The Uncommon Reader

Alan Bennett (author)

Faber & Faber, UK: 2007

ISBN: 9781846680496

Genres: humour, satire

Issues: expectations, friendship, identity, roles

This delicious, subtle satire from Alan Bennett (Talking Heads; The History Boys) is an absolute gem. When the Corgis attack a strange van parked in the grounds, the Queen discovers that, unbeknownst to her, a mobile library has been visiting the palace for years. In an effort to put the astonished librarian at his ease, the Queen borrows a book.

Returning it gives her an excuse to get out of a boring meeting so she decides to borrow another, despite not having particularly enjoyed the first. The second turns out to be a more entertaining selection and "having no engagements, [she] stayed in bed, saying she felt she might be getting the flu. This was uncharacteristic and also not true; it was actually so she could get on with her book." (p14)

Soon, in fact, she has become a dedicated Reader, secreting volumes in the royal carriage to while away the boring hours of waving to the crowds. She seconds Norman, a kitchen-hand she meets in the library van, to select and manage the increasing pile of ‘to be read' books.

Before very long the equerries and her private secretary have begun first a discrete surveillance and then an outright war against Her Majesty's new hobby. Reading interrupts the sacred Schedule! It is Eccentric. It is Exclusive. And - more importantly - it Distracts from Her Majesty's Duties. Even the sudden removal of the helpful Norman doesn't seem to interrupt the Queen's addiction to the printed word. Perhaps - how shocking - Her Majesty is going ga-ga? After all, this reading thing - it's Never Been Done Before!

Far more than a whimsical ‘what if' exploration of the Queen as a bibliophile, The Uncommon Reader explores the bureaucratic and social expectations of the function of royalty as well as the undeniable restrictions on their lives and talents that ‘being royal' imposes. What if the Queen hadn't been born royal, Bennett seems to ask. Who might she have become? What if, like every other political job, she was able to retire? What might she do then?

Highly recommended.