Some fab short stories, brilliantly narrated

Well worth the listen, so many hours of great story telling and fab narration. Ghost stories are excellent, as are many others.

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1 person found this helpful

Imaginative, worldly and well constructed

I’m not sure why I discovered Muriel Spark so late, apart from the movie w Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, but at least I haven’t missed her.
MS spent time in Southern Africa and her merciless observations (for the first few) transform into hard hitting short stories which are a delight and well narrated, albeit w an exaggerated SA accent.
For the rest, and there’re over 50, the settings and material are wide and varied and the narration is quality .
It’s a prolific, imaginative, worldly and well constructed collection; often w a humorous wry edge, a twist or an enigmatic line at the climax, that magically allows the “short” story to become complete. MS must have been a sharp witted and entertaining personality !
I really appreciated this anthology, dipping in intermittently, so the stories didn’t run into one another. I’d easily rate this at least equal to the collections of Somerset Maugham and O Henry which feel dated and stuffy.

BTW....don’t miss the Audible version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, this was astoundingly read by Miriam Margolys.

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5 people found this helpful

Chapter list

1 - 6 The Go-Away Bird
7 - 8 The Curtain Blown by the Breeze
9 - 11 Bang, Bang You're Dead
12 - The Seraph and the Zambezi
13 - The Pawnbroker's Wife
14 - The Snobs
15 - A Member of the Family
16 - The Fortune Teller
17 - The Father's Daughters
18 - Open to the Public
19 - The Dragon
20 - The Leaf Sweeper
21 - Harper and Wilton
22 - The Executor
23 - Another Pair of Hands
24 - The Girl I Left Behind Me
25 - Miss Pinkerton's Apocalypse
26 - The Pearly Shadow
27 - Going Up and Coming Down
28 - You Should Have Seen the Mess
29 - Quest for Lavishes Ghast
30 - The Young Man Who Discovered the Secret of Life
31 - Daisy Overend
32 - The House of the Famous Poet
33 - The Playhouse Called Remarkable
34 - Chimes
35 - Ladies and Gentleman
36 - Come Along, Marjorie
37 - The Twins
38 - 'A Sad Tale's Best for Winter'
39 - Christmas Fugue
40 - The First Year of My Life
41 - The Gentile Jewesses
42 - Alice Long's Dachshund's
43 - 44 The Dark Glasses
45 - The Ormolu Clock
46 - 47 The Portobello Road
48 - 49 The Black Madonna
50 - The Thing About Police Stations
51 - A Hundred and Eleven Years Without a Chauffer
52 - The Hanging Judge
53 - Credits for the audiobook

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40 people found this helpful

Exceptional reading of substantial short stories

I only knew Muriel Sparks from Miss Jean Brodie and am not generally a fan of short stories, but was taken by the prospect of readings by Juliet Stevenson, Emma Fox and Richard E Grant. I am so glad – the stories have great range and the narration is absolutely top notch. Some of the stories are a good 2 hours long. All are atmospheric and I loved Sparks’ sly wit.

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31 people found this helpful

Excellent

Very well chosen readers for these short stories which cover a pretty wide geographical area as well as revealing a lot about what makes some of us tick.

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No mark Spark

The complete short stories in one volume at least gives the satisfaction of having read all that there is to read. The range of the subject matter is wide - from a childhood in South Africa, to Scotland and Manchester to the sad ruminations of a judge in North London. But the quality of the voice is not that great - one or two flashes of insight, but in the main very pedestrian and at times down-right tedious.

I can’t really think of one of the short stories that I really enjoyed, but can easily recall three that I really didn’t enjoy. Still, its read now isn’t it.

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11 people found this helpful

Superb!

The performances are what make this collection unmissable. One is almost "kidnapped" and taken to strange and exotic places, placed in the middle of the action - and afterwards left haunted by the ghosts who still swirl around in one's head.

The accents are amazingly good.

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5 people found this helpful

A curate’s egg with some delights

Some of the stories haven’t aged well, but The Twins is truly excellent! Worth it for that alone.

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A Very Varied Collection

As you would expect with Murial Spark each story is intricately plotted and very well plotted. My personal favourites are

The Go Away Bird
Bang Bang You’re Dead
The Snobs
A Member Of The Family
Miss Pinkertons Apocalypse
A Playhouse Called Remarkable
Chimes
Ĺadies and Gentlemen
Come Along Marjorie
The Gentile Jewesses
A Sad Tale's Best For Winter The Dark Glasses
and The Portobello Road

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2 people found this helpful

So well read

So enjoying the wit and subtlety of this eloquent writing. A woman quietly establishing her right to be an artist, to sit in the park and read and walk freely. That is the thing. This reminds of why I chose literature 42 years ago. It has rekindled a passion and the human need to connect through characters. On second story with great acting voices

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