User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Reviews-
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ★★★☆☆
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The Girls of Slender Means ★★★★☆
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The Driver's Seat ★★☆☆☆
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The Only Problem ★★★★★
Rating: really liked it
The first two books in this collection of Muriel Spark’s early novels established her fine skills as a writer in my mind, but I’d picked this up mostly for
The Driver’s Seat and it did not disappoint. First, the title. It feels heavy with meaning and I kept thinking about it as I moved through the narrative—its seeming simplicity gradually deepening in significance as a result of certain events. Second, everything else. This novella fulfills many of my desires in a work of fiction: eccentric characters; non-sequiturish dialogue; vague narrative context; minimal exposition; potential menace at every plot turn; and unexpected dashes of quirky humor. In the latter case I found great pleasure in the light mockery of the macrobiotic movement Spark engages in through the character of Bill. Having worked for a time in a deli that specialized in macrobiotic food, I appreciated how Spark captures in a humorous way the zealotry behind the occasionally absurd aspects of this lifestyle.
Lise is a fascinating main character. She is at once painfully self-conscious while paradoxically also projecting self-confidence and self-assurance. It seems that everything running through her head comes out of her mouth, to the often alternating shock, outrage, or befuddlement of her interlocutors. In today’s world we would say she doesn’t have a filter. Veering between bouts of loneliness and stretches of admirable self-sufficiency, she is in some ways just a typical human—had they either been stripped of all social conventions or never developed them at all, as some of us don’t. To be human is to be a tangled mess of contradictions, and yet most of us try to keep those hidden from the world. A sense exists here that Lise is either intentionally not attempting to do this or is incapable of doing so.
There are definite
nouveau roman vibes to
The Driver’s Seat—especially to Alain Robbe-Grillet’s work—in particular, the style of the omniscient present tense narration and the flash forwards coupled with the noirish air of foreboding and (frequently sexual) menace. In the introduction Frank Kermode also notes a possible influence of Christine Brooke-Rose, with whom Spark’s publishing career parallels in eerie chronological proximity, though he also concedes that Spark had already been blazing her own unique trail. All of these similarities may of course have just been born of the literary times, as late modernism continued to blur into early postmodernism.
The final novel in this collection is
The Only Problem. There is a steady narrative tension here that was lacking in the first two novels—the resulting somewhat lackadaisical pace being one aspect I didn't care for in those books. Harvey is a fairly compelling character, as a prototypical eccentric rich man living completely out of touch with his surroundings and finding anything outside his narrow personal purview to be of marginal interest at best. Harvey only wants to talk (often in the most inappropriate circumstances) about his personal research into the Biblical character of Job. This can be entertaining at times. As far as my enjoyment of the book, it falls neatly between that of the first two novels and of
The Driver’s Seat.
Will I read more Spark? Probably, but likely not anytime soon. As it is I could have read
The Driver’s Seat on its own and been satisfied for the moment.
Rating: really liked it
The embarrassing admission first: I read Muriel Spark's books because her name is close to my own. (I really hate it when people call me Muriel, though. I dislike being called Ariel only slightly less.) Other people might have heard of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie because of the famous film starring Maggie Smith. All are good reasons to stumble onto a gem. It's really cool when you can find some cool thing by surprise. Like having a cool teacher to tell you about something great...
It's a great little horror story about knocking down your heroes, influences good and bad, trying to stop time, ego of the young, ego of the old. Spark packed a lot of one-two punches in this little book. The best part is that there's a third punch when it's over. I kinda longed for the dreamy days of Brodie's classroom, too. Not for Brodie herself, but for the chance to feel like you're in a conversation golden age. That sharing this stuff is really going to lead somewhere honest. When they lose that faith, they lose that too. The third punch is the feeling that you can't go back.
I don't know if I've ever agreed with the common sentiment that one needs to destroy one image to erect themselves into another. I feel that people need things. The more you have, the more you have to draw from when you need it. It's a mistake to cast off the old when the new shiny thing comes by. Like Morrissey said in 'Rubber Ring' by The Smiths: "They were the only things that ever stood by you."
I do love the movie. It came on tv one night when I was about thirteen or fourteen. I was immediately sucked in. The teacher's pet turned wrong, Sandy, was played by Pamela Franklin. Movie fans might recognize her from her part as Flora in the Truman Capote adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents (starring one of my favorite actresses ever, Deborah Kerr). I don't think Franklin did much else of note. Still, two classic films is not bad. Something to tell your grandkids. Then those grandkids will one-up you and star in a string of runaway hits!
The end scene of Brodie crying out "Murderer!" down the hallway was pretty awesome. She should have flown less on the wing power of others and more on her own steam.
Rating: really liked it
A collection of four novels by Muriel Spark published by Everyman's Library.Book Review: This collection comprises three of the best novels by Muriel Spark (1918-2006), and one other. The first thing to note is that not only did Muriel Spark not suffer fools gladly, but she also didn't waste anyone's time. The four novels contained herein fill only 460 pages, so an average of a mere 115 pages each. Such efficiency. And as brevity is the soul of wit, then
so much wit. The four novels here are
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), her best; it's successor,
The Girls of Slender Means (1963); and
The Driver's Seat (1970). These are her three most popular works and arguably her best among a career of 21 novels. The fourth book included is
The Only Problem (1984), one of her least popular and more difficult books, parsing the
Book of Job. It's less focused and precise than the other three (although with Spark I'm always ready to concede that any of her works may have flown high over my head and I missed the flying elephant entirely). Accordingly,
The Only Problem is less available than her other books, so perhaps the publishers lured us with the three excellent books to ensure that everyone has a chance to read the other one. Or readers who (somehow) fail to enjoy the three popular novels may actually prefer the more esoteric choice. And these books cover a wide range of subjects: an iconoclastic teacher and her students at a girls' school, life at a boarding house for young women during the war years, a woman alone seeking something on a European holiday, a wealthy young man writing a treatise on the
Book of Job as his estranged wife has apparently become a terrorist on the lam (though a horse would've been more efficient). Ms. Spark doesn't repeat herself. This collection gives readers new to the inimitable author a wonderful introduction: three of her best combined with one to show just how inimitable she can be. All short and all enjoyably entertaining. This lovely ribbon-bookmark edition published by the always tasteful Everyman's Library (Knopf), provides the "
crème de la crème" of Muriel Spark's
oeuvre, and would make a marvelous addition to anyone's personal library, or a lovely gift for any sophisticated, intelligent, and discerning reader of your acquaintance. Such as yourself. [5★]
Rating: really liked it
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a charming and unsettling book, and in that sense, it's pretty emblematic of the rest of Spark's deceptively simple oeuvre. Part of the novel's apparent simplicity stems from its form. It's a kind third-person retrospective that recounts the unconventional teaching methods of Miss Jean Brodie, her relationships with a particular group of her students, and their relationship with a married art teacher (with whom Miss Brodie is in love). But the story is also a kind of homage or elegy for Miss Brodie. She is an unmarried woman in the '30s (the timeframe to which to novel looks back), and although she only just barely realizes it, she is already headed towards spinster-dom. The subtext of this novel is a commentary on Miss Brodie's precarious position as a sometimes-beautiful woman who believes she is in her prime (perhaps because she teaches girls who are just on the cusp of entering their own primes) but who is actually already past it.
Rating: really liked it
I was obsessed with Maggie Smith's Miss Jean Brodie when I was a kid, and finally got around to reading it (along with the three other novellas in this tome). I loved the book just as much as I remember loving the movie.
The Girls of Slender Means had nothing by way of plot and I slogged through it because I don't like leaving books unfinished. I really should have skipped it once I realized I was not going to enjoy it. The characters seemed to be a cast of Sparks' unaffiliated extras wandering around a war time boarding house waiting to catch afire.
The Driver's Seat was a bit of a psychological thriller, and so unlike the previous novella that I was entranced and finished it in one sitting. Following Lise around an unnamed city (though sparks gives you just enough detail for you to guess time and time again), looking for her 'boyfriend' though she doesn't know what he looks like or his name, is nerve wracking. But in a good way. The end Sparks gives it is the only way it could end.
The Only Problem was intriguing to me because the Book of Job figures so prominently in it, and I spent a lot of my academic career studying it from all angles. That and it had a bit of psychological thriller feel to it as well. All ends uneasily, but well.
Rating: really liked it
Remarkable short novels that really revolutionize the concept of dark satire. The social and personal commentary that most of the characters bring about is utterly hilarious and terrifying at the same time. The topics that Spark broaches range from subliminal patriarchal control and human rights to philosophical nihilism and questions about self-empowerment in a world devoid of any true ideals or meaning. I would argue that Spark writes in a heavy modernist strain, only catapulted forward about thirty to forty years. She describes a period of time in the mid 20th century and forwards, during which people, especially women, were not quite so sure about what is real, what is true and what is honest. Muriel Spark boldly tackles many sensitive subjects of the era, toying with stereotypes, attacking institutionalized religion and questioning the meaning of existence with her multitude of incredibly realistic, slice-of-life, characters.
Rating: really liked it
Read it because it's on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.
There were some things that I enjoyed about it - I really liked the way the narrative tracked the way the girls were negatively influenced by the overbearing nature of Miss Brodie, and how everything eventually fell apart. I also liked how the book carefully laid out Miss Brodie's personality, her quirks, and her flaws. It was really easy to see her descent, her fall from grace, and her ultimate demise.
Yet there wasn't really anything that engaged me about the narrative. All of the characters were held at a distance, and I couldn't really get close to them or understand their psychology. A lot of the Brodie set, as they are called, are really secondary characters, and not much really fleshes them out. Descriptions are repetitious and overused, and I never really got the sense of tragedy that I wanted to out of the novel.
It was just okay.
Rating: really liked it
This was perhaps the most influential book on my life, even before I actually read it. When I was thirteen years old, the BBC series of the book staring Geraldine McEwan as Miss Brodie was shown on television. Miss Brodie efforts to instill gentility into her students had a great effect on me and along with them, I determined to make myself the "crème de la crème". I followed her instruction in all ways from walking with a book on my head to practicing proper skin care and credit what poise and attractiveness I may possess to my fictitious instructress, Miss Brodie. None of the dark subplots that I discovered when I read the novel years later were emphasized in the series and to me, it was merely a primer on how to live ones life as a cultivated and cultured lady.
Rating: really liked it
I have somehwere some publishing company's list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was somewhere in the middle of the list, and since I also knew the novel was made into a film with an acclaimed performance by Maggie Smith (long before she was Professor McGonegal of Hogwarts), I gave the book a go. I hope I'm not just dense, but I really couldn't see why this book received such a superlative rating from that company. It's the story of a kind English teacher in a girls' school and her students with their various personalities, hopes, desires, etc., It follows Miss Brodie later into her career as these girls are going their separate ways. It's a pleasant enough little novel, but I found the whole thing rather dull and ordinary.
Rating: really liked it
I was only able to get through the first novella in the collection which was "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie." I started "The Girls of Slender Means" but was not able to finish. I suppose it was her writing style that left me not caring much about the characters. I really wanted to like this, but sadly was left disappointed.
Rating: really liked it
I'm not sure WHY I love this book. Many who've read it think I'm crazy. Most of the characters are somewhat despicable and yet I'm drawn into the precocious world they have created.
Rating: really liked it
I picked this book for discussion as my choice this month, and I'm most embarrassed that I did! Based on the blurb on the back, I was expecting something more along the lines of a literary Dead Poet's Society.
But I found this book to be so dull and repetitive that I was loathe to pick it up, despite initially thinking I'd read it in one sitting. And I got thoroughly fed up of hearing about Miss Brodie being in her prime. Check out page 44. The word 'prime' is used 5 times in the first 9 lines. And it was grating on me before this. I'd love to know how often that word appears throughout the entire book (which, thankfully, isn't too long).
I think the author wants us to know that Miss Brodie is in her prime. Just incase you didn't get it from the title.
As one review I've read put it, it made her sound like she was on heat. And maybe she was! I'm sure that there was a literary point to this, but it went over my head.
The characters were not likeable, mainly because they are so one dimensional, nor could you make any connection with them. That said, I did fleetingly worry for their patchy education, which largely consisted of having Miss Brodie's opinions rammed down their impressionable throats.
Why this book is considered to be a classic is a mystery to me. There is no plot to speak of, the writing is nothing special, and it's certainly no page turner. To me, it's the kind of book you are made to read at school because someone somewhere thinks it an important book.
It's book club tonight. I've still not been bored enough to finish it.................
Rating: really liked it
Powerful stuff.
I read "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" a few years ago. It was just ok for me. I skipped that book this time and read the other 3 books/novellas recently. Getting a heavy does of Spark in this 4 book format is a good way to appreciate her unique writing. The intro by Frank Kermode is insightful and helps appreciate her originality and style.
The books take 1-2 hours a piece to read. A short synopsis.
"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"
A captivating new teacher, Miss Jean Brodie, teaches her young teenage girls lessons on life, love/sexuality and studies. The action takes place at an elite finishing school. Miss Brodie is a mentor and almost goddess figure to many of the girls. One of the girls betrays her, and she loses her position as a result.
"The Girls of Slender Means"
Almost a continuation of "Miss Jean Brodie". Again, young women are studying and learning about sexuality and love. The action takes place as WWII is coming to a close. The strict rationing leads to the slenderness of the girls. At the conclusion of the book, the lack of slenderness of one girl will give further meaning to the aptly titled novella.
"The Driver's Seat"
The main character is an off-beat and perhaps insane young woman named Lise. She is traveling abroad for a fateful meeting with a young man. His identity and connection to Lise is shroud in mystery till the climatic and brutal conclusion. Along the way, she meets absurd, violent, and ironic men and women. Are these events real or just in her head? Violence and anarchy follow her every step, throughout this surreal, Alice-like adventure.
"The Only Problem"
A wealthy and quirky man, Harvey Gotham is involved in a complex love entanglement. He is having an affair with Ruth, who is the sister of his wife Effie. Effie has run off with a younger man. Ruth is married to Edward, who has stepped aside to allow Harvey and Ruth to carry on their adulterous relationship. To complicate things further, Effie has a child Clara from one of her many extramarital affairs. Effie has left Clara in the care of Harvey and Ruth. Harvey is on a quixotic quest to study, write and analysis the Book of Job. This obsession leads him to France where he has taking a home where he can study in solitude. He is unconcerned about his wayward wife. He is wholly fixated on understanding the meaning of the poetic biblical story.
Effie is accused of terrorist acts as a member of a radical fringe group. Harvey is questioned by the police who believe he may be in contact and a financial source for the group. He shows little concern for Effie's whereabouts and actions, but finds the unwanted attention disruptive to his studies and home life. Although Effie is constantly discussed throughout the book, she never is truly introduced to the reader. She is a specter who seems everywhere and nowhere. Eerily Effie shares a striking resemblance to Ruth as well as a painting of the wife of Job. We finally find out where Effie is as the book closes. Even then, Sparks plays around with the possibility that the woman in question may not be Effie, but rather the incarnation of the wife of Job.
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Muriel Spark's books are disorienting. She vividly paints scenes with her words. We can understand the micro scenes clearly. In "The Driver's Seat" we can see and feel the fabric as Lise interacts with a clerk at a dress shop. Lise's erratic actions and dialog throw the scenes into chaos. Though the individual elements of the painting are crisp and accurate, the entire scene is random and incohesive. Lise flips out when the storekeeper explains the dress is made of a stain-resistant material. She accuses the surprised clerk of insulting her as a slovenly misfit and storms out of the shop.
The stories lurch forward ominously to their fateful and dreadful climax. As soon as a level of normalcy is returned, Spark will wickedly scramble the action again. An example of this roller-coaster ride between sanity and madness is illustrated in "The Driver's Seat". After a seemingly innocent and harmless shopping spree with an older lady, Lise is thrown into a series of stressful events. She gets lost in a student protest only to be rescued by a man who attempts to sexual assault her. Lise calmly escapes only to later contend with another sexual advance from a different man. Again, Lise calmly extracts herself from that unwanted advance. Unrelenting, Spark rescues Lise from this violence only to send her to her ultimate and decisive end scene.
Lise acts crazy when with normal people. She is level-headed when facing weird or violent characters. This counter intuitive response is also used in "The Only Problem". Harvey and "The Only Problem" are less extreme examples of the same theme. Harvey is aloof at troubling crises in his real life, while obsessed and intensely curious about the Book of Job.
The characters of Spark's books are often outlandish and extreme. The action is unusally coincidental and intense. The disasters are horrific and seemingly inevitable. Sparks creates a fun-house mirrored reflection of life that delivers shocks, awe and incredulity. She handles this effect deftly. Her style is uniquely her own. Perhaps one could consider J.D. Salinger a less menacing Muriel Spark.
"Miss Brody" is the only book that covers years of time. "Slender Means" events cover a few months before and after VJ day. "Driver's Seat" is action over 2-3 days. "The Only Problem" happens over a few weeks of time. She presents vivid descriptions of the physical appearance of her characters, but our time with them will be short. We do not get to know their detailed history or for that matter, follow them forward into the future. Despite only having little time with the character, radical events with a definitive climax are in store for the reader. A fatal car crash can strike without rhyme, reason or warning. Spark's stories are more sinister. She places her characters into danger, hits the gas, cuts the brakes, and sends them hurling inexorably towards tragedy.
Rating: really liked it
3 1/2 stars
Review of The
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie only
She thinks she is Providence, thought Sandy, she thinks she is the God of Calvin…Brodie acts as if she transcends morality. ~ Sandy Stranger from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
This is the first time I’ve read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie or Muriel Spark. The story is a modernist, existential novel, set in 1930s, Scotland. It is a novella by most standards, told mostly in third-person narrative, making use of numerous flash-forwards. It recounts the career of Jean Brodie, a progressive teacher at an all-girls school in Edinburgh, Scotland.
My full review: http://100greatestnovelsofalltimeques...
