Snobs

Julian Fellowes – Kindle

I originally wanted to read this book because I had torn through the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy by Kevin Kwan and it was one of the books recommended by a social climbing character to develop an insight into the British upper class.  Since I had been also thinking that I wanted to restart Downton Abbey from where I left off around the end of Season 2 and I am an avowed Woodhouse and Austen fan, it seemed like a good choice that ticked off a lot of my boxes of interest. 

The book itself is an enjoyable light frothy confection of a story that is actually more of an exercise in describing the social milieu of the English nobility and the showbiz world.  It is not so much a comedy of manners as a somewhat sad story of a woman making choices in the social environments in which she swims. 

 One of the things that I like about both Snobs and Crazy Rich Asians is that while there are ridiculous characters that are caricatures of themselves that are usually gently mocked, there is never any real judgement by the authors of the society that they are describing.  It is a world with its rules and points system for gauging success that is part of the human condition.  We all have our place within our chosen groups and understand the inherent rules and unwritten conventions of those groups.  Whether you are an ‘A’ gay in WeHo or a church lady in Minnesota, how we earn and lose the respect of our community are of paramount importance to us as a social species.

We enjoy these books because we inherently understand the rules and stakes of the protagonists but are separated enough from the world that it is amusing and novel.  It doesn’t hurt if those worlds are fabulously exclusive or luxurious as well. 

The book is well written and fun and recommended if, like me, it checks off enough of your base interests.  Fellowes is especially good at naturalistic dialogue that doesn’t feel stilted, which I guess is his experience as a screenwriter, and I also thought that he did a credible job of describing the inner thoughts and emotions of characters without being too overbearing.  The best part of his writing though is his ability to easily humanize all the characters and to make them understandable and sympathetic even though they may be acting in caddish ways.  You understand why people act the way they do within the structures of their societal rules.  I did not like the omniscient nameless first person narrator as much especially when intermixed with descriptions of scenes beyond their attendance.  That part a little contrived and a bit confusing.   First person narratives can be difficult to pull off apparently.    

What is more interesting to me is the self reflection and recognition that we all have ambitions, indicators of success and societal rules that we follow.  In the United States, these are less open unlike in Asia and Europe.  A social climber is understood, but rarely acknowledged or openly condoned.  Everything has a veneer of democratic inclusion and based on ‘love’ rather than open scheming of trying to marry the right families.  This is why that woman was openly reprimanded a few years ago when she openly advised Princeton (or Yale) girls not to waste their opportunity to marry well while at college.  Or we don’t talk about the propensity of high achieving Asian women to marry white husbands.   The Asian aunties will discuss it over coffee, but no one else will openly congratulate the women for marrying ‘up’ – it is unspoken and assumed.   

I am old enough and successful enough in my chosen communities that I can think about what deep laden social signifiers exist in my subconscious.  Growing up in New York City, there is still a lingering desire for a brownstone in Manhattan as the epitome of really making it big.  I don’t really care for cars, but the idea of Soho house membership would be exciting to me.  Not really practically, but I like the IDEA of it.  These fantasies may be incredibly shallow, but I contend that we all have these potentially shallow and snobby desires.  These really don’t have anything to do with actual happiness or true achievement but I think it is instructive to stare at them and try to understand the deeper psychological reasons for these symbolic indicators of success.

Takeaways: 

It is fun to read about social climbing systems that is not your own. 

I should study and parse out the dialogue that Fellowes produces. 

Think and evaluate my own ‘snobbish’ desires