Loitering with Intent

I reread Loitering with Intent after reading Spark's memoir (Curriculum Vitae), and enjoyed the novel far more than I did 30-odd years ago. The final paragraphs of Loitering are quite simply perfect.

In my opinion, it is her masterpiece. I've read a number of her books that were not as good as this one. If you read only one of her novels, this would be the one to read.

Very interesting novel. It gives you a look into a writers mind and into he process that goes into writing a novel. Has a very different story line than anything that I have ever read. Since this book is more modern it was very easy to read. I would recommend it.

Very well observed post-war life of the arty population, but having thought that this was a mystery story the end fell like a lead balloon for me . Perhaps she has a more pressing commission to finish.

Read it twice for my book review, and second time it became much clearer. The story within a story was very clever and the author has a great sense of humor. I intend to read more Muriel Spark books from here on.

Spark is a chronicler of the quirky. Here a young novelist finds a job with stuffy and failed snobs on post-war England. This tale doesn't match the reach of Jean Brody, but is a pleasant amusement.

A slim novel that's a charm to read. If you like Muriel Spark's fiction, you will surely be satisfied with this story's voice and situation.

I do not want to review every book and am annoyed that I cannot return to my Kindle Library until I have reviewed the book just completed. Amazon take note.

Fleur Talbot, a well-known author, looks back on her earlier life to a time in 1949-1950 when she'd not yet had her first novel published and was living in a small bedsit paid with by wages earned from temporary secretarial work. Needing to earn some extra money to support her whilst she works on her novel, Fleur takes a job working for the eccentric Sir Quentin Oliver, who is the president of the Autobiographical Association, and who Fleur soon begins to realize is not quite the harmless eccentric he first appears. Lording it over a group of bizarre individuals who have joined the association in order to write their own biographies, Sir Quentin's agenda is not immediately clear to Fleur, but when she is typing up the members' manuscripts and he encourages her embellishments of their memories, Fleur begins to have doubts about his motives. As Fleur juggles her job with writing her novel and trying to avoid the mostly unwelcome visits of her lover's wife, she becomes very good friends with Sir Quentin's elderly and rather outlandish mother, Lady Edwina, who takes every opportunity possible to aggravate her son and to deflate his exaggerated opinion of himself. When Fleur's manuscript of her novel disappears, she has the uncomfortable feeling that its disappearance has something to do with the manipulative Sir Quentin, and when one of the association members dies in a manner similar to that of one of the characters in Fleur's novel, she begins to wonder if Sir Quentin's motives are more sinister than she'd imagined...Full of unusual characters living unconventional lives, Muriel Spark's sharply-observed 'Loitering with Intent' is a quirky and entertaining story with a touch of the gothic to it. Although partly autobiographical and the author's cast of off-beat characters are oddly believable, it's not a story to be taken too seriously (though there are deeper and darker layers here if you look for them) and if you take it in the spirit with which is was written then there is quite a lot to enjoy in this unusual little novel.4 Stars.

This is the first book I've read by Muriel Spark, and I enjoyed it. It's set in Britain only a few years after the war, generally regarded as a bleak time in Britain's history. Despite the bleakness, the book's central character, Fleur, lives quite a cheerful Bohemian literary life, not letting lack of money or the food rationing get her down. She says on several occasions 'How wonderful it feels to be an artist and a woman in the twentieth century.' The story itself is skilfully written, never dwelling too long on any episode, but moving on quickly as Fleur's own writing and her real-life become oddly entwined. I found this book very entertaining and it made me want to read more by Muriel Spark.

Having loved some of the other Muriel Spark books, I found this one quite hard work. She keeps telling us what is going to happen to people in the future so it seems a bit muddled. But it does have some amusing bits and is probably worth a go. Oh, don't read the long introduction in this edition. Or if you must, read it at the end.

This is the first Muriel Spark book that I've read. I found the first chapter or two hard work (a different writing style, perhaps) but once I got going I couldn't put it down. The book is set just after the end of World War Two, a period of time that another authoress, Barbara Pym, has written extensively about, so there were a few similarities. All in all, very enjoyable, and I'm now looking forward to reading the second Muriel Spark book that I have in my stack of bedside books, waiting to be read.

This novel is somewhat out of date having been published in 1981 loosely telling the story of the publication of the authors publication of her own first novel. However, her humour stands well against the test of time and her characters, set in the 1950's are rich in quirky character and unpleasant behaviour. It made a enjoyable quick read during this pandemic lock down but I would also recommend it for a short haul flight - as long as the other passengers dont mind you laughing out loud!