Less Than Angels: A Novel
This classic novel holds the mirror up to human nature and the battle between the sexes as it explores the love lives of a group of anthropologists
Catherine Oliphant writes for women's magazines and lives comfortably with anthropologist Tom Mallow--although she's starting to wonder if they'll ever get married. Then Tom drops his bombshell: He's leaving her for nineteen-year-old student Deirdre Swan. Though stunned by Tom's betrayal, Catherine quickly becomes fascinated by another anthropologist, Alaric Lydgate, a reclusive eccentric recently returned from Africa. As Catherine starts to weigh her options she gradually realizes who she is and what she really wants. With its lively cast of characters, Less Than Angels is an incisive social satire that opens a window onto the insular world of academia. It's also a poignant and playful riff on the messy mating habits of humans and the traits that separate us from our anthropological forebears--far fewer than we may imagine.
Catherine Oliphant writes for women's magazines and lives comfortably with anthropologist Tom Mallow--although she's starting to wonder if they'll ever get married. Then Tom drops his bombshell: He's leaving her for nineteen-year-old student Deirdre Swan. Though stunned by Tom's betrayal, Catherine quickly becomes fascinated by another anthropologist, Alaric Lydgate, a reclusive eccentric recently returned from Africa. As Catherine starts to weigh her options she gradually realizes who she is and what she really wants. With its lively cast of characters, Less Than Angels is an incisive social satire that opens a window onto the insular world of academia. It's also a poignant and playful riff on the messy mating habits of humans and the traits that separate us from our anthropological forebears--far fewer than we may imagine.
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Community Reviews
As much as I love Barbara Pym's writing, this is far from my favorite of her novels. As with a few other of her works, several of the characters here are anthropologists, but none of the characters is as vivid, nor their dramas as compelling, as in Excellent Women, for example. Pym's novels are quietly moving stories, and this is still a pleasant read, but not the one to start if you're only beginning with Pym.
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