Cold Comfort Farm Reflection

             

Spoiler Alert** If you have not read the end of Cold Comfort Farm, do not read any further.**

            I really enjoyed reading Cold Comfort Farm.  I found the dynamics between family members, and Flora’s friends to be fascinating and hilarious. I found Flora’s character to be smarter than I first anticipated given her beginnings in life. I thought she was a woman who may have been a little naïve, but knew what she wanted, and went after it. She originally thought that she was going to Cold Comfort Farm to claim what was “rightfully hers”, but instead turned the family upside down, and helped the members of the Strarkadders find their selves.

            I also enjoyed reading Pygmalion, but grew a little tired of the “damsel in distress” scenes that played out throughout the book. Eliza was reserved, and tended to wait for things to happen. She trusted everyone, and really only thought about herself.

            I found Flora’s character a much stronger female character than Eliza. In my opinion Eliza played the victim, and depended on the males in her life to help her get places, she didn’t necessarily intend to go. Flora, on the other hand, didn’t need a man to get anything done. She was a strong independent female that made things happen. Flora definitely thought the world revolved around her, and that made her character quite funny. She might have had a secret agenda, but throughout the book she began to care about the individual members of the family, and genuinely wanted what was best for them.

            The only issue I had with the book was that we never found out what the terrible thing was that Ada Doom saw in the woodshed was. I felt like after 233 pages of reading I was cheated! Everything came full circle for Flora, and I felt like there were a few loose strings that needed to be tied up for me.

            But I digress, I thought the book was witty, and had a good story line. I can’t help but feel a little empowered by Flora’s character. Hey, if she can do anything, I can do anything. I might have a crazy family, but they don’t come close to the Starkadder family. I will say I enjoy anything British television wise (Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife), but I now have a piqued interest in British literature after this book.