Oh dear.I usually like Jilly Cooper. You do have to take her with a pinch of salt - some of her books were written in the 60s and 70s, and in upper-class England (which is sort of a world unto itself, and I say that with the perspective of someone who has one foot in that world), so most of the time it's worth thinking of her books as period dramedy. The morals in them usually don't apply to life today, but they can often be quite entertaining reads, if you can get past the occasional casual racist / homophobic / misogynistic references.Not Emily. Emily was infuriating to the point of offensive, and I am so so glad that it wasn't the first Jilly book I read, or I'd never have read anything else of hers.I'm so disgusted by the book that I can't even write a proper review, so I'll just set out the main things that are wrong with it. (Spoilers abound.):1) Emily is engaged to marry someone else, but meets Rory at a party one night and elopes with him, with nary a thought for the fiancé she allegedly loved.2) Rory becomes verbally, then physically, then sexually, abusive towards Emily - culminating in rape. No condemnation of his behaviour is made (even by Emily!) beyond a couple of "oh, you poor girl"s. Emily is more upset by Rory cheating on her than by him hitting or raping her.3) The reason behind Rory's abuse is that he's so torn up over the loss of Marina, his childhood sweetheart whom he later discovered was his half-sister. (At the end of the book it turns out she's not, but they think they're half-brother and sister for most of the book.) She married another man since they couldn't be together, and Rory married Emily to get back at Marina, but this doesn't stop them sleeping together. Of course, everyone including Rory rationalises his behaviour as being that of a tortured soul. He couldn't possibly just be an abusive shithead.4) Rory shows no remorse for any of his behaviour. He's cut up towards the end when Em leaves him, but he's only upset that she's gone, he doesn't seem to be upset that, I dunno, he beat and raped her and treated her like dirt throughout their marriage.5) The book could JUST have been saved if Em had left Rory and married grumpy-but-sexy doctor Finn, or even gone her own way, got a job and tried to actually be a functioning human being. But she doesn't. She goes back to him. Because, gosh darn it, she just loves him so much. And he loves her so much too, and the verbal abuse and the beatings and the rape were just his way of showing how passionate he was for her. And sure, he made a mistake, having that affair with Marina, but what's a mistake or two when there's love involved? After all, Emily made mistakes too. She kissed Finn a few times, and dyed her hair that ridiculous colour just to embarrass Rory, and never got the laundry done properly - so they're even, right?*facepalm*I really cannot overstate how hideous Rory, and by extension this book, is. Jilly's had some male characters who did pretty shitty things - Pendle in Prudence ran off with his sister-in-law and left Pru among strangers while she was sick, and Nicky in Imogen turned out to be a philandering bastard, and kind of mean with it. But the difference is that those men's behaviours were portrayed as cruel and wrong, and they didn't end up with the girl at the end. Rory is a scumbag in every sense of the word; he does pretty much every awful thing a man can do to a woman short of outright murder - and yet his poor battered wife continues to love him, and he walks away with the girl and the hero nametag.Ugh. Just ugh.I really don't think I have anything else to say about this one. The only good thing I can say is that it wasn't dull. Some books get low ratings from me because I can barely get through them without passing out from boredom. Emily didn't bore me - it kept my attention throughout, and I nearly gave it two stars for that. But I couldn't, not with a clear conscience, because even for something written in the '70s I found this deeply offensive.
I really love Jilly's Rutshire chronicles and I really liked Prudence so I'm disappointed that this didn't hit the mark.Emily is a terrible heroine, she's really pathetic. And this book is really "of it's time" in a bad way- with Emily being hit by her partner but rationalising that she had it coming because he was in a bad mood, the book's nonchalant approach to regular incest and rape without outrage "I was erm sort of raped" but don't worry there's a really happy pro feminist ending- Emily en
Do You like book Emily (2005)?
This book was written nearly 40 years ago and could not be classed as politically correct. The writing and the story telling are flawless. I first read this story when I was approx. 16 years old, and there has been a great change in what society sees as acceptable behaviour within relationships and toward women as a whole.All of that said- this is a funny, angst filled story about a naive young woman who falls in love with a very temperamental man who really wouldn't get away with half the crap he pulled on Emily with a woman of today!The characters in her books remind me of the people featured on the british reality show Made in Chelsea!I will continue to revisit this story as I still love it! It's quite a novelty to read a book that has no cursing or descriptions of sex, but where sexual tension is still palpable.
—Karolyne
I cried when reading Emily. The passion, the love, the romance, the heartache, all are so well done in this book. I especially liked the element of incest, where he adores the woman who is his half sister but he knows that he can never live with her. She is his muse, but then, when he meets Emily, everything changes. I especially love how she finds out that he loves her, because to see it expressed in the tiny, intimate painting he has done of her, looking not divine or sexy, but normal, ordinary just means so much more. He sees her as she is and loves that about her.
—Tasneem
