Evaluation of The Driver's Seat
The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark falls far below her usual standard of writing. Driver’s Seat is by far one of Spark’s shortest novels. The brevity of the book is not so much an issue as the fact that it does not make sense. It is clear that she is trying to subvert something through a distorted structure but the “something” is not defined and its end purpose is not clear or achieved.
Spark experiments with the perception of time, chronological flow, and structure in this novel in a way that is both confusing and pointless. Previously, Mrs. Spark played with the perception of how time was passing in her novels, particularly in Loitering with Intent, in a way that added to the importance of some moments thus contributing to the overall novel. In Driver’s, however, the sudden scene changes, limited to nonexistent dialogue, and choppy descriptions of characters or settings was distracting. It was unclear what Spark was trying to do with this stylistic choice and the only thing that comes to mind id that she was trying to be subversive but what she was trying to subvert was completely and totally lost amidst the chaotic jumble of words on paper.
This book was infuriatingly short. None of Spark’s novels are prolix which is a very admirable quality for a writer to have but Driver’s like the frothy useless bubbles after a wave. It accomplished nothing, it was barely more than a nuisance, it could not exist and no one would be worse off for it. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is marginally longer than Driver’s but the ideas were expressed in a more efficient manner. The Prime left many things for the readers to process and divulge for themselves, such as the feminist undertones and the commandeering or often times evil nature of Miss Jean Brodie, yet it was still logical and worked in a cohesive manner. Even though The Prime is not a long book it is clear in what it is trying to subvert, in this case the traditional female role, as well as addresses hard hitting issues: fascism, free thinking versus submissive obedience, and how our relationships with others affect us. The only substantive thing that Driver’s has to potentially offer is to trust our gut feelings about strangers and even that is a stretch. The biggest issue this novel had was that it tried to cover too much in such a short span. Spark began describing her protagonist but she did not develop the character leaving the heroine and all the other characters this novel oddly two-dimensional beings where one is accustomed to reading the fascinating characters Muriel brought to life.
In Driver’s, a unintelligent and intricate plot line was created and not fully explained leaving the reader guessing at what was happening even after it occurred. Then, intertwining bland characters were added and discarded without further explanation. The Driver’s Seat was an all-around sloppy novel that is not all up to par with the other novels Muriel Spark has produced.
Spark experiments with the perception of time, chronological flow, and structure in this novel in a way that is both confusing and pointless. Previously, Mrs. Spark played with the perception of how time was passing in her novels, particularly in Loitering with Intent, in a way that added to the importance of some moments thus contributing to the overall novel. In Driver’s, however, the sudden scene changes, limited to nonexistent dialogue, and choppy descriptions of characters or settings was distracting. It was unclear what Spark was trying to do with this stylistic choice and the only thing that comes to mind id that she was trying to be subversive but what she was trying to subvert was completely and totally lost amidst the chaotic jumble of words on paper.
This book was infuriatingly short. None of Spark’s novels are prolix which is a very admirable quality for a writer to have but Driver’s like the frothy useless bubbles after a wave. It accomplished nothing, it was barely more than a nuisance, it could not exist and no one would be worse off for it. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is marginally longer than Driver’s but the ideas were expressed in a more efficient manner. The Prime left many things for the readers to process and divulge for themselves, such as the feminist undertones and the commandeering or often times evil nature of Miss Jean Brodie, yet it was still logical and worked in a cohesive manner. Even though The Prime is not a long book it is clear in what it is trying to subvert, in this case the traditional female role, as well as addresses hard hitting issues: fascism, free thinking versus submissive obedience, and how our relationships with others affect us. The only substantive thing that Driver’s has to potentially offer is to trust our gut feelings about strangers and even that is a stretch. The biggest issue this novel had was that it tried to cover too much in such a short span. Spark began describing her protagonist but she did not develop the character leaving the heroine and all the other characters this novel oddly two-dimensional beings where one is accustomed to reading the fascinating characters Muriel brought to life.
In Driver’s, a unintelligent and intricate plot line was created and not fully explained leaving the reader guessing at what was happening even after it occurred. Then, intertwining bland characters were added and discarded without further explanation. The Driver’s Seat was an all-around sloppy novel that is not all up to par with the other novels Muriel Spark has produced.
