brothers and sisters

Brothers and Sisters by Ivy Compton-Burnett (Zero Press, 1956)

It’s been several years since I’ve read a novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett, and I forgot what an enjoyable and stimulating–and singular–experience it is.

Brothers and Sisters is one of her better books, because everything she does in a novel she does very skillfully and effectively here.  There are five pairs of brothers and sisters featured in this book, and they pair off (and break up) in matrimonial units in more ways and more times than seems possible.  Some of these pairings are shocking, and most of them seem to be curiously unromantic and expeditious, which makes the reader wonder what, exactly, these strange people truly desire.

The book is centered around the curious ever-loving marriage of Sophia and Christian Stace, who inhabit the manor house in the village of Moreton Edge.  Christian was adopted by Sophie’s father, and the two were raised as siblings, so their marriage, which was forbidden by their father, is somewhat suspect.  But they live happily together with their three adult children: Andrew, Dinah, and Robin, who pal around with (and are periodically affianced to) several local siblings pairs: Edgar and Judith Dryden, the local rector and his intellectual sister: Julian and Sarah Wake, wealthy and cosmopolitan who live between Moreton Edge and London; and Gilbert and Carrie Lang, who have recently moved to Moreton Edge with their elderly mother, who is, in fact, Christian Stace’s mother.

Although all the characters pretty much speak in the same odd, glib, highly-decorative Compton-Burnett vernacular, they manage to distinguish themselves and delight the reader in a multitude of ways.  Sophia is an especially fascinating creature–her passive-aggressive methods of mothering are both comic and heartbreaking.  Beneath all the farcial silliness of the plot lurks a rather dark and disturbing gloom, and a bleakness about human relationships that gives the book a scintillating, acid edge.