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Book Description
Here are Alan Bennett's four hugely admired, triumphantly reviewed and bestselling stories, brought together in one book for the first time.
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Father! Father! Burning Bright, the savage satire on a dying man's family reaction as he still asserts control over them from the hospital bed. The Clothes They Stood Up In, the painful story of what happens to an elderly couple when their flat is stripped completely bare. The Laying on of Hands, a memorial service for a masseur to the famous that goes horribly wrong. The Lady in the Van, the true story of the eccentric old lady and her van who are invited by a homeowner to live in his garden. The homeowner is Alan Bennett and she stays for fifteen years. It became a West End hit, starring Maggie Smith. Like everything Bennett does, these stories are playful, witty and painfully observant of ordinary people's foibles. They all have brilliant twists, are immensely entertaining and highly moral. And all are modern classics.
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First Sentence
SEATED OBSCURELY towards the back of the church and on a side aisle, Treacher was conscious nevertheless of being much looked at. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
SEATED OBSCURELY towards the back of the church and on a side aisle, Treacher was conscious nevertheless of being much looked at. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Is there a literary form which really suits what Bennett's best at? It's the story-telling embedded in conversation he's wonderful at capturing, and which so runs through these stories, especially (for me), 'The Laying on of Hands' and 'The Clothes They Stood Up In'. But in fiction, I guess he gets diverted. A curious turn of phrase or tired cliche and he's diverted for a whole paragraph, just riffing or playing with it. Like a kid walking past a sweet shop, he just can't resist it. But story and character do suffer. And the endings...well, he doesn't like doing them, which is why the diary form suits him best, when he can stop and move on when he's tired by an idea. For example, the first story here has a wonderful opening, some sharp observations and very drole moments, and then a contrived and rather embarassing ending. But who cares! A page by Bennett is worth twenty by many writers.
Format:Paperback
Alan Bennett is one of the very best writers ever. I always love his stories especially with his caustic humor. I have a set of video tapes of him in Westminster Abbey and really hope they will put them out on DVD one of these days. Tapes don't last forever!
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Wry and gentle humour, overlying a fairly bleak view of life. The prognosis for his male characters is particularly pessimistic - a touch of the auto-biographicals? Also, hard not to hear a voice of caricature as you read.
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