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Rainy Week
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1921
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8 people want to read
About the author
Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
49 books11 followersEleanor Hallowell Abbott, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a nationally recognized American author. She was a frequent contributor to The Ladies' Home Journal.aEleanor Hallowell Abbott was a nationally recognized American author. She was a frequent contributor to The Ladies' Home Journal. Born: September 22, 1872, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Died: June 4, 1958, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States Spouse: Fordyce Coburn (m. 1908) Parents: Edward Abbott Education: Radcliffe College
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 27, 2022
I really like reading older novels. I am glad I read it, but, it was not what I would have liked.
July 27, 2016
Ugh.
When E. H. Abbott is good, she's excellent, as in Molly Make-Believe or Sick-A-Bed Lady and Also. When she's mediocre, as in The White Linen Nurse, she can be hard to stomach. But for sheer concentrated nastiness, it would be hard to beat the narrator of Rainy Week.
This unnamed woman and her husband always hold a week-long house party the second week of May. They choose that time period because they know it will rain buckets the whole time and people will be forced to stay indoors day after day. Do they invite the friends they most like to spend time with, people they know get along well together? They do not. They invite a group of people whose only point of contact is an acquaintance with them--the more superficial or by chance, the better. The unnamed couple have a passion for amateur theatricals. Does this mean they are going to talk these unknown people into "gettin' up a show"? It does not. What it means is that the man and wife are going to sit back and watch their guests interact, in hopes of being amused, shocked or otherwise entertained. And of course their guests have no idea that they themselves are the floorshow, or that each has been chosen to meet a certain requirement on the part of their hosts: a newly-married couple, an older bachelor, a "singing voice", a pretty young girl, "someone with a past" or "someone with a future." Who cares about them as people, their likes or dislikes!
How very nasty. How very manipulative.
No wonder Mrs Narrator and her husband never talk to each other, as she herself says at one point. No wonder the narrator has some pretty dam' bitter reflections on the married state. Could you enjoy being married to someone who would use others in this blatant way for a week's passing entertainment?
Ugh.
Hallowell tries to weave her usual romance into the tale, but this time it really doesn't work. The story gets more and more far-fetched and unconvincing as it goes, from the found relations to the brink of the wrong marriage to the "obligatory" drunken man who's really a stand-up chap, after all.
Ugh.
Ugh.
And again I say--ugh.
When E. H. Abbott is good, she's excellent, as in Molly Make-Believe or Sick-A-Bed Lady and Also. When she's mediocre, as in The White Linen Nurse, she can be hard to stomach. But for sheer concentrated nastiness, it would be hard to beat the narrator of Rainy Week.
This unnamed woman and her husband always hold a week-long house party the second week of May. They choose that time period because they know it will rain buckets the whole time and people will be forced to stay indoors day after day. Do they invite the friends they most like to spend time with, people they know get along well together? They do not. They invite a group of people whose only point of contact is an acquaintance with them--the more superficial or by chance, the better. The unnamed couple have a passion for amateur theatricals. Does this mean they are going to talk these unknown people into "gettin' up a show"? It does not. What it means is that the man and wife are going to sit back and watch their guests interact, in hopes of being amused, shocked or otherwise entertained. And of course their guests have no idea that they themselves are the floorshow, or that each has been chosen to meet a certain requirement on the part of their hosts: a newly-married couple, an older bachelor, a "singing voice", a pretty young girl, "someone with a past" or "someone with a future." Who cares about them as people, their likes or dislikes!
How very nasty. How very manipulative.
No wonder Mrs Narrator and her husband never talk to each other, as she herself says at one point. No wonder the narrator has some pretty dam' bitter reflections on the married state. Could you enjoy being married to someone who would use others in this blatant way for a week's passing entertainment?
Ugh.
Hallowell tries to weave her usual romance into the tale, but this time it really doesn't work. The story gets more and more far-fetched and unconvincing as it goes, from the found relations to the brink of the wrong marriage to the "obligatory" drunken man who's really a stand-up chap, after all.
Ugh.
Ugh.
And again I say--ugh.
February 14, 2014
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A lady and her husband plan an annual week at their beach cottage during the rainiest week of the year. They always invite guests that don't know each other that fit a certain description- a confirmed bachelor, a May-girl, someone with a past, a pair of newlyweds, etc. They then watch the proceedings as if it were a play. The story is fun, with all the little coincidences that would never happen but seem possible as you read. I've read this story a couple of times but didn't remember the final twist until almost the end. Miss Hallowell-Abbot is an entertaining author along the lines of L M Montgomery.
A lady and her husband plan an annual week at their beach cottage during the rainiest week of the year. They always invite guests that don't know each other that fit a certain description- a confirmed bachelor, a May-girl, someone with a past, a pair of newlyweds, etc. They then watch the proceedings as if it were a play. The story is fun, with all the little coincidences that would never happen but seem possible as you read. I've read this story a couple of times but didn't remember the final twist until almost the end. Miss Hallowell-Abbot is an entertaining author along the lines of L M Montgomery.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews