The Little Less
Angela Du Maurier
To be guilty for a moment of sweeping generalization, women are natural masochists and men natural sadists. At least this appears to crop up in books very very frequently. The very forgotten Du Maurier, in a world full of relatively famous Du Mauriers, is Angela, sister of Daphne the novelist and Jeanne the artist. THE LITTLE LESS, by Angela Du Maurier, Doubleday, 1941, is an excellent novel — in many ways superior to many of the books written by Daphne Du Maurier. Vivian Osborne, a fairly shy and motherless girl, falls rather desperately in love at literal first sight with Virginia Care. It is many years, however, before they actually meet and the events of Vivian’s life include the revelation of a Lesbian love affair between her slightly older girlfriend Phil and another woman. The scene in which Phil tells Vivian that she loves the girl and Vivian’s lack of comprehension is excellent and it sets the stage for Vivian’s emotional blindness to the nature of her own love for Virginia Clare, later in the book. When she actually meets and knows Virginia Clare, they begin an odd relationship based on passionate adoration and subjection on Vivian’s part and unwitting cruelty (and selfishness) on the part of Virginia. As in certain other novels, it is die emotional tone- that is enthralling rather than the literary skill. The titular quotation sums it up beautifully: “Oh, the little more, and how much it is! And the little less, and what worlds away!” The ending is weak and unsatisfactory, but most readers will enjoy the first two-thirds of the book sufficiently to read the rest anyway. ~ Mattachine, V10N03, 1964
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Details
| Genre | Fiction; Checklist by Marion Zimmer Bradley; Grier Rated |
| Publication Date | 08-Aug-41 |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Notes | Author is sister of author Daphe Du Maurier, and Jeanne du Maurier.
Mistitled as ‘The Little Legs’ in Checklist by Marion Zimmer Bradley. |
| Language | English |
| Rating | Great |
| BookID | 7468 |
