Reviews

The Comforters by Muriel Spark

bethanyceinwen's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

archerisonline's review

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

read this for my uni course and was pleasantly surprised!! i think it starts really strong and loses some momentum, but the ending is great. witty and one of a kind. a little dry! a little boring at times! but overall enjoyable.

nayana20's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

btkeyes's review against another edition

funny mysterious

4.0

miles_151's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

kinda crazy. idrk what to say about this book cos I still am not entirely sure what's going on but it was a little bit mind boggling and I love it for that

lostintime_73's review

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

It was made to sound so interesting but, and i may not have looked into reviews enough, they hardly touched on the idea of her being haunted by the author. By the end, I feel like it was almost forgotten. The characters were boring and flat or just grim. It just dragged, in my opinion, and I just didn't understand it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

zoekyriacou's review against another edition

4.0

This is original, thought provoking and has a dry wit which I found very amusing. I think it is an interesting and explicit exploration of themes of madness, religion, authorship and free-will. The novel is most engaging to me when Caroline is at the forefront. However, I was inattentive to the intricacies of the mystery plot. Expect much repetition and intentional mundanity and hackneyed tropes- as meta fiction it is a scathing satire on conventional realism. I am enjoying analysing this book for university, but don’t know how much I would enjoy it as a reading for pleasure book?

hrlukz's review against another edition

I think I shall review this like an old man writing a film review for the guardian and say it was RIOTOUSLY GOOD FUN

coupes's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

daisiep's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed all the aspects of Caroline knowing she was in a book, but didn't care about any other part of it. Got especially bored when Caroline and Laurence were injured and then were barely in the book for a bit (but I get that that was the point). Also got a bit bored of all the mentions of Catholicism and didn't really understand them even as an ex-catholic. I did really enjoy the meta aspects of it but wish it had been taken further.