Book Review: "A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman" by Margaret Drabble

Full Title = A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman: The Collected Stories by Margaret Drabble

"Those who do not love, die, and they are forgotten, and it is of no account. But those who love as I have loved cannot perish. The body may perish, but my love could not cease to exist…"

I have to say, I'm not overly familiar with the works of Margaret Drabble. Currently, it's the Christmas season and so you've been seeing my baking and my cooking. If you're my friend on Facebook you can probably see my glittery makeup and pictures of my baking before I publish the recipes. It's been fun and so, I'm willing to move on from this to more. I've been looking at candle making, I'm not sure I'm too good at it yet, but I'm getting there. Margaret Drabble's short stories was a book I started reading at the doctor's office. I'm reading a bunch of things though, so let's take a look at this one.

The book opens with what the introduction seems to imply is Margaret Drabble's most famous short story - or by the least it is the most explored: Hassan's Tower. This story takes us to a newly married couple, they are British but have decided to honeymoon in Morocco. It is narrated by the new husband of the couple and he seems to pay an awful lot of attention to the fact that he is realising how usual his new wife is - the fact that she is not actually stunningly beautiful bothers him. He is also really uncomfortable with the unfamiliarity of the setting - unwilling to try new things and go to new places. The story circulates around the idea that they will visit 'Hassan's Tower' - a tourist hotspot, on a festival day. It is written absolutely beautifully and I love the way it goes in and out of introspection. Our couple are very different yes, but that does not mean that they are completely incompatible.

Another story I enjoyed was called Crossing the Alps, mainly because of the dynamics of the plot. This story is mainly about adultery but then again, there is far more going on than meet's the eye. Our male character is in a failing marriage and our female character has gone through her husband walking out on her, leaving her alone with a disabled child. They are perfectly aware of the honeymoon-phase of this affair and know that they are only 'acting' out a perfect romance rather than actually moving on with their lives properly. Unfortunately, on this trip to the Alps that they have, he gets sick and she has to look after him. Weirdly enough, this is something that brings them closer together, closer than they are suggested to have been on the way up in their whirlwind romance. Even though they know their relationship won't last, they unite over this short moment they share. Honestly, it is a gorgeous story with some lovely descriptions of the Alps that you can really get lost in. In a large, looming setting - they are small, kindred spirits, appreciating moments that are fleeting and small.

A very strong story in this anthology is the namesake, of course (or it would not be the title of the anthology): A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman. It is a universal experience for women to go on smiling through the pain until we break - but this story takes it to a whole new level entirely. A woman who loves her work as a media journalist and who is a successful mother on top of that seems to be the ultimate female-everything and woman who 'has it all'. Each day is scheduled and every moment is filled - sometimes it can be viewed as a distraction from her own moments of introspection which are not always as beautiful as you think at first. She keeps powering through moments that seem 'off' like a record scratching slightly but then the music keeps playing like it always was. Of course, this shield of optimism is shattered and she confronts the world as it truly is. This is where things start to spiral out of control. Margaret Drabble writes a brilliant story here with some great quotations about ugliness and the state of the world.

All in all, there are many stories in here that I enjoyed. Another one was called A Voyage to Cythera which starts with a train journey and moves on to a whole new set of ideas. Margaret Drabble is great at extrapolating our small feelings to large, life changing mechanisms. It is a fantastic way to look at what we say, what we see and how we interact with the universe around us. I did not expect to like it this much.