A review by wizard_of_uhhh
The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
The first thing I have to say about this funny little novel is, in fact, the same as the title of the new shelf I have just created to keep it on.
Well that was weird.
To begin with, there's the length. It's only just over a hundred pages long, so I feel like I ought perhaps to classify it as a novella. Whatever we call it, it's a very readable pieceof writing which I demolished in a couple of hours.
But readable as it is, it feels a bit like a cryptic letter, written to inform its reader of some dark and secret thing, mentioning it only elusively, and giving clues on a strictly need-to-know basis. As I continued to read, I was sure that the mystery would eventually unveil itself, but it never did. Instead, the reader is left to piece together his or her explanation of the novel's occurrences from the bare facts that are presented.
In this novel, we are given Lise, a thirty-four-year-old woman who has been working at the same job for sixteen years. Lise likes to make a scene. Lise is going on holiday. Lise is looking for a man, a man who is "her type". Lise meets various people along the way and seems to create a different persona for herself everytime she meets someone new. And Lise is murdered. We find this out very early on in the story, but how - and why - is left for the very last pages. And even when we are told, we do not understand.
I had expected this novel to be a trip into the mind of a disturbed character. In reality, it is nothing of the sort. It is more like watching a video recording of a disturbed character going about their disturbed business with no commentary, no explanation, nothing. Just plain facts. Very, very odd facts.
Is this novel enjoyable? I honestly don't know. But it certainly is something quite, quite different. Different from everything I've ever read. And to me, that makes it a worthwhile experience.
Well that was weird.
To begin with, there's the length. It's only just over a hundred pages long, so I feel like I ought perhaps to classify it as a novella. Whatever we call it, it's a very readable pieceof writing which I demolished in a couple of hours.
But readable as it is, it feels a bit like a cryptic letter, written to inform its reader of some dark and secret thing, mentioning it only elusively, and giving clues on a strictly need-to-know basis. As I continued to read, I was sure that the mystery would eventually unveil itself, but it never did. Instead, the reader is left to piece together his or her explanation of the novel's occurrences from the bare facts that are presented.
In this novel, we are given Lise, a thirty-four-year-old woman who has been working at the same job for sixteen years. Lise likes to make a scene. Lise is going on holiday. Lise is looking for a man, a man who is "her type". Lise meets various people along the way and seems to create a different persona for herself everytime she meets someone new. And Lise is murdered. We find this out very early on in the story, but how - and why - is left for the very last pages. And even when we are told, we do not understand.
I had expected this novel to be a trip into the mind of a disturbed character. In reality, it is nothing of the sort. It is more like watching a video recording of a disturbed character going about their disturbed business with no commentary, no explanation, nothing. Just plain facts. Very, very odd facts.
Is this novel enjoyable? I honestly don't know. But it certainly is something quite, quite different. Different from everything I've ever read. And to me, that makes it a worthwhile experience.