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Still on the TBR 🤦‍♀️

This tale of a group of genteel elderly people seeing out their days in a shabby London hotel is funny and sad in equal measure. The unlikely friendship of widowed Mrs Palfrey and young would be writer, Ludo, makes for a subtle way of illustrating the social divide of 1960s Britain - the last vestiges of the colonial empire and the youth culture of Swinging London. I loved it.

A good look at a long marriage but I could never get away from the feeling of great sadness for Ruth. She lost everything about herself, sacrificed everything, every hope, aspiration and dream and was seriously gaslit into being fulfilled and happy.

Very much felt like an elderly coming of age story for 70 year old Tommy who thought he could back to his old life. I kept hearing Billy Joel in my head, "then the king and queen went back to the green, but you can never go back there again." It also felt Twilight Zone-y as Tommy walked around Downtown not understanding why it all looked so different, and feeling like an "old fool" for thinking it'd be the same.

34/80

#ReadingMyTBRs #Reading2025

4⭐️ My second time reading this, and I enjoyed it more than the first time. I haven‘t watched the movie yet but heard praises about it. Which is your favorite Elizabeth Taylor?

With Mrs. Palfrey at Sanur beach, Bali 🏝️

Starting this with a nice cuppa

This one was so much more satisfying than its predecessor and I really liked being with Emily solely, rather than flipping around to her other family members...although I am so fond of Arlene. I had a little trouble with the timeline since Wish You Were Here seems like it takes place roughly a decade before this book. Rufus, her then elderly dog, was still around?! I'm happy he was, though. 🐶

Lots of people found this funny. The have someone impersonate your grandson was. But on the whole I just found it horribly depressing. 😒