“We are warned that the Smiths are neither superior nor fashionable, but it would have been more kind to warn us that they are absolutely uninteresting. We object to the inference that superiority and fashion are required in order to be interesting.”
| − | Outlook. 86: 340. Je. 15, ’07. 60w. |
“Many a person who is genuinely depressed by the mere sight of a suburb from a train-window, and who would be utterly bored by half an hour’s companionship with the Smiths in real life, will find himself oddly interested in Mr. Howard’s little story, until he comes to the love affairs of Phyllis, when the conversations become tedious.”
| + − | Sat. R. 101: 210. F. 17, ’06. 200w. |
“The story of ‘The Smiths of Surbiton’ is not told with any distinction of literary style or any subtlety in the analysis of the human heart. The want of literary artifice in the treatment makes it therefore obvious that the approval with which the book has been greeted is due solely to its subject.”
| − + | Spec. 96: 226. F. 10, ’06. 460w. |
Bell, Lilian. Why men remain bachelors, and other luxuries. **$1.25. Lane.
6–38991.
A group of half humorous half philosophical essays which deal with such subjects as The management of wives, The management of husbands, The luxury of being stupid, How men propose, The broken engagement, Modern mothers, etc.