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The Pumpkin Eater (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – April 26, 2011

by Penelope Mortimer (Author), Daphne Merkin (Introduction)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 336 ratings
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The Pumpkin Eater is a surreal black comedy about the wages of adulthood and the pitfalls of parenthood. A nameless woman speaks, at first from the precarious perch of a therapist’s couch, and her smart, wry, confiding, immensely sympathetic voice immediately captures and holds our attention. She is the mother of a vast, swelling brood of children, also nameless, and the wife of a successful screenwriter, Jake Armitage. The Armitages live in the city, but they are building a great glass tower in the country in which to settle down and live happily ever after. But could that dream be nothing more than a sentimental delusion? At the edges of vision the spectral children come and go, while our heroine, alert to the countless gradations of depression and the innumerable forms of betrayal, tries to make sense of it all: doctors, husbands, movie stars, bodies, grocery lists, nursery rhymes, messes, aging parents, memories, dreams, and breakdowns. How to pull it all together? Perhaps you start by falling apart.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    NYRB Classics
  4. Publication date
    April 26, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    4.96 x 0.69 x 8.06 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781590173824
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1590173824
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A subtle, fascinating, unhackneyed novel . . . in touch with human realities and frailties, unsentimental and amused. . . .So moving, so funny, so desperate, so alive. . . . [A] fine book, and one to be greatly enjoyed.”
—Elizabeth Janeway, The New York Times

“A strange, fresh, gripping book. One of the the many achievements of The Pumpkin Eater is that it somehow manages to find universal truths in what was hardly an archetypal situation: Mortimer peels several layers of skin off the subjects of motherhood, marriage, and monogamy, so that what we’re asked to look at is frequently red-raw and painful without being remotely self-dramatizing. In fact, there’s a dreaminess to some of the prose that is particularly impressive, considering the tumult that the book describes.”
—Nick Hornby, The Believer

About the Author

Penelope Mortimer (1918–1999) was born Penelope Ruth Fletcher in North Wales, the younger of two children of an Anglican clergyman father and his wife. The family moved often, and Penelope was educated at half a dozen institutions before spending a year at the University of London. In 1937 she married the journalist Charles Dimont, with whom she had two daughters. Two more daughters by two different men would follow before, in 1949, she divorced Dimont and married the barrister, novelist, and playwright John Mortimer, with whom she had another daughter and her only son. The Mortimers were celebrated as “the last word in marital chic,” but the marriage was tumultuous and the couple divorced in 1972. In addition to The Pumpkin Eater (1962), made into a 1964 film from a screenplay by Harold Pinter and starring Anne Bancroft and Peter Finch, Mortimer published several other novels, including Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting (1958), Long Distance (1974), and The Handyman (1983); a travel book co-authored with John Mortimer, With Love and Lizards (1957); and a biography of the Queen Mother. She also served as a film critic for the London Observer and was a regular contributor of short stories to The New Yorker. The first volume of her autobiography About Time (1979) was awarded the Whitbread Prize and was followed by About Time Too (1993).

Daphne Merkin is the author of Enchantment, a novel and Dreaming of Hitler, a collection of essays. Her cultural criticism has appeared in a range of publications, including Vogue and The
American Scholar, and has been widely anthologized. She has been a staff writer for The New Yorker, and is currently a contributing writer at Elle and The New York Times Magazine. She lives in New York City, where she teaches writing, and is at work on a memoir, Melancholy Baby.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1590173821
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ NYRB Classics; Reprint edition (April 26, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781590173824
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1590173824
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.96 x 0.69 x 8.06 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 336 ratings

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Penelope Mortimer

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
336 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Laurel-Rain Snow
5.0 out of 5 stars HE HAD A WIFE AND COULD NOT KEEP HER....
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2011
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In Penelope Mortimer's most popular work, we read a semi-autobiographical account of one woman's descent into what might be a postpartum depression, but then again, is probably more likely a sad commentary on the deplorable times when women had no audible voice. It explores the "problem that has no name" that has reared its ugly head for one wife and mother living in London (Betty Friedan wrote about this "feminine mystique" a year after this book was published).

Married four times with eight children, the unnamed woman's difficulties come to a head during her marriage to Jake Armitage, a successful screenwriter. Theirs is a complicated relationship filled with tumult, infidelity, and the inevitable betrayals that chip away at the marital bond.

We meet the woman first on her psychiatrist's couch, and throughout this tale, we see her confidences, her thoughts, her dreams, and sometimes her fantasies...and then, in the end, we see how Mrs. Armitage finally chooses to carve out some time for herself for contemplation and resolution.

A short and captivating tale,  The Pumpkin Eater (New York Review Books Classics)  is a chilling, yet sometimes humorous portrayal of marriage and family life. Five stars.
20 people found this helpful
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My 2 Cents
4.0 out of 5 stars A look age old issues with a twist of humor
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2011
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The Pumpkin Eater is an interesting story, which takes place in London, and is reported to be somewhat autobiographical. The story begins with an unnamed woman talking with her therapist Mr Simpkin. We learn the woman is Mrs. Armitage. She's been married (4) times, she hates dust and messes, and has (8) children from her previous marriages. She seems to be her own worst enemy. Her current husband Jake and she have been married (13) years and, she wants to have a baby with him, but Jake does not. Jake's a womanizer, and he has a bit of a temper as well. The last thing he wants is another child in the house, in fact he wants to send his wife's (3) oldest boys off to boarding school. Mrs A seems only to know how to reproduce. Her whole identify has been tied to having babies. She has servants, so she need not worry about caring for the babies once she has them. When she does become pregnant once again, abortion is discussed, decisions need to be made. Mrs A is forced to examine her marriage and her life.

There was a lot to think about in this book. It covered the age old topics of marriage, motherhood and fidelity in oftentimes humorous fashion. I was a little surprised that abortion was raised in this story, since this book was originally published in 1962 London. The book is well written.

As I read, I couldn't stop thinking about the nursery rhyme by a similar name throughout this read......"Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater had a wife and couldn't keep her ". While in the nursery rhyme, Peter .... "put her (his wife) in a pumpkin shell ", in this story, although the Armitages' live in the city, Jack builds a glass tower in the country, for their "happy years", and his wife escapes to the tower for much needed quiet contemplation about her life.
14 people found this helpful
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Meryl Starr
4.0 out of 5 stars A "Mad" tale
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2012
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The used book was in fine shape. Took a long time to get to me.
The story itself is "mad". But, I had to keep reading to see what Mrs. Armitage was up to next. It's a well written tale of a very dysfunctional family. Whose family isn't? It's a fast read and I'd read it again to see if I missed anything.
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Wendy from Wisconsin
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2014
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Thus book was chosen by our book club because the local half price book store had enough copies for all of us and it had received good reviews. As soon as I read what the book was about I was skeptical. I really did not enjoy this book at all and couldn't wait till I was done. All of the others felt the same way, in fact, the gal who picked this, apologized for wasting our time. I know other people really like the author and this book, maybe if you are into psychology you may enjoy it . Good luck- my advice- skip it- there are way too many really awesome authors and titles out there to read stuff you don't appreciate.
3 people found this helpful
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Ruby Chew
5.0 out of 5 stars I saw the movie when I was younger and I ...
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2016
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I saw the movie when I was younger and I always wondered if there was a book. The book is interesting, although I have not finished reading it.
One person found this helpful
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anne oneill
2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2016
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Interesting but sad
One person found this helpful
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Moisio
4.0 out of 5 stars The Subject: Exhaustion
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2014
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This book is suffused with a weariness that is finally relieved in surprisingly believable fashion by an image more suited to The Sound of Music than a disappointed (but admittedly quite lucid) housewife's lament. I didn't feel particularly drawn to Mortimer's main character but the writing more than compensated.
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anna b.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2023
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Happy with my purchase
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Javier
1.0 out of 5 stars mas caro en .es que en .co.uk
Reviewed in Spain on July 16, 2020
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Evidentemente lo usé para leerlo, pero no me gusta no poder comprar Kindle mas que en .es cuando puedo comprar libros físicos en todos los dominios.
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Nancy Chapman
5.0 out of 5 stars A really excellent book - Mortimer is a wonderful novelist with great ...
Reviewed in Australia on August 6, 2015
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A really excellent book - Mortimer is a wonderful novelist with great vocabluary and the ability to engage the reader and this example of her work is still current today nearly 60 years later!
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K Macey
4.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2019
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Good book
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June.Reads
3.0 out of 5 stars confusing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2021
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It started off in a way that I was so confused about what I was reading. I am still confused! Nevertheless, I found myself finding it hard to put it down. I understood that she felt trapped in her life and she was depressed but the narrative wasn’t really my cup of tea and for that reason, I think I didn’t really understand it the way I should have.⁣
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