The Clothes They Stood Up in

Rating:
Summary: Bennet at his finest
Review: Yet another masterpiece from Bennett, this time the victims of his seditious satire are Rosemary and Maurice Ransome, a
middle-aged, middle-class, childless couple who are gradually drifting apart from each other in a long-term emotional
withdrawal. Their lives are governed by order and routine with the one remaining ember of passion between them lying in
Maurice's love of Mozart. This escapism from the reality of each other is shattered one evening as they return from the opera to
discover that they have been burgled, not just a smash-and-grab but instead everything has been taken, right down to the
insurance policy! As they gradually attempt to restore some semblance of order to their lives, Maurice discovers further
fulfilment in the new hi-tech CD players he could buy to improve the quality of his Mozart. Rosemary undergoes something of a
cultural revolution with visits to the local Pakistani grocer shop and the occasional venture into a "thrift shop". In a startling climax, Rosemary discovers the motive behind the theft and Maurice finds his inner-self awakened but in the most unpleasant of circumstances. Bennett's perspective on those around him and the foundations of middle-England are ruthlessly portrayed here in what is one the one hand a wonderful social comment and, on the other, an familiarly disenchanted critique. The precision with which Bennett selects his characters and provides us with the ammunition to assassinate them is remarkable, there is not a word wasted or thought used to excess, stunning.