Thursday, June 10, 2010

Memento Mori

Virago as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before are a publisher I hold dear to my heart, a green spine in a second hand shop will call out to me from twenty feet away (the blonde is my witness) and that tempting apple is the first thing I look for in a bookshop. I don’t buy or beg every one that comes my way – though maybe I should because more than any other publisher it’s Virago who have inspired my reading life...

Muriel Spark is an example of this – I’d heard of her before Virago, I’d read her before Virago but only ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’, the thing is before Virago that was the only Spark to be picked up in my local bookshop and I remained oblivious to the rest of her canon for far too long. Since Virago’s reissues I’ve done a lot more exploring – this is what I love so much about them; it’s not just the books they do publish, it’s the writers I find that way, and the whole wide world of excitement that opens up for me.

But what I meant to talk about was ‘Memento Mori’ a strange and wonderful book that could only have been written by Spark – I can’t imagine anyone else writing it anyway. An anonymous caller is phoning a group of elderly people with the message ‘Remember you must die’, as the hunt for the callers identity gets underway things become more mysterious, at the same time the past lives of the protagonists are slowly unveiled revealing a web of indiscretion and blackmail. Gripping stuff, but that’s not all, it’s also a very acute, and mostly sympathetic observation of encroaching mortality.

To live well, as a reminder to behave well, to not have many regrets it seems to me to be a good thing to remember that you must die, but I think Spark means much more than that. If you have faith you need to spend time preparing for what comes next (I don’t have faith in an afterlife so I’m guessing a little bit that this is what she’s telling me). The only really likable characters are those who do remember they must die, and they’re not particularly spending their time making peace with the living, yet they are the more truly compassionate – the better people. Not because they’ve lived markedly better lives but because they seem to be at peace with the lives they have lead.

Much as I like to contemplate the meaning of mortality and what comes next over my lunch a bit of humour doesn’t go amiss with it, and there is a wonderful streak of typically black Spark humour running through this book. It’s also a very moving, and quietly thought provoking account of old age, something that’s generally rare, although Spark does quite a line in old ladies (and is, I’m beginning to think, slightly obsessed with incontinence – it’s something that’s turned up in a few of her books). I think this is a magnificent as well as slightly macabre book, I struggle to pin point exactly what makes it so special (that’s surely a part of what makes Spark so good – perfect balance) but I read it two weeks ago and have been thinking about it on and off ever since. A book that gets under your skin like that is always a winner.

8 comments:

  1. Thank your for writing this. Maybe it's also a book to read before one reaches old age? In which case I should read it soon-ish.

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  2. Surely not! I imagine it might read a little bit differentley to someone over 70 than to someone comfortably under, but then again maybe not - the way Spark shows relatonships that have developed over fifty or more years, how love and loyalty changes - it seems very recognisable to me... and now I'm struggling to sort out my thought process - this is what I'm like as I get older!

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  3. Memento Mori is one of my favourite books read this year and it is difficult to pinpoint why; the delicious streak of macabre and black humour most definitely helped.

    I like your point that the characters who have come to terms with their mortality are those who are sympathetic and compassionate.

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  4. I would have to agree Claire, I've had a good reading year so far with some real crackers but Memento Mori has been a highlight. The more Spark I read the more she delights me, she's so dry and acidic yet manages to keep the reader's sympathy. Can't wait for my next one.

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  5. This is a Spark I haven't read yet, and one which I need to find!! Thank you for the review - it sounds fantastic.

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  6. Must read more Spark! This sounds fantastic - I loved The Prime of Jean Brodie precisely because there's that tone of dark menace underneath it all - this seems to be along the same vein. If only I were allowed to purchase books!

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  7. This sounds really intriguing - I've only read two Sparks (Jean Brodie and The Girls of Slender Means) and only *quite* enjoyed them, but this sounds great. On the list in my head...

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  8. Simon, I love her, but maybe she's not for you... still if there is one you might really like it could be this - it's a topping book.

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