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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Dementia
Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Classism
I picked this up because I saw two references in one day Muriel Spark and then the next day, coincidentally, it landed on my desk at work. Now that I've finished it, I can't figure out why it sparked my attention. It was a grand soap opera discussed in small fragments of recollections, without the benefit of knowing the characters when the action was happening, concluding with the most anti-climactic ending ever.
The subject matter (elderly people struggling with strokes, dementia etc) was just too depressing.
I love the joy of picking up a Muriel spark novel unawares of where her wonderful imagination as a writer will take me and in this book she took me down a gloriously dark and comic consideration of aging and the anticipation of death. The premise is that a number of interconnected individuals all in the 70's and 80's are suddenly plagued by phone calls in which the anonymous person on the other end addresses them individually saying 'Remember you must die'. The ensuing reactions and investigation of this distressing event allow us to meet a number of eccentric and unique characters such as Dame Lettie , Charmian (celebrated former author) and her unfaithful husband Godfrey, blackmailing housekeeper miss Pettigrew , and former assistant to Charmian Jean Taylor whose past sins and infidelities are revealed and their reaction to impending death are explored. Add to that a host of old ladies on a ward of a nursing home and the mix is a brilliant blackly comic novel. I can't wait to carry on reading the rest of her books.
dark
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" many years ago and remember liking it but not much else about it. I thought it was time to revisit the work of Muriel Spark.
"Memento Mori" is a quick and amusing (wry, dry British humor) story about a circle of elderly (70+) friends and acquaintances who have very bustling, dramatic, interconnected lives. I mean, considering this book was written in 1959, I was kind of shocked by all the shenanigans the group got up to. They have had affairs and quarrels and various intimacies; they're keeping secrets, and they're gossiping. They are closely watching each other for signs of failing health and judging each other's "fitness" against their own. There is even blackmail! And then they all begin to receive mysterious anonymous calls from a person telling them "Remember, you must die." How each character responds to the call (fear, anger, resignation) is lightly explored while their capers slowly taper off. In the end, you will probably not be shocked to hear, they all eventually succomb to that inevitable state of being predicted by the anonymous caller.
I mostly enjoyed this book. It is very different from anything I have read lately. There is not much of a plot. it is more like a series of linked vignettes looking at old age. And only a small handful of the characters in "Memento Mori" are at all likable - Charmian, Miss Taylor, Inspector Mortimer, maybe Alec Warner. I usually struggle with books where I can't relate to or emotionally glom onto the main characters, as was the case here. Honestly, "Memento Mori" is a pretty bleak portrait of the human soul. But it was definitely funny and even thought-provoking. I just hope I behave with more empathy, kindness, and propriety when I become Granny T.J.
"Memento Mori" is a quick and amusing (wry, dry British humor) story about a circle of elderly (70+) friends and acquaintances who have very bustling, dramatic, interconnected lives. I mean, considering this book was written in 1959, I was kind of shocked by all the shenanigans the group got up to. They have had affairs and quarrels and various intimacies; they're keeping secrets, and they're gossiping. They are closely watching each other for signs of failing health and judging each other's "fitness" against their own. There is even blackmail! And then they all begin to receive mysterious anonymous calls from a person telling them "Remember, you must die." How each character responds to the call (fear, anger, resignation) is lightly explored while their capers slowly taper off. In the end, you will probably not be shocked to hear, they all eventually succomb to that inevitable state of being predicted by the anonymous caller.
I mostly enjoyed this book. It is very different from anything I have read lately. There is not much of a plot. it is more like a series of linked vignettes looking at old age. And only a small handful of the characters in "Memento Mori" are at all likable - Charmian, Miss Taylor, Inspector Mortimer, maybe Alec Warner. I usually struggle with books where I can't relate to or emotionally glom onto the main characters, as was the case here. Honestly, "Memento Mori" is a pretty bleak portrait of the human soul. But it was definitely funny and even thought-provoking. I just hope I behave with more empathy, kindness, and propriety when I become Granny T.J.
I loved this argy bargy between an elderly well heeled group, their staff, their wills and their state of health and mortality. This is all nudged towards their various unravellings as a mystery caller rings "Remember you must die". It is dark humour incarnate.
Most of the characters have lived colourful lives and now in the 70s and 80s have differing views on their own state of health and that of their peers. It is as backbiting as any coming of age novel might be. It reinforces the fact that old age is not for the faint hearted. Spark does not shy away from what is distasteful or what the reader may see as such. There are wonderfully laugh out loud scenes in a geriatric ward where the women are all addressed as Granny plus their surname. Nobody complains!
The macabre is insidious yet playful throughout. If it suits a character to be sharp yet appear senile, they do because it works for them! How perfect is that? Muriel Spark and Dorothy Parker both catch the same spark for me. Different environments but similar perspectives
Most of the characters have lived colourful lives and now in the 70s and 80s have differing views on their own state of health and that of their peers. It is as backbiting as any coming of age novel might be. It reinforces the fact that old age is not for the faint hearted. Spark does not shy away from what is distasteful or what the reader may see as such. There are wonderfully laugh out loud scenes in a geriatric ward where the women are all addressed as Granny plus their surname. Nobody complains!
The macabre is insidious yet playful throughout. If it suits a character to be sharp yet appear senile, they do because it works for them! How perfect is that? Muriel Spark and Dorothy Parker both catch the same spark for me. Different environments but similar perspectives
This novel is about a group of upper class people in their 70's up to 100 years old. A number of them are getting crank phone calls telling them they're going to die. It is about frivolous, self-centered individuals some of who carry on affairs for decades and others who continuously change their wills. At the end, I wondered "what was the point".