- Hardcover
- Publisher: ISIS Large Print Books; Large type edition edition (1 July 2010)
- ISBN-10: 0753185504
- ISBN-13: 978-0753185506
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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First Sentence
ON the first day of his holiday Laurence Manders woke to hear his grandmother's voice below. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
ON the first day of his holiday Laurence Manders woke to hear his grandmother's voice below. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have been reading my way through all of Muriel Spark, finding that there is enormous variation between the ones I like and the ones that make me raise an eyebrow and go, "errr...?"
This is one of the latter, a very strange book, which is reminiscent to me of one of the darkest Ealing comedies. A granny who smuggle diamonds in bread (yes, I did keep thinking of Alec Guiness in drag), an assortment of odd people, and most of all the weird Caroline Rose who keeps hearing voices which indicate she knows the novel is being written about her.
At this point, we are suddenly into fiercely post-modern, self-aware, Italo Calvino territory. You may really enjoy it, I found it off-puttingly strange. And I do enjoy a lot of post-modern fiction, but this is such a weird mix of that and a rather English comic novel. Anyway, she was clearly defiantly trying to do something new, from her very first publication, and that I really admire. Even when you are not enjoying her books, there is that strength and intelligence in them which you cannot help but revere.
This is one of the latter, a very strange book, which is reminiscent to me of one of the darkest Ealing comedies. A granny who smuggle diamonds in bread (yes, I did keep thinking of Alec Guiness in drag), an assortment of odd people, and most of all the weird Caroline Rose who keeps hearing voices which indicate she knows the novel is being written about her.
At this point, we are suddenly into fiercely post-modern, self-aware, Italo Calvino territory. You may really enjoy it, I found it off-puttingly strange. And I do enjoy a lot of post-modern fiction, but this is such a weird mix of that and a rather English comic novel. Anyway, she was clearly defiantly trying to do something new, from her very first publication, and that I really admire. Even when you are not enjoying her books, there is that strength and intelligence in them which you cannot help but revere.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Definitely one of the most original novels I have ever read and would thoroughly recommend to anyone new to Spark.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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5 reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Spark's First Endures
14 July 2000
Format:Paperback
Muriel Spark's first novel, THE COMFORTERS, is a genuine classic. The intrustion of the "literary device" is marvelous because it is anything but a gimmick. For one thing, the mysterious metafictional typewriter (from an author composing a novel you might be reading) is inspired by experiences Spark describes in her autobiography. Aural hallucinations contributed to two masterpieces of English prose around this time--Evelyn Waugh's THE ORDEAL OF GILBERT PINFOLD takes a different approach, less cosmic and perhaps more comic. In both cases, however, the voices are central to the novel, and provide a marvelous opportunity for conveying a unique (and, I think, in both cases, -true-) view of our world.
The other undercurrent here is Spark's conversion to Roman Catholicism. Caroline's attitude may not be Spark's, but I hope it is--skewering irritating modern Pharisees inside the Church as gleefully as those outside of it.
Catnip!
22 May 2012
Format:Paperback
Muriel Spark is catnip and I'm over the moon! The more I read, the more I wanted more! more! more! her sense of humour, her wit, I loved it all. Do yourself a favour and pick up this gem.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
An Uncomfortable Beginning
18 Sep 2010
Format:Paperback
Some writers are like Meryl Streep - they try on different genres, narratives, and subject matter. Others are like Barbara Stanwyck whose range was limited but deep. Muriel Spark who announced her literary concerns in "The Comforters" and spent the next 21 novels building on the work first introduced here was like the latter.
Muriel threw away realism in "The Comforters" by introducing a typewriting ghost that wrestled with the lead character, Carolyn Rose, for control of the novel. But she throws away realism not for its own sake but because she wanted to explore ideas about faith, betrayal and destiny through fiction. She saw realism as a straight-jacket that forced her to spend energy and words on things that didn't further her interests.
Spark was a recently converted Catholic when she wrote her first novel and she explores faith and free well but not in any conventional way. Instead shows faith as complicated and unknowable but existing all the same. Whether in Caroline's desire for celibacy, the crippled Andrew's cure or the pointless retreat of Sir Edward Manders, faith is complicated by human frailty and selfishness.
There is a cheerfulness to auto accidents, deformities and drownings as to any of the other actions. This too would be a hallmark of Spark's fiction. No need to lay it on thick just because something unpleasant happened.
Finally, her portrayal of a gay character is quite explicit for the mid-fifties. She describes the character - Ernest - as a homosexual and has the main character speak highly of him. Yes, there are stereotypical, effeminate characteristics assigned to Ernest but he isn't demeaned by them just described using them. By bringing his homosexuality out in the open and treating it in the breezy fashion with which she treats everything else, Spark make gay Ernest part of the texture of the novel and this gives him a contemporary feel.
Muriel threw away realism in "The Comforters" by introducing a typewriting ghost that wrestled with the lead character, Carolyn Rose, for control of the novel. But she throws away realism not for its own sake but because she wanted to explore ideas about faith, betrayal and destiny through fiction. She saw realism as a straight-jacket that forced her to spend energy and words on things that didn't further her interests.
Spark was a recently converted Catholic when she wrote her first novel and she explores faith and free well but not in any conventional way. Instead shows faith as complicated and unknowable but existing all the same. Whether in Caroline's desire for celibacy, the crippled Andrew's cure or the pointless retreat of Sir Edward Manders, faith is complicated by human frailty and selfishness.
There is a cheerfulness to auto accidents, deformities and drownings as to any of the other actions. This too would be a hallmark of Spark's fiction. No need to lay it on thick just because something unpleasant happened.
Finally, her portrayal of a gay character is quite explicit for the mid-fifties. She describes the character - Ernest - as a homosexual and has the main character speak highly of him. Yes, there are stereotypical, effeminate characteristics assigned to Ernest but he isn't demeaned by them just described using them. By bringing his homosexuality out in the open and treating it in the breezy fashion with which she treats everything else, Spark make gay Ernest part of the texture of the novel and this gives him a contemporary feel.
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