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celgrove's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sctittle's review against another edition
4.0
Not having come of age in post-war England, I believe the nuances of this little gem of a novel mostly escaped me. So this story of a young woman (29-30 over the course of the novel) and her fellow rooming house inhabitants felt a little random at times. But characteristically Muriel Spark: sly wit, subtle comedy, a sense of menace and a deeply sympathetic narrator. Oh, and some sublime writing. A man is "thin and grey and his voice matched his looks. It sounded like a wisp of smoke wafting from some burning leaves hidden by a clump of lavender.""[His] words of praise were like the cry of a bird in distress, far away across a darkening lake. I had a sense he was offering things abominable to me, like decaffeinated coffee or coitus interruptus."
dreesreads's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
frazzlefran's review
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
michael_levy's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
agrinczel's review against another edition
4.0
There's a review that said the person didn't understand the point of the book, or even if there was one, but liked it anyway. I couldn't give a better recommendation than that! It was really good, especially as an audio book.
violentcello's review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
daja57's review against another edition
4.0
For a short novel, this book is crammed with characters and plot. Mrs Hawkins, the narrator-protagonist works as an editor at a small publishing house heading towards bankruptcy. She offends a wannabe writer whose malevolent revenge includes getting her sacked, twice, and attempting to make her die. The story also includes poison pen letters, radionics, blackmail, unwanted pregnancy, and suicide. But it takes some time before the meandering threads of this tale are brought together into a tapestry and even afterwards there are loose ends, for example, Isabel. It feels like a real memoir (it is written in the first person and from a perspective of thirty years later) even though the single evil genius presiding at the heart of all the misfortunes is highly unlikely, so full marks for verisimilitude.
But the prose! There are times when it becomes tortuous and I had to read a sentence several times just to understand what it was saying. For example: "But even now when I return to London, to Kensington, and have paid the taxi and been greeted by the people waiting there, and have telephoned the friends and opened the mail, that night I find again my hours of sweet insomnia and know that it is a far cry from that Kensington of the past, that Old Brompton Road, that Brompton Road, that Brompton Oratory, a far cry." (Ch 1) This is ironic when you consider that the narrator-protagonist is supposed to be a respected editor in a publishing house and that the antagonist becomes an enemy because she criticises his writing: "His writing writhed and ached with twists and turns and tergiversations, inept words, fanciful repetitions, far-fetched verbosity and long Latin-based words." (Ch 4) Pot and kettle?
The first chapter introduces the characters of her rooming house: the narrator, the landlady Milly, Basil and Eve Carlin, Wanda, Kate, Isabel and William Todd. We are also introduced to Mr Twinny, who redecorates, and to the people working at the narrator's office: Mr Ullswater and Martin York, Cathy, Ivy and Patrick. Almost all of these people, and quite a few others, play a significant part in the story to come. Nevertheless, introducing fourteen characters in the first twelve pages seemed a rather steep start for the reader.
As so often in books of this period, the world is inhabited by posh people. The narrator, Mrs Hawkins, works in publishing. Other inhabitants of the rooming house include a nurse, a medical student, and engineering accountant and Isabel who is decidedly posh. There always seems to be money for eating out and taking cabs even when unemployed: "I always took a taxi to an interview." (Ch 6) Being sacked (twice) doesn't bring on any sort of panic about poverty: "I had some savings and a small pension, so I had no need to find another job immediately." (Ch 5) How she had any savings from her poorly paid job in publishing, her last week's work unpaid, I have no idea. Perhaps life was much, much cheaper then.
But the prose! There are times when it becomes tortuous and I had to read a sentence several times just to understand what it was saying. For example: "But even now when I return to London, to Kensington, and have paid the taxi and been greeted by the people waiting there, and have telephoned the friends and opened the mail, that night I find again my hours of sweet insomnia and know that it is a far cry from that Kensington of the past, that Old Brompton Road, that Brompton Road, that Brompton Oratory, a far cry." (Ch 1) This is ironic when you consider that the narrator-protagonist is supposed to be a respected editor in a publishing house and that the antagonist becomes an enemy because she criticises his writing: "His writing writhed and ached with twists and turns and tergiversations, inept words, fanciful repetitions, far-fetched verbosity and long Latin-based words." (Ch 4) Pot and kettle?
The first chapter introduces the characters of her rooming house: the narrator, the landlady Milly, Basil and Eve Carlin, Wanda, Kate, Isabel and William Todd. We are also introduced to Mr Twinny, who redecorates, and to the people working at the narrator's office: Mr Ullswater and Martin York, Cathy, Ivy and Patrick. Almost all of these people, and quite a few others, play a significant part in the story to come. Nevertheless, introducing fourteen characters in the first twelve pages seemed a rather steep start for the reader.
As so often in books of this period, the world is inhabited by posh people. The narrator, Mrs Hawkins, works in publishing. Other inhabitants of the rooming house include a nurse, a medical student, and engineering accountant and Isabel who is decidedly posh. There always seems to be money for eating out and taking cabs even when unemployed: "I always took a taxi to an interview." (Ch 6) Being sacked (twice) doesn't bring on any sort of panic about poverty: "I had some savings and a small pension, so I had no need to find another job immediately." (Ch 5) How she had any savings from her poorly paid job in publishing, her last week's work unpaid, I have no idea. Perhaps life was much, much cheaper then.