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The Driver's Seat
The Driver’s Seat , Spark’s own favorite among her many novels, was hailed by the New Yorker as “her spiny and treacherous masterpiece.” Driven mad by an office job, Lise flies south on holiday ― in search of passionate adventure and sex. In this metaphysical shocker, infinity and eternity attend Lise’s last terrible day in the unnamed southern city that is her final destination.
88 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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26617 people want to read
About the author
Muriel Spark
232 books1,312 followersDame Muriel Spark, DBE was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.
Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.
Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.
Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,155 reviews
July 20, 2023
Was it murder or was it suicide? And did that matter to the 'heroine'? This is a novella, a quick read and perhaps one that is better read at one sitting so that the tension can build. Its totally upfront, we know what is going to happen a quarter of the way through the book and it just remains for the story to play itself out. How it does is what you think of after you've finished the book, and in fact that is probably the most enjoyable bit. Its very clever and creepy creepy creepy.
This is a very economical review because anything I say might well spoil the creepiness of this very short novella. Suffice it to say that Muriel Spark's writing is very spare, she doesn't even use a phrase where a single word would do. Her characters reveal themselves, their creepiness, much as people do, you can size them up almost immediately. Always remembering, that first impressions can be wrong!
Review totally rewritten 2 July 2019 as it was full of spoilers, and it was the creepiness I remembered as making it a 5 star
This is a very economical review because anything I say might well spoil the creepiness of this very short novella. Suffice it to say that Muriel Spark's writing is very spare, she doesn't even use a phrase where a single word would do. Her characters reveal themselves, their creepiness, much as people do, you can size them up almost immediately. Always remembering, that first impressions can be wrong!
Review totally rewritten 2 July 2019 as it was full of spoilers, and it was the creepiness I remembered as making it a 5 star
May 10, 2021
This book blew my brains out. Honest! I have no brains left with which to write this review.
Well, I have a few slimy, straggling, grey lumps in the bloody cavity behind what's left of my eyes. So I'll do my best here, but please understand, I'm working at a deficit.
Also, it's nigh impossible to talk about this book properly without spoiling it. And plenty of you out there in GoodReads-land HAVE spoiled it (shame on you!) and I thank the good lord above that I didn't read your words until after I read it. It's much better to go into The Driver's Seat blind. Blind, like I am right now, after having been blasted by the savage ruthlessness of Muriel Spark's brilliance.
So. (Damn, my head aches where my skull used to be.) This dastardly thing is just over a hundred pages. Combining the darkest possible humour with ferocious feminine strength, Spark has written a "whydunnit" (not who, though I bet you'll never guess). You'll be debating between "insanity vs. lucid planning" and "powerlessness vs. wish-fulfillment". You'll be glad as hell that a woman wrote this, because no man should touch this with a ten foot pole, no sirree bob.
There's travel, there's stain-resistant fabric, there's a woman who laughs, loudly, for far too long. There's a psychotic killer. There's a life lived in an apartment that folds up into nothing, as if no life was there at all. There's a death wish. There's victory, of the most twisted, sad, and disturbing kind.
As I said, it blew my brains out. But not my heart - nope, that's still going. I know, because I couldn't help but love it.
Well, I have a few slimy, straggling, grey lumps in the bloody cavity behind what's left of my eyes. So I'll do my best here, but please understand, I'm working at a deficit.
Also, it's nigh impossible to talk about this book properly without spoiling it. And plenty of you out there in GoodReads-land HAVE spoiled it (shame on you!) and I thank the good lord above that I didn't read your words until after I read it. It's much better to go into The Driver's Seat blind. Blind, like I am right now, after having been blasted by the savage ruthlessness of Muriel Spark's brilliance.
So. (Damn, my head aches where my skull used to be.) This dastardly thing is just over a hundred pages. Combining the darkest possible humour with ferocious feminine strength, Spark has written a "whydunnit" (not who, though I bet you'll never guess). You'll be debating between "insanity vs. lucid planning" and "powerlessness vs. wish-fulfillment". You'll be glad as hell that a woman wrote this, because no man should touch this with a ten foot pole, no sirree bob.
There's travel, there's stain-resistant fabric, there's a woman who laughs, loudly, for far too long. There's a psychotic killer. There's a life lived in an apartment that folds up into nothing, as if no life was there at all. There's a death wish. There's victory, of the most twisted, sad, and disturbing kind.
As I said, it blew my brains out. But not my heart - nope, that's still going. I know, because I couldn't help but love it.
April 22, 2023
Emergency!
On the Saturday morning of a weekend away, I finished a wonderful book (Girl, Woman, Other). But I couldn’t find the book I was sure I’d packed to read next. The prospect of a weekend without a book felt like not having a wallet, glasses, or knickers! I admit to a few tears and even shaking. On our way to lunch, we briefly stopped at a second-hand bookshop. I needed a book I was confident I’d enjoy and that would fit in my small handbag. I had recently enjoyed my first Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (see my review HERE), so picked this novella.
On the third page, I discovered my “emergency book” features a “necessary dress”. Perfect! It’s carefully crafted, wound tight, and very dark despite the sunshine - not what I expected. Beware of reviews that have spoilers (this doesn’t).
Unnerving
It opens with Lise having a spat with an assistant in a department store over a garish dress that may or may not be stain resistant.
Image: Vintage Biba from Farfetch (Source.)
Lise seems anxious, stressed, and a bit manic. She’s 34, single, unremarkable to look at, and taking a holiday for her (mental) health, with “abstract eagerness to be somewhere else”. It’s unclear which country she lives in (she speaks four languages, and when asked where she comes from, she says “nowhere special”), and her destination south is equally unspecific, but feels like an Italian or Spanish city.
The omniscient, but not necessarily reliable, narrator is obsessive, compulsively noting minor details as Nicholson Baker does in The Mezzanine (see my review HERE), especially regarding lips and eyes.
In addition to her brightly patterned, clashing clothes, every interaction ensures Lise is noticed and will be remembered. She is a fantasist who often seems confused, but whether that’s deliberate or not, is hard to say. There is a sense of foreboding which, again, is vague.
“One should always be kind… in case it might be the last chance.”
How and why?
The opening words of chapter 3, a quarter of the way through, make the ending plain. It’s then a case of trying to understand what leads to that and, most puzzlingly, why.
“It’s a whydunnit in q-sharp major and it has this message: never talk to the sort of girls that you wouldn’t leave lying about in your drawing-room for the servants to pick up.”
(That’s actually Lise referring to another book.)
She meets strangers, buys random things (including a scarf and food blender), goes to the park… It's an odd sort of rest cure.
Who’s in the driver’s seat?
Lise seems to be on some sort of dreamy or nightmarish quest. She often mentions and approaches men rather provocatively, yet she’s not after sex. Is it about finding/beginning or escape/ending?
It’s not Kafkaesque, as there’s no external authority, bureaucracy, or control. The frustration and confusion is in her own mind. But there is a sense of menace.
When the narrative arc gradually becomes clear, the “why?” remains unanswered, with the additional uncertainty of who is in control of what, and who is the real victim.
Image: Who’s pulling the strings? (Source.)
What’s your type?
A recurring question is what sort of man is Lise’s type. Given the slipperiness of the book, the answer is not what one might expect, nor for the usual reasons.
It’s hard to say what type of book this is. It’s definitely my type, though if I’d known too much about it in advance, I might have assumed otherwise.
Quotes
* “Her lips, when she does not speak or eat, are normally pressed together like the ruled line of a balance sheet, marked straight with her old-fashioned lipstick, a final and a judging mouth.”
* “I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife.”
* “Mrs Fiedke shrinks into her old age.”
* “The holsters and epaulets and all those trappings devised to protect them from the indecent exposure of fear and pity, pity and fear.” (Police uniforms!)
1970 is a long time ago
When published half a century ago, this was advertised as "a metaphysical shocker", and the first three words of the imdb synopsis for the 1974 film are “Mentally disturbed spinster”.
I’m glad I didn’t know about the film until after reading the book. The casting is notable, and would have skewed my impression of Lise in particular. Details on imdb HERE. You can read a short letter from the lead actress to Spark HERE.
This was one of Spark’s favourite novels, according to Wikipedia (citation needed). In 2010, four years after she died, it was shortlisted for The Lost Man Booker.
I was startled that this book features a shop assistant using “like” as a filler:
“If you spill like a bit of ice-cream or a drop of coffee, like, down the front of this dress it won’t hold the stain.”
Moaners often think it’s a recent, Valley Girl, tic, but I’ve since discovered it’s long been common in some Scottish dialects (Spark was a Scot).
I was also surprised that back then you could take an international flight and pick your seat once on board.
Image: A bygone era: BOAC captain talking to passengers (Source.)
On the Saturday morning of a weekend away, I finished a wonderful book (Girl, Woman, Other). But I couldn’t find the book I was sure I’d packed to read next. The prospect of a weekend without a book felt like not having a wallet, glasses, or knickers! I admit to a few tears and even shaking. On our way to lunch, we briefly stopped at a second-hand bookshop. I needed a book I was confident I’d enjoy and that would fit in my small handbag. I had recently enjoyed my first Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (see my review HERE), so picked this novella.
On the third page, I discovered my “emergency book” features a “necessary dress”. Perfect! It’s carefully crafted, wound tight, and very dark despite the sunshine - not what I expected. Beware of reviews that have spoilers (this doesn’t).
Unnerving
It opens with Lise having a spat with an assistant in a department store over a garish dress that may or may not be stain resistant.
Image: Vintage Biba from Farfetch (Source.)
Lise seems anxious, stressed, and a bit manic. She’s 34, single, unremarkable to look at, and taking a holiday for her (mental) health, with “abstract eagerness to be somewhere else”. It’s unclear which country she lives in (she speaks four languages, and when asked where she comes from, she says “nowhere special”), and her destination south is equally unspecific, but feels like an Italian or Spanish city.
The omniscient, but not necessarily reliable, narrator is obsessive, compulsively noting minor details as Nicholson Baker does in The Mezzanine (see my review HERE), especially regarding lips and eyes.
In addition to her brightly patterned, clashing clothes, every interaction ensures Lise is noticed and will be remembered. She is a fantasist who often seems confused, but whether that’s deliberate or not, is hard to say. There is a sense of foreboding which, again, is vague.
“One should always be kind… in case it might be the last chance.”
How and why?
The opening words of chapter 3, a quarter of the way through, make the ending plain. It’s then a case of trying to understand what leads to that and, most puzzlingly, why.
“It’s a whydunnit in q-sharp major and it has this message: never talk to the sort of girls that you wouldn’t leave lying about in your drawing-room for the servants to pick up.”
(That’s actually Lise referring to another book.)
She meets strangers, buys random things (including a scarf and food blender), goes to the park… It's an odd sort of rest cure.
Who’s in the driver’s seat?
Lise seems to be on some sort of dreamy or nightmarish quest. She often mentions and approaches men rather provocatively, yet she’s not after sex. Is it about finding/beginning or escape/ending?
It’s not Kafkaesque, as there’s no external authority, bureaucracy, or control. The frustration and confusion is in her own mind. But there is a sense of menace.
When the narrative arc gradually becomes clear, the “why?” remains unanswered, with the additional uncertainty of who is in control of what, and who is the real victim.
Image: Who’s pulling the strings? (Source.)
What’s your type?
A recurring question is what sort of man is Lise’s type. Given the slipperiness of the book, the answer is not what one might expect, nor for the usual reasons.
It’s hard to say what type of book this is. It’s definitely my type, though if I’d known too much about it in advance, I might have assumed otherwise.
Quotes
* “Her lips, when she does not speak or eat, are normally pressed together like the ruled line of a balance sheet, marked straight with her old-fashioned lipstick, a final and a judging mouth.”
* “I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife.”
* “Mrs Fiedke shrinks into her old age.”
* “The holsters and epaulets and all those trappings devised to protect them from the indecent exposure of fear and pity, pity and fear.” (Police uniforms!)
1970 is a long time ago
When published half a century ago, this was advertised as "a metaphysical shocker", and the first three words of the imdb synopsis for the 1974 film are “Mentally disturbed spinster”.
I’m glad I didn’t know about the film until after reading the book. The casting is notable, and would have skewed my impression of Lise in particular. Details on imdb HERE. You can read a short letter from the lead actress to Spark HERE.
This was one of Spark’s favourite novels, according to Wikipedia (citation needed). In 2010, four years after she died, it was shortlisted for The Lost Man Booker.
I was startled that this book features a shop assistant using “like” as a filler:
“If you spill like a bit of ice-cream or a drop of coffee, like, down the front of this dress it won’t hold the stain.”
Moaners often think it’s a recent, Valley Girl, tic, but I’ve since discovered it’s long been common in some Scottish dialects (Spark was a Scot).
I was also surprised that back then you could take an international flight and pick your seat once on board.
Image: A bygone era: BOAC captain talking to passengers (Source.)
January 21, 2020
Super fast, gripping novella about a manic woman (and Spark writes her mania brilliantly) traveling to a southern country in search of a man to, well, I won't spoil it. The action is fast and funny, the contemporary descriptions sharp (of course - it's Spark), and though we learn where we're going early on, it's a mystery about how we will get there. The story relies on one coincidence too many, and a middle section in a mall drags*
*here's an aside about novella middles, in the middle of this novella review. Why is it that SHORT books, especially novellas, seem to have pacing issues more often? Is it that we assess novellas partly on their brevity? Is it that many novellas are basically short stories that need padding? Is a pause in a rush more frustrating than a pause around pauses? I don't know, but I felt like I was in the mall in this book for 100 years, and the rest of it flew by.
, but this is very fun. I didn't read it w/ much, or any, horror, and I prefer Memento Mori, but Spark is, as ever, a wonder. Nice company on a snowy day.
*here's an aside about novella middles, in the middle of this novella review. Why is it that SHORT books, especially novellas, seem to have pacing issues more often? Is it that we assess novellas partly on their brevity? Is it that many novellas are basically short stories that need padding? Is a pause in a rush more frustrating than a pause around pauses? I don't know, but I felt like I was in the mall in this book for 100 years, and the rest of it flew by.
, but this is very fun. I didn't read it w/ much, or any, horror, and I prefer Memento Mori, but Spark is, as ever, a wonder. Nice company on a snowy day.
September 15, 2019
The Driver’s Seat is an usual story- usual to Muriel Spark, but unusual in every possible sense to the world, for its strangeness is not something which I’ve previously encountered. I finished the book in just two sittings separated by mundane office hours but that doesn’t bring any solace to me to get rid of weird taste it leaves me with. Having said that you cannot deny that Spark was peerless, sparkling, inventive and intelligent- in a word -the crème de la crème, as mentioned by Ian Rankin. Spark constructed her world with intelligence, relish and extraordinary precision of a surgeon. The novel starts with an extraordinary opening as most of Spark’s novels as Lise storms out of a shop announcing "I won't be insulted" after being told that the dress she has been trying on is stain-resistant. That’s how she respond to new freedom of 60s- the travel, the clothes, the sexual opportunities, new cults in diet and religion. She is definitely odd, as she reacts with an irrationality bordering on hysteria to a suggestion that she might buy a dress made of a new fabric which doesn’t stain. However, if one looks at underlying tones of the narrative, one won’t fail to recognize that Lise rejects the idea of not being immaculate.
The book is a bleak comedy about the world itself built around tragedy of the central character- Lise, in which she throws around every set norm of the world. But underlying these expressions of frustration, irritation we come across to realize an existential leap, perhaps an act of faith, though of the darkest possible kind. We know beforehand what will the fate of Lise or the book per se but the narrative moves forward as to tell us when and how. It may be said to be the depiction of a malignant will which is built upon desire of self-harm. And that is how she uses her freedom. We know right from the start that Lise is abnormal, that world may be strange place to her but that doesn’t provide any solace since the more pertinent question is who is in the driver’s seat, who could be made responsible to the stream of events as they fold out. Ostensibly, one would say Lise but that would be very naïve of an answer, perhaps not to the standards of Muriel Spark who was outrageously inventive and talented, of course. Could it be one of the ancillary characters of the book, who might have forced Lise to do what she eventually does? Or could it be relate to God/ faith as we know it or probably it may be accounted to the author herself, who is perhaps the God in the world created by her; Spark may not approve of it as she used to maintain that a novelist’s duty is to make it clear that her version of reality is just a version, a fiction per se. But what about the question of driver’s seat, we may not be able to say it clearly however, one thing we may proclaim clearly is that none of these answers bring any comfort to the reader.
Though the book is about Lise’s freedom which she expresses through her modern choices but the modernity depicted in the novel has many layered feathers which presents The Driver’s Seat in a cruel, violent and dark way. The world of Spark is hugely imaginative and perfectly resonates with T. S. Eliot’s famous line- ’humankind cannot bear too much reality’ as we see the central character of the book is delusion, and even the other characters such as Bill or the person who met Lise in the airplane may not be escaped by the ultimate stroke of the author as he immediately got terrified of Lise even though he was seeing her face for the very first time.
This is my second read of Muriel Spark after The prime of Miss Brodie however, both novels are completely different to each other which underlines the extravagant talent of Spark. The book may come across as a complete shocker to some but I guess it’s been written in that way like a metaphysical testament of human nature by Spark since the regular plots have shortcomings as they ignore human nature to an extent and also persist in leaving questions unasked. But in Spark’s world what are never short of are questions right from the very first line.
Highly recommended
4.5/5
The book is a bleak comedy about the world itself built around tragedy of the central character- Lise, in which she throws around every set norm of the world. But underlying these expressions of frustration, irritation we come across to realize an existential leap, perhaps an act of faith, though of the darkest possible kind. We know beforehand what will the fate of Lise or the book per se but the narrative moves forward as to tell us when and how. It may be said to be the depiction of a malignant will which is built upon desire of self-harm. And that is how she uses her freedom. We know right from the start that Lise is abnormal, that world may be strange place to her but that doesn’t provide any solace since the more pertinent question is who is in the driver’s seat, who could be made responsible to the stream of events as they fold out. Ostensibly, one would say Lise but that would be very naïve of an answer, perhaps not to the standards of Muriel Spark who was outrageously inventive and talented, of course. Could it be one of the ancillary characters of the book, who might have forced Lise to do what she eventually does? Or could it be relate to God/ faith as we know it or probably it may be accounted to the author herself, who is perhaps the God in the world created by her; Spark may not approve of it as she used to maintain that a novelist’s duty is to make it clear that her version of reality is just a version, a fiction per se. But what about the question of driver’s seat, we may not be able to say it clearly however, one thing we may proclaim clearly is that none of these answers bring any comfort to the reader.
Though the book is about Lise’s freedom which she expresses through her modern choices but the modernity depicted in the novel has many layered feathers which presents The Driver’s Seat in a cruel, violent and dark way. The world of Spark is hugely imaginative and perfectly resonates with T. S. Eliot’s famous line- ’humankind cannot bear too much reality’ as we see the central character of the book is delusion, and even the other characters such as Bill or the person who met Lise in the airplane may not be escaped by the ultimate stroke of the author as he immediately got terrified of Lise even though he was seeing her face for the very first time.
This is my second read of Muriel Spark after The prime of Miss Brodie however, both novels are completely different to each other which underlines the extravagant talent of Spark. The book may come across as a complete shocker to some but I guess it’s been written in that way like a metaphysical testament of human nature by Spark since the regular plots have shortcomings as they ignore human nature to an extent and also persist in leaving questions unasked. But in Spark’s world what are never short of are questions right from the very first line.
Highly recommended
4.5/5
May 7, 2012
A disturbed woman's journey of conscious self-annihilation...a perverse fairy tale in which the "prince" becomes a vehicle of destruction...and a brutally piercing statement on female victimization and empowerment.
Yeah...there's a lot to admire in this work.
That said, I must admit that the story didn't engage me emotionally the way a work dealing with themes of this magnitude usually will. My thinking was engaged, and my philosophical curiosity was certainly feeling it, but my compassion, my inner core tethered to the human condition, felt mostly ignored.
I say mostly...but not completely...because the climax of the story went a long way towards rehabilitating all my complaints.
The last 5 pages of this work were so brilliantly constructed, so surfeit with existential genius, that I wanted to crawl into the book and kneel in supplication before Ms Spark's skill. It was perfect and devastating, and turned a weak, clinically appreciative 3 star rating into a memorable read that was just a wisp of something away from a 4th star.
This is my first time reading Muriel Spark, and I intend to continue my travels through her catalog as there were moments of dazzle in this work that were almost blinding. Our guide through this novella is Lise, whose inner motivations and desires are a puzzle we are meant to solve. Spark never lets us into Lise’s head, and all we are witness to is her behavior and her dialogue.
From her gaudy, attention-seeking attire, to her dysfunctional interactions with the world, to her sexual hangups, to her off-kilter reactions to everyday situations, she is a rubik’s cube whose complex patterns must be aligned. This character dissection becomes suffused with urgency when we learn early on that Lise is going to be savagely murdered. In just over a day, she will be tied up and stabbed repeatedly.
Spark’s described this as a “whydunnit” because who killed Lise is less important for the reader to determine than the why.
This work felt a bit like “anti-Kafka.” By this I mean that, instead of a normal person waking up in a world gone mad and unknowable, Lise begins the story loaded with crazy and proceeds to impose her madness on the society around her. Whereas Kafka’s characters feel out of control and eventually realize the futility of their struggle, Lise feels in complete control and never realizes that she is swept up in forces that are, in the end, beyond her ability to orchestrate.
In the end, I liked this. It's a short work and the pages seemed to turn quickly. I stayed engaged throughout, and genuinely enjoyed the story.
I just found myself intermittently anxious for Spark to more deeply explore certain of her narrative observations, to provide a bit more commentary on events. There was some of this, but it generally failed to reach the deep places inside me...until the very end.
But the ending...WOW...that was...a...MOMENT.
You know what I mean, those fleeting instances when a book will just pound you and leave you reeling...the moments that reinvest your passion for reading and the written word. The ending was one of those moments. A completion of a momentous journey that is both utterly successful and an abject failure...leaving nothing but victims in its wake.
My timbers shiver to think of it now.
It's short, it's well written, it has an ending of sublime genius. It's worth reading...maybe more than worth reading.
3.5 stars. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Yeah...there's a lot to admire in this work.
That said, I must admit that the story didn't engage me emotionally the way a work dealing with themes of this magnitude usually will. My thinking was engaged, and my philosophical curiosity was certainly feeling it, but my compassion, my inner core tethered to the human condition, felt mostly ignored.
I say mostly...but not completely...because the climax of the story went a long way towards rehabilitating all my complaints.
The last 5 pages of this work were so brilliantly constructed, so surfeit with existential genius, that I wanted to crawl into the book and kneel in supplication before Ms Spark's skill. It was perfect and devastating, and turned a weak, clinically appreciative 3 star rating into a memorable read that was just a wisp of something away from a 4th star.
This is my first time reading Muriel Spark, and I intend to continue my travels through her catalog as there were moments of dazzle in this work that were almost blinding. Our guide through this novella is Lise, whose inner motivations and desires are a puzzle we are meant to solve. Spark never lets us into Lise’s head, and all we are witness to is her behavior and her dialogue.
From her gaudy, attention-seeking attire, to her dysfunctional interactions with the world, to her sexual hangups, to her off-kilter reactions to everyday situations, she is a rubik’s cube whose complex patterns must be aligned. This character dissection becomes suffused with urgency when we learn early on that Lise is going to be savagely murdered. In just over a day, she will be tied up and stabbed repeatedly.
Spark’s described this as a “whydunnit” because who killed Lise is less important for the reader to determine than the why.
This work felt a bit like “anti-Kafka.” By this I mean that, instead of a normal person waking up in a world gone mad and unknowable, Lise begins the story loaded with crazy and proceeds to impose her madness on the society around her. Whereas Kafka’s characters feel out of control and eventually realize the futility of their struggle, Lise feels in complete control and never realizes that she is swept up in forces that are, in the end, beyond her ability to orchestrate.
In the end, I liked this. It's a short work and the pages seemed to turn quickly. I stayed engaged throughout, and genuinely enjoyed the story.
I just found myself intermittently anxious for Spark to more deeply explore certain of her narrative observations, to provide a bit more commentary on events. There was some of this, but it generally failed to reach the deep places inside me...until the very end.
But the ending...WOW...that was...a...MOMENT.
You know what I mean, those fleeting instances when a book will just pound you and leave you reeling...the moments that reinvest your passion for reading and the written word. The ending was one of those moments. A completion of a momentous journey that is both utterly successful and an abject failure...leaving nothing but victims in its wake.
My timbers shiver to think of it now.
It's short, it's well written, it has an ending of sublime genius. It's worth reading...maybe more than worth reading.
3.5 stars. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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April 28, 2019So brief it could be a short story, so tightly wound it could be a mouse-trap, so visually powerful it could be a psychedelic trip, so frighteningly memorable it could be a Hitchcock film.
But it's a Muriel Spark book in which many of her usual structural elements are present, elements such as formidability, isolation, predestination, mania and murder, though it's all ferociously pared back as in the mid-twentieth century architectural movement known as Brutalism.
I'll leave it at that.
But it's a Muriel Spark book in which many of her usual structural elements are present, elements such as formidability, isolation, predestination, mania and murder, though it's all ferociously pared back as in the mid-twentieth century architectural movement known as Brutalism.
I'll leave it at that.
June 10, 2018
Foreshadowing:
My apologies, dear Muriel Spark, I can see a comparison forcing its way into this review of your short masterpiece, as I found a catastrophic similarity to a work not worthy of being mentioned in your presence. I am sorry, but as you know, sometimes things just have to happen, we know it, and we can't do anything about the stains we will leave behind. It is not your fault, your story was here first, you have been innocently assaulted by a brute! My only excuse is that your lovely character Lise embraces stains and strange combinations and patterns, she has Marble Skin, in Drakulic' sense of the word!
Tragedy:
This is a classical tragedy in the sense that we follow the inevitable path of a determined heroine to her death, carefully set up and announced in the beginning. Everything Lise does leads to the dramatic climax of her being murdered. She knows exactly what she needs in order to prepare, and the opening scene, rather disturbing for the reader and the other characters, makes perfect sense to her. She goes berserk in a shop after trying on a dress that turns out to be stain-resistent.
"As if I would want a dress that doesn't show the stains!"
She eventually ends up buying clothes that break every notion of colour coding, combining patterns in a disturbingly individual way. This is accentuated by the contrast foil of a lady in a book store who asks for books to match the design of her spare rooms, preferably in pastel colours. This made me laugh hysterically, considering the lady in question was from Stockholm, of all places, the home of compulsive colour coding and shallow fixation on surfaces.
Lise sets off on a journey in several acts to find her final destination, and her murderer, who has to be her type. She is picky, and rejects several options, while continuing on her path, lying, stealing (mostly cars, from failed murderer applicants) and buying odd accessories for the grand finale. Wherever she goes, she makes an impression, people react strongly to her appearance, and will remember her oddity later, when they act as witnesses after the fait accompli. The reader is immediately informed of their later statements. Foreshadowing is a consistent tool to drive the story forwards.
"Go away", Lise says. "You're not my type." He looks explosive. Another of tomorrow's witnesses."
When she finally encounters her murderer, he is reluctant to follow her, as he wants a different life for himself. She has to guide him through the whole last act, taking a lead, the driver's seat.
"Kill me", she says, and repeats it in four languages."
The murderer gives in to the dominant murderee, and kills her, leaving the stage to the sound of the repeated words "fear and pity, pity and fear", the very essence of Aristotelian catharsis.
Curtain and standing ovations!
Reluctant comparison:
This wonderfully strange, scary, disturbingly perfect tragedy-novella has some evident similarities to the annoying plot of London Fields, featuring a murderee determined to get murdered in the last act, using her manipulative charm and sense of chameleonic change of appearance to summon murderer candidates and to check their suitability for the task. The femme fatale Nicola plays her surroundings just like Lise, however with less charm and grace, and in an everlasting dull repetition over 500 pages.
After reading The Driver's Seat, I know the plot as such works beautifully - a determined murderee, looking for the murderer, is an exciting thought experiment, but I can't believe Amis got away with that lengthy rip-off without punishment. He stole the story and put a lot of testosterone into the mix.
If Lise is a skilled professional murderee, Nicola is a cheap copy cat. Keith, however, and Marmaduke make up for it a bit, giving London Fields two comical characters where there is only one in The Driver's Seat, the deeply religious Jehova's Witness Mrs Fiedke, whose take on reality reads as follows:
"No flying from Barcelona, I said. I'm a strict believer, but I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife. You are safer when they don't. I've been told the Scandinavian airlines are fairly reliable in that respect."
I will be closing this review with a smile on my face, thinking of my dear heathen home country, where books are bought to match curtains, and thanking Mrs Spark for her genius tragedy-novella!
The murderee is dead, long live the murderee!
And Nicola: I don't blame you for copying Lise, who wouldn't feel tempted? Unfortunately you didn't choose your narrator as wisely as she did, so you got stuck in the middle.
Update a week later:
I honestly thought I was exaggerating the "Swedish decoration in pastel colours" angle of this book, written such a long time ago. I thought it was satire, until I opened my free weekend newspaper and read an article that made me think Muriel Spark was a master of foreshadowing things she didn't even know existed:
Saturday, 17th September 2016, a reportage about a Swedish author (of crime fiction, of course) and her sense of home styling in bright colours. Pictures of her kitchen, hallway and living room, and of her book case, custom-made to fit (I AM NOT LYING!) her own books in multiple copies (approximately fifteen per shelf), all sorted by title. 15 copies of her first book on one shelf, 18 of her second on the next, and so on. And since the spines all vary slightly in colour, it makes a harmonious impression. This is true. Not satire. I apologise for thinking I was being funny when I wrote about that lady from Stockholm in the bookstore last week. I underestimated the situation significantly!
My apologies, dear Muriel Spark, I can see a comparison forcing its way into this review of your short masterpiece, as I found a catastrophic similarity to a work not worthy of being mentioned in your presence. I am sorry, but as you know, sometimes things just have to happen, we know it, and we can't do anything about the stains we will leave behind. It is not your fault, your story was here first, you have been innocently assaulted by a brute! My only excuse is that your lovely character Lise embraces stains and strange combinations and patterns, she has Marble Skin, in Drakulic' sense of the word!
Tragedy:
This is a classical tragedy in the sense that we follow the inevitable path of a determined heroine to her death, carefully set up and announced in the beginning. Everything Lise does leads to the dramatic climax of her being murdered. She knows exactly what she needs in order to prepare, and the opening scene, rather disturbing for the reader and the other characters, makes perfect sense to her. She goes berserk in a shop after trying on a dress that turns out to be stain-resistent.
"As if I would want a dress that doesn't show the stains!"
She eventually ends up buying clothes that break every notion of colour coding, combining patterns in a disturbingly individual way. This is accentuated by the contrast foil of a lady in a book store who asks for books to match the design of her spare rooms, preferably in pastel colours. This made me laugh hysterically, considering the lady in question was from Stockholm, of all places, the home of compulsive colour coding and shallow fixation on surfaces.
Lise sets off on a journey in several acts to find her final destination, and her murderer, who has to be her type. She is picky, and rejects several options, while continuing on her path, lying, stealing (mostly cars, from failed murderer applicants) and buying odd accessories for the grand finale. Wherever she goes, she makes an impression, people react strongly to her appearance, and will remember her oddity later, when they act as witnesses after the fait accompli. The reader is immediately informed of their later statements. Foreshadowing is a consistent tool to drive the story forwards.
"Go away", Lise says. "You're not my type." He looks explosive. Another of tomorrow's witnesses."
When she finally encounters her murderer, he is reluctant to follow her, as he wants a different life for himself. She has to guide him through the whole last act, taking a lead, the driver's seat.
"Kill me", she says, and repeats it in four languages."
The murderer gives in to the dominant murderee, and kills her, leaving the stage to the sound of the repeated words "fear and pity, pity and fear", the very essence of Aristotelian catharsis.
Curtain and standing ovations!
Reluctant comparison:
This wonderfully strange, scary, disturbingly perfect tragedy-novella has some evident similarities to the annoying plot of London Fields, featuring a murderee determined to get murdered in the last act, using her manipulative charm and sense of chameleonic change of appearance to summon murderer candidates and to check their suitability for the task. The femme fatale Nicola plays her surroundings just like Lise, however with less charm and grace, and in an everlasting dull repetition over 500 pages.
After reading The Driver's Seat, I know the plot as such works beautifully - a determined murderee, looking for the murderer, is an exciting thought experiment, but I can't believe Amis got away with that lengthy rip-off without punishment. He stole the story and put a lot of testosterone into the mix.
If Lise is a skilled professional murderee, Nicola is a cheap copy cat. Keith, however, and Marmaduke make up for it a bit, giving London Fields two comical characters where there is only one in The Driver's Seat, the deeply religious Jehova's Witness Mrs Fiedke, whose take on reality reads as follows:
"No flying from Barcelona, I said. I'm a strict believer, but I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife. You are safer when they don't. I've been told the Scandinavian airlines are fairly reliable in that respect."
I will be closing this review with a smile on my face, thinking of my dear heathen home country, where books are bought to match curtains, and thanking Mrs Spark for her genius tragedy-novella!
The murderee is dead, long live the murderee!
And Nicola: I don't blame you for copying Lise, who wouldn't feel tempted? Unfortunately you didn't choose your narrator as wisely as she did, so you got stuck in the middle.
Update a week later:
I honestly thought I was exaggerating the "Swedish decoration in pastel colours" angle of this book, written such a long time ago. I thought it was satire, until I opened my free weekend newspaper and read an article that made me think Muriel Spark was a master of foreshadowing things she didn't even know existed:
Saturday, 17th September 2016, a reportage about a Swedish author (of crime fiction, of course) and her sense of home styling in bright colours. Pictures of her kitchen, hallway and living room, and of her book case, custom-made to fit (I AM NOT LYING!) her own books in multiple copies (approximately fifteen per shelf), all sorted by title. 15 copies of her first book on one shelf, 18 of her second on the next, and so on. And since the spines all vary slightly in colour, it makes a harmonious impression. This is true. Not satire. I apologise for thinking I was being funny when I wrote about that lady from Stockholm in the bookstore last week. I underestimated the situation significantly!
May 31, 2019
A couple of years ago we were all told in Britain to take back control. But when people are licensed to express openly what they feel it's sometimes a shock to discover just how much hankering after ugliness there is in the human spirit. Social media too has borne this out. It's all very well for popular cinema to keep churning out these narratives about the beauty of the human spirit but really they only tell half the story. You might say it's that other half of the story which always interests Muriel Spark. Her characters are often fermenting with disappointment, with the realisation they've been lied to (like most of us they rarely admit to lying to themselves); they are always seeking to take back control of their lives. The problem is, there's usually something corrupt at the heart of their aspirations. They are usually deluded. One morning Muriel Spark's heroine Lise, who has worked in an accountant's office since she was eighteen - no wonder she's reached breaking point! - decides to take back control.
The opening scene has Lise choosing a new outfit for her impending holiday. To watch someone shopping for clothes provides such revealing insights into his or her character that I'm surprised it isn't used more by novelists as an introductory device for showing us who we are dealing with! However, the comic exuberance with which Spark writes this scene was indicative of the problem I had with this book as a whole. Its comic tone was pitched one note too high for me. It's self-consciously and relentlessly a very absurd novel.
The running joke in this book is of a world turned inside out. It begins on the first page with our heroine wilfully choosing clothes that don't suit her and reaches its comic peak when a women, referring to hippies, bemoans the clamouring of men for equality with their insistence on long hair and jewellery. "If we don't look lively,' she says, 'they will be taking over the homes and the children, and sitting about having chats while we go and fight to defend them and work to keep them." A woman's quest for love is, ultimately, the dynamic that Spark here turns on its head.
In all her books Spark is ingenious in her manner of managing narrative time. Same story here. Throughout the narrative she deftly moves the clock forward and backward. Informs us early on what awaits Lise, to begin with in the form of teasing "spoilers": we are told a woman who meets Lise at the airport will be questioned the following day by the police who are trying to establish who Lise is. Then a couple of pages later that Interpol are involved in the investigations. However, you realise the "spoiler" increases the tension rather than dissipating it.
I'm not sure if the theme of this novel has any precedents; it certainly has a couple of acolytes - Elizabeth Bowen's Eva Trout and Martin Amis' London Fields (both, in my opinion, slightly better novels). My least favourite of her books so far but I'd still recommend it.
The opening scene has Lise choosing a new outfit for her impending holiday. To watch someone shopping for clothes provides such revealing insights into his or her character that I'm surprised it isn't used more by novelists as an introductory device for showing us who we are dealing with! However, the comic exuberance with which Spark writes this scene was indicative of the problem I had with this book as a whole. Its comic tone was pitched one note too high for me. It's self-consciously and relentlessly a very absurd novel.
The running joke in this book is of a world turned inside out. It begins on the first page with our heroine wilfully choosing clothes that don't suit her and reaches its comic peak when a women, referring to hippies, bemoans the clamouring of men for equality with their insistence on long hair and jewellery. "If we don't look lively,' she says, 'they will be taking over the homes and the children, and sitting about having chats while we go and fight to defend them and work to keep them." A woman's quest for love is, ultimately, the dynamic that Spark here turns on its head.
In all her books Spark is ingenious in her manner of managing narrative time. Same story here. Throughout the narrative she deftly moves the clock forward and backward. Informs us early on what awaits Lise, to begin with in the form of teasing "spoilers": we are told a woman who meets Lise at the airport will be questioned the following day by the police who are trying to establish who Lise is. Then a couple of pages later that Interpol are involved in the investigations. However, you realise the "spoiler" increases the tension rather than dissipating it.
I'm not sure if the theme of this novel has any precedents; it certainly has a couple of acolytes - Elizabeth Bowen's Eva Trout and Martin Amis' London Fields (both, in my opinion, slightly better novels). My least favourite of her books so far but I'd still recommend it.
June 19, 2025
My first Muriel Spark. She got a lot attention from my fellow readers lately and I’ve been curious her myself for a while too. Hmm, well, hmm… Not sure however how I feel with this short novel at all. I don’t mind quirkiness, in fact I’m very fond of it, likewise dark humour and somewhat morbid fascination with death or sense of alienation and destination. Muriel Spark is very economical, she can pack a lot in her writing indeed, and as I know most of her works could be defined as short stories or novellas, and if I had to term the genre I would opt for black comedy here. Because despite the whole tragic content and whodunnity background it is a comedy. At least for me (but we established already I have somewhat odd sense of humour).
The main protagonist Lise is definitely mentally disturbed. But who isn’t actually? All people she has misfortune to meet on her way are more or less not right in the head either. A bit senile old lady met at the hotel and who accompanies Lise through day in shopping center, the guy from car workshop who offers to drive Lise and by the way trying to take advantage of the opportunity or the cranky dude fixated on healthy food and lifestyle who is allowed to at least one orgasm per day and, yes, you got this right, attempts use Lise for that. But neither of them is Lise’s type at all. We can read these particular words he's not my type for several times because for her purpose Lise needs someone else, someone special. In fact she recognized him from the start like probably he guessed something about her behaviour too. Lise remained a mystery to me but the whole story despite its cruelty and brutality had quite surreal air. And, for starters, I think it's enough to make me read more of Spark.
The main protagonist Lise is definitely mentally disturbed. But who isn’t actually? All people she has misfortune to meet on her way are more or less not right in the head either. A bit senile old lady met at the hotel and who accompanies Lise through day in shopping center, the guy from car workshop who offers to drive Lise and by the way trying to take advantage of the opportunity or the cranky dude fixated on healthy food and lifestyle who is allowed to at least one orgasm per day and, yes, you got this right, attempts use Lise for that. But neither of them is Lise’s type at all. We can read these particular words he's not my type for several times because for her purpose Lise needs someone else, someone special. In fact she recognized him from the start like probably he guessed something about her behaviour too. Lise remained a mystery to me but the whole story despite its cruelty and brutality had quite surreal air. And, for starters, I think it's enough to make me read more of Spark.
March 7, 2022
I put this on my TBR because a couple of my favorite reviewers on Goodreads wrote intriguing reviews. Plus, I’m always looking for new-to-me authors, and she was on my list. Then a Goodreads buddy suggested we read it together, and there I was. But, going in, I didn’t remember anything about the book, other than I wanted to read it.
So, I’m introduced to the protagonist from afar, almost like she’s the intrusion on my life, and not the other way around. Almost like she just barges in, out of her own life, demanding everyone’s attention. And, it works. I’m hooked. As I watch her, I wonder… “Do I like her? What’s she up to? Is she’s crazy? Something’s off. Where’s she headed? Wait - she’s a predator!? Or, is she prey?” And then I’m told that she’s later found murdered, and I’m just a few pages into the book (which, to be fair, is the thickness of ‘90s super-model), and that surprise - being told rather than shown in just a sentence or two, and then picking up from where we left off - is very effective. Because now I’m paying more attention than I normally would to this dialogue between strangers on a plane because everyone is a suspect and I don’t want to miss a single detail. I desire both to solve the puzzle and enjoy the surprise of ignorance. And this airplane convo is written in this artful blend of highly stylized, a la Mad Men, but with earnest hippy content - which makes sense for a book published in 1970.
So, I’m still watching her from afar and I’m still guessing, “Is she deliberately distracting us to confuse her trail somehow?” And this is one of those fascinating books that packs so much into a slim space that I devote myself to it, simultaneously absorbing every detail, and devouring it. When I’m done, the answer to all my questions is both satisfying and unsatisfying, in the way that a mystery is both solved and unsolved, because we now know what’s happened, but we’ll never really know all the nuances of this woman and what made her who she is: and there’s something satisfying about being left with just enough curiosity into the human condition that brought me to reading in the first place, and completed the circle to start it again.
So, I’m introduced to the protagonist from afar, almost like she’s the intrusion on my life, and not the other way around. Almost like she just barges in, out of her own life, demanding everyone’s attention. And, it works. I’m hooked. As I watch her, I wonder… “Do I like her? What’s she up to? Is she’s crazy? Something’s off. Where’s she headed? Wait - she’s a predator!? Or, is she prey?” And then I’m told that she’s later found murdered, and I’m just a few pages into the book (which, to be fair, is the thickness of ‘90s super-model), and that surprise - being told rather than shown in just a sentence or two, and then picking up from where we left off - is very effective. Because now I’m paying more attention than I normally would to this dialogue between strangers on a plane because everyone is a suspect and I don’t want to miss a single detail. I desire both to solve the puzzle and enjoy the surprise of ignorance. And this airplane convo is written in this artful blend of highly stylized, a la Mad Men, but with earnest hippy content - which makes sense for a book published in 1970.
So, I’m still watching her from afar and I’m still guessing, “Is she deliberately distracting us to confuse her trail somehow?” And this is one of those fascinating books that packs so much into a slim space that I devote myself to it, simultaneously absorbing every detail, and devouring it. When I’m done, the answer to all my questions is both satisfying and unsatisfying, in the way that a mystery is both solved and unsolved, because we now know what’s happened, but we’ll never really know all the nuances of this woman and what made her who she is: and there’s something satisfying about being left with just enough curiosity into the human condition that brought me to reading in the first place, and completed the circle to start it again.
August 3, 2014
Muriel Spark had enough brains for two normal people but this little novel was almost completely stupid. It was like a terrible joke whose heavily adumbrated punchline is a tiresome and obvious inversion of normal reality, like a banana slipping on the skin of a man. You carry on reading this book, and it is very readable, and doesn't take long, because you can't believe what you are suspecting will be the outcome will really be the outcome, and it is, that's all, no explanation, no nothing. Spark's fans mutter that this is a masterpiece. John Lanchester's introduction says :
It is fair to say that The Driver's Seat is not one of her most famous books. That, I think, is because it doesn't tell us a single thing that we want to know.
Okay, as ever, I usually try to find something I liked in a book I hated, and this made me smile. The year is 1969 or 1970 and the protagonist Lise is with an old lady who is confused by all the social changes of the 60s. They're in a large department store. The old dear says
"Is she what they call a hippy?"
"This one's a hippy," says Lise, indicating with her head a slouching bearded youth dressed in tight blue jeans, no longer blue, his shoulders draped with an assortment of cardigans and fringed leather garments, heavy for the time of year.
Mrs Fiedke looks with interest and whispers to Lise
"They are hermaphrodites. It isn't their fault.
It is fair to say that The Driver's Seat is not one of her most famous books. That, I think, is because it doesn't tell us a single thing that we want to know.
Okay, as ever, I usually try to find something I liked in a book I hated, and this made me smile. The year is 1969 or 1970 and the protagonist Lise is with an old lady who is confused by all the social changes of the 60s. They're in a large department store. The old dear says
"Is she what they call a hippy?"
"This one's a hippy," says Lise, indicating with her head a slouching bearded youth dressed in tight blue jeans, no longer blue, his shoulders draped with an assortment of cardigans and fringed leather garments, heavy for the time of year.
Mrs Fiedke looks with interest and whispers to Lise
"They are hermaphrodites. It isn't their fault.
June 11, 2021
With regard to wearing apparel, there is no accounting for taste. Lise is preparing to go on vacation and everything must be just so, right down to the glaringly colorful dress and loud coat she has chosen to wear. She revels in the attention her attire draws for the most part, but takes severe umbrage at those who laugh or make "helpful" comments about the odd mix and match. With an eye peeled for the men with whom she comes into contact, Lise is looking for a very specific type. There is definitely something a bit "off" about her. You feel unsettled, do you think you have an idea of where you are being driven?
This was not available at our library, but the wonderful Mobius program secured a copy which was sent here from out of state. Thank you to Robin Bree, who brought this small treacherous treasure to my attention.
This was not available at our library, but the wonderful Mobius program secured a copy which was sent here from out of state. Thank you to Robin Bree, who brought this small treacherous treasure to my attention.
Read
September 22, 2016Abandon hope all ye who enter here
I tell you, you're on your own with this one. I cannae help. Don't come here looking for an interpretation, analysis, outline, summary or evaluation. I havenae a clue what she was up to either.
Naw, and three times it is I've read it the noo, can you believe that? THREE TIMES. Well, it's very short. Naw, that's the thing, it doesnae help. In fact it just gets more confusing, cos you keep on finding wee dots that just wullnae join up, d'ya ken? I have this theory that Ms Spark was actually quite often really cruel to her characters, and here she goes that one step further and is cruel to her readers too. She'll be sat up there on her own wee cloud somewhere laughing like a drain at all the cahoots. You know, people trying to make sense of this nonsense? The secret is: THERE ISN'T ANY.
Naw, she doesnae gie us any help. It's all just weirdly bizarre.
Funny? Aye, well, you'd need a right warped sense of humour, but yes, in a painful way it is, aye. Ye ken, that kind of laughter that just releases your anxiety, because you don't quite believe what you're seeing? That kind.
Aye, of course I thought about it. And tae begin with I thought it was a feminist tract; woman goes in search of The One. It disnae do her much good (to put it mildly) when she finds The One. On the way to finding The One she is assailed by two lecherous males with come on lines that are hard to credit: "On this diet the Regional Master for Northern Europe recommends one orgasm a day. At least."
But there's so much other stuff that disnae tie up, so I chucked that idea. Then I read this, well, most of it anyway. Based very much on Barthes, and claiming that any narrative that, like this one, explodes narrative and confounds readerly expectations is basically just doing that one job: showing us how narrative works. Or doesnae in this case.
all literature...should be a narrative, a flow of words in the service of an event which ‘makes its way’ toward its denouement or its conclusion: not to ‘narrate’ its object is, for the Book, to commit suicide. (Barthes)So here we have a Book Suicide.
Buying it was fun though! Aye, this is one I actually picked up in a real life bookshop. Real bookshops are irresistible to me, even when I'm just visiting ma Mam and Dad with weight restricted carry-on luggage only. But I knew this was due up soon at an on-line book group I belong to, it's extremely thin and lightweight, so without further investigation I picked it up and carried it in my wee hot hands to the young man at the pay desk. Who gave me a distinctly strange look. "Well, I hope you're not too close to distraction", and a sardonic and sympathetic look at my daughter who would be the one left to care for her batty old Mum when Ms Spark had sent her off the rails. So I read out the blurb on the back: "Lise... driven to distraction ... leaves everything behind her, transforms herself into a laughing, garishly dressed temptress and flies abroad on the holiday of a lifetime. But her search for adventure, sex and new experience takes on a far darker significance...." Ha! I assured him that I got my kicks in books rather than real life, but now that I have been driven to distraction by Ms Spark, I'm beginning to think that he was more concerned about the deleterious effect on my sanity that the reading process would bring than the fear that Ms Spark might inspire me to try for the garish temptress look. I'm still working on that one.
May 30, 2021
Holy shit!
What a strange book!
Very short..107 pages.. I was riveted!
Lise is 34 yrs old, single, lonely..and manic.
She decides to take a vacation for her mental health.
She’s also on a mission to find the right man for her.
She meets many strangers.. starting on the plane.. mostly men.
What happens?
Is it a suicidal wish?
🤷♀️
Very intense, but some humor.. great writing.
What a strange book!
Very short..107 pages.. I was riveted!
Lise is 34 yrs old, single, lonely..and manic.
She decides to take a vacation for her mental health.
She’s also on a mission to find the right man for her.
She meets many strangers.. starting on the plane.. mostly men.
What happens?
Is it a suicidal wish?
🤷♀️
Very intense, but some humor.. great writing.
Read
January 12, 2022what did I just read
March 3, 2020
Lise, a suicidally unhappy woman in a dead-end job, travels to southern Italy to find someone to murder her. Lise, women like her, I have not infrequently heard referred to as "bitches on wheels." She lies pathologically, casually steals cars, and perceives personal insults in matters that really have nothing to do with her. (She goes ballistic early on when told that a dress she's trying on is made of stain-resistant fabric. She thinks the salesperson, by stating this simple fact, means to call her a sloppy eater.) My favorite passages in the novella include the seduction of Lise undertaken by a macrobiotic diet fanatic, Bill, whose absurd monologues on Yin foods and Yang foods are hilarious. There is also Mrs. Friedke, an octogenarian, who tags along with Lise during shopping excursions. These jaunts devolve in time to a colloquy on who might or might not be "Lise's man," with Mrs. Friedke blithely oblivious to the real purpose this fellow is to serve. The Driver's Seat may have served as one of Martin Amis' models for his novel London Fields. In that longer book, another woman, Nicola Six, methodically sets out to locate her murderer. Needless to say, both women are successful. There are passages in both books, too, which self-describe them as "whydoits" as opposed to whodunits.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2019
Okurken de bittikten sonra da çelişkide bıraktı beni Sürücü Koltuğu.
Okurken takıldığım noktalar, Tanrı anlatıcının sadece Lise’in iç dünyasında sınırlı kalmayıp arada çok da önemi olmayan karakterlerin bakış açısında takılı kalması, spoiler—tecavüz ve araba sahnesinin—iki kere tekrarlanmasının etkiyi kırıp kırmadığı konusundaki şüphelerim, anlatımdaki parça pinçik üslup, kitabı bitirip de üstüne biraz düşününce metin hakkında adeta bir okuma haritası çıktı kendiliğinden.
Spoiler
Karakterimiz Lise İtalya’ya tatile çıkıyor ve kendinin diğer yarısını aradığını zannederken biz, aslında katilini aramaya gittiğini çarpıcı bir şekilde kafamıza inen balyoz etkisiyle öğreniyoruz.
Spoiler
70 yılında yayımlanmış ve başka bir ülkenin dertlerini konu edinmiş bir metin olmasına rağmen, sene olmuş 2019, Kadın olmanın zorlukları, dini inanışlarla birbirimizi ötekileştirme adetimiz, herkesin kendini Tanrı gibi tepelerde ve hatasız görmesi aptallığına, etrafımızda bitmek tükenmek bilmeyen alkali beslenmeler, herkesin en organik besine ulaşma çabası ve iddiasıyla diğerlerine yaptığı baskıya güzel güzel giydirip ayna tutmadaki başarısına da hayran olunacak cinsten.
Kitap bitince sevgili Sinem A. ile konuşurken diğer Gallerli kadın yazarlar ve tarzları hakkında bazı ortak özellikler bulduk. Kopuk anlatım, atmosferce zengin metinler vb yönünden anlatıyı biçime çok rahat dönüştürebilme yeteneğine sahipler.
Kitapla ilgili beni en mest eden yer kitabın adı olan “Sürücü Koltuğu” nun kitapta çıktığı an oldu. Metinin adıyla bütünleştiği anlara bayılıyorum :)
Bayan Jean Brodie’nin Baharı’nı çok geçmeden okuma isteği yarattı Sürücü Koltuğu bende. Spark’ın kendine has çarpıcı edebiyatıyla çok geçmeden sizin de tanışmanızı öneririm.
Okurken takıldığım noktalar, Tanrı anlatıcının sadece Lise’in iç dünyasında sınırlı kalmayıp arada çok da önemi olmayan karakterlerin bakış açısında takılı kalması, spoiler—tecavüz ve araba sahnesinin—iki kere tekrarlanmasının etkiyi kırıp kırmadığı konusundaki şüphelerim, anlatımdaki parça pinçik üslup, kitabı bitirip de üstüne biraz düşününce metin hakkında adeta bir okuma haritası çıktı kendiliğinden.
Spoiler
Karakterimiz Lise İtalya’ya tatile çıkıyor ve kendinin diğer yarısını aradığını zannederken biz, aslında katilini aramaya gittiğini çarpıcı bir şekilde kafamıza inen balyoz etkisiyle öğreniyoruz.
Spoiler
70 yılında yayımlanmış ve başka bir ülkenin dertlerini konu edinmiş bir metin olmasına rağmen, sene olmuş 2019, Kadın olmanın zorlukları, dini inanışlarla birbirimizi ötekileştirme adetimiz, herkesin kendini Tanrı gibi tepelerde ve hatasız görmesi aptallığına, etrafımızda bitmek tükenmek bilmeyen alkali beslenmeler, herkesin en organik besine ulaşma çabası ve iddiasıyla diğerlerine yaptığı baskıya güzel güzel giydirip ayna tutmadaki başarısına da hayran olunacak cinsten.
Kitap bitince sevgili Sinem A. ile konuşurken diğer Gallerli kadın yazarlar ve tarzları hakkında bazı ortak özellikler bulduk. Kopuk anlatım, atmosferce zengin metinler vb yönünden anlatıyı biçime çok rahat dönüştürebilme yeteneğine sahipler.
Kitapla ilgili beni en mest eden yer kitabın adı olan “Sürücü Koltuğu” nun kitapta çıktığı an oldu. Metinin adıyla bütünleştiği anlara bayılıyorum :)
Bayan Jean Brodie’nin Baharı’nı çok geçmeden okuma isteği yarattı Sürücü Koltuğu bende. Spark’ın kendine has çarpıcı edebiyatıyla çok geçmeden sizin de tanışmanızı öneririm.
January 30, 2019
Wrenchingly bleak and somehow triumphant all the same, and so exquisitely written that this shocking tale of willful self-destruction takes on a patina of a comedy of manners. It's a mix that won't be to everyone's taste but I loved it. So evidently did Muriel Spark--The Driver's Seat was Spark's favorite novel of hers.
April 27, 2024
2.5 stars
short review for busy readers: a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown flies off to an exotic location with a very specific, very unusual goal in mind. Requires close reading due to the highly confusing scene changes and dialogue.
in detail:
Going to upset the apple cart a bit with this as it seems all my GR friends loved this one...
I can understand how readers might be intrigued with this story about a young, mentally ill woman who ostensibly is on holiday somewhere warm where she suffers from intermittent hallucinations (Mrs Fiedke appearing/disappearing) and is always believing the ‘wrong’ sorts of men are bullying her or entrapping her into sexual situations (Bill, Carlo).
She makes total sense in her madness. Nothing at all is random.
But here’s the crux: if Mrs Fiedke isn’t real, then possibly Bill and Carlo aren’t either (they’re fears, memories, stereotypes), which begs the question if the entire story itself isn’t a delusion? That none of it ever happened? Lise’s imagined all of it, due to her mental condition or due to some sort of depression. She never went anywhere and never did what we (think) she's done.
Or even more diabolical, what happened at the end did happen in reality and this story is Lise's mind’s attempt to remove her from being the victim to being the one in ‘the driver’s seat’. She's rewriting events so that she chose what happened rather than having it happen to her.
If that reading is correct, then that’s a wickedly bizarre and negative take on feminism, which encourages women to take an active role in their fates .
Whatever the case, I’m afraid most of the story bored me. The long, tedious expedition in the department store almost had me DNF and Lise’s thising and thating got on my nerves, even while I could see how the author was setting up the clues for the final scene.
"The Driver's Seat" is an interesting literary experiment, possibly with an explosive meaning, but it spends too much time in cloud cuckoo land to pull the punch it might have if it were more tightly rendered or with more realism.
short review for busy readers: a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown flies off to an exotic location with a very specific, very unusual goal in mind. Requires close reading due to the highly confusing scene changes and dialogue.
in detail:
Going to upset the apple cart a bit with this as it seems all my GR friends loved this one...
I can understand how readers might be intrigued with this story about a young, mentally ill woman who ostensibly is on holiday somewhere warm where she suffers from intermittent hallucinations (Mrs Fiedke appearing/disappearing) and is always believing the ‘wrong’ sorts of men are bullying her or entrapping her into sexual situations (Bill, Carlo).
She makes total sense in her madness. Nothing at all is random.
But here’s the crux: if Mrs Fiedke isn’t real, then possibly Bill and Carlo aren’t either (they’re fears, memories, stereotypes), which begs the question if the entire story itself isn’t a delusion? That none of it ever happened? Lise’s imagined all of it, due to her mental condition or due to some sort of depression. She never went anywhere and never did what we (think) she's done.
Or even more diabolical, what happened at the end did happen in reality and this story is Lise's mind’s attempt to remove her from being the victim to being the one in ‘the driver’s seat’. She's rewriting events so that she chose what happened rather than having it happen to her.
If that reading is correct, then that’s a wickedly bizarre and negative take on feminism, which encourages women to take an active role in their fates .
Whatever the case, I’m afraid most of the story bored me. The long, tedious expedition in the department store almost had me DNF and Lise’s thising and thating got on my nerves, even while I could see how the author was setting up the clues for the final scene.
"The Driver's Seat" is an interesting literary experiment, possibly with an explosive meaning, but it spends too much time in cloud cuckoo land to pull the punch it might have if it were more tightly rendered or with more realism.
April 15, 2019
What a strange, disconcerting novella, a kind of inverted crime novel and black comedy in which we know what seems to be the most important part of the ending very early.
The main protagonist is Lise, and we are introduced to her as she is arguing with a shop assistant trying to sell her a stain resistant dress. We can see from the start that Lise is at best eccentric and possibly mad, and we follow her demise almost in slow motion. As ever with Spark there are some very funny observations, but she seems determined to flout the conventions of the form throughout, and on her own terms she succeeds brilliantly.
The main protagonist is Lise, and we are introduced to her as she is arguing with a shop assistant trying to sell her a stain resistant dress. We can see from the start that Lise is at best eccentric and possibly mad, and we follow her demise almost in slow motion. As ever with Spark there are some very funny observations, but she seems determined to flout the conventions of the form throughout, and on her own terms she succeeds brilliantly.
September 15, 2019
“Who knows her thoughts? Who can tell?”
From the start of the novel it’s clear that the central character, Lise, is mentally unbalanced, so much so that she intimidates her boss at the accountancy firm where she works. The main part of the novel though is taken up with Lise’s “holiday” to a city which isn’t specified but which seems to be somewhere on the Italian Peninsula. On her trip Lise wears garish clothes and often strikes up loud and bizarre conversations with other people. She seems to be deliberately drawing attention to herself and trying to ensure people will remember her. She frequently talks about meeting someone. She doesn’t know who the person is but says that she will know him when she sees him. It’s fair to say Lise’s idea of “The One” is a different concept from that advanced in the standard romance novel. She also carries around and ostentatiously displays a paperback novel, the significance of which is divulged near the end of the book.
Most of the characters in the book are unpleasant, even the minor ones. I’ve noticed this tends to be a feature of the author’s books, at least the ones I’ve read. A particular aspect of this one is how it features conversations at cross-purposes, with Lise talking to someone else, and the two speaking of quite unrelated things.
A weird story of madness and of predetermined fate. I wouldn’t say that I “really liked” it, but it held my interest from start to finish. I wanted to find out what exactly happens to Lise, and whether the book would offer any explanations. A book that’s unlike anything else I’ve read. 7/10 rounded up.
From the start of the novel it’s clear that the central character, Lise, is mentally unbalanced, so much so that she intimidates her boss at the accountancy firm where she works. The main part of the novel though is taken up with Lise’s “holiday” to a city which isn’t specified but which seems to be somewhere on the Italian Peninsula. On her trip Lise wears garish clothes and often strikes up loud and bizarre conversations with other people. She seems to be deliberately drawing attention to herself and trying to ensure people will remember her. She frequently talks about meeting someone. She doesn’t know who the person is but says that she will know him when she sees him. It’s fair to say Lise’s idea of “The One” is a different concept from that advanced in the standard romance novel. She also carries around and ostentatiously displays a paperback novel, the significance of which is divulged near the end of the book.
Most of the characters in the book are unpleasant, even the minor ones. I’ve noticed this tends to be a feature of the author’s books, at least the ones I’ve read. A particular aspect of this one is how it features conversations at cross-purposes, with Lise talking to someone else, and the two speaking of quite unrelated things.
A weird story of madness and of predetermined fate. I wouldn’t say that I “really liked” it, but it held my interest from start to finish. I wanted to find out what exactly happens to Lise, and whether the book would offer any explanations. A book that’s unlike anything else I’ve read. 7/10 rounded up.
January 12, 2020
Muriel Spark featured a lot on my GR feeds in the last year or so, and I always wanted to join the party and read more of her myself, after being impressed with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I plan to do so in 2020, but hope whatever I do choose to read turns out better than this slim novel, which was written well enough, but wasn't as enjoyable as Jean Brodie. In fact, it was quite shocking and dark, as Spark delivers the story of Lise, who is
BIG SPOILER COMING UP!
seeking someone to do her in. Lise, as a character, is hard to pin down - we find out she is thin and roughly five-foot-six in height, and in her mid 30s. She is neither good looking nor bad, travels light, while also speaking four languages. When she meets men she is viewing them as her potential killer, and you begin to realise that she is definitely not possessing the right amount of marbles upstairs. When she rejects them as not really her type, it is not because of their unsuitability as intimates but because she has no desire to be murdered by them. Typically, Spark lets us know from the outset what Lise’s fate will be. But what keep things interesting is that it's unclear how events will actually unfold.
It was a strange little novel for me, that read in part like the scenario of a stark film noir, but one that switches back and forth through other cinematic genres like romance and comedy. So tonally, I'm not too sure. The unsettling ending did hit me for six, even though I knew it was coming, it really was shattering. Overall though, mixed feelings on this one.
BIG SPOILER COMING UP!
seeking someone to do her in. Lise, as a character, is hard to pin down - we find out she is thin and roughly five-foot-six in height, and in her mid 30s. She is neither good looking nor bad, travels light, while also speaking four languages. When she meets men she is viewing them as her potential killer, and you begin to realise that she is definitely not possessing the right amount of marbles upstairs. When she rejects them as not really her type, it is not because of their unsuitability as intimates but because she has no desire to be murdered by them. Typically, Spark lets us know from the outset what Lise’s fate will be. But what keep things interesting is that it's unclear how events will actually unfold.
It was a strange little novel for me, that read in part like the scenario of a stark film noir, but one that switches back and forth through other cinematic genres like romance and comedy. So tonally, I'm not too sure. The unsettling ending did hit me for six, even though I knew it was coming, it really was shattering. Overall though, mixed feelings on this one.
October 21, 2023
çoook sevdiğim muriel spark yine çok acayip bir kitap yazmış. bu novella denecek kadar ince romanda kadınların yaşamının zorluklarından tutun da neredeyse bugünkü garip beslenme anlayışlarını öngören acayip takıntılara, gaz bombasıyla bastırılan öğrenci olaylarına ve öğrencileri suçlayan potansiyel tecavüzcü pisliklere kadar her sayfada bir olay, bir iz var ve bu izi yakalamak da okura kalmış, çok kolay okunan bir roman değil.
buhran geçiren lise'in tatil için gittiği italya'da katilini aramasını arıyor aslında roman kabaca. lise'in istediğinin olacağını daha kitabın en başında öğreniyoruz, bu ön bilgiye rağmen spark lise'i kimin, nasıl ve niye öldürdüğünü son sayfalarda müthiş bir kurgu ve teknikle bağlayarak neredeyse ustaca bir polisiye çıkarıyor ortaya.
zamanının çok ötesinde bir roman. gerek feminist içeriği gerekse tekniğiyle.
*kitabı agos kirk'e yazdım. http://tembelveyazar.blogspot.com/201...
buhran geçiren lise'in tatil için gittiği italya'da katilini aramasını arıyor aslında roman kabaca. lise'in istediğinin olacağını daha kitabın en başında öğreniyoruz, bu ön bilgiye rağmen spark lise'i kimin, nasıl ve niye öldürdüğünü son sayfalarda müthiş bir kurgu ve teknikle bağlayarak neredeyse ustaca bir polisiye çıkarıyor ortaya.
zamanının çok ötesinde bir roman. gerek feminist içeriği gerekse tekniğiyle.
*kitabı agos kirk'e yazdım. http://tembelveyazar.blogspot.com/201...
August 21, 2020
3.5
I’m not sure what to say about this work, different from any other Spark I’ve read. While reading I’d stop to think, did I read what I just thought I read? A few times, near the beginning, in reference to what the main character’s thinking, Spark writes Who knows? and at its last repetition, I thought, well, if you don’t know, I sure don’t.
My ultimate takeaway is this is a story of knowing your fate and embracing it, even facilitating it. Clues are dropped along the way that Lise knows why she’s going on this vacation she seems forced to take by her place of employment. Her co-workers think it’s for her own good and she can only laugh. Though we are told at the start of an early chapter what will happen to Lise, it’s best to come upon it as a shock; it’ll have you paging back then waiting for more clues.
Lise alternates between being as disagreeable as possible and being somewhat agreeable, between telling lies and being bluntly honest. Her actions are willfully self-destructive; she knows what’s going to happen. Is she happy about it or does she want to get it over with? Who knows?
I’m not sure what to say about this work, different from any other Spark I’ve read. While reading I’d stop to think, did I read what I just thought I read? A few times, near the beginning, in reference to what the main character’s thinking, Spark writes Who knows? and at its last repetition, I thought, well, if you don’t know, I sure don’t.
My ultimate takeaway is this is a story of knowing your fate and embracing it, even facilitating it. Clues are dropped along the way that Lise knows why she’s going on this vacation she seems forced to take by her place of employment. Her co-workers think it’s for her own good and she can only laugh. Though we are told at the start of an early chapter what will happen to Lise, it’s best to come upon it as a shock; it’ll have you paging back then waiting for more clues.
Lise alternates between being as disagreeable as possible and being somewhat agreeable, between telling lies and being bluntly honest. Her actions are willfully self-destructive; she knows what’s going to happen. Is she happy about it or does she want to get it over with? Who knows?
November 25, 2008
This book is loco, man. We're talking Miss Lonelyhearts-loco, Lime Twig-loco, Violent Bear It Away-loco. A death-haunted fever dream that hits you like absinthe and leaves you wide-eyed and paranoid. Loved it.
March 7, 2020
This is the sort of book that crawls into your heart. I read the first half of it on the train up to see my family for new year and I arrived inexplicably on edge; it took me a few minutes to realise I had to blame Spark. When I'd finished I put the book down like something too hot, and kept on reflecting on it for a while as I drifted off to sleep.
One thing I reinterpreted retrospectively was the reason for Spark's flat-toned foreshadowing. She was really playing with the concept of authorship at a moment when the possibility of autonomy was becoming increasingly available to women. I don't think I agree with John Lanchester's reading at all. I don't think the story expresses a horror of modernity itself, certainly not of emancipation, sexual or otherwise. My interpretation is that the story explores a particular flavour that modernity can give to alienation, and also perhaps satirises the backlash against feminism during the period. Lanchester seems to lack all sensitivity to these potentially radical possibilities.
What most puzzled me was deciding what depth, what quality of sympathy I need to have with Lise. The tension I feel is between Spark's play on patriarchal literature's habit of mounting to a heroic climax in which the loser is vanquished, and Lise's rebellious co-writing of her own text (for the incidental, the hindrances, are Spark's, aren't they?) That three men attempt to rape Lise seems to me to express frustration at just how difficult it has been for women to wrest control of their lives, their subjectivities, their texts.
One thing I reinterpreted retrospectively was the reason for Spark's flat-toned foreshadowing. She was really playing with the concept of authorship at a moment when the possibility of autonomy was becoming increasingly available to women. I don't think I agree with John Lanchester's reading at all. I don't think the story expresses a horror of modernity itself, certainly not of emancipation, sexual or otherwise. My interpretation is that the story explores a particular flavour that modernity can give to alienation, and also perhaps satirises the backlash against feminism during the period. Lanchester seems to lack all sensitivity to these potentially radical possibilities.
What most puzzled me was deciding what depth, what quality of sympathy I need to have with Lise. The tension I feel is between Spark's play on patriarchal literature's habit of mounting to a heroic climax in which the loser is vanquished, and Lise's rebellious co-writing of her own text (for the incidental, the hindrances, are Spark's, aren't they?) That three men attempt to rape Lise seems to me to express frustration at just how difficult it has been for women to wrest control of their lives, their subjectivities, their texts.
February 9, 2024
It's not that unusual for different readers to come away from books with completely different understandings of the author's intentions. This is one of those books. I've just skimmed through a number of reviews, both on GR and in the press, and there seems to be precious little agreement among them, except for noting the unsettling, bordering at times on horrific, tone.
My own perceptions of the protagonist, Lise, changed multiple times as the book went along. I'm not going to put anything into print about her because it's such a short, disturbing book that to say much at all is to risk spoilers. About the book in general, I can say that it is brilliantly structured, and as always with Spark, sparely written. The POV is third person objective, and it's written in the present tense, both of which contribute to the vaguely icy, distant feel. There are some scenes that left me intrigued and puzzled and unnerved, all at the same time.
The version I listened to was exquisitely narrated by Judi Dench, who I could easily imagine playing Lise in a movie. The actual filmed version featured Elizabeth Taylor, who seems to me a uniquely poor choice for the role.
My own perceptions of the protagonist, Lise, changed multiple times as the book went along. I'm not going to put anything into print about her because it's such a short, disturbing book that to say much at all is to risk spoilers. About the book in general, I can say that it is brilliantly structured, and as always with Spark, sparely written. The POV is third person objective, and it's written in the present tense, both of which contribute to the vaguely icy, distant feel. There are some scenes that left me intrigued and puzzled and unnerved, all at the same time.
The version I listened to was exquisitely narrated by Judi Dench, who I could easily imagine playing Lise in a movie. The actual filmed version featured Elizabeth Taylor, who seems to me a uniquely poor choice for the role.
December 7, 2015
Lise doesn't make sense. She acts like a lunatic - not even a real lunatic, a lunatic's conception of a lunatic. All the way through the book, I thought: "Really? This is the plot? This seems very far-fetched." It seems like a story a lunatic would come up with. She gets herself into very dangerous situations with men - some would even say she's leading them on and then stealing their cars. She keeps mumbling about her imaginary boyfriend, whom she's looking for, who doesn't exist yet. "Will you feel a presence? Is that how you’ll know?" says the old lady Lise takes shopping for no reason. and "Not really a presence," Lise says. "The lack of an absence." What is she talking about? Why did she plant her passport carefully in a cab? No one does that. If this is what's happening, it's not a very good book.
But I gave this five stars, because
And then on a third level, also, we're talking about Flaubert and Tolstoy, right? There's this whole genre of men Men writing women behaving badly - what men define as badly - who are punished by these same men, to teach a lesson. "Do not behave in this way that I insist you keep behaving in." That might be getting a little too "here's my postgrad thesis" about the whole thing, but it does work.
But I gave this five stars, because
And then on a third level, also, we're talking about Flaubert and Tolstoy, right? There's this whole genre of men Men writing women behaving badly - what men define as badly - who are punished by these same men, to teach a lesson. "Do not behave in this way that I insist you keep behaving in." That might be getting a little too "here's my postgrad thesis" about the whole thing, but it does work.
August 19, 2014
The Driver's Seat is a weird, evasive story in which we are introduced to a chameleon-like protagonist named Lise. In an opening that is instantly unnerving, the first scene sees her raging at a shop assistant for daring to suggest she should buy a stain-proof dress - rather than seeing this as a positive, she loudly berates the girl for implying she would spill food on her clothes. Despite having led an ordered, somewhat mundane life - she's worked in the same office for sixteen years - Lise seems to enjoy making a scene and either observing or imagining the aftermath, a pattern of behaviour that repeats itself throughout the story. The book is about a chain of events that unfolds when she takes a holiday in an unspecified location, constantly changing her voice, attitude and demeanour as she encounters a number of odd characters who she repeatedly abandons, moving on to the next strange situation, looking - she keeps telling people - for a man who is her 'type', whatever that may mean. But Spark tells the reader early on that Lise is ultimately murdered, and the mystery of who and how (particularly as Lise always seems to be into control) drives the plot towards a shocking conclusion. I had actually guessed Lise's aim early in the book, but I was still compelled to read on to see if I could come to understand the character and her motivations. However, Lise remains a mystery - she is unreadable and the narrative is unapologetic about that. It's detached, vaguely surreal, and the indistinct nature of the settings adds to its air of unreality. A quick, disconcerting read with a dark heart; I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer strangeness of this novel.
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