Sad tale of bright young woman who fails to break free from her provincial town or to fulfill her initial promise. Based on Drabble's mother.

Peper- en zoutvlinder (biston betularia), the peppered moth https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peper-en-zoutvlinder ( )

The writing was much better than the content, but even that aspect got tiring with the numerous repetitions. The characters of the 4 generations were somewhat interesting, but I did not care much for any of them. There were also too many coincidences and too much detailed science that led to nothing. the ending was also a disappointment. ( )

I found this book too drab and unexciting to be able to get into. I never got to the moth bit and hardly know what the book is really about though it seems to tell the tale of a little girl called Bessie Bawtry, a sickly child, born into a family in the South Yorkshire coal belt.

In my view, Margaret Drabble writes well, so I’m sure it would have been worthwhile to read the book properly, if I’d been able, but I was not.

I’m giving the book three stars on the strength of the author’s writing. I understand that the novel describes the life of her mother.

I struggled with this one. The writing style is solid, but the story has that meandering quality to it that kept bring up the same question over and over in my head: "Why?" I probably should have read the Afterword first.... A story that is an author's attempt to develop understanding and meaning of the life of a departed family member through a fictional writing exercise is bound to leave some readers wondering about the direction of the story they are reading. For me, The Peppered Moth is more of a Drabble's catharsis then about the family stories contained on the pages. At least she admits that the exercise had mixed results, even for her. I did enjoy the historical detail the story contains and parts of the story reminded me of the manner in which Carol Shields chose to write her story The Stone Diaries... another book that some readers sings praise over while others wish to see it confined to the dustbin. If you haven't already guessed, The Peppered Moth is not an easy book to write a review for, so lets turn this review into a quick Q & A session instead:

Do I regret the time I invested to read this story? No. It didn't jump out and grab my attention but part of me could relate to or at least express sympathy for some of the emotions and experiences... although I did find the story to have a rather dour effect on me, which isn't a great positive.

Do I understand the choice for the title? Not really, so if anyone can explain their thoughts about why the title, I would appreciate it!

Will I read more books by Margaret Drabble? Not sure. I think the summary would really have to grab my attention, or if it was the only book available to read.

See.... even my Q & A isn't overly helpful in trying the capture my thoughts regarding this one. Let's try something a little different. The following quote, in my opinion, sums up this story quite nicely:

"There are too many memories here. Impatience is overcoming Faro. She has several plastic bags full of rubbish, and she is sure she is about to discard something important. Though how could any of this be of any importance? These are such little lives. Unimportant people, in an unimportant place. They have been young, they have endured, they have taken their wages and their punishment, and then they have grown old, and all for no obvious purpose. And now she is throwing them all into a plastic bag.

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