with those things.

7. A good book, funny, and interesting. I can not stop reading and I really want to know what will happen at the end of the story. It is unfortunate that you can not discover what secrets Starkadders have, you will never know!

8. Yes, I would recommend others to read this book. It's very funny and you'll be laughing your head sometimes! It's not hard to read and it's also a big advantage.