I'm planning a trip to Scotland in the not-so-distant future and so I thought it would be a good time to familiarize myself with the work of Muriel Spark. I gather from the little I've read about Ms. Spark thus far that Aiding and Abetting is not one of her more “important” works, but as a slim volume of truly imaginative, satirical, and irreverent fun, I think it really holds up. For a work of less than 200 pages, there's just an incredible amount of plot—three equally creative and crazily spiraling plot lines all together—but somehow she makes it work. There are books in which “nothing happens” and yet everything happens. This, I would say, is a book that demonstrates the opposite principal. There's a lot going on, and yet, very little has come to anything at the end of the novel. Aiding and Abetting takes a historically factual murder case as its (loose) premise. In 1974, the 7th Earl of Lucan (nicknamed Lucky), an inveterate and generally unsuccessful gambler, decided to murder his wife. Instead, he accidentally murdered his children's nanny and only injured his wife. He went into hiding the same night, and was never found by the police. It's generally assumed that he was able to evade capture because he had the help of a network of other titled friends in England, who for various reasons, elected to help him escape rather than turn him in for his crime. From here, Spark “absorbed creatively” and “metamorphosed” Lord Lucan's story, blending it with a parallel tale of Hildegard Wolf, a famed German psychiatrist whose unorthodox method of spending most of her clients' very expensive sessions talking about herself has gained her a high level of prestige in Paris, where she now lives. Dr. Wolf has a secret of her own, however: as an impoverished student in Germany, she infamously defrauded faithful Catholics all over Europe by posing as a stigmatic. When she was exposed, Dr. Wolf (then “Blessed Beate Pappenheim, the Stigmatic of Munich”), escaped the country, went into hiding, and completely reinvented herself as a successful, but actually uncertified psychiatrist.The story begins as Dr. Wolf is introduced to not one, but two, Lord Lucans, both of whom want to employ her as their psychiatrist, and both of whom attempt to blackmail her on the basis of her background as a false saint. Spark adds one last thread to the increasingly complicated—but not difficult to follow—plot: the daughter of one of Lucan's former friends and one of his former gambling partners are both engaged in an impromptu manhunt for Lucan, who they are certain is still alive. I gobbled the story down easily over the course of a rainy weekend (the would-be hurricane Irene); the novel is broken down into 19, short, segmented chapters which each follow one or two of the running storylines. It's made for fast reading. And while the psychology employed throughout the book is not particularly deep or convincing, there is a delightful, whimsical absurdity that forgives any false analysis that Spark might throw in. It's all very much kept at the level of farce. Consider the reaction of Jean-Pierre, Hildegard's companion of five years, when she finally reveals her past to him: “Why...did you not tell me before about your exciting early life as a stigmatic?”The novel is not without more complex themes, of course. Overall, it could be argued to be a book about self-created myths, about the false personas that everyone creates to hide either their real selves, or the selves they no longer choose to be. We are who we choose to say we are; we are the product of the stories we tell about ourselves. And there's always some truth in those stories. Hildegard, for instance, continues to insist—even while on the run, fearing exposure from her blackmailers—that “I caused miracles. I really did cure some people. Strangely enough I did.” The story that she told about herself—that she was a blessed stigmatic—may have been untrue, but it was real enough to feel like a genuine miracle to the people who believed in her. The one element of the novel that I felt a bit ill at ease with was the final sequence {SPOILER WARNING} wherein one of Hildegard's patients, a grandson of a chief in central Africa, arranges for both Lucans to be invited to Africa (therefore out of Hildegard's hair), only for one of the men to be eaten by cannibals. Now, don't get me wrong: I think the level of absurdity in this crazy ending is just pitch perfect, and on a narrative level, I'm actually all for the cannibals. Unfortunately, for a book published in 2001 and set in the 1990s, this turn of plot (and the various scenes of dialog leading up to it) has a rather anachronistic, Olde Worlde colonialism about it. The chief is referred to as “a wily fellow” who later decides that his grandsons “would benefit by consuming an earl.” In the best case scenario, this seems a reductive portrait of an African chief; in the worse, it's simply ethnocentric and racist. It doesn't help that a Mexican character earlier in the book is referred to as a “sage brown fellow.” It's possible in both cases that Spark is affecting the prejudices of her emphatically stupid and dull Lord, but I'm not sure these scenes can be attributed to character flaws—it's a little too implicit in the narrative itself. For sheer imagination, flowing plot, and a dark sense of humor, though, the book is rather stellar. I look forward to reading more of Spark's work in the future.
When I saw this book in the library, I had the vague notion that Muriel Spark was one of the names on those "Authors You Should Know" lists, and thus I should probably read something by her. After having finished this book, my feeling is that the name "Muriel Spark" is appealing in and of itself, and that's probably why I remembered it. I was not impressed with her.I should clarify that the book was fine. I mean, I read the whole thing, and it was fine. If you like light-hearted mysteries, you'd probably like this. For me, it just never got there.This book is based on a real-life crime. An English earl, Lord Lucan, killed his children's nanny by mistake, intending to kill his wife. Then he disappeared. This was in the late 70s. Apparently it was a huge deal, with much speculation about his whereabouts. So, Spark creates a story based on what might have happened after his disappearance. The premise sounds fine, I guess, but it just dilly-dallied with silly subplots and unconvincing characters. In fact, the character that seemed the most real to me was the very minor Jean-Pierre, "life partner" (because apparently "boyfriend" isn't cosmopolitan enough) of the murderer's psychologist, Hildegard Wolf. Anyway, some specific complaints: 1. The dialogue, the characters and much of the plot felt tired. The originality needed to make this a good book was missing. 2. I have no idea why Spark felt compelled to reiterate the circumstances of the original crime 16,000 times. Once would have been enough, but every time a new character came on the scene, and sometimes just for the heck of it, she would remind us of how Lucan had bludgeoned the nanny as she came down the stairs, thinking it was his wife, etc. etc. Why, oh why, do authors think they can't trust their readers? 3. Lacy and the old guy hooking up? Not only gross, but predictable. And stupid. 4. The ending. Oh my goodness, did she think that was clever? If you ever read this book (don't) but if you do, give me a comment so we can discuss how ridiculous that was. 5. I don't know that I can really blame the author for this one...I think it was the use of titles and English aristocracy, and (repeated) reference to "the false stigmatic of Nuremberg" that gave this book a distinct flavor of the past. Actually, it was set in the late 90s, but it was so easy to forget this that when the ocassional laptop or commercial jet popped up, it felt like an anachronism. Like I said, though, that was probably just me.Phew! This book was really not significant enough for me to have said so much about it, but there you are.
Do You like book Aiding And Abetting (2002)?
(3.5)I'm not sure what it is about based on true story books that captures my interest. This one certainly pushed my curiosity button. Nothing like murder and on the run to get the ball rolling ... by the 7th Earl of Lucan no less! His unsolved mysterious disappearance made for the perfect base for imaginative minds to explore and so it was for Ms Spark, I assume. And what a tale! I found this to be quite entertaining and odd take. The mind games was definitely present. I especially enjoyed all the characters. They were zany and so it made for a fun read. Overall, leaving me to say, "That was strangely intriguing."This makes me wonder to what extent that I would aid and abet a friend ... hmm.A different read for sure so give it a shot. It's a short book. :)Jinky is Reading
—Jinky
I recall reading about Lord Lucan - whether it was at the time of his crime or somewhat later, I don't recall. Anyway, that is why I picked this up.Interesting thesis. Could explain why he was seen here and there ... kind of like The Scarlet Pimpernel. "... blood, once let loose, gets all over the place. It sticks, it flows, it garishly advertises itself or accumulates in dark thick puddles. Once it gets going, there is no stopping blood."So true, so true. Anyway, this book puts forth the theory that the reason he was sighted everywhere was because he had a doppelganger. But the problem with letting people in on your secret - they are in on your secret and you are pretty much at their mercy.Kind of a surprise ending, though.
—Jan C
I'm listening to this one on tape and despite a good reader (Davina Porter) Ms. Spark has lost her spark. The book is about Lord Lucian a real character (apparently) who in 1974 bludgeoned his kids' nanny to death thinking she was his wife. The story is told partially from the point of view of a therapist who is herself guilty of a crime --- she reported that blood flowed from her hands and feet mimicking the wounds of Christ. The reason I have all this information down pat is that it is repeated ad nauseaum throughout the book, presented as if for the first time. Although short, the book should have been much much shorter --- perhaps 15 pages and maybe less. Neither Lord Lucian nor his therapist are interesting and I hope Ms. Spark kills them off soon.
—Beth
