Customer Reviews
National Frailty - By: A.K.Farrar, 25 Aug 2008 
Fortunately, Alan Bennett has already declined a knighthood - meeting England's sword wielding Queen after publishing The Uncommon Reader might be a little, shalll we say, 'ambiguous'.
But then again, Alan Bennett has a charm & humour which might, if the present monarch does actuallly 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 & 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 ... & 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 & his understanding of the character of the British Monarchy. It is also to reduce what is an interesting essay into the relationship between reader & writer to mere amusement.
Bennett is superb with 'odd' characters - his Talking Heads series takes individuals & exposes both the bleakness & 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 & Northern Ireland, or UK. The poor woman has even got the extra burden of several other states & 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 & causes her to reject that lifetime of duty.
This is, of course, a manifesto & a metaphor ... if the Queen is representative of the UK then it is as duty bound as she & there is a need for the liberating effect of reading.
But it goes beyond being a simple cry for more education, it is a calll for the appreciation of the creative in us alll.
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 eventuallly 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 & his eventual removal whilst the Queen is away both fortunate & unfortunate.
Prince Philip trots around like one of 'the dogs' & several un-named grandchildren flit in & out. So too do a remarkable list of authors, alll 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!
Short & sweet... oh, and really funny too!! - By: SB, 20 Aug 2008 If you need some brightening up at the end of a dull day, then this is the book to pick up. It's deliciously entertaining & great fun & will take you no more than a couple of hours to read.
'It was the dogs' fault.' The Queen's corgis, sensing an imposter in their garden, go racing around the terrace barking away at what turns out to be the City of Westminster mobile library. The Queen feels compelled to take out a book, choosing an Ivy Compton-Burnett novel, & from here the Queen's interest in literature begins. Her appetite for books becomes insatiable as she works through many different authors, & as her public duties begin to suffer (in the eyes of her private secretary, Sir Kevin), her equerries, under the instruction of Sir Kevin, conspire to bring her literary quest to an end.
Pure unadulterated delight - the perfect booklovers' bedtime companion.
An Ode to Reading and its Constant Delights - By: Graceann Macleod, 19 Aug 2008 This is the loveliest little book I've read since I discovered Helene Hanff's "84 Charing Cross Road" a million years ago. Using the Queen as his catalyst, Alan Bennett gives us this love story between a new reader & the world that opens to her through the magic of books. He could be speaking of any bibliophile, but because it is Her Royal Highness, the opportunities for wit & plot twists in this slim volume are multiplied exponentiallly. There were several beautiful quotes which I will be adding to my favorites list, & I recognized myself on every page as a person who struggles to find time to read & resents having the obligations of everyday life intrude upon that time.
Time spent reading is never wasted; furthermore, time spent reading The Uncommon Reader will be looked back upon with great affection.
An enchanting story - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 13 Aug 2008 This little novella is a real gem. It depicts the burgeoning interest in the Queen for reading novels when her corgis one day lead her unwittingly into the Westminster mobile library & the tender clutches of its librarian & a ginger haired palace servant with a taste for gay literature.
It is gentle, amusing & dryly witty. I loved it. On a drab, rainy Wednesday with three children to entertain I unashamedly stuck them in front of the television for an hour & escaped to a world where the Queen chats to the French Prime Minister about Genet & thinks of writing her memoirs a la Proust. Lovely
Is Bennett the Jane Austen of the 21st century? - By: Siriam, 12 Aug 2008 From the pun in the title (alll non-titled persons who marry into the Royal Family are always referred to as "commoners") to the Queen's cliff hanging closing sentence, this is a very amusing & great ride in precision writing where every word & nuance counts over its 120 pocket sized edition pages.
Bennett casts his nets (and barbs) against a story line of the Queen discovering the joys of reading at a late age & the reactions this creates amongst alll those around her. These cover a wide panorama outside the Royal Family's imperiousness & the Queen's foibles (arrogance does not seem a fair judgement given her mother & upbringing) to the Queen's relationship with prime ministers, especiallly Blair & Alistair Campbell (the two most acidic of his observations); society's views of gays; and, the obstructive infrastructure surrounding the Queen of private secretaries, privy councils & equerries.
In its own concise way, yet further proof that Bennett across his most recent writings seems to have become the Jane Austen of the late 20th./early 21st century with his observations on the manners of certain social elites & groupings & their interactions.
