Unnecessary Rankings! Muriel Spark

It’s time for another unnecessary rankings! In today’s iteration, I’m turning my attention to a very prolific novelist – I’ve been steadily reading her for years, helped by the fact that most of her books are very short. There are still a couple I haven’t read (The Bachelors and Aiding and Abetting), but this is my ranking of all of Muriel Spark’s other novels/novellas. I’ve written reviews of most of them, so if you’d like to know more, you’ll probably find details in my masterlist of reviews.

Let me know which Spark novels you’d put at the top – or, if you’re feeling in the mood, the bottom.

20. The Public Image (1968)
I’m baffled that this one got shortlisted for the Booker. It’s probably the only Spark novel I’ve found boring, and I found Spark’s look at celebrity through the lens of a film actress to be (shockingly, for her) predictable and tedious.

19. The Takeover (1976)
Reading the Wikipedia summary, I’m realising I remember the Italian setting (Lake Nemi) but none of the characters – which speaks volumes.

18. Robinson (1958)
Spark’s second novel is a play on Robinson Crusoe that sadly isn’t very successful, in my eyes.

17. Not To Disturb (1971)
The novella is mostly focused on the servants quarters in a house where tragedy has happened – or is shortly to happen? I enjoyed the writing but never really knew what was going on.

16. Reality and Dreams (1996)
A more successful look at the world of acting and cinema than The Public Image, this late-career Spark novel is about a film director who wants to keep control of his film after falling from crane…

15. The Mandelbaum Gate (1965)
The gate in question is between Israel and Jordan, and a knowingly charming man called Freddy lives in the region, crossing back and forth with some kind of diplomatic immunity. Things get complex when ‘half Jewish’ Barbara comes on the scene, having followed her archeologist fiance to the Holy Land, and accidentally becomes part of a crisis. This is far and away Spark’s longest novel, at 400 pages, and it’s interesting to see her do her thing at greater length.

14. Territorial Rights (1979)
A bunch of mostly unpleasant people antagonise each other in Venice. It’s very good, but somehow misses the (forgive me) spark that her novels have at their finest.

13. The Hothouse by the East River (1973)
The most memorable detail of this book is that the heroine’s shadow falls in the wrong direction. Elsa spends much of her time looking out the window at the East River. But what is she really looking at? Why has her psychoanalyst, Garvin, moved in as their butler? And is Elsa living in reality or hallucination? Even for Spark, The Hothouse by the East River is particularly weird – but it has quite a satisfying conclusion. It’s also the most recent of hers I read, and that was three years ago, so I need some more Spark and soon.

12. The Finishing School (2004)
Spark’s final novel is set at a finishing school in Switzerland, and is a fascinating exploration of how creativity can create divisions and emnities that fester under the surface. She was still innovative and excellent right to the end.

11. The Driver’s Seat (1970)
One of Spark’s most discussed novellas – we know from the outset that Lise has been killed while on a trip abroad, but don’t know who does the deed. It is psychologically and narratively very satisfying, but it’s outside the top 10 because of my (often-mentioned!) problems with the title.

10. The Comforters (1957)
Spark started her output showing how odd her choice of themes would be: Caroline, a novelist, starts to hear voices and typewriter noises through the walls, and begins to wonder if they are dictating her actions. From the outset, Spark shows an astonishing assurance in her writing.

9. The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960)
The arrival of Dougal Douglas in Peckham Rye spells disaster in the lives of many of his neighbours – the brilliance of Spark’s plot is that she never outright names him as the devil, but it’s hard to draw any other conclusion. Her eccentricity is on full display.

8. The Abbess of Crewe (1974)
Who but Spark would set the Watergate scandal in a nunnery? This is perhaps her most direct extended satire, and she’s clearly having a lot of fun doing it. It could be a one-note joke, but her confidence and brilliance with character mean the novel is a success.

7. The Girls of Slender Means (1963)
I think this novel – about the young women resident at The May of Teck Club – is the best example of Spark’s frequent manipulation of narrative time. That is, she gives away huge plot points long before they happen, mentioning them in passing, and shows how compelling a novel can be even when we know precisely what will take place. I think almost all of her novels are worth reading, but the top seven on my list are all masterpieces.

6. A Far Cry From Kensington (1988)
Agnes ‘Nancy’ Hawkins is an editor at a publisher living in a boarding house, and through her we see an overwrought Polish dressmaker neighbour and, most memorably, the ‘pisseur de copie’ Hector Bartlett who stalks Agnes and whom she considers (and calls) an appalling writer and dreadful person. It’s such a spiky, fun, strange book that apparently took revenge on a real ex-lover of Spark’s. If that’s true, it is a devastating portrait.

5. The Only Problem (1984)
Of my favourite Sparks, this is probably the one I see mentioned least. Harvey Gotham is living in France, writing a book about the biblical figure Job – the ‘only problem’ being the problem of suffering. This is an eccentric enough premise for a plot, but Spark makes everything characteristically unhinged by introducing – of all thigns – a far right terrorist organisation. The novella is bizarre but so grounded in the characters that the contrast works beautifully.

4. Symposium (1990)
If I were to pick one for a Spark newbie to start with, I’d go with this one – and did, indeed, get my book group to read it. Symposium starts with a cast of characters at a dinner party – during which one household is burgled. We then follow different characters in the lead up to the party and afterwards. The book feels like the most representative of Spark’s style and often-returned-to devices, and it’s a brilliant example of them.

3. Memento Mori (1959)
WHAT a glorious premise: people living in an old people’s home keep getting phone calls reminding them that they will die. The solution to that particular mystery is SO Spark, but along the way we get to meet the wide cast of fascinating older people, written with exceptional insight and sharpness by an author who was only in her early 40s at the time. It’s also a rare example from her body of work of some likeable, even lovable, characters.

2. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)
Yes, this one is deservedly famous. Spark is often described as a Scottish novelist, but this is her only major work to take place in Scotland – Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher whose combination of culture, romance, and megalomania inspire and damage a generation of schoolgirls. She is an astonishing creation, played to perfection by Maggie Smith in the film adaptation – absolutely unforgettable, and I’m glad Brodie has her place in the pantheon of literary greats.

1. Loitering With Intent (1981)
But my favourite is the wacky Loitering With Intent, helmed by writer Fleur Talbot. She is trying and struggling to complete her first novel, Warrender Chase, and takes on work as secretary to a group of older people trying to put their memoirs to paper. She starts fabricating their stories out of boredom and recklessness – not realising she has somehow guessed the truth. And then events in her novel seem to intertwine with the life of her boss. For my money, Loitering With Intent is the best and most enjoyable example of Spark’s weirdness, her ruthless, intelligent heroines, and a compelling plot that wrongfoots the reader.

Do let me know your favourite Sparks – or where you’ll be starting, if you haven’t read her yet.