a classic for a reason. poetic, cutting, a portrait of a terrible family in crisis, with flowing backstories, overlapping perspectives, and the crushing sense that things will end badly. like sinking into a rich chocolate cake. one for readers of 'succession' or anyone who thought 'pride and prejudice' was too lighthearted.

Her writing has been described as veering from horror to hilarity. Good behaviour in this world of decaying gentry life, is being able to maintain a position of superiority and selfishness in the face of dwindling resources. There is no money to pay the servants or the butcher, but life goes on relentlessly for the St Charles family, in delusion and not a little eccentricity. The lack of warmth seems to be handed down from mother to daughter, who is a glutton for food in the absence of love. The master of the house is of the hunting, shooting and fishing sort, and the callous ignorance displayed by all for other’s feelings is so astonishing it is funny. A young man comes to stay, who is obviously more in tune with the brother, but will be an imagined love interest for ever more to the delusional daughter. The cast of characters is a delight in the way they are drawn, and paint a wonderful picture of an imperfect aristocracy on the slippery slope of decline.

By turns blackly funny and seriously tragic, Molly Keane's story of the descent of an aristocratic Irish family into debt and destruction, focused on the plain, overweight, self-deluding Aroon, is a tour de force. Aroon's total lack of awareness of her love-object's true nature, and her relationship with her brother, ice-cold mother and spendthrift, Lothario father are both tragic and laughable. I shall be recommending this book to my bookclub - and anyone else I can persuade to read it. Five stars!

Absolute perfection. I've never got around to reading Keane before but I love Nancy Mitford, Diana Athill and Caroline Blackwood so this cautionary tale of a family decaying in splendour was exactly what I was hoping for. The dark humour to be elicited from Aroon's spectacular naivety, her tragic misreading of her relationship with Richard and the toxic mix of entitlement and a total lack of commonsense made the story impossible to put down. I loved the grotesquery of Mummie and Papa, the unreliable narration of Aroon and the sense of doom throughout the book. Reading it on Kindle, obviously I didn't have the benefit of the design of the new Virago edition but the cover artwork is stunning and I think enhances the contents.

Good Behaviour is an excoriating portrait of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy at the beginning of the twentieth century. Representatives of a dwindling and deeply resented class, Molly Keane’s characters exist in a world set apart from the overwhelming majority of native Irish who feature only as servants. Their lives are an endless round of horse-riding and fox-hunting; intellectual pursuits of any kind are discouraged; displays of emotion are not to be indulged; even grief at the death of a loved one must be discreetly muted.

The narrator and central character, Aroon, has all the cards tacked against her. A “big girl” at a time when it is fashionable to be thin, entirely ignorant about sex, she falls in love with her brother’s best friend whom the reader can see perfectly well is homosexual. Indeed, the reader understands everything that Aroon is describing far better than she does herself.

It’s not a feel-good read – we watch as Aroon’s personality is warped by her suffocating circumstances - but this is literature, doing its job, exploring the darkness, finding empathy in the stalest of environments.

Good Behaviour proved to be the deliciously dark and funny tragicomedy I needed right now. I gobbled it up like cheddar and onion crisps, it was such a delight. Written in the 80s, I wonder how I never heard of this before? It was hilarious and sad in equal measure. Well, maybe not 'equal' as it was far funnier than I could have guessed.

In Good Behaviour we dwell amongst the Irish landed gentry in the early 20th century. The St. Charles family estate is in steady decline, with money in short supply, but that is too vulgar to mention, I'm sure. Aroon tells the tale of her quirky family and at first we readers might mistake her for being painfully naive, which she may well be. Or, is she very aware and just too polite to call a spade a spade? Regardless, the story that unfolds is comedy gold of the high society sort.

Aroon is a girl at a disadvantage. In the 20s girls are meant to be small and athletic and she is anything but. A big girl, she is shunned by her mother and in desperate search for affection and approval from her father and brother, mainly. As her story, and that of her family, unfolds we learn more of what they get up to and Aroon's unique view on events.

Pure genius, I will look for more books written by Molly Keane and am so thankful for Virago Modern Classics and their reprint of 'classics with bite'. Good Behaviour is, certainly, the perfect example of such a work of fiction. I hope you agree.

I had wanted to read Good Behaviour for ages but tbh I wasn't keen on it! Published in the 80s and about a posh Irish family in the early 20th century, I think it was definitely a case of me and not the book: it was just a bit too weird and oblique for me, and I was never excited at the thought of picking it up again.

Well written but not engaging. It was so alien to modern times. The famiky were of a different class too. The ending was good though.

This book has been on my TBR for years. I hear others recommending it, I read about how wonderful it is. But, so many books, so little time. When I saw a new addition had come out with a foreword by Maggie O'Farrell, an author I love, I decided finally to read it. I loved it from the start. Witty and clever, written by a safe pair of hands. When Molly Keane describes the house the protagonist, Aroon, is living in with windows that "lean out over the deep anchorage of the boat cove like bosoms on an old ship's figurehead" I laughed out loud and was hooked. The light and lively tale hooks you in, and holds you as it slowly gets darker and more horrific, and gripping you like an accident you cannot look away from. It's so well written, it was nominated for the booker prize, and the story so captivating I can see why this book is still being recommended and republished over forty years since it was released. I can't really think of any book lover that wouldn't love having this gifted to them.

Mainly told by the character, Aroon, this is her story.
Aroon has a damaging upbringing, is not conventionally beautiful, and has a hard time seeing the reality as it is.
Over the course of many decades, Aroon and her family experience many misfortunes.
The novel ends with a sort of closure.
I wanted to like this more than I did, and I still think it is an important book.
Perhaps if I had read it 15-20 years ago, I would have found it more interesting. Unlikeable characters, petty behaviours, problems of the more advantaged (seemingly more advantaged, though). The satire fell short,
Plot 3 stars
Characterisation 2.5 stars
Writing 4 stars
Overall enjoyment 3 stars

I didn’t enjoy this one unfortunately! I found the writing to be very flowery, almost overwritten for the sake of it at some times. The plot was dull and I couldn’t connect to any of the characters, they were all unlikeable especially Aroon. They all seemed hell bent on self sabotage and it was difficult and boring to read about. A very sad story with even more sad characters.

Good Behaviour by Molly Keane is a brilliantly sharp and darkly funny novel. It masterfully exposes the rigid expectations and cruelties of Anglo-Irish society through the unreliable and somewhat tragic voice of Aroon St. Charles. The novel’s satire and subtle horror make it a standout, and its portrayal of repression, snobbery, and family dysfunction is both chilling and compelling.

A quick read for me. I wasn't sure. I liked it but didn't love it. And I wanted to read it to hear more observations from our teller- the daughter. She was so observant. And it made me look around at the people around me. What was I seeing? And how do we all see things for how they are dependant on who we are in the story. As I certainly didn't agree with some of the narrative she got from her Pov. But I guess that the very point. And is how different events stem from the seemingly normal..because we are all so.utterly different souls.
I didn't love it. And I'm not sure why. Which sounds awful. But it didnt quite take me over that line. But again I don't know why.

DNF.

Unfortunately this wasn't for me. I think I must be missing something because I didn't find it funny or bleak, just dull. I wasn't able to finish it. I think if you like very subtle stories that have a lot going on beneath the surface then you would enjoy this, but I just found it somewhat painful. I'd have preferred for it to carry on from the first scene rather than flash back to tell the stories of all the people who come into Aroon's life as she grows up. My apologies for not finishing it, I really appreciate having the opportunity to try it.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley.

I love this book! Such a modern classic. It is dark humor at best. I love an unlikeable, unreliable heroine. Would recommend this book, definitely!

A sublime, droll and occasionally dark account of life for hard up gentry in the 1920s-30s. It starts with Aroon St Charles murdering her mother with a rabbit mousse (and asking the maid to keep it warm for her luncheon).

We go back to Aroon's childhood where she was neglected by her mother, who hardly ate anything and looked askance at her daughter's empty plates. Her father was too interested in hunting and womanising.

Aroon finds comfort with Mrs Brock the governess, a wonderful comedy creation who will always remind me of a sleek seal swimming. Aroon develops a monumental and ever lasting crush on Richard, the very good friend of her brother Hubert.

Social mores and repressed family behaviour create a book that crackles with tension, although the writing is at times laugh out loud funny. My heart aches for Aroon as she struggles in various social settings, and is constantly blamed when things go wrong.

It's wonderful to see this masterpiece re-published. Molly Keane was in her late 70s when it first came out.

One of the first things I noticed about this book, is that it's got 5 stars from Claire Fuller. That's recommendation enough for me.
A story of a family told through the eyes of the daughter.
How observant she is!
There's a lot of bad behaviour going on here, amongst these nice people. It's all very enjoyable.
I enjoyed the tone set by the writing, and was picking it up any chance I got.