Book Review: The Public Image is Muriel Spark writing Muriel Spark, and was listed for the first Booker Prize. I will read anything Spark writes: she has a tone, an intelligence, a something meaningful hiding just behind the surface meaning of her books, that I find irresistible. She is one of the few writers who I feel ill-equipped to read, and I love that. She puts more into her books than I'm capable of seeing, and that challenge is something I live to read. Why all this? Because although I enjoyed The Public Image and would and will read it again, it's not my favorite of her books and I may not be one of her best. But it is Muriel Spark, so that's enough. It's written in a cleaner, more straight forward manner than her earlier books, a step back, removed. The plot is mostly unpredictable, involving cruelty and sadism. Her books are always well written, well thought out, and this one evokes a strong sense of the Sixties. Enter this book knowing that no one and nothing is as it seems. The facade we all erect, our public image (whether celebrity or mere mortal), is always some level of false, hiding some aspect of ourselves, and that is true of everything in this novel. Although superficially about the carefully constructed public image of celebrities, as Spark was then a celebrity, she is actually more interested in the moral decisions we make in presenting ourselves to the world, not simply that a scandal might force some overrated celebrity to live with a lesser degree of conspicuous consumption. It's about identity, but also about dignity. About when are we acting, and as we grow and learn we become different people, is that false? As with all Spark novels, The Public Image can be read on as many levels as the reader is willing to make an effort to find. [3½★]
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