Wow - some pretty harsh sentiments already.
I think it's not hard to see that the author is poking fun at the British upper classes. Before I read this, I had no knowledge of this book whatsoever. I thought it was going to be a romance, rather than a lampooning of the British uppers.
Funny thing is that I've seen slightly updated versions of Miss Bartlett in my lifetime. This makes the story far from outdated in my mind and it allows me to enjoy the roast.
However, I'm only about 20 pages or so in at the stage, so there's more to discover yet.
Regards
Caleb