Muriel Spark's Loitering with Intent is a mixed bag for me. Once it dawns on me that this work is a far3.5 Stars, Rounded up for the prose and Edwina
Muriel Spark's Loitering with Intent is a mixed bag for me. Once it dawns on me that this work is a farce, I more easily settle in for the ride.
Fleur, a young aspiring author, takes a day job as secretary to the Autobiographical Society, and mines it for future characterizations. As the tale progresses, her novel and real life seem to merge.
"Presented fictionally, one could have done something authentic with that poor material. But the inducing them to express themselves in life resulted in falsity.
What is truth? I could have realized these people with my fun and games with their life-stories, while Sir Quentin was destroying them with his needling after frankness."
What I think Spark is getting to is the concept that fiction can get to a truth in a way that sometimes non-fiction cannot as easily. An author writing fiction can tweak something in a way to serve her theme and make her point more clearly and emphatically than a non-fiction work can.
What I loved about this book:
Spark's prose is brilliant. Her playful and mischievous style gives a lightness of tone to parts of the story. Spark can also be sharp and cynical in her tone which swiftly changes the mood. She is economical with her use of language; she has the gift of conveying a lot with few words.
The character of Lady Edwina is a new favorite. She is an outrageous, elderly woman whom I cheer for and always puts a smile on my face when she appears.
Spark imaginatively weaves a parallel between Fleur's novel Warrender Chase and Sir Quentin's machinations. She gives me Sir Quentin as the villain of the piece so that I can boo and hiss with enjoyment.
She subtly, and not so subtly, pokes fun of the clinging to social class and pretensions. As an added bonus I learned the word orgulous which means haughty.
What didn't work as well:
I didn't fully understand that this work was a fictionalized memoir until pointed out to me by astute GR reader, Violeta. I feel that I lacked some basic knowledge of Spark going into this read that would have helped me get more enjoyment from the story.
After careening along at a mad pace though the book, I arrive at the last chapter that slows the pace to a halt; and Spark leaves me with a pedestrian ending. Such a disappointment.
I'm going to start with the physical book; it's a cheerful bright orange cloth bound cover illuminated with gold carried by black cartoon fDelightful!
I'm going to start with the physical book; it's a cheerful bright orange cloth bound cover illuminated with gold carried by black cartoon figures. Open the cover to endpapers printed with stacks of books, too many to count, and a pocket with a return date card. When's the last time you saw one of those? Simple block panels and text large enough to read comfortably with aging eyes complete these wonderful aesthetics.
This delectable book is filled with a collection of Tom Gauld's literary related cartoons originally published in the Guardian's Saturday book section. Like any large collection, there will be a few that miss their mark. Which ones these are will vary, depending on the reader's sense of humor.
I kept this volume in my kitchen, picking it up and reading a few every time I entered. My daughter's partner devoured it in two evening visits. Either way a lot of chuckles and laughs floated through the air.
If you're reading this review, you're a bibliophile. Treat yourself to a laugh; it's good for the soul....more
Colin Jost's memoir A Very Punchable Face is one of those books that came at the right time for me.
Jost tells of his growing up on Staten Island, someColin Jost's memoir A Very Punchable Face is one of those books that came at the right time for me.
Jost tells of his growing up on Staten Island, some of his escapades at university, and his adventures in his career at Saturday Night Live. While not every story lands with me, there are plenty of laugh aloud moments. Jost tells his tales in a candid, self-deprecating manner. And there are plenty of relatable moments.
"I would wander the streets alone at 2 or 3 A.M., then return to my dorm and write poetry, with titles such as "A Blurred Vision," "The Artist's Flaw," "The Life of a Man," and "The Stranger You Love to Meet." So yeah, it was pretty bleak. And that was before I wrote a poem called "Shall I Flee Her Gripping Curse?" (Holy shit.) If my computer ever gets hacked, I pray they go for the photos and not the poems."
My awful poetry years were in high school, not university; and my titles were just as bad--think dreaded teenage angst. I am so glad those pages don't exist any more; I wrote in the days before computers.
“In fairness, my mother suffers from Giant Irish Family Syndrome, where she can’t even remember her own children’s names without cycling through multiple cousins first. “Hey…Sean, I mean Patrick, I mean Colin!” It could be worse. She often gets to the dog’s name before my brother, Casey.”
This syndrome isn't peculiar to the Irish, just to big families. My cousins and I used to make fun of my grandmother (she was the frequent caretaker of her 10 younger siblings and when she had her own household her nieces and nephews had the run of her house along with her 2 children, and then came my generation including our friends); there was always a long recitation of names until she got to whichever of us she wanted. And despite only having 2 children, I later found myself listing names (and laughing in belated sympathy) until I got to whichever child I needed from the throng in the backyard.
Having grown up with SNL, I was 13 when it first aired, I enjoyed Jost's stories about his time there. 15+ years is an amazing run, and he has had his hand in a large percentage of the most loved skits.
One note of trivia, the first 2 years it aired it was called Saturday Night because there was a variety show called Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell.
Many reviews mention the mom story. That's because it's a touching and sensitive tribute to the Fire Department of New York City and a love letter to his mother. Dr. Kelly was the chief medical officer for the FDNY, and he tells the tale of her activities during 9/11. I shed a tear or two, and that's not something I do often. While not a funny tale, to me it's the strongest tale in the collection, told with a lot of respect, admiration, and heart.
I listened to the audio of this book. Jost knows how to tell a story and make it sound funny; his comedic timing and delivery are pitch perfect when going for the laugh.
Thank you, Kierstyn for recommending that I also get the print copy so I could see the photos.
If you enjoy SNL-type humor, you'll enjoy this book, and you'll be left at the end in the warm glow of laughter....more
I first encountered Paula Poundstone as a panelist on NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." She has my kind of brain--tenuous connections that take you dowI first encountered Paula Poundstone as a panelist on NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." She has my kind of brain--tenuous connections that take you down a totally different path than her host has mapped out. Alas, I am not as funny as she is. When I saw she had written 2 books, I thought I'd give this first effort a try.
In the course of telling me about seven famous historical figures, she tells anecdotes about her life and frequently her children. (May they forgive her later in life. ...more
Loading...
