Kitty by Warwick Deeping

Kitty Reviews

• 
  Dorcas

  When a molly-coddled young man is given one week's leave before being sent to the front in France, he nearly loses his head in fright. He can't express his feelings to his mother who is a cold, possessive, stifling woman, so he takes to the streets and ends up in a tobaccinist shop run by a widow woman and her two daughters.
  
  A wartime romance ensues ending in a whirlwind marriage.
  
  When Alex returns he is half a man, paralyzed in body with no memory of Kitty or anything else. His mother swoops in, locks Kitty out of his life and Kitty becomes basically a widow with a living husband.
  
  But Kitty is not a woman to give up so easily, even if it means kidnapping her own husband....and Alex's mother will stoop to anything including fabrication and slander to keep him.
  
  I sniff another war...
  
  Hmmmm...
  
  I'm  a Deeping fan as you all know, but this book wasnt my favorite. I really liked how it started off, the quick romance, the war, intrigue etc but it lost my attention somewhere. It's hard to put in words, but sometimes, when things are going smoothly, Deeping likes to "play dolls" with his characters. Things become saccharine sweet, characters too perfect, coincidence too...coincidentally fine. There's a fight, but we're really not too worried. One would like just a bit more...angst.
  
  And Deeping is capable of it, but a few of his books I would classify as purely cozy reads and this is one of them.
  
  I probably would have enjoyed this more if it was one of my first Deepings but when you read a lot of one author you start seeing similarities. This one had alot of the same elements as "Ten Commandments" including a paralytic as well as a tea house.
  
  It's good. But it won't end up on my favorites shelf.
  
  CONTENT: Suitable for all readers
  
  Buddy read with Tweety and Alisha
• 
  Tweety

  When Alex St. George is told he's to be sent out to the front, it's 1917 and he's spent three years doing light duty in the army. He finds himself afraid and with no one to release his worries on. His mother is too much of an icicle who would think him a coward if he told her. So he finds himself telling a shop girl all about it..
  
  Things quickly escalate, Kitty (the shopgirl), and Alex find something in each other that draws them together every day of his last week home. For Kitty, she finds him just the mix of man/boy that she likes, someone she can mother and care for. For him, she's just the mother/friend he needs. They marry after only a week of knowing each other.
  
  But Mrs. St George doesn't know about this 'shopgirl' yet, and when she finds out it's a war between them as to who will 'possess' Alex. And when he comes back quickly from the war wounded, she does everything to keep them apart and destroy Alex's faith in Kitty.
  
  Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? And it was good, I've not read anything like it. Kitty is a strong woman and her mother is a likable sort, the complete opposite of Alex's mother. My favorite character was Alex's uncle, Mr. Jermyn St. George. He was the most vivid of the characters, IMO.
  
  But halfway through it became rather predictable. I just knew everything would work out well. And sometimes I like that, but in this case it felt unrealistic. When I turned the last page, I found myself scrambling for another, it was so sudden an end that I felt a bit let down.
  
  All in all I wasn't completely satisfied. I wanted more oomph. I even got to the point where I was hoping something would go wrong just to make their perfect dream normal.
  
  A pet peeve of mine, Kitty kept on calling Alex 'boy'. Boy, this and boy that. Boy, boy, boy. For goodness sake! I admit he wasn't much of a man, but must you call him boy? He is your husband! It was so bad that when I finished I had forgotten his name and only remembered 'boy'.
  
  So I enjoyed it, I'm glad I read it and I'd recommend it to others. But I wouldn't make this your first Warwick Deeping and I can't see myself rereading this.
  
  G
  
  Buddy read with Alisha and Dorcas. :) Glad we were able to read this together!
• 
  Alisha

  I agree with my fellow readers Dorcas and Tweety about this book. Incidentally, it was fun to read it together; it prevented me from lollygagging my way through it, which could easily have happened, because there wasn't much suspense!!
  
  A very easily summarized plot: Alex St. George is on the brink of being sent to fight in World War I, and comes home for his last leave. His mother is a possessive sort of woman, but it's not even an affectionate clinging. She has a very narrow concept of what life should be, and Alex is just a game piece, but one she can't imagine letting go of. When he looks for sympathy, he finds it elsewhere, in a shopgirl named Kitty. Kitty is a strong and motherly little woman. Their relationship flourishes immediately, but that's just the beginning. There's going to be a tug of war between Kitty and her mother-in-law, and it's a bit heavy going!
  
  The story was thick with unfinished sentences and people who deliberate over their every word and deed. It lacked a certain spontaneity that I like to see.
  
  My favorite part was when Kitty buys a house and business, and sets about refurbishing it. The whole "new lease on life" thing is always refreshing, especially when it involves a cute tea house. I may question her happiness as the eternal mother-figure in her husband's life, but I definitely approve of her cream and rose colored room. :)