Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead

Barbara Comyns

1954 • 218 pages

Ratings5

Average rating3.8

“Comyns’ novel is deranged in ways that shouldn’t be disclosed.” —Ben Marcus This is the story of the Willoweed family and the English village in which they live. It begins mid-flood, ducks swimming in the drawing-room windows, “quacking their approval” as they sail around the room. “What about my rose beds?” demands Grandmother Willoweed. Her son shouts down her ear-trumpet that the garden is submerged, dead animals everywhere, she will be lucky to get a bunch. Then the miller drowns himself . . . then the butcher slits his throat . . . and a series of gruesome deaths plagues the villagers. The newspaper asks, “Who will be smitten by this fatal madness next?” Through it all, Comyns' unique voice weaves a text as wonderful as it is horrible, as beautiful as it is cruel. Originally published in England in 1954, this “overlooked small masterpiece” is a twisted, tragicomic gem.

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Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

egg

A charming village
love in the air, baked in bread
gibbering madness.

July 1, 2021

Laura

It took me a long time to warm up to this book, but by the end I was rather charmed by it, although that's not the term to use for such a book. It felt slight to begin with but things slowly built up on each other to make it into something more than the sum of its parts. The ending was a tad abrupt and the wrap-up awkwardly cute. I finished it on the bus home from work on Friday but today I'm still thinking about it.

July 20, 2012

Phyllis

I couldn't get a physical, electronic, or audiobook from any local libraries, so I decided to use up an Audible credit.

The narrator was quite effective at voicing different characters and suited the story. That's about where the positive vibes ended for me, though.

Bleakkkk.

I mean, I expected some level of darkness to this book. But, it was billed as wickedly funny. Honestly, I still haven't come across anything funny and I have a darkish sense of humor.

After hearing great things about Barbara Comyns, I was excited to try out a novella of hers, but I'm at the point where I don't want to know what happens next.

October 13, 2023