Books › The History of Mr. Polly
The History of Mr. Polly
24456 pages
A gentle, witty portrait of a bumbling dreamer who finally decides to burn down his stifling life and walk away into the sunshine.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like stepping out of a stuffy, dimly lit room into a bright, breezy afternoon. It begins by immersing you in the comical but genuine claustrophobia of Edwardian lower-middle-class life, wrapping you in the quiet desperation of a man trapped by societal expectations and his own passivity. Yet, the narrative is never heavy; it is buoyed by a wry, deeply sympathetic narrator and a delightfully inventive prose style full of charming malapropisms. As the story shifts from stifled domesticity to chaotic rebellion, the atmosphere transforms into something wonderfully liberating and whimsical. It is a cozy, triumphant read that delights anyone who has ever daydreamed about simply walking away from it all to find a quiet, eccentric corner of the world to call their own.
- Mood
- wistful
- cozy
- claustrophobic
- liberating
- Tone
- wry
- sympathetic
- satirical
- gentle
- playful
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- midlife reinvention · the burden of respectability · power of daydreaming · finding one's place · quiet desperation
- The writing
- Richly observant and linguistically playful, marked by the protagonist's endearing malapropisms and the narrator's gentle, ironic distance.
- The arc
- Begins in a state of comical, stifled misery before erupting into chaotic liberation and settling into a warm, sunlit contentment.
- Who it's for
- Lovers of quiet British humor and character studies about endearing, bumbling underdogs who finally take control of their own happiness.
Content notes
- suicidal ideation
- arson
- domestic unhappiness
About the book
H. G. Wells' comic 1910 novel, The History of Mr. Polly, stars Alfred Polly, a timid man who is more successful at daydreaming than working in the local draper's shops. He marries a woman he's not really in love with, despite being in love with another, and together they attempt to create a success of their own shop while slowly making one another miserable. But on the night of a fire everything changes in Mr. Polly's life.
Description from Open Library.
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