Highly enjoyable and unusual, this sometimes amusing, sometimes bewildering tale reminded me of very early Iris Murdoch, firmly placed in the late 1950's, in a world evolving rapidly from post-war shortages to a time of change - in attitudes, morals and experience. I would definitely recommend this book.

This classic is like nothing else I've read before. The narrator is unlikeable yet charming and I love Tonks writing style. It is fabulous!

Poorly dated 60’s intelligentsia comedy

I’m afraid this was a did not finish one, which I had requested with bright hope from NetGalley. As others have stated Rosemary Tonks was seen as a sparkling and witty writer of social comedy, but vanished from the literary world when she had a religious conversion and abjured the shallow frivolity of her chattering, potentially bedhopping characters.

I had hoped this would have the kind of sparkle that, say, Nancy Mitford, Dodie Smith, or, even earlier, Stella Gibbons have. These books reach out beyond their publication and writing eras

Unfortunately this book began to irritate me beyond measure early. The central character, Min, who works at the BBC, and is married to the rather dull George, is being pursued by a fat opera singer, the Bloater of the title. As it is, after all, the Swinging Sixties, Min is endlessly wondering whether to embark on an affair or not. I left her to her musings and, indeed extremely shallow frivolities which had me sighing irritably. So no spoilers here as I have no idea how things proceeded. Nor do I care

Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this – I didn't connect with the main character and didn't find myself wanting to pick it up despite its short length it felt like a chore.

So funny and original. I can't believe I have never read this before but am delighted it is now more widely available. Genius.

I will always read a 'rediscovered classic', and I loved this funny, touching story of Min, her mostly useless husband George, and the ridiculous opera singer, the Bloater.

Absolutely hilarious, one of the most poignant and enjoyable social comedies about the discourses surrounding the sexual politics of the '60s.

Tonks is described in her bio here as a "colourful figure on the London literary scene during the 1960's", publishing poetry, novels, broadcasting for the BBC and reems of articles for the magazines of the day. The bio doesn't mention her move to puritanical Christianity in the 1970's, and certainly of the sex positive whirl of The Bloater it seems a remarkably strange shift. The book has the columnist's way with words, it is witty, self-deprecating and often very funny - and very reminiscent of the racier side of the best 21st century chick-lit. Min - who basically is Delia Derbyshire - works for the BBC Audio department making strange noises and music. She is single, lives with a few flatmates and has a semi-regular thing with "The Bloater" a corpulent opera fan who she cannot stand and yet drifts in and out of her life mainly for sex. The book is a slice of that relationship, perhaps one where she realises she has a little more fondness for a man who - in the opening - disgusted every part of her being. Perhaps the Puritanical Christianity is on offer there, a search for actual connection that is denied? It feels very fresh, whilst clearly of its time, and there are pithy withering put-downs littering the text. It makes you want to slope off for lunch with a Barley Wine for a natter with her, which sound like success to me.

An interesting book, of a number of characters though primarily Min and her travails with 'The Bloater'. Was almost put off by the first chapter, it does get better though veers between being irritated by irritating characters, and and sections of good humour and situations. Difficult to recommend - if you like this type of book there is enough on the positive side of the scale to be worth reading, if you haven't tried the style there are better places to start.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Vintage Classics for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Bloater’ by Rosemary Tonks in exchange for an honest review.

This short novel was originally published in 1968 and recently rediscovered.

Rosemary Tonks was an English poet and novelist active during the mid 20th Century. After converting to a strict form of Christianity she withdrew from her former life and her works not only went out of print but became very rare.

This new edition of her third novel has an Introduction by Stewart Lee, who provides background on the novel and Rosemary Tonks’ life and legacy.

The narrator of this comedy of manners is Min, who works at the BBC as an audio engineer. She is married to George, who she describes as someone who pays the bills and is fond of her. It is evident that George is hardly present in her life. ‘The Bloater’ of the title is an internationally renowned opera singer who is pursuing Min. Given the lack of engagement in her marriage, Min can’t bring herself to reject The Bloater’s overtures. Over the course of the novel things happen and Min shares her thoughts with various friends.

Apparently Tonks’ novels were written as fictional autobiographies that also contained social commentary on life in 1960s London. She writes in a stream-of-consciousness style.

I admit that I am not a great fan of this kind of literary fiction; preferring more plot structure and character development to reflective prose and conversational dialogue. Still, ‘The Bloater’ does retain a sense of immediacy despite being written over 50 years ago.

While I can appreciate the appeal of Tonks’ writing to others and its literary significance, I found that I just didn’t particularly connect with it.

Although this was a good read being a classic comedy but it wasn't really for me. It was well written and I am sure that many people will really enjoy this story. 4 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this e ARC

I thoroughly enjoyed this – but I’m glad I listened to the Backlisted podcast before I embarked on it, otherwise I think I would have been somewhat bemused by the style and the narrative voice. Knowing who Rosemary Tonks was really helps the reader’s comprehension – well, this reader’s anyway. It’s a frothy social comedy set in 1960s London, where we meet Min, a married woman who doesn’t let her marriage stand in the way of having affairs elsewhere, and who works at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – and there’s a nice little vignette of what was happening there at the time. Min is caustic, witty, blunt, brittle but also insightful and observant and I can still hear her voice echoing in my head. A slight but amusing book and one that gives a vivid picture of a certain type of person and a certain lifestyle at a certain point in time and I found it great fun.

I am afraid The Bloater didn't really work for me. This novella is character driven and sadly I didn't warm up to Min. She is rather annoying and her frivolous problems left me cold. What I did enjoy was the very British humour. Many a time I've laughed out loud! In particular the conversations between Min and Jenny/Claudi are brilliant!

I first heard about this book when Backlisted featured it on their podcast; at the time, it was the rarest book they'd ever done and if I'm honest, I think I was drawn to the story of the book rather than the book itself. It was written by Rosemary Tonks in the 60's, but later in life she became very religious and went around trying to destroy copies of her books. She would even take library copies out and get rid of them, as such, very few copies existed in the world. Now it is being 're-published by Vintage, with an introduction by Stuart Lee, who was one of the guests on the podcast about this book. With all this in the background, I found that I was not as blown away by the story as I had hoped. It is set in London during the swinging 60's, Min, married to George, (who stays very much in the background), is also being pursued by two other men, Billy and The Bloater, a larger than life opera singer, who she is both attracted to and repulsed by. It is very short and can be read in an afternoon, but Min is not a likeable character. It had been described as a sparkling social comedy, which sounds right up my street, and while there are flashed of brilliance, overall I was a bit let down by it. I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to actually read it however.

*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

Nope. Tried, but couldn't make head nor tail of it. I really struggled with it but found it to be almost a stream of words and names with no real coherence.

Such a wonderful book. I couldn't stop thinking about it when I had to put it down. Loved everything

Rosemary Tonks's 'The Bloater' is a wonderful social comedy about the sexual politics of the Swinging Sixties that is finally being republished. The narrator, Min, a BBC sound engineer who is amicably married to George, spends most of her time fending off the advances of her lodger, a rotund opera singer whose nickname gives the novel its title. She also finds herself developing feelings for her older divorced friend Billy, trading quips with her neighbour Claudio, swapping amorous anecdotes with her colleague Jenny and envying her glamorous friend Racquel.

I found this is a thoroughly enjoyable read with some laugh-out-loud comic set pieces, such as when Min finds herself laid up in bed with, of all things, gout, or when an art dealer is sent by the Bloater to deliver the gift of a still-wet painting, which he ends up passing to Min through an upstairs bathroom window by climbing on to a dustbin. ("No wonder people loathe the arts; wet paintings and humming baritones") What truly makes this novel such a delight, however, is the candour, wit, self-deprecation and sheer exuberance of Min's narrative voice.

As Min observes, "Are we fully adult, responsible pillars of society? Certainly; it's simply that we're allowed two or three safety valves nowadays, and rank silliness is one of them." This 'rank silliness' is one of the dominant notes of the novel which, for all its focus on extra-marital affairs and the supposed permissiveness of the era it depicts, remains delightfully chaste and innocent.

It was great to discover the many pleasures of Rosemary Tonks's writing and I hope to explore more of her work. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review!

Unfortunately I am unable to review this because the copy that was sent to my kindle is unreadable. There are a bunch of technological widget things in amongst the text, but I didn’t want to lower my feedback score by leaving nothing so if I have a get another legible copy I’m more than happy to review it and delete this nonsense :)
4 stars because I can’t submit this without giving stars and that’s the average for this novel.

Really struggled to get into this book. Not sure if this is because it's a bit of an older book; it could be harder to relate to. There seemed to be a dull story line; it wasn't clear to me where the story was set or who the "bloater" was. The description explains where the main character works but I couldn't gain that from reading.

In “The Bloater”, we meet Min – a married woman in the 1960s who is having various liaisons with men including an opera singer whom she nicknames the ‘Bloater’ after the fish. What follows is Min’s interactions with her friends and these men. What others have seen as witty and sparking, I’m afraid I read as rather dull. I didn’t enjoy the exchanges between this group of rather self-indulgent people, and didn’t warm to a single character. While I can see that the twist on the conformity of gender politics at the time might be interesting, it wasn’t enough to save this one for me.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.