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Title: The Public Image (A Revived Modern Classic) by Muriel Spark ISBN: 0-8112-1246-7 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: April, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: My first Spark novel
Comment: I found this book on my shelves, I bought it in 1981! so it has been collecting quite a lot of dust. Like the previous reviwer I cannot look upon this novel as a satirical piece, it seems to be to be quite accurate living in a publicity mad world, as we are. I find her prose a bit detached which made it a difficult to get close to the characters. The desciption of the characters left something to desire. Even though we are aware of why they do what they do, I feel that I'm not really convinced by their actions. Even so, a good read, with som pleasent Italian colour.
Rating: 5
Summary: A razor-sharp portrait of male resentment of female success
Comment: I am a bit reluctant to express an opinion about this short but deeply satisfying novel, first published in 1968, because it does not seem to me to be a satire. I can see that perhaps _The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie_ is a satire, and _The Abbess of Crewe_ surely is. Most of Spark's work is short and has considerable bit. She herself labeled _The Public Image_ "an ethical shocker," but I'm even less sure of what that means than I am whether the book is intended to satirize or portray a rising film star whose public image is threatened.
I also don't agree with the cover description of Annabel having "made the fatal mistake of believing her public image." It seems to me that she knows what that image is and how to maintain it and recognizes the rewards she reaps from it, but that she has not confused her self with her image/typical role.
The two main adult female characters are admirably poised and fully ethical. The two main male characters are needy, greedy heels jealous of Annabel's success. There is a harridan female child and some professionally supportive males (a director and a lawyer), so it's not entirely women good men bad, but the bad men are very destructive indeed.
The local (Roman) color is amusing and the ending is very satisfying. Also I read the book from cover-to-cover in less time than a recording of Puccini's "Turandot."
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Title: Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh ISBN: 8175300434 Publisher: South Asia Books Pub. Date: 04 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Second-Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta ISBN: 0807610666 Publisher: George Braziller Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Her Privates We by Frederic Manning, William Boyd ISBN: 1852427175 Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist Pub. Date: 15 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Abbess of Crewe: A Modern Morality Tale by Muriel Spark ISBN: 0811212963 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: May, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.00 |
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Title: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell ISBN: 0586090363 Publisher: Acacia Press, Inc. Pub. Date: 1991 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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