I admired this more than I enjoyed it, particularly the conjuring up vividly of the character of Aunt Matty purely through dialogue. Compton Burnett was clearly shrewd and perceptive. Her view of human beings I suspect matches that expressed by one of the characters in the book, who says:
"It is a pity we have to be human ... Human failings, human vanity, human weakness! We don't hear the word applied to anything good. Even human nature is a derogatory term."
Brilliant but slightly icy.
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