Books of the Month

'The Uncommon Reader' by Alan Bennett

It's been acknowledged for a while now that Alan Bennett is something of a National Treasure. A great documenter of English pecularities, his bittersweet mix of wry humour and personal sadness is, however, often deployed to highlight social unease, inequality and unfairness. It's appropriate in a way then that Bennett's latest book sees him selecting for his protagonist another National Treasure (or, at least, the holder of quite a lot of national treasure), the Queen. The simple premise for this entertaining novella is that, aged eighty, with little prior familiarity and entirely without looking for it, Elizabeth II stumbles upon the joys of reading.

The discovery happens quite by chance when the monarch follows some yapping corgis round the back of Buck House to find the local mobile library pulled up outside the kitchens. Feeling it would be rude not to, she borrows a book and in the process meets Norman, an undistinguished servant who becomes her chief guide to the world of literature. Though she starts out rather hesitantly with a volume of Ivy Compton Burnett, she soon grows in confidence and begins attempting more challenging material, including Genet and Proust. What begins as 'a duty to find out what people are like' gradually becomes something one does 'for pleasure. It is not a public duty.' But even as we see the Queen become more interested in, and understanding of, the lives of those around her, her closest aides start to worry. A monarch who reads, it seems, is a dangerous prospect. Discreet moves are made to separate Her Majesty from her books, and eventually, from Norman.

Bennett's work is always characterised by wit, poignancy and astute observation (remember the 'Talking Heads' monologues?), and The Uncommon Reader is certainly no exception. Ostensibly a humorous tale about a character rarely treated in fiction, it's also a celebration of the joys of literary discovery, and an exploration of the power and influence of the act of reading itself. Books are shown to have the ability to change perspectives, alter behaviour, affect relationships and even, ultimately, to influence the state of the nation. Which, of course, is just how it should be.

Susan Tranter

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