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The Laying On of Hands: Stories
Three stories in one volume from one of Britain's most admired authors and playwrights. The Laying On Of Hands is Bennett at his inimitable best in this funny, and mischievous satire about a society memorial service for a rather special masseur who has died at a tragically young age in Peru.
In "Father! Father! Burning Bright" Bennett writes with tragicomic insight about a son's vigil at his father's deathbed where their lifelong battle continues to the end. With his pared down and deceptively simple prose style Bennett unflinchingly describes the random thoughts and haphazard conversations of the family members waiting in the hospital as they face life and death.
In "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet" a podiatrist shows a lonely, unmarried department store clerk that there's more to life than looking after her brother. Part of the award winning and critically acclaimed Talking Heads series, "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet" was described in the New York Times as both "touching" and "hilarious."
In "Father! Father! Burning Bright" Bennett writes with tragicomic insight about a son's vigil at his father's deathbed where their lifelong battle continues to the end. With his pared down and deceptively simple prose style Bennett unflinchingly describes the random thoughts and haphazard conversations of the family members waiting in the hospital as they face life and death.
In "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet" a podiatrist shows a lonely, unmarried department store clerk that there's more to life than looking after her brother. Part of the award winning and critically acclaimed Talking Heads series, "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet" was described in the New York Times as both "touching" and "hilarious."
208 pages, Hardcover
First published September 3, 2001
63 people are currently reading
636 people want to read
About the author
Alan Bennett
272 books1,107 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Alan Bennett is an English author and Tony Award-winning playwright. Bennett's first stage play, Forty Years On, was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, along with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose and broadcasting, and many appearances as an actor. Bennett's lugubrious yet expressive voice (which still bears a slight Leeds accent) and the sharp humour and evident humanity of his writing have made his readings of his own work (especially his autobiographical writing) very popular. His readings of the Winnie the Pooh stories are also widely enjoyed.
Alan Bennett is an English author and Tony Award-winning playwright. Bennett's first stage play, Forty Years On, was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, along with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose and broadcasting, and many appearances as an actor. Bennett's lugubrious yet expressive voice (which still bears a slight Leeds accent) and the sharp humour and evident humanity of his writing have made his readings of his own work (especially his autobiographical writing) very popular. His readings of the Winnie the Pooh stories are also widely enjoyed.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
August 22, 2017
E che cerimonia...
Navata laterale , panche sul fondo della chiesa
celebrazione funebre di un massaggiatore dal caldo tocco, affollata dalla crème de la crème di Londra(e nel programma è incluso un preoccupante assolo di sax...)
Una scrittrice molto acclamata notando le sigarette,sussurro':
" Si puo' fumare ".
Il suo accompagnatore scosse il capo.
" Non credo".
" Non c'è il cartello, è quello là ?"
Cercando gli occhiali, scrutò una targa attaccata ad una colonna.
" Credo che sia una stazione della Via Crucis " rispose l'altro.
" Ah sì? Comunque all'entrata ho visto un posacenere ".
" Quella era l'acquasantiera".
Quando si dice dimestichezza religiosa .... :D
Navata laterale , panche sul fondo della chiesa
celebrazione funebre di un massaggiatore dal caldo tocco, affollata dalla crème de la crème di Londra(e nel programma è incluso un preoccupante assolo di sax...)
Una scrittrice molto acclamata notando le sigarette,sussurro':
" Si puo' fumare ".
Il suo accompagnatore scosse il capo.
" Non credo".
" Non c'è il cartello, è quello là ?"
Cercando gli occhiali, scrutò una targa attaccata ad una colonna.
" Credo che sia una stazione della Via Crucis " rispose l'altro.
" Ah sì? Comunque all'entrata ho visto un posacenere ".
" Quella era l'acquasantiera".
Quando si dice dimestichezza religiosa .... :D
January 7, 2013
A very short story that was originally published in the London Review of Books, and is typically Bennett.
It is set in the moments before, after, and mainly during, the memorial service for Clive, a young man who died in Peru a few months earlier. The fashionable London church is filled with a group of diverse but mostly famous or important friends, most of whom didn't realise Clive was also a friend of the others.
Bennett affectionately and humourously highlights the foibles and hypocrisy of modern society, the church and celebrity culture, particularly the social awkwardness that conflict can trigger. Being Bennett, the underlying themes and revelations are no surprise, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment.
Vignettes from the story:
* A soap had shocked its audience when a main character raped his mother, but the actor assured chat show hosts that he was a pussy-cat in real life, and this was exemplified by the fact that "within minutes of the maternal rape, he could be found on another channel picking out the three items of antique furniture he would invest in were his budget limited to £500."
* Celebrities' "anxiety must be kept private... They must wait to share their worries discretely with friends or, if with the general public, at a decent price from the newspaper concerned".
* The wry advantages of separating the funeral and memorial service: "the finality of death mitigated by staggering it over two stages", and the advantages of calling a memorial service a "celebration": "the marrying of the valedictory with the festive convenient on several grounds. For a start, it made grief less obligatory... [and] also allowed the congregation to dress up and not down, so that though the millinery might be more muted, one could have been forgiven... for thinking this was a wedding not a wake."
* A cleric reminiscing about the old "don't ask, don't tell" approach to gay priests, favoured "dry, ascerbic and, of course, unavowed; A E Houseman the type that he approved of, minus the poetry, of course, and (though this was less important), minus the atheism."
* "Father Jolliffe was Anglican but with Romish inclinations that were not so much doctrinal as ceremonial and certainly sartorial."
* A priest looking at his flock "cast professionally loving glances... on his pink and generous face, an expression of settled benevolence."
* "His faith was real enough, though so supple and riddled with irony that God was no more exempt from censure than the Archbishop of Canterbury."
* "Funeral tears rarely flow for anyone other than the person crying them."
* Some mourners went on to "a new restaurant that had opened in a converted public lavatory". I would like to think this an amusing fiction, but I can't help thinking that such an establishment may already exist.
The only jarring note is that although this is mostly written in the past, several times a sentence starts in the past but slips, weirdly, into the present. It happens often enough that I assume it's deliberate, but I found it distracting and annoying: "First up was an actress... who ascends the stairs", and "One of these... was Father Jolliffe who is professional".
On a more positive linguistic note, I was amused by this (somewhat graphic) anecdote:
"He learned that words mattered, once having been in bed with an etymologist whose ejaculation had been indefinitely postponed when Clive (on being asked if he was about to come too) had murmured, 'Hopefully'. In lieu of discharge, the etymologist had poured his frustrated energy into a short lecture on neologisms which Clive had taken so much to heart he had never said 'hopefully' again."
It is set in the moments before, after, and mainly during, the memorial service for Clive, a young man who died in Peru a few months earlier. The fashionable London church is filled with a group of diverse but mostly famous or important friends, most of whom didn't realise Clive was also a friend of the others.
Bennett affectionately and humourously highlights the foibles and hypocrisy of modern society, the church and celebrity culture, particularly the social awkwardness that conflict can trigger. Being Bennett, the underlying themes and revelations are no surprise, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment.
Vignettes from the story:
* A soap had shocked its audience when a main character raped his mother, but the actor assured chat show hosts that he was a pussy-cat in real life, and this was exemplified by the fact that "within minutes of the maternal rape, he could be found on another channel picking out the three items of antique furniture he would invest in were his budget limited to £500."
* Celebrities' "anxiety must be kept private... They must wait to share their worries discretely with friends or, if with the general public, at a decent price from the newspaper concerned".
* The wry advantages of separating the funeral and memorial service: "the finality of death mitigated by staggering it over two stages", and the advantages of calling a memorial service a "celebration": "the marrying of the valedictory with the festive convenient on several grounds. For a start, it made grief less obligatory... [and] also allowed the congregation to dress up and not down, so that though the millinery might be more muted, one could have been forgiven... for thinking this was a wedding not a wake."
* A cleric reminiscing about the old "don't ask, don't tell" approach to gay priests, favoured "dry, ascerbic and, of course, unavowed; A E Houseman the type that he approved of, minus the poetry, of course, and (though this was less important), minus the atheism."
* "Father Jolliffe was Anglican but with Romish inclinations that were not so much doctrinal as ceremonial and certainly sartorial."
* A priest looking at his flock "cast professionally loving glances... on his pink and generous face, an expression of settled benevolence."
* "His faith was real enough, though so supple and riddled with irony that God was no more exempt from censure than the Archbishop of Canterbury."
* "Funeral tears rarely flow for anyone other than the person crying them."
* Some mourners went on to "a new restaurant that had opened in a converted public lavatory". I would like to think this an amusing fiction, but I can't help thinking that such an establishment may already exist.
The only jarring note is that although this is mostly written in the past, several times a sentence starts in the past but slips, weirdly, into the present. It happens often enough that I assume it's deliberate, but I found it distracting and annoying: "First up was an actress... who ascends the stairs", and "One of these... was Father Jolliffe who is professional".
On a more positive linguistic note, I was amused by this (somewhat graphic) anecdote:
"He learned that words mattered, once having been in bed with an etymologist whose ejaculation had been indefinitely postponed when Clive (on being asked if he was about to come too) had murmured, 'Hopefully'. In lieu of discharge, the etymologist had poured his frustrated energy into a short lecture on neologisms which Clive had taken so much to heart he had never said 'hopefully' again."
January 14, 2018
My New Year’s resolution is to choose, at least once a month, one of the books that has been on my bookshelves unread, in some cases, for years. This was a great choice to start me off.
I love Alan Bennett. Who needs audio books when you can have Bennett reading to you in your head?! This is only a short story of a little more than 100 pages but it made me laugh out loud several times. It’s a masterpiece about a memorial service for a masseur that’s attended by everyone from politicians to tv chefs to soap stars, all of whom to their surprise had some sort of relationship with the deceased. Presiding is a priest who also knew the masseur. Geoffrey is an ambitious priest but a bit of a drama queen. “It was unfair to God, he knew, but he’d always felt the deity had a mean side and on one of his reports at theological college his tutor had written, ‘Tends to confuse God with Joan Crawford.’” Excellent!
The service descends into farce and to say any more would be to say too much. If you love AB, you’ll love this. An easy 5 stars that’s going back on my bookshelf to stay.
I love Alan Bennett. Who needs audio books when you can have Bennett reading to you in your head?! This is only a short story of a little more than 100 pages but it made me laugh out loud several times. It’s a masterpiece about a memorial service for a masseur that’s attended by everyone from politicians to tv chefs to soap stars, all of whom to their surprise had some sort of relationship with the deceased. Presiding is a priest who also knew the masseur. Geoffrey is an ambitious priest but a bit of a drama queen. “It was unfair to God, he knew, but he’d always felt the deity had a mean side and on one of his reports at theological college his tutor had written, ‘Tends to confuse God with Joan Crawford.’” Excellent!
The service descends into farce and to say any more would be to say too much. If you love AB, you’ll love this. An easy 5 stars that’s going back on my bookshelf to stay.
November 20, 2024
2,5
L’ultima ventina di pagine è ciò che, molto probabilmente, mi spingerà a ritentare con Bennett.
L’ultima ventina di pagine è ciò che, molto probabilmente, mi spingerà a ritentare con Bennett.
January 15, 2018
"The Laying of Hands" and two additional short stories were included in this small book. The title story is a satirical piece about a memorial service for a masseur who has died at a young age. The church is filled with his clients, many of them celebrities, who offer special memories of the deceased. I really can't imagine people divulging very personal information at a church service so it didn't seem totally realistic. But it worked well as a humorous story.
"Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet" shows a woman living a boring life working in a department store, and acting as a caregiver for her brother who is recovering from a stroke. Her podiatrist adds some excitement to her life!
"Father! Father! Burning Bright" features a son at his dying father's bedside. The son always felt that he had not lived up to his father's expectations. I didn't like the attitudes of the characters in the family and hospital staff, so I found the story to be more sad than humorous.
3 stars overall.
"Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet" shows a woman living a boring life working in a department store, and acting as a caregiver for her brother who is recovering from a stroke. Her podiatrist adds some excitement to her life!
"Father! Father! Burning Bright" features a son at his dying father's bedside. The son always felt that he had not lived up to his father's expectations. I didn't like the attitudes of the characters in the family and hospital staff, so I found the story to be more sad than humorous.
3 stars overall.
March 2, 2022
‘The Laying on of Hands’ Alan Bennett (2001) - one of Bennett’s short stories/novelettes.
‘Hands’ comes with plenty of the wryly urbane and knowing humour that we’ve come to expect from the accomplished pen of Alan Bennett.
This time around, it’s the story of a memorial service to ‘celebrate’ the life of one Clive Dunlop - masseur to the many celebrities that are in attendance.
All being watched over by the critical eye of the bishop in attendance, whilst the priest attempts to conduct the service as best he can - given the challenging congregation that he finds himself with.
As with much of Alan Bennett’s work, ‘Hands’ is ostensibly and superficially a very pleasant, for the most part seemingly well behaved, reserved, disarmingly and deceptively gentle story. Despite the high ‘celebrity count’ (thinly veiled equivalents of real life counterparts- or amalgams of same) - and as so often with Bennett, ‘Hands’ still somehow feels very suburban, very - ‘as seen through neighbouring net curtains’ (in the best possible way).
On the face of it, ‘Hands’ is a simple and straightforward story - expertly executed by Bennett as always. Deceptively subversive and really quite rude (sexual proclivities abound) - in the hands of many other, less skilful writers, would have been by turns pedestrian and/or farcical - not so with Bennett.
Hugely enjoyable.
‘Hands’ comes with plenty of the wryly urbane and knowing humour that we’ve come to expect from the accomplished pen of Alan Bennett.
This time around, it’s the story of a memorial service to ‘celebrate’ the life of one Clive Dunlop - masseur to the many celebrities that are in attendance.
All being watched over by the critical eye of the bishop in attendance, whilst the priest attempts to conduct the service as best he can - given the challenging congregation that he finds himself with.
As with much of Alan Bennett’s work, ‘Hands’ is ostensibly and superficially a very pleasant, for the most part seemingly well behaved, reserved, disarmingly and deceptively gentle story. Despite the high ‘celebrity count’ (thinly veiled equivalents of real life counterparts- or amalgams of same) - and as so often with Bennett, ‘Hands’ still somehow feels very suburban, very - ‘as seen through neighbouring net curtains’ (in the best possible way).
On the face of it, ‘Hands’ is a simple and straightforward story - expertly executed by Bennett as always. Deceptively subversive and really quite rude (sexual proclivities abound) - in the hands of many other, less skilful writers, would have been by turns pedestrian and/or farcical - not so with Bennett.
Hugely enjoyable.
June 5, 2017
First story: absolutely hilarious, brilliant timing in revealing the details. Second story: funny, absurd. Third one: more of a tragical story, difficult to get in to, the author switches voices too abruptly, but along the way it gets better.
July 31, 2025
Vabbè, Alan Bennett come sempre non ne sbaglia una, e questo funerale dissacrante che esplora tutti i fenotipi dell’umanità è ciò che di più divertente credo abbia mai scritto - il finale AMATO
November 19, 2017
Clive muore in Perù. A Londra la commemorazione. Sono molti a partecipare. Lo conoscevano molto bene, e così lo conosceva anche padre Jolliffe. Sì, allo stesso modo.
Clive già da piccolo aveva le mani che emanavano un prodigioso calore. Se ne vergognava. Poi, scoprì che il suo non era un difetto, ma un dono. Un dono che valeva oro.
Si spendono parole e applausi per il defunto Clive. Di cosa è morto? Meglio non saperlo, perché solo il dubbio che la sua morte abbia un nome fa cadere nell'angoscia più profonda tutti quanti.
Commemorando commemorando, si fa un viaggio intorno al corpo di Clive. Clive dal tocco corroborante. Clive che non è solo Clive, ma anche Max, Bunny, Alex, Toby, Denis, Philip, e anche Betty.
Miss Wishart, non lo conosce ma è lì perché lei va a tutti i funerali. Non si è mai divertita tanto.
La funzione è finita. Ipocrisia e bassezza immergono le dita nell'acquasantiera, si genuflettono rispettosamente. Cala il sipario e si cambia fondale. Amen.
Ho anche sghignazzato... ma l'amarezza non manca. Perfidia di gran class nella penna di Bennett.
Clive già da piccolo aveva le mani che emanavano un prodigioso calore. Se ne vergognava. Poi, scoprì che il suo non era un difetto, ma un dono. Un dono che valeva oro.
Si spendono parole e applausi per il defunto Clive. Di cosa è morto? Meglio non saperlo, perché solo il dubbio che la sua morte abbia un nome fa cadere nell'angoscia più profonda tutti quanti.
Commemorando commemorando, si fa un viaggio intorno al corpo di Clive. Clive dal tocco corroborante. Clive che non è solo Clive, ma anche Max, Bunny, Alex, Toby, Denis, Philip, e anche Betty.
Miss Wishart, non lo conosce ma è lì perché lei va a tutti i funerali. Non si è mai divertita tanto.
La funzione è finita. Ipocrisia e bassezza immergono le dita nell'acquasantiera, si genuflettono rispettosamente. Cala il sipario e si cambia fondale. Amen.
Ho anche sghignazzato... ma l'amarezza non manca. Perfidia di gran class nella penna di Bennett.
April 29, 2019
Prima o poi doveva capitare un libro di Bennett che non mi piacesse un granché. La narrazione è talmente breve che non si dà tempo al lettore di capire dove si trova. I personaggi sono tutti macchiette e poco approfonditi: il defunto massaggiatore dalle «mani d'oro», il prete gay che lo compiange e l'arcidiacono bigotto che supervisiona. Stendiamo un velo pietoso sugli altri partecipanti, VIP ignoranti e tristi. La solita ironia grottesca di Bennett stavolta si è trasformata in una triste banalità.
April 5, 2021
3.5
Di Bennett avevo già letto "La sovrana lettrice", romanzo che mi è piaciuto.
Proprio per questo ho voluto approfondire l'autore leggendo questo libro.
Inizialmente, non capivo dove volesse andare a parare e non riuscivo a trovare il suo tipico senso dell'umorismo e ironia ma, dalla metà in poi, tutto è diventato più chiaro e la narrazione ha cominciato ad essere molto più scorrevole e divertente, seppur mai spassosa o particolarmente comica.
Interessanti i risvolti psicologici dei personaggi e la sottile critica sociale presente nel racconto.
Peccato per la prima metà del libro, a mio parere troppo lenta e anche leggermente noiosa rispetto alla seconda.
Comunque una lettura piacevole e un ottimo passatempo da leggere in un paio di ore.
Penso proprio di leggere altro dell'autore.
Di Bennett avevo già letto "La sovrana lettrice", romanzo che mi è piaciuto.
Proprio per questo ho voluto approfondire l'autore leggendo questo libro.
Inizialmente, non capivo dove volesse andare a parare e non riuscivo a trovare il suo tipico senso dell'umorismo e ironia ma, dalla metà in poi, tutto è diventato più chiaro e la narrazione ha cominciato ad essere molto più scorrevole e divertente, seppur mai spassosa o particolarmente comica.
Interessanti i risvolti psicologici dei personaggi e la sottile critica sociale presente nel racconto.
Peccato per la prima metà del libro, a mio parere troppo lenta e anche leggermente noiosa rispetto alla seconda.
Comunque una lettura piacevole e un ottimo passatempo da leggere in un paio di ore.
Penso proprio di leggere altro dell'autore.
November 14, 2010
I funerali, non si sa bene per quale motivo, hanno sempre un risvolto comico che balza agli occhi degli spettatori non coinvolti. Quando poi non sono proprio funerali ma solo commemorazioni, l'ingombrante presenza della bara viene a mancare e ci si può anche rilassare di più.
100 paginette divertenti, acute, brillanti, la miseria umana viene messa in scena senza alcun pudore e senza alcuna remora; il libro è una come grossa fotografia in cui Bennett si concentra avidamente sui dettagli più insignificanti e meno visibili, the big picture siamo capaci di vederlo tutti, concentrarsi sulle minuzie e sulle piccole meschinità non è da tutti, no.
100 paginette divertenti, acute, brillanti, la miseria umana viene messa in scena senza alcun pudore e senza alcuna remora; il libro è una come grossa fotografia in cui Bennett si concentra avidamente sui dettagli più insignificanti e meno visibili, the big picture siamo capaci di vederlo tutti, concentrarsi sulle minuzie e sulle piccole meschinità non è da tutti, no.
May 13, 2012
E' il primo libro che ho letto di Alan Bennett e sono certa che sarà anche l'ultimo.
Sarà che capisco poco l'umorismo inglese o che lo considero scialbo e privo di verve ma ho trovato questo testo davvero bruttino e banale.
Gli aneddoti raccontati li trovo insipidi e la scrittura mi ha parecchio annoiata.
Niente, tra me e Bennett non è scoccata la scintilla.
Mi annoia persino scriverne la recensione quindi mi fermo qui:P
Sarà che capisco poco l'umorismo inglese o che lo considero scialbo e privo di verve ma ho trovato questo testo davvero bruttino e banale.
Gli aneddoti raccontati li trovo insipidi e la scrittura mi ha parecchio annoiata.
Niente, tra me e Bennett non è scoccata la scintilla.
Mi annoia persino scriverne la recensione quindi mi fermo qui:P
June 11, 2013
Molto divertente.
L'autore è abilissimo nello svelare piano piano fatti e personaggi descrivendoli con humor inglese.
E' capace, con stile psicologicamente acuto, di far emergere le ipocrisie dei VIP invitati alla cerimonia; li tira dentro tutti, complice il protagonista assente perché deceduto, il quale scatenerà tra gli astanti, prete compreso, sentimenti diversi che si esprimeranno più o meno liberamente, in una specie di confessione collettiva.
L'autore è abilissimo nello svelare piano piano fatti e personaggi descrivendoli con humor inglese.
E' capace, con stile psicologicamente acuto, di far emergere le ipocrisie dei VIP invitati alla cerimonia; li tira dentro tutti, complice il protagonista assente perché deceduto, il quale scatenerà tra gli astanti, prete compreso, sentimenti diversi che si esprimeranno più o meno liberamente, in una specie di confessione collettiva.
November 11, 2010
Un funerale, un prete, e i segreti dei personaggi dello spettacolo : un racconto brillante, divertente, ma al tempo stesso inquietante, in cui ci si trova sommersi da pettegolezzi, scheletri nell'armadio dei partecipanti al triste evento. Una critica dei riti e miti della societa’ . Si legge di un fiato.
January 16, 2017
Allegro, pungente e spietatamente sincero, è una lettura assolutamente piacevole.
(Unica piccola noticina: avrei concluso il libro con la conclusione del funerale, perché mi pare che l'ultima parte, per quanto dissacrante, perda un po' di mordente)
(Unica piccola noticina: avrei concluso il libro con la conclusione del funerale, perché mi pare che l'ultima parte, per quanto dissacrante, perda un po' di mordente)
March 1, 2018
Come sempre Bennet riesce a divertire in modo intelligente e accattivante. Se non avete mai letto nulla di suo, fatelo!
August 13, 2018
Avevo grandi aspettative, dopo aver letto la sovrana lettrice invece è noioso e vuoto.
November 22, 2022
Eine ganz nette Kurzgeschichte
June 14, 2023
Lettura scorrevole e piacevole.
Perfetta per il mese del Pride :)
Perfetta per il mese del Pride :)
January 18, 2008
If you like Alan Bennett you'll like these three stories, the second one Miss Fozzard finds her feet being the lightest.
'A woman? I said, 'In chiropody? Isn't that unusual?' 'No,'he said,'not nowadays.The barriers are coming down in chiropody as well as everything else.
She said, 'Call me Mallory.' I said,'Mallory? What sort of name is that? I wouldn't be able to put a sex to it.' She says,'Well I'm Australian.' Strong girl, very capable.And a qualified physiotherapist with a diploma in caring.Its Australian caring but I suppose it'll be the same as ours only minus the bugbear of hypothermia.
The Laying on of Hands ,the first story is about a memorial service for a masseur,when the priest allows the congregation to talk about their departed aquaintance, it all goes cringe inducing, in an Alan Bennett tragicomic kind of way.
'A woman? I said, 'In chiropody? Isn't that unusual?' 'No,'he said,'not nowadays.The barriers are coming down in chiropody as well as everything else.
She said, 'Call me Mallory.' I said,'Mallory? What sort of name is that? I wouldn't be able to put a sex to it.' She says,'Well I'm Australian.' Strong girl, very capable.And a qualified physiotherapist with a diploma in caring.Its Australian caring but I suppose it'll be the same as ours only minus the bugbear of hypothermia.
The Laying on of Hands ,the first story is about a memorial service for a masseur,when the priest allows the congregation to talk about their departed aquaintance, it all goes cringe inducing, in an Alan Bennett tragicomic kind of way.
June 13, 2015
The thing about reading Alan Bennett is that, once you've heard him speak, or recite his stories, anything you read thereafter you hear in his voice. It's most peculiar and quite wonderful to hear his wry Yorkshire tones reading this to me, whilst reading from the pages.
This is a sharp, wryly amusing tale of a young man's memorial service - not promising material I'd have thought, but in Bennett's hands it's a wonder. TV stars, judges, senior civil servants and junior ministers all attend, expecting there to be few attenders, but find it packed both inside the church with other mourners and outside with papparazzi and autograph hunters. All of them wonder what the others are doing there, how they know Clive...and does anyone else guess in what capacity they themselves knew Clive? (Bibical pun intentional)
Just superb.
This is a sharp, wryly amusing tale of a young man's memorial service - not promising material I'd have thought, but in Bennett's hands it's a wonder. TV stars, judges, senior civil servants and junior ministers all attend, expecting there to be few attenders, but find it packed both inside the church with other mourners and outside with papparazzi and autograph hunters. All of them wonder what the others are doing there, how they know Clive...and does anyone else guess in what capacity they themselves knew Clive? (Bibical pun intentional)
Just superb.
May 31, 2015
Il funerale ― anzi, la commemorazione ― di un giovane massaggiatore/gigolò è occasione di grande imbarazzo per i suoi clienti. L'affetto (e la riconoscenza) per il defunto li ha spinti a presenziare, convinti che sarebbe stata una cerimonia per pochi intimi, e invece si ritrovano a comporre una folla di volti noti e celebrità. Perfino il prete che officia la funzione conosceva bene il caro estinto.
Da qui prende avvio questo breve romanzo molto divertente, molto caustico, molto british.
4 stelline "soltanto" perché non credo che si possa apprezzare appieno la feroce ironia contro la chiesa anglicana se non si è nati e cresciuti o quantomeno ci si è trasferiti da un bel po' in UK.
Da qui prende avvio questo breve romanzo molto divertente, molto caustico, molto british.
4 stelline "soltanto" perché non credo che si possa apprezzare appieno la feroce ironia contro la chiesa anglicana se non si è nati e cresciuti o quantomeno ci si è trasferiti da un bel po' in UK.
May 14, 2018
Un funerale pieno zeppo di persone famose, tutte unite dal ricordo di Clive il massaggiatore. Arguzia, attenzione e dettaglio. Uno spaccato forse un po' distante dal mondo d'oggi ma allo stesso tempo tremendamente attuale.
January 28, 2008
I actually threw this brand new hardback in the trash when I finished it. Felt good to take even a single copy of this wretched book out of circulation.
January 17, 2018
Masse di messaggi per una messa per un fu massaggiatore.
Umor inglese, bello.
Umor inglese, bello.
October 3, 2017
Ein kurzer schwarzer Roman über die menschliche Art mit Problemen umzugehen.
Sehr empfehlenswert.
Sehr empfehlenswert.
March 23, 2021
Es un libro de una lectura fácil y rápida. Tiene ciertos toques entretenidos y el tema de la muerte lo maneja con mucha gracia. Es un libro para pasar el rato.
November 28, 2022
No le he encontrado la gracia.
October 4, 2024
#LetturaCondivisaJ
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