Reviews

Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark

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janice_72's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sms8493's review against another edition

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

libellum_aphrodite's review against another edition

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2.0

I really really liked The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, but I thought this effort by Muriel Spark was quite subpar in comparison. The story just kind of meandered around, and while I don't think it was awful, it didn't make me think or laugh or cry or respond at all in any way. This book was fine, but that was about all it was.

lelia_t's review against another edition

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5.0

An absolute delight. I loved Fleur Talbot’s enthusiasm and the way Spark explores how art informs life and life informs art. I had to remind myself that we’re encountering layers of fiction inside of fiction and what Fleur says of her character Warrender Chase is true of her, as well: both are “only some hundreds of words, some punctuation, sentences, paragraphs, marks on the page.” What an amazing thing, to create fully realized characters from a few marks on a page. I think that’s what makes this book so engaging, Fleur seems like a real person with an infectious zest for her work as a writer. Even as Fleur is experiencing life and exploring her creative voice, she’s fine-tuning her own character, and being influenced by other people’s writings. The effect is to create a page-turner out of what seems, when I try to describe it, quite dull. It’s not dull at all and the whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking how fun rereading this book will be.

_____

I just read this a second time after reading Martin Stannard’s biography of Muriel Spark and find the novel is as wonderful as it was on the first read-through, but now I can see how this was a victory song for Muriel Spark. She’s celebrating the self that won through all the doubts others had about her abilities, the damaging effect of relationships with men who weren’t right for her, her own issues with Dexedrine. Her own path to finding her voice may have been difficult and long, but she’s celebrating her resilience in the remarkable Fleur Talbot.

alisonhori's review against another edition

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2.0

Strange self indulgent book....about a wantabe author in England...reads as autobiographical but maybe not. I found it pretty dull and pointless...read like a British slap-stick comedy TV show which I also don't tend to enjoy.

tessyoung's review against another edition

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4.0

Oh how I loved this. I think I've noted before that I'm a Spark fan so I thought I was on pretty safe ground. My concern again was the audible format which I feared would hamper my enjoyment, but there's just so much to enjoy in this novel that it just kept on shining through the slightly pacy delivery. The plot and storyline are both simple and ingenious. The references to the various types of text, writing, memoir and fiction are fabulous. The characters, as ever, are so well drawn and lively, and not a single on superfluous to the text. I would love to read this again for myself. There's just so much to savour.