The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
by Alan Bennett
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Book Reviews of The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
Book Review: An absolute delight
Summary: 5 Stars
While the Queen was out with her dogs one day, the dogs took off and started barking at the traveling library (bookmobile) that was on the Palace grounds. The Queen feels duty bound to go over and apologize for her dogs' actions. While she was in the bookmobile she met a young man who works in the Palace kitchen. She also feels obligated to check out a book, so she leaves with The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford. She becomes so engrossed in the book that she feigns illness so she could stay in bed to read. Thus began the Queen's love affair with books in The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett.
The Queen's love of books doesn't please everyone, though, because she is running late for engagements and isn't paying as much attention to appearances as she used to. The young man from the kitchen is promoted to help her choose and keep up with her books. By the end of the book, the Queen has become interested in writing too, and what happens at the very end will surprise you.
This novella was an absolute delight. Readers will love sentences like this, "Books have enriched my life in a way that one could never have expected." It made me think about how reading affects the reader and others around them and how other people view readers. I was able to relate to the Queen's obsession with books.
Book Review: A Barren Life
Summary: 4 Stars
The usual obligatory commentary on the back cover of this charming and entertaining little book mentions that it is "about why books matter" and "the subversive power of reading". There is doubtless something to that. But more important, it seems to me, it is a book, and in some ways a rather sad one, about the state of the British monarchy. Bennett encapsulates, in a subtle and clever way, the barrenness and insularity of the Queen's life. In the story, but in the story only, she finds a way to break out of this bubble by reading widely and extensively. In real life, one can be sure she does no such thing.
In the Scandinavian countries, Spain and the Netherlands the monarchs are permitted relatively private and contemporary lives. In Britain, the monarchy remains a grand and puffed up national institution, a significant symbol of unity, continuity and tradition. Unfortunately, that fact has forced its members into a staid, stuffy and anachronistic mold. Their scandals and missteps are subject to relentless tabloid gossip and mockery, so much so that they, as well as the entire apparatus which enfolds them, have become a laughingstock. As far as I can tell, the average Englishman is unable to decide whether to be proud or embarrassed by the whole thing. Most, I believe, are a bit of both.
Book Review: A stylish literary confection
Summary: 4 Stars
A stylish and witty literary conceit that is ultimately as wispy, ephemeral and sweet as cotton candy. The title is certainly an allusion to Virginia Woolf's collection of essays from 1925 (Elizabeth II being born in 1926, less than a year after its publication -- though Woolf can be considered a common reader no more than the Queen).
The happens to follow her ever present clutch of Corgis into a mobile library that happens to visit the palace grounds. Good form compels her to check out a book. She also comes into contact with a gay kitchen boy who becomes her early guide into all varieties of literature. Subsequently the Queen discovers that, of course, the palace has its own library. Bennett's comedic narrative of the development of this new found passion for reading (despite the disapproval of the Prince, courtiers, and the Prime Minister), and the empowerment and confidence it brings to the Queen personally, to her judgment, and to her "duty" is the central theme of the book.
Bennett's ultimately goal, and far more serious one of course, is to show how literature humanizes the reader (as the Queen says in the book, "one must take the time"), as well as the subversive nature of independent thought, and (certainly self-servingly) leads to writing as the ultimate exercise of the mind.
Book Review: Required reading
Summary: 4 Stars
This charming little book should be required reading for anyone who enjoys reading and writing, understands British humour and doesn't mind fun being poked, gently, at Queenie and her brood. Bennett's past and current contributions to the London Review of Books, where the content of this book appeared first, make him one of England's memorable men of letters, and he writes much better than some of the Names (you know who they are and many are vastly overrated).
TUR is a quick and easy read that evokes many memories of Britain and reminds one of some of the quirks and absurdities of Royalty. It also convinces one that the life of the Monarch is a lonely one, that of a bird in a gilded cage longing (if one accepts Bennett's charming conceit) to fly. There isn't a dull page in it.
One aspect of the book is mystifying and reduced my rating: the price. $12 retail, for a book that is only 4-1/2" X 7 and 120 well-spaced pages long, is too much. Evidence may be found in the offering of new copies at less than half the price.
Bennett remains a memorably fine writer. It's worth subscribing to the LRB just to read his Diary, and the memory of seeing Maggie Smith dazzle the London theatre audience with her portrayal of his THE LADY IN THE VAN is yet another confirmation of his remarkable skills.
Book Review: Sheer delight for bibliomaniacs
Summary: 5 Stars
A slim volume, this book has lingered in my memory since I first devoured it in London this spring. The subversive power of the written word has rarely been as fancifully and effectively communicated as in this tale of Queen Elizabeth stumbling across a portable library in the grounds of Buckingham Palace while in pursuit of an errant corgi. The monarch is transformed into an avid reader, flummoxing her subjects, her government ministers, her family and her courtiers. Bennett captures the "voice" of the queen herself, even as he deftly outlines the odd position of the constitutional monarchy in today's Britain. Just imagine what could happen if a symbolic head of state, condemned to an eternity of ribbon-cuttings and delivering ceremonial speeches scripted by others discovers literature and a life of ideas? Bennett does -- with aplomb. And his closing paragraphs will leave you gasping and laughing at once -- an admirable twist to this tale.
Recommended for all readers -- common and uncommon -- who believe in the importance of books. Click that "buy" button or head for the bookstore, pronto!