Book Review: Not to Disturb once again amply demonstrates that Muriel Spark yields to no one in piloting her course. This book is too long for a short story, too short for a novella, but for Spark it's exactly the correct length so that's what she publishes. It's also an archetypal story line for her: a group of people, loosely related, face a shadowy other, expecting something to happen that Ms. Spark will share with the reader only when she's done with the foreplay and is ready to spring the moment. Not to Disturb is really Spark having bit of fun with dark, edgy, avant-garde farce. Here she's being adventurous and experimental in her own way, all tongue-in-cheek. It's meant to be a brief entertainment, a humorous tidbit, an extended melange of absurdity and the bizarre mixed with dark comedy. The plot, such as it is, is class warfare taken to an absurd conclusion, in a parody of expected fictional genres: British manor novels, mystery stories, a Gothic visit to Thornfield, though here cleverly and unexpectedly transported to Geneva. The butler, the commander-in-chief of the downstairs staff, is obviously better read than his superiors upstairs, and capable of taking advantage of that. Characters spout philosophical thoughts, but it's merely the characters talking, it's not Spark herself exploring these concepts. She's taking a break. Not to Disturb is meant to be read as just good fun, Spark's version of Noises Off. Expect laughs, but there's no need for much more. [3★]
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