{"product_id":"9780060976293","title":"In Pursuit of the English: A Documentary","description":"\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor\/Contributor(s):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eLessing, Doris\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHarper Perennial\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDate:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e3\/1\/1996\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003ePaperback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eNEW\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"One of the most authentic books ever written about the English....Funny, touching and so real that the smell and taste of London seem to rise from its pages.\" — San Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Pursuit of the English is a novelist's account of a lusty, quarrelsome, unscrupulous, funny, pathetic, full-blooded life in a working-class rooming house. It is a shrewd and unsentimental picture of Londoners you've probably never met or even read about--though they are the real English. The cast of characters — if that term can be applied to real people — includes: Bobby Brent, a con man; Mrs. Skeffington, a genteel woman who bullies her small child and flings herself down two flights of stairs to avoid having another; and Miss Priest, a prostitute, who replies to Lessing's question \"Don't you ever like sex?\" with \"If you're going to talk dirty, I'm not interested.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn swift, barbed style, in high, hard, farcical writing that is eruptively funny, Doris Lessing records the joys and terrors of everyday life. The truth of her perception shines through the pages of a work that is a brilliant piece of cultural interpretation, an intriguing memoir and a thoroughly engaging read.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat are the English \u003ci\u003ereally\u003c\/i\u003e like when they think no one is watching?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eEnglish Character Study:\u003c\/b\u003e From con men to prostitutes, Lessing documents the full-blooded, often contradictory, nature of her fellow lodgers.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Colonial Eye on England:\u003c\/b\u003e A sharp, outsider’s perspective on the strange customs and unspoken rules of the supposed \"mother country.\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eLife in a Rooming House:\u003c\/b\u003e The joys, terrors, and sheer absurdity of everyday life crammed into a single, sprawling boarding house.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eWry Social Commentary:\u003c\/b\u003e Lessing’s famously swift, barbed style dissects the nuances of class, money, and ambition with eruptively funny precision.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46829004259583,"sku":"9780060976293","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0452\/0886\/2873\/files\/9780060976293_s600x595.jpg?v=1779894396","url":"https:\/\/massivebookshop.com\/products\/9780060976293","provider":"MASSIVE BOOKSHOP","version":"1.0","type":"link"}