Take a photo of a barcode or cover
imperfectcj 's review for:
Memento Mori
by Muriel Spark
I listened to this on audio while walking around my neighborhood. Because it was a few weeks after the autumnal equinox and I live in New England where the days in winter are painfully short (and cold), most of my walking was at night. One evening while listening to a particularly eerie bit, I heard a strange noise. It was a kind of rhythmic rustling noise, almost like footsteps. I turned quickly and looked behind me, but no one was there. I started walking again and the sound continued. I finally turned off the recording and quickly recognized the sound as the tops of my boots brushing one another. Between having the headphones on and the eeriness of the subject matter, I'd been convinced I was being followed. Even knowing the truth, it was hard to shake my unease.
And so, I learned my lesson about what type of book is best---or not best---for listening while walking alone after dark.
Actually, as a petite woman walking through a poorly-lit suburban neighborhood, I probably shouldn't be listening to headphones at all, but the audiobooks are all that make the painfully mundane landscape bearable. So, I continue listening. Maybe I'll give the neighbor's dog an extra walk as added security.
Despite the fear of being followed, I found this audiobook delightful. The people in it are, by and large, very self-absorbed and comically unaware of the fact. It occurred to me that I've read very few books---if any---about people in this age group, people who were middle-aged or older during the second world war. The writing felt so contemporary, I kept having to remind myself that the story was written and took place in the 1950's. At the first reference to a character parking his car in front of a bomb site in Chelsea, I was confused until I remembered the timeframe of the story.
It's strange to think of these characters as having lived through two world wars. It seems like their concerns would be somehow different because of that experience, but they weren't, really. In the end it's the same relationship difficulties, confusion, and concerns about aging that all of us experience to one degree or another, although perhaps with a little more drama.
I don't remember how I first learned about this book, but I'm glad I found it. It's my first Muriel Spark, and I intend to read more (especially now that I realize Spark wrote The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the movie version of which I picked up because it stars a young Dame Maggie Smith (before the "Dame") but didn't finish. Now I can read the book and then maybe try the movie again).
And so, I learned my lesson about what type of book is best---or not best---for listening while walking alone after dark.
Actually, as a petite woman walking through a poorly-lit suburban neighborhood, I probably shouldn't be listening to headphones at all, but the audiobooks are all that make the painfully mundane landscape bearable. So, I continue listening. Maybe I'll give the neighbor's dog an extra walk as added security.
Despite the fear of being followed, I found this audiobook delightful. The people in it are, by and large, very self-absorbed and comically unaware of the fact. It occurred to me that I've read very few books---if any---about people in this age group, people who were middle-aged or older during the second world war. The writing felt so contemporary, I kept having to remind myself that the story was written and took place in the 1950's. At the first reference to a character parking his car in front of a bomb site in Chelsea, I was confused until I remembered the timeframe of the story.
It's strange to think of these characters as having lived through two world wars. It seems like their concerns would be somehow different because of that experience, but they weren't, really. In the end it's the same relationship difficulties, confusion, and concerns about aging that all of us experience to one degree or another, although perhaps with a little more drama.
I don't remember how I first learned about this book, but I'm glad I found it. It's my first Muriel Spark, and I intend to read more (especially now that I realize Spark wrote The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the movie version of which I picked up because it stars a young Dame Maggie Smith (before the "Dame") but didn't finish. Now I can read the book and then maybe try the movie again).