Tag Archives: Barbara Comyns

The Vet’s Daughter by Barbara Comyns

Leave a reply

Barbara Comyns’ book The Vet’s Daughter dabbles in magical realism in a way that Our Spoons Came From Woolworths and Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead did not. Comyns is great at magnifying the real, which is evident in Our Spoons. In Who Was Changed, the circumstances are very strange, yes, but, in my opinion, those circumstances remain grounded in possible real events. The Vet’s Daughter, on the other hand, is the first from Comyns’ œuvre that really defies the laws of physics…so to speak.

The Vet’s Daughter reminded me of the recent film (inspired by the book) Poor Things, starting Emma Stone, in that the setting is strange and grotesque. In the case of The Vet’s Daughter, the homes are dark and abusive. The vet’s house is full of sick animals and taxidermied pets, which felt much like the home scenes in Poor Things. I did not love being in those scenes, but I did appreciate their power to convey.

The Vet’s Daughter is another classic novel from the indomitable Comyns. I find myself slowing down to savor my first read throughs of her books.

Our Spoons Came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns

1 Reply

I first read Barbara Comyns in 2024, starting with Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, and it was such a strange and excellent book that it has really stayed with me. When someone recommended her other book, Our Spoons Came from Woolworths, I knew I wanted to read it–even if just for that title!

The book follows the life of a young, impoverished woman, who is an artist, but is held back by sexism and classism and the burdens that come with it. She seems somewhat unaware of her unfair circumstances, or at least perceives them in a unique way, and so the reader gets a new view, one that avoids commonplace thinking around victimhood.

For the doulas and birth workers who follow me, there is also quite a lot of content about hospital childbirth during the middle of the last century. It was…rough. (And there’s still so much more work we can do to improve hospital childbirth, but that’s an aside.)

In the last few years, I’ve gone from Elena Ferrante to Barbara Comyns to Moa Martinson and back to Comyns again. I’m so grateful to have discovered these authors, and my interest in finding more is renewed.

Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns

2 Replies

I’m grateful for Dorothy, A Publishing Project for breathing life back into this 1954 gem by Barbara Comyns, entitled Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead. The title alone got my attention, and the rest of the book did not disappoint either. It is a great narrative, that paints a bizarre, almost mystical crisis within a small town. Comyns portrays all of human ugliness with great humor and insight. The imagery is also beautifully done.

Interestingly, I started the year with an Agatha Christie murder mystery, and there is something I really appreciate about this era of writing. It is very straightforward, but that close and careful approach also highlights the intentional writing and brings the descriptions into greater focus.