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| The Uncommon Reader Uncommon Reader: A Novella a Novella | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Bennett
Publisher: Picador USA
Category: Book
List Price: £7.85
Buy Used: £4.44
You Save: £3.41 (43%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 249627
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0312427646
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780312427641
ASIN: 0312427646
Publication Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% Brand New! Delivery from USA in 1-3 weeks via airmail
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| Customer Reviews: Read 36 more reviews...
 Lovely November 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A delicious little book; a lovely satire with a satisfying twist - I don't want to give too much away, but this is an absolute delight.
 Another macaroon, anyone? November 11, 2008
Clocking in at 120 pages of large type (less than 60 minutes' reading, not the two hours or more that others have suggested), `The Uncommon Reader' can scarcely be described as a novella, let alone a novel. Yet its simple theme is too thin for even a short story: Her Madge picks up a book and finds One enjoys reading.
Perhaps it might summon a wry smile when read on Radio 4 in Alan Bennett's dry monotone, but on the page his unadorned prose falls flat. Bennett is known for his social observations, his deft characterisation and his sharp ear for dialogue, but all are surprisingly thin on the ground here.
It's odd that a book which claims that reading can change your life, should itself be so unnecessary. Unlike Proust's memorable madeleine cake, which Bennet himself unwisely evokes, `The Uncommon Reader' is more of a puffed-up meringue: inoffensive and insubstantial. Within hours you'll scarcely remember eating it.
Simply wonderful. November 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Reading this little book was a wonderful way to spend an evening. It's a joy to read and one would love to imagine her majesty reading it herself and laughing out loud.
Everyone should read this tiny book, as once read; the story will never be forgotten.
Thank you Alan Bennett, you really cheered me up.
The uncommon writer November 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Before reading this book I had never taken any interest in Alan Bennett. I was aware of his existence of course. In the same way that you are aware Belgium but there is no earthly reason you would think of going there. I had never seen any of his plays, watched any of his TV shows or read any of his books. Then he wrote a novel about the Queen and it didn't even occur to me to wonder why anyone would bother to read a story about the Queen. Not that I am against the monarchy, they have done a fine job protecting this country against dictatorship, it's just that I have no interest in the incumbent's private activities, just the abstract value of monarchy.
Then I heard this book being discussed on Radio 4 and it actually sounded rather amusing. And it is. It is hilarious! It is almost like a children's book, the writing is so simple, a bedtime story for adults. Best of all it gives the most accurate sense I have ever read of how it feels to be in love with reading. I imagine this must be how Alan Bennett himself feels about books otherwise he wouldn't have been able to capture this. I read this book and felt as though he were describing me.
If you love books, you will love this.
National Frailty August 25, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Fortunately, Alan Bennett has already declined a knighthood - meeting England's sword wielding Queen after publishing The Uncommon Reader might be a little, shall we say, 'ambiguous'.
But then again, Alan Bennett has a charm and humour which might, if the present monarch does actually read, disarm even the most, "We are not amused!"
The story is simple; England's Queen suddenly develops a passion for reading which humanises her. It does not, however, result in any final satisfaction and at the end of the book we are left with a twist that seems to be setting Mrs Windsor off on a whole new adventure.
In such stark outline it is a piece of amusing trivia ... and I've read several reviews which don't seem to have moved beyond this level of comprehension: That is to greatly underestimate both Mr Bennett and his understanding of the character of the British Monarchy. It is also to reduce what is an interesting essay into the relationship between reader and writer to mere amusement.
Bennett is superb with 'odd' characters - his Talking Heads series takes individuals and exposes both the bleakness and the richness of their humanity.
He does a similar job here on 'The Queen'. But to mistake the character for the real thing is to mistake Mr Bennett's purpose ...
The Queen of England (Elizabeth II - she doesn't even have a real family name!) represents in a way which is unique in the modern world, a nation. That nation is not even England ... it is the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or UK. The poor woman has even got the extra burden of several other states and nations tucked around her.
As such, any individuality or personality has been subsumed under the mantel of duty ...and that is Mr Bennett's starting point. Through her passion for reading, the character of the Queen undergoes an education which releases her individuality and causes her to reject that lifetime of duty.
This is, of course, a manifesto and a metaphor ... if the Queen is representative of the UK then it is as duty bound as she and there is a need for the liberating effect of reading.
But it goes beyond being a simple cry for more education, it is a call for the appreciation of the creative in us all.
As the Queen, tentatively at first, makes her way through the world of literature she absorbs everything from high to low. It causes her to ask embarrassing questions about Jean Genet of the French President; to force old paperback copies of Hardy's poetry on the Prime Minister; to eventually send her private secretary back home to the bleakness of the southern hemisphere.
The early journey is supported by the dish-washing homosexual 'Norman' - too ugly to make it as page. His promotion upstairs leads to resentment and his eventual removal whilst the Queen is away both fortunate and unfortunate.
Prince Philip trots around like one of 'the dogs' and several un-named grandchildren flit in and out. So too do a remarkable list of authors, all given a little pungent assessment - which is one of the delights of the book.
Politicians are given short shrift ... but not the main character herself. There is an affection in the writing which belies the suggestion that Mr Bennett is taking a swipe at the monarchy. He's too good a writer for that.
Oh, by the way - it is very, very witty!
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