A tedious, repetitious story about shallow people "loving" the wrong people, marrying the wrong people, and consequently doing ill-advised or downright stupid things that hurt everyone. Melodramatic unrealistic dialog (surely no man ever said "You darling! You are such an utter darling! Why do you love me? I'm a swine!" Surely no woman ever said "Oh,...wasn't I a silly?" after nearly killing herself and her unborn child attempting to ride a fractious horse). Despite all the hand-wringing over who loves whom, and how quickly love dies (or how endless love is) not one of the characters in this book has the first foggy notion of what love is really about. I realize this novel was written by a very young woman; that it apparently does capture something of the "leisured" (read: "pointless") lives of a certain class of people at a certain place and time, but what a slog to read about it. Once in a while a flare for description or a pointed sarcastic remark did shine through, but not nearly enough to save the day. ( )

This is one of Molly Keane's earlier novels, published in 1929 when the author was in her mid-20s. She wrote about what she knew: the Irish landed class, with their propensity for dogs and hunting. Taking Chances is based on a familiar construct, in which a stranger's arrival upsets the order of daily living. Roguey, Maeve, and Jer are young adult siblings living in Sorristown, their family home. Maeve is about to be married to Rowley, and her bridesmaid Mary comes to visit just before the wedding. Mary is beautiful and flirtatious, and has an immediate impact on the men:
At the lighted door of the bathroom she asked for a cigarette. Roguey produced his case and lit one for her clumsily. In her bath Mary found that, along with the dampness round his eyes, subjects for consideration. Used to swift work, his early show of interest did not thrill her. She was, as a matter of fact, totally unaware of the unsafe propensities of a scanty kimono when its wearer, with a poorly drawing cigarette in one hand, and bathing apparatus in the other, stoops over an awkwardly held match. (p. 35)

Yes, Mary is memorable, if not especially likeable. But the story itself is dreadfully cliche and boring. The minute Mary arrives, you know she's going to wreak havoc on the close-knit trio at Sorristown. And it's easy to predict the form this will take, as well as the consequences. And then there are the endless hunting scenes, described in such detail I wondered if Keane was trying to pad her novel. I skimmed the last third of this novel, simply to confirm it ended as I thought it would.

I've read several of Keane's later books and enjoyed her characters and social satire immensely. This is an author whose talent took time to develop and while it's interesting to see "where it all began," one experience like that was quite enough! ( )

It seems as if Molly Keane’s novels all follow similar themes; the dubious fortunes of a large Irish estate, the complexities of the family relationships of its inhabitants, some hunting and fishing thrown in. That at least is what I have been given to understand, this being only the third Molly Keane novel I have read, I am becoming a fan.
In Taking Chances, the estate is Sorristown, the family in question; Roguery, Maeve and Jer, who since the death of their parents have lived together quite happily, hunting and fishing and caring for the family home. There are also a couple of peculiar Aunts who pop up from time to time. A host of dogs, horses and faceless servants help to set the tone of this novel about Anglo-Irish aristocracy, and their easy existence, which is taken so much for granted. As the novel opens, Maeve is preparing for her wedding to Rowley, another local aristocrat, an event destined to change the comfortable domestic arrangements that the siblings have got used to. Jer the youngest, is devoted to Maeve who in turn favours her elder brother Roguery, Roguery (Sir Ralph) quite obviously loves himself best of all. Thus the scene is set for the upset that only an outsider can bring. Days before Maeve’s wedding, her bridesmaid Mary Fuller arrives. Rather beautiful, unconventional and slightly pagan Mary immediately fascinates Rowley, to whom she too feels inevitably drawn. Little do either realise what their initial meeting will lead to.
“She was exciting. Things, one felt would happen round her. Like the lady who rode to Banbury Cross ‘rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,’ Mary was a factor for disturbance. She was, Rowley felt sure, a person to be distinctly loved or disliked, never a person to be just tolerated.”
Naturally Maeve and Rowley’s wedding goes ahead, however Rowley’s feelings have been turned on their head in just a few days, and Mary is quite used to getting what she wants. The consequences of Mary and Rowley’s dalliance are of course far reaching. Watching from the side lines the slightly malevolent Aunt Edythe, and poor stuttering Jer seem only too aware of what has been going on. However Jer is just as devoted to Mary as he is to his sister, aware of how Mary is likely to hurt herself most of all.
“Those who suffered because of her might think of Mary that she hurt others, herself she could hurt; but Jer, knowing her better… knew she hurt herself perhaps most deeply”
Taking Chances beautifully captures the times and the class of people that Molly Keane herself hailed from. Full of both humour and atmosphere, Molly Keane’s world is one I enjoy spending time in. The Irish mists raise up around the reader, and one can almost hear the thud of horse’s hooves giving chase to a poor fox, hounds barking excitedly. Taking Chances is a romance, and it is also the story of desperate chances taken in the pursuit of happiness, the allegiances between people impacting on the outcome of those chances. ( )

After reading The Rising Tide, I’m now on a mission to read everything by Molly Keane (who wrote under the pseudonym MJ Farrell). Taking Chances is one of her earlier books, published as MJ Farrell, and is the story of three siblings: Roguey, Maeve, and Jer, although the story is told with Jer’s sensibility. The story opens with Maeve’s marriage to Rowley, a neighboring landowner, and the arrival of Maeve’s bridesmaid, Mary, from London. The women are as different as different could be, and Rowley and Mary are instantly attracted to one another.

Taking Chances is another really good one from Molly Keane. Her books usually feature great, sprawling piles in the Irish countryside, and her characters are very much in to hunting and horses (Molly Keane was born into “a rather serious Hunting and Fishing Church-going family,” so it makes sense that so many of her novels should be focused on this theme). Taking Chances does indeed center around a family estate, Sorristown, of which Roguey is the master. He and his siblings are very tightly knit, and so the intrusion of Rowley and Mary and their love affair makes for an interesting complication in the siblings’ relationships with each other.

I love, love, love the way in which Molly Keane describes her characters’ emotions. As I said before, although the book is mostly about the three siblings, the story is told from Jer’s point of view—Jer, the youngest, with his stammer. It seems as though he’s the only one who knows exactly what’s going on between Mary and Rowley, and I was interested in his reaction to all that goes on. At the same time, I felt very sorry for him—he’s the least strong of the three siblings, but he has to bear the full brunt of everyone’s actions. And poor Meave, too—maybe to be ignorant truly is bliss? Until the end, she’s the only one who’s truly content with the situation. This novel gives its reader a lot to think upon, and it’s because of that that this book is so powerful. It’s too bad that Molly Keane’s books are by and large unknown, because she was truly a fabulous writer. ( )