Miss Benson's Beetle: A Novel

A very unusual story line with fascinating, quirky, and beautifully developed characters. Detailed writing that transports the reader into another world.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I question a couple of parts and didn’t love the end. But I would recommend.

This was our book club choice and I absolutely loved the characters.

I loved this book - so very different, like Harold Frye. Rachel has a wonderful gift of letting us see plain “ordinary people” become people who we can’t help loving……and feeling protective towards, admiring their courage. I especially love how she explains what led her to write this novel. What a wonderful journey leading to a great compelling story of deep friendship between two very different women.

I wanted to like Miss Benson's Beetle. I liked the concept, and I thought it was going to be a quirky, funny novel. I wanted to warm up to the characters, but I felt that they were characterizations rather than fully developed characters. The plot was certainly creative and the premise imaginative. There are definitely layers to the novel along with some surprising plot twists. I did finish it, but I could not call this a page-turner, as I sometimes went days without picking up the book - and yet, I was curious as to what was going to become of these characters. I may have been better off not finishing, as I didn't care for the ambiguity of the ending. Overall, this would probably make a good book club selection as there is much to talk about in terms of structure, characterization, plot, etc.

Write a novel about three peculiar, damaged and possibly criminal people and make your readers care for them.Never mind. Rachel Joyce has done that in Miss Benson's Beetle.

A journey of self-discovery celebrating the freedom of women to reimagine and rediscover themselves at various seasons of life. The beauty of Marge and Enid's friendship empowering them to love the best parts of themselves brought me to tears! Well done, Rachel Joyce.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye brought me to this book by the same author. Like that book was a story of a man going for a walk, this book is a story of a woman looking for a beetle- and so very much more. This is a story of people who have hit breaking points. Margery Benson and Enid Pretty have nothing obvious in common but they each have reached their limits and they each decide to keep going. No whining, no self-pity- just forging ahead with their days. The destination is defined, but the destination is not as important as the journey. It is a story of adventure, tenacity, growth, and friendship laced with humor, grace, forgiveness, and generosity of spirit. The story is set in 1950 when rationing was still in effect in Britain and travel took more effort- in this case a long ocean voyage. Margery has left her teaching job. She makes plans to head to New Caledonia to search for a golden beetle. She is truly knowledgeable about insects and beetles, but not about expeditions or adventure. She is not even particularly good with people. Enid Pretty knows nothing about insects, beetles, or expeditions but she has some skills in manipulating people and she needs to leave London. They are followed by Mundic, a WWII veteran whose grip on reality is tenuous and whose residual PTSD from his days as a POW held by the Japanese during the war is crippling at times. The story is well-written and engaging. The pacing is brisk, and the pages turn quickly because the reader wants to know what will happen to Margery and Enid. Enid’s backstory is treated as a mystery for much of the book and that also adds to the interest. These were not people that I could recognize, but they were people that I could believe and care about. The book is far removed from the pandemic and today’s politics so it an excellent escape from the issues facing all of us. I cannot remark about my quarrel with elements of the ending without spoilers, so I will not. In any event the ending is always the prerogative of the author. Still- did you have to?

Absolutely loved every second of this novel! It really transports you, makes you smile, perhaps tear up as well and for a while there, I really felt transported to another world and time. I highly recommend this book!

This book evoked strong emotions from sadness to joy. The description of post-war England and the vivid, atmospheric portrayal of the jungle was transporting. The story was lovely and beautiful despite all the hardships and conflicts endured. The characters of Marjorie Benson and Enid Pretty were well developed and told with humour and passion. Marjorie was a large 47-year-old spinster, very prim and proper, reserved, self-conscious, and both physically and socially awkward. The story begins with Marjorie trying to teach her class of unruly, disruptive girls. They are passing around a drawing making fun of her appearance. Humiliated, she walks out of the school after stealing a pair of boots. She decides to fulfill a lifetime dream of finding and proving the existence of a rumoured golden beetle in the jungles of the remote New Caledonia Island. She wants to present her discovery to the Natural History Museum. Out of necessity, she advertises for an assistant to accompany her to this faraway island. The first two applicants were found unsuitable. A third woman was hired but backed out later. This left Enid Pretty, who was rejected and not interviewed because the woman’s initial letter made her appear nearly illiterate. Marjorie’s journey is quickly drawing near and she has little choice than to meet Enid. When the two women meet, Marjorie is dressed in dull-colored jungle clothes. The much younger Enid shows up dressed in a pink, provocative outfit. Her hair is dyed a bright yellow, and she is later described as looking like a call girl. She is enthusiastic about the expedition and pleads to be Marjorie’s assistant. She never stops talking, rambling on from one subject to another, which is very annoying to Marjorie. Enid is not prepared. She doesn't even have a passport and knows nothing about beetles, but time is short so Marjorie reluctantly agrees that Enid accompany her on this journey of exploration. Both women have different reasons to leave England far behind. I won't go into their backstories as these would be spoilers. Due to my reluctance to diminish any enjoyment of the book, I am avoiding the hilarity and misadventures aboard ship or the perils and pleasures they encounter in the jungle. It is inevitable that the two women with such different temperaments clash frequently. They finally come to support and depend upon one another. Not only does a friendship but a family-type love develop. In the meantime, they are being followed by a former soldier who endured the horrors of the Burmese march and imprisonment by the Japanese. He is broken physically, mentally, and spiritually. Having psychotic episodes, he presents a danger to himself and others. Also, in the storyline, are British wives leading frivolous lives in the capitol, one who is targeting our two explorers. I absolutely loved this book from its early scenes of Marjorie failing to control her classroom to its very satisfying conclusion years later. I would like to see this as a TV series but it would probably be too expensive to produce. Highly recommended!

reassuring and heart-breaking at the same time

An unusual book of female friendship, the hunt for what is truly important in life, and much more, this is a novel that offers so much. Funny, touching and definitely unusual, this book deftly handles challenges and tragedies with humour and real insight into characters who make unlikely choices. With an eye for the ridiculous, Joyce never criticizes people for their choices in clothes or behaviour, but lets the reader makes her own connections. With mysterious secrets and past tragedies, the reader is invited to work out subtexts without working too hard, as the story flows without apparent effort.The main character of Miss Margery Benson is a wonderful creation; from a childhood tragedy to bored and unfulfilled teacher is a short section, but implies so much about women’s lives in the first half of the twentieth century in a way that is particularly impressive from a twenty first century writer. She inspires, not that she would ever recognize that description, and her loyalty is touching and over whelming. This is a story of a quest for a near mythical beast, with a lot of hard won knowledge and planning, but no one could plan for real life as seen in this book. Enid Pretty defies description, but is also a memorable character. The other people of this book are real people in the novel, as each contributes their backstory, their own obsessions and more. Journeys, settings and life generally are beautifully drawn, and give real depth to this unusual and memorable novel.The book opens with a defining line. “When Margery was ten, she fell in love with a beetle”. It proves to be a significant day in 1914, when her life was about to change dramatically. The golden beetle is in a book of incredible creatures, “The Golden Beetle of New Caledonia”, and her father’s near throwaway line “Imagine how it would be to find this one, and bring it home” is going to affect her life forever. The focus then shifts to September 1950, a colourless existence as an ineffective teacher, a sort of breakdown which drives Margery into a course of action. This is a post war London of rationing, shortages and pale lives, as the after effects of two world wars are still being felt and life seems one dimensional. Margery comes up with a plan so audacious that she can hardly bear to admit to it, to travel to New Caledonia and find the golden beetle, to bring home specimens that will take their place in the Natural History Museum. She makes meticulous preparations, but it is in trying to find a companion/assistant that she inadvertently changes lives. Her travels, with their challenges, twists and turns are brilliantly described, and there are several moments that are genuinely moving as well as many different insights.This is a book that I would thoroughly recommend to anyone seeking something a little different, with its dark moments but also with its genuine humour. It is a historical novel in some senses, but it also speaks of people and their settings in so many ways that are timeless, the secrets that they keep, their resilience, their ability to adapt. There is a strong bond here between women, compelled by their idea of a second chance, their vocation, their unspoken loves. For those who want to read outside a set genre, who enjoy the unusual, this is such a good novel about more than a hunt for a beetle, however golden.

MISS BENSON’S BEETLE. By Rachel JoyceIf I recommended a book about a middle aged lady who hires a crazy colourful 20 something year old assistant (that she never really wanted) who together embark on a journey from London to a remote part of New Caledonia to look for a gold beetle that doesn’t exist until it is found, I am sure you would surely pass on this recommendation and say “no thank you!”Well you don’t know what a big mistake you would be making! You would miss out on a treasure of a book written by the talented Rachel Joyce (love all her books).This is not about the beetle but about the journey, as the story unfolds as to why both delightful characters need to travel this road.Margery Benson (“Don’t call me Marge, marge is a cheap butter substitute.”) is a 47 year old extremely orderly, socially awkward , frumpy spinster. Her unlikely assistant Enid Pretty is a colourful, crazy, delightful chatterbox. This unlikely twosome come together to forge a unique friendship that will melt your heart.So many secrets, heartaches, life lessons, laughs and tears as we travel together with Marge and Enid and experience so many emotions.It left me shaking my head, wondering how talented an author can be to piece together such a clever piece of writing.If you like quirky, often far fetched, magnificent research, wonderful storytelling, life lessons, then this one is for you.Loved it.