Continuo a ritenere "La sovrana lettrice" il suo capolavoro più grande, eccelso, strepitoso. Il secondo, ambientato a un funerale, divertente. Questo qui, mmmh, meno eccelso e meno divertente. Ma sempre con quel tocco di "surreale da tutti i giorni" che a questo punto riconosco come il marchio di fabbrica dell'autore.
La signora nel furgone, Miss Shepherd, è la protagonista di questo libretto di 89 pagine. Accampata col suo furgone nel giardino di Mr. Bennett (sarà una vicenda reale? Gli auguro di no!) ne stravolge un po' la vita. I due sono complementari, quanto poco sappiamo del padrone di casa, tanto più sappiamo della padrona del furgone, che con le sue lettere indirizzate a vari personaggi politici, la sua spesa e i suoi bizzarri abbigliamenti fa da contraltare all'altro personaggio, più "comune" e noioso.
Un libriccino carino ma, devo ammetterlo, niente di chè. O forse sono io che ne sto leggendo troppi suoi...
Sorry, Mr. Bennett.
Alan Bennett
La signora nel furgone
Adelphi
Euro 6,50
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Third book by Alan Bennett I read and third book I finish in few hours.
I still think "The uncommon reader" is his masterpiece, sublime, amazing. The second one, "set" at a funeral, funny. This one, mmmh, less amazing and funny. But there is always that personal touch of "daily surreal", unimstakeable touch of this writer.
The Lady in the Van, Miss Shepherd, is the main character in this short novel. Her van/house parked in Mr Bennett's garden (is it a real story? I hope no for him!), she messes up his life. These two are definitely complementary, the less we know about the landlord, all the more we know about the van-lady, her posts to several politicians (included, Margaret Thatcher), her grocery shopping and her odd outfits, she acts as a perfect counterpart of the other one, more "usual" and maybe boring.
A nice little book but, I must admit, nothing special. Or maybe it's my fault, I'm reading too much books by him...
Sorry, Mr Bennett.
I still think "The uncommon reader" is his masterpiece, sublime, amazing. The second one, "set" at a funeral, funny. This one, mmmh, less amazing and funny. But there is always that personal touch of "daily surreal", unimstakeable touch of this writer.
The Lady in the Van, Miss Shepherd, is the main character in this short novel. Her van/house parked in Mr Bennett's garden (is it a real story? I hope no for him!), she messes up his life. These two are definitely complementary, the less we know about the landlord, all the more we know about the van-lady, her posts to several politicians (included, Margaret Thatcher), her grocery shopping and her odd outfits, she acts as a perfect counterpart of the other one, more "usual" and maybe boring.
A nice little book but, I must admit, nothing special. Or maybe it's my fault, I'm reading too much books by him...
Sorry, Mr Bennett.
Alan Bennett
The Lady in the Van
