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Muriel Spark

The Driver's Seat Paperback – 31 May 2006

by Muriel Spark (Author)

151 ratings

Edition: 1^st

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Shortlisted for The Lost Man Booker Prize Lise has been driven to distraction by working in the same accountants' office for sixteen years. So she leaves everything behind her, transforms herself into a laughing, garishly-dressed temptress and flies abroad on the holiday of a lifetime. But her search for adventure, sex and the obsessional experience takes on a far darker significance as she heads on a journey of self-destruction. Infinity and eternity attend Lise's last terrible day in an unnamed southern city, as she meets her fate.

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Product details

Publisher : Penguin; 1st edition (31 May 2006)
Language : English
Paperback : 112 pages
ISBN-10 : 0141188340
ISBN-13 : 978-0141188348
Dimensions : 19.8 x 0.7 x 12.9 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 47,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3,843 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- 19,735 in Religion & Spirituality (Books)

Customer Reviews:
151 ratings

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The Driver's Seat is a scalpel, cutting away the excess of the traditional novel and leaving only the core. It is a stiletto, piercing straight to the heart - or thereabouts -- John Self

About the Author

Muriel Spark was born and educated in Edinburgh. Active in the field of creative writing from 1950 (after winning a short-story competition in the Observer), her many subsequent novels and stories, such as Memento Mori, The Girls of Slender Means, The Only Problem, A Far Cry From Kensington and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (adapted successfully for both film and theatre), remain phenomenally popular throughout the world. She also wrote plays, poems and children's books as well as biographies of Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë and John Masefield. Her first autobiographical volume, Curriculum Vitae, was published in 1992. She was elected C.Litt. in 1992 and was awarded the DBE in 1993.

During her lifetime she received many awards, including; the Italia Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the FNAC Prix Etranger, the Saltire Prize, the Ingersoll T. S. Eliot Award and the David Cohen British Literature Prize in recognition of a lifetime's literary achievement. She was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1978 and Commandeur de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France in 1996. Dame Muriel Spark died in 2006.

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5 star		49%
4 star		23%
3 star		12%
2 star		6%
1 star		9%

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Simpson from Oz

Not her best by a long shot

Reviewed in Australia on 13 November 2020

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Has not held up well over time.

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Tyrone Marsh

Stranger Danger!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 April 2020

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Muriel Spark’s ‘The Driver’s Seat’ is an exceptional piece of literature. I read it in a day.

From the very start of the novel I was kept on edge, eager to comprehend as to why Lise disliked stainless dresses. Such emphasis on the mundane, a dress that distinct in colour, drives us to think about the mundane in reality. However, Spark draws us into Lise’s reality; and that is the metaphysical aspect of the novel. We do not see her death coming, but we do. Spark informs us of her narrative death, fragmenting the text and the text’s temporality. In doing so, I believe she is commenting on the illusionary power of the mundane. What is the significance of a distinctly colorful dress? What is the significance of a paper-knife? Why and how did Lise convince a man, previously convicted of murder, to kill her? The answer is made clear throughout. Lise wanted her dress to stain. She wanted to make her death known; planting evidence herself, with us, as readers, not even aware due to Spark’s smart use of language - we are not only manipulated by the protagonist, but also, in turn, by the author itself.

We become part of The Driver’s Seat, falling victim to Lise’s illusory reality. We become part of the text; aware yet unaware, suspicious yet not suspicious. Perhaps Spark is doing this to critique how one can become manipulated by reality, by strangers. The novel basically becomes an adult way of saying ‘Stranger Danger’, as the stranger in the text, (paradoxically the protagonist Lise who is not a stranger to us), ends up becoming psychotic. Did we expect it? Yes and no (you have to read the text to understand how it can be both yes and no... trust me)!

Highly recommend this text. Got me thinking...

3 people found this helpful

Leon

Superbly Written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 January 2019

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Firstly, the book itself arrived promptly and in a great condition. I have no complaints and only praise about that.

As for the novel, it is part of my university reading list and I wasn't expecting too much from it because of its short length, and because I am not one to normally read romance-thriller-mystery novels too often.

How wrong I was. This book caught me completely off guard and I daresay is an absolute must-read for anyone, regardless what you think you like or what you expect. I won't say anything more to avoid spoiling it, but I think it is one of my favourite books to date.

Of course, this is something we should expect from Muriel Spark's work, but this is something I only know now after studying her at university and reading some of her work.

I can't recommend this book enough to you regardless of if you like reading or not. This is one of those books everyone will enjoy, and it really is something you should read.

4 people found this helpful

Dorian Gray

The Drivers Seat : a Stiletto piercing straight to the Heart

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 May 2020

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A macabre thriller described by John Self as a Stiletto piercing straight to the Heart .

Will the Murderee find her Murderer ??

Who is in The Driver's Seat ?? Him or Her ??

Devilish + Dark . Not PC at all .

Described by The New Yorker as a spiny and treacherous masterpiece , The Drivers Seat will keep U guessing right up to the last page .

2 people found this helpful

J. Atherton

A dark tale

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 August 2020

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A dark little tale. Now I know what happens it would probably be better to have a second read. Its only 100 pages but so much in it. I have never read Muriel Spark but have heard good things about her novels. Its dark and funny in parts.

Shirley Merrick

Unlikable main character

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2021

Verified Purchase

Quite a boring book in my opinion. Did not live up to the quality of her other books.

One person found this helpful

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