The Clothes They Stood Up In and The Lady in the Van (Today Show Book Club #5) Review

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The Clothes They Stood Up In and The Lady in the Van (Today Show Book Club #5) ReviewThere are two stories in this slim package, both dealing with people's relationships with their possessions.
In the first, Mr. and Mrs. Ransome return from the opera to find their flat totally empty. The casserole has disappeared along with the oven, and even the toilet paper's gone. Mr. Ransome mostly misses his stereo equipment (and of course the toilet paper) but cheers up when he remembers that he can upgrade his technology with the insurance refund.
Mrs. Ransome quickly gets over her shock, and begins shopping for the bare essentials to tide them over until the insurance cheque arrives. During this exercise, she rediscovers the simple things and learns that life without all her accumulated baggage isn't that bad after all.
When the mystery is revealed, Mrs. Ransome has a whole new outlook on life, and although her husband has also changed, he hasn't evolved as much as she has. This is a story with some very funny bits, but also with some important messages for all of us.
The other (shorter) story is about an eccentric woman who makes her home in a van, surrounded by everything she owns. Also very funny, it is so rich in description that your nose turns up whenever the author takes you inside the van.
If you're looking for an entertaining read, and don't feel like tackling a whole book, this one is highly recommended.Amanda Richards, April 1, 2006
The Clothes They Stood Up In and The Lady in the Van (Today Show Book Club #5) OverviewFrom Alan Bennett, the author of The Madness of King George, come two stories about the strange nature of possessions...or the lack of them. In the nationally bestselling novel The Clothes They Stood Up In, the staid Ransomes return from the opera to find their Regent's Park flat stripped bare--right down to the toilet-paper roll. Free of all their earthly belongings, the couple faces a perplexing question: Who are they without the things they've spent a lifetime accumulating? Suddenly a world of unlimited, frightening possibility opens up before them. In "The Lady in the Van," which The Village Voice called "one of the finest bursts of comic writing the twentieth century has produced," Bennett recounts the strange life of Miss Shepherd, a London eccentric who parked her van (overstuffed with decades' worth of old clothes, oozing batteries, and kitchen utensils still in their original packaging) in the author's driveway for more than fifteen years. A mesmerizing portrait of an outsider with an acquisitive taste and an indomitable spirit, this biographical essay is drawn with equal parts fascination and compassion.

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