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The Only Problem
Harvey Gotham refuses to believe it when the French police tell him that his estranged wife is a dangerous terrorist. As far as the police are concerned, that only serves to throw suspicion on Gotham himself.
189 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
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484 people want to read
About the author
Muriel Spark
209 books1,261 followersDame Muriel Spark, DBE was a prolific Scottish novelist, short story writer and poet whose darkly comedic voice made her one of the most distinctive writers of the twentieth century. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.
Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.
Spark received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1965 for The Mandelbaum Gate, the Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award in 1992 and the David Cohen Prize in 1997. She became Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993, in recognition of her services to literature. She has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in 1969 for The Public Image and in 1981 for Loitering with Intent. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". In 2010, Spark was shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize of 1970 for The Driver's Seat.
Spark received eight honorary doctorates in her lifetime. These included a Doctor of the University degree (Honoris causa) from her alma mater, Heriot-Watt University in 1995; a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris causa) from the American University of Paris in 2005; and Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
Spark grew up in Edinburgh and worked as a department store secretary, writer for trade magazines, and literary editor before publishing her first novel, The Comforters, in 1957. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, published in 1961, and considered her masterpiece, was made into a stage play, a TV series, and a film.
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June 13, 2021All of Sparks novels are short, but this one was the first that felt short, it was also the first that I found easy to start, I would not be surprised if all her novels are religious, but in this one religion is foregrounded by the main character Harvey Gotham not particularly busy writing a monograph about the book of Job. The spirit of Causabon seems to hang over his endeavour, it doesn't seem like anything to be taken seriously apart from maybe the thoughts about Georges de la Tour's painting
My idea of this book rapidly changed. At first I thought it was a 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells novel', asserting that everyone under the age of fifty, or possibly sixty, needs to shape up, get a hair cut and spend a few years in the army for their own good.
Then I read "Well, if it hadn't been for Harvey leaving Effie she would never have had a baby by Ernie...Harvey should have given her a child. So Harvey's responsible for Clara; it's a question of justice..." (p.41) which was the kind of explanation, in slightly different words, that I could imagine Father Ted giving to Father Dougal .
Then of a sudden I was reminded of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - a character escaping from a set of dysfunctional relationships only to end up repeatedly recreating the same relationships with the same people.
Finally I recalled that like Harvey in this novel Spark herself had retreated to a châteaux to write, though in Italy rather than in France and novels in place of a monograph about Job. Could this be then the most autobiographical of her novels? The nightmare of the author to be intruded upon as Job was by distracting and unhelpful comforters, with their own defensive measures turned against themselves?
Perhaps is ought to have been no surprise considering that Spark was as I mentioned living the castle life in Northern Italy at the time, but for a 1984 novel set in England and France, it felt very 1970s, maybe even 1960s.
Then again Spark was not truly like Job as presumably like Harvey in this novel which apparently makes all the difference.
My idea of this book rapidly changed. At first I thought it was a 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells novel', asserting that everyone under the age of fifty, or possibly sixty, needs to shape up, get a hair cut and spend a few years in the army for their own good.
Then I read "Well, if it hadn't been for Harvey leaving Effie she would never have had a baby by Ernie...Harvey should have given her a child. So Harvey's responsible for Clara; it's a question of justice..." (p.41) which was the kind of explanation, in slightly different words, that I could imagine Father Ted giving to Father Dougal .
Then of a sudden I was reminded of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - a character escaping from a set of dysfunctional relationships only to end up repeatedly recreating the same relationships with the same people.
Finally I recalled that like Harvey in this novel Spark herself had retreated to a châteaux to write, though in Italy rather than in France and novels in place of a monograph about Job. Could this be then the most autobiographical of her novels? The nightmare of the author to be intruded upon as Job was by distracting and unhelpful comforters, with their own defensive measures turned against themselves?
Perhaps is ought to have been no surprise considering that Spark was as I mentioned living the castle life in Northern Italy at the time, but for a 1984 novel set in England and France, it felt very 1970s, maybe even 1960s.
Then again Spark was not truly like Job as presumably like Harvey in this novel which apparently makes all the difference.
July 2, 2021
Ooh la la, Dame Spark, now we’re speaking the same language!
This book is very different in tone and style from any of the other books I have read by this author. Here Spark drops the punctilious wit and dry delivery that characterises her most well-known works and writes in, I dare say, a more conventional fashion (this one is linear, for starters).
What we are dealing with here, ladies and gentlemen, is a police procedural with metaphysical, theological and philosophical underpinnings. Our protagonist, Harvey Gotham, is a leisurely multimillionaire who moves into a shack in the French woodlands to write an essay on the Book of Job, a book he is unhealthily obsessed with. All he desires is to be left alone with his thoughts, until his wife, who he abandoned years ago, is accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation.
It is tempting to say this book is a modern retelling of the story of Job – Spark certainly wants us to toy with that idea – but to me it felt more like a deconstruction. Or even, to some extent, a parody. Instead of suffering in the flesh like Job, Gotham finds himself little more than mildly harangued by the events that unfold around him. But as we learn more about his feelings, we realise that perhaps his suffering is of a different ilk than Job’s, one unrelated to worldly possessions and no less tragic because of it.
The book is not only gripping and interesting, it is also quite funny. The press conference scene is a hoot, and the dialogues are full of sharp remarks, like when some locals admit to not knowing who Job is and Gotham points out that it is only natural; Catholics do not read the Bible.
As I write this review, the book only has 300 ratings. Come on, people! I thought Spark was a Goodreads darling! I am sending out a warm, healt-felt recommendation. I would especially like to see what BlackOxford has to say about it. Enjoy!
This book is very different in tone and style from any of the other books I have read by this author. Here Spark drops the punctilious wit and dry delivery that characterises her most well-known works and writes in, I dare say, a more conventional fashion (this one is linear, for starters).
What we are dealing with here, ladies and gentlemen, is a police procedural with metaphysical, theological and philosophical underpinnings. Our protagonist, Harvey Gotham, is a leisurely multimillionaire who moves into a shack in the French woodlands to write an essay on the Book of Job, a book he is unhealthily obsessed with. All he desires is to be left alone with his thoughts, until his wife, who he abandoned years ago, is accused of belonging to a terrorist organisation.
It is tempting to say this book is a modern retelling of the story of Job – Spark certainly wants us to toy with that idea – but to me it felt more like a deconstruction. Or even, to some extent, a parody. Instead of suffering in the flesh like Job, Gotham finds himself little more than mildly harangued by the events that unfold around him. But as we learn more about his feelings, we realise that perhaps his suffering is of a different ilk than Job’s, one unrelated to worldly possessions and no less tragic because of it.
The book is not only gripping and interesting, it is also quite funny. The press conference scene is a hoot, and the dialogues are full of sharp remarks, like when some locals admit to not knowing who Job is and Gotham points out that it is only natural; Catholics do not read the Bible.
As I write this review, the book only has 300 ratings. Come on, people! I thought Spark was a Goodreads darling! I am sending out a warm, healt-felt recommendation. I would especially like to see what BlackOxford has to say about it. Enjoy!
November 27, 2023
Harvey Gotham is a rich, somewhat Murdochian intellectual who has retreated to the French countryside to write a monograph on the Book of Job while contemplating the titular only problem—if God is good, why do we suffer? Around him orbit a curate-turned-actor who is both brother-in-law and friend, along with an estranged wife, suspected of being a terrorist, and her sister.
And yet somehow, even with the terrorist plot device, this is one of Spark's less absurd works. It reads a bit like a Highsmith novel. The manic element so often present in a Spark novel, almost as if it was written in haste or under the influence of some truly excellent drugs, is less in evidence here--this one is appreciably more measured and by-the-book. But it is still a Spark novel, with divine sentences such as the following:
There is an attempt (I believe) to draw a parallel between Harvey Gotham and Job, but I’m not sure that Spark pulls it off. But then I enjoyed The Abbess of Crewe as much as I did precisely because I did not focus too hard on the Watergate parallels, which may be the key here. Would have loved to see Auntie Pet in a more significant role.
Damn right. Even if, as in Harvey's case, we're only mildly inconvenienced.
And yet somehow, even with the terrorist plot device, this is one of Spark's less absurd works. It reads a bit like a Highsmith novel. The manic element so often present in a Spark novel, almost as if it was written in haste or under the influence of some truly excellent drugs, is less in evidence here--this one is appreciably more measured and by-the-book. But it is still a Spark novel, with divine sentences such as the following:
She dumped the food basket and went back for the baby, having glimpsed the outline of a student, a young man, any student, with those blue jeans of such a tight fit, they were reminiscent of Elizabethan women's breasts, in that you wondered, looking at their portraits, where they put their natural flesh.
There is an attempt (I believe) to draw a parallel between Harvey Gotham and Job, but I’m not sure that Spark pulls it off. But then I enjoyed The Abbess of Crewe as much as I did precisely because I did not focus too hard on the Watergate parallels, which may be the key here. Would have loved to see Auntie Pet in a more significant role.
We all need something to suffer about.
Damn right. Even if, as in Harvey's case, we're only mildly inconvenienced.
July 11, 2016
Senryu Review:
Spark shook me senseless
with her concision and wit:
bring on ten more books.
Spark shook me senseless
with her concision and wit:
bring on ten more books.
September 9, 2018
Firstly: This was a terrific read. It kept you on the edge. Read like a fast paced detective novel. Spark could spin any type of story she wanted. That is one reason to like her.
About the Plot: It looked like a retelling of the Biblical book of Job. But do not take me seriously. With Spark nothing is 'that' serious. (I would call Joseph Roth's retelling of the Book of Job in the novel Job, a serious one). Spark in a way recreates the Book of Job in a mocking manner. Do not mistake me: Spark does not ridicule the book. By mockingly recreating it, I meant she retells the story of Job in a way no one would have imagined. The novel is set in the 20th century with unbelievable characters happening in an unbelievable set up. But Spark makes it interesting.
I am not going to give away the story line. It would spoil the fun a new reader would have. But I can say this much. The Book of Job is funnily reflected in it with almost all the Biblical characters present in one way or the other (Job, his wife, his friends, Satan and God). The issue dealt in the Biblical book, i.e. the problem of innocent suffering, is also dealt here. The answer is also attempted at.
Lastly: In simple terms, this novel is Spark's answer to the Only Problem everyone grapples with - The Problem of Innocent Suffering.
About the Plot: It looked like a retelling of the Biblical book of Job. But do not take me seriously. With Spark nothing is 'that' serious. (I would call Joseph Roth's retelling of the Book of Job in the novel Job, a serious one). Spark in a way recreates the Book of Job in a mocking manner. Do not mistake me: Spark does not ridicule the book. By mockingly recreating it, I meant she retells the story of Job in a way no one would have imagined. The novel is set in the 20th century with unbelievable characters happening in an unbelievable set up. But Spark makes it interesting.
I am not going to give away the story line. It would spoil the fun a new reader would have. But I can say this much. The Book of Job is funnily reflected in it with almost all the Biblical characters present in one way or the other (Job, his wife, his friends, Satan and God). The issue dealt in the Biblical book, i.e. the problem of innocent suffering, is also dealt here. The answer is also attempted at.
Lastly: In simple terms, this novel is Spark's answer to the Only Problem everyone grapples with - The Problem of Innocent Suffering.
May 13, 2013
Two things of note here: first, it turns out that this isn't even in print, except for omnibus editions of Spark's works. This is a horrible travesty. Second, I spoke about it with my wife. She's a fan of Spark's better known books (Brodie, Girls of Slender Means), but even then, she says she's never sure what Spark is trying to *do*. Is it *good* that her student turns on Miss Jean, or bad? Is she good, or bad? And so on.
This, combined with a few of my other current preoccupations, meant that I was in a *perfect* frame of mind to read this book. Just to get it out of the way: there's no character development, barely any characters as such at all, nobody with whom to sympathize, and an outlandish conceit that will be all but incomprehensible to those who don't have some knowledge of the Book of Job.
What the book does, though, is remarkable. What starts out as a kind of romantic comedy slowly turns into an extraordinary meditation on what it means to be Job-like in the present and, even more ballsily, what it would mean to *tell* the story of Job in the present. It turns out--and this is a bit of a stretch, I admit--that the author of Job is somewhat like Satan, able to do whatever she will with the characters before her, while also being a bit like God, inasmuch as she can, when and if she chooses, make the ending happy by seemingly ending the suffering. But that won't necessarily make the character of Job himself happy, and certainly won't make the reader happy either, because other sufferings are coming and we know it. And despite all that, it's a tale worth telling and pondering, simply because our other options are being the annoying aunt, being the irritating policemen (the police-woman is the one non-Job like, attractive option left to us), being the blockheaded terrorist, being the, erm, flighty woman, or being the asshole. These 'comforters' (note to self: re-read Spark's first novel with this in mind), like the comforters in Job, are unbearable and misleading. The only thing that matters is the book, and our relationship to it.
So, as in her The Comforters, Spark marshals all the hyper-textual trickery and self-reflexivity you could wish for, but instead of concluding that everything is uncertain and we can never say what we want to and vanity vanity vanity, you're left wit the idea that literature, ideas and morality really do matter. Revolutionary.
This, combined with a few of my other current preoccupations, meant that I was in a *perfect* frame of mind to read this book. Just to get it out of the way: there's no character development, barely any characters as such at all, nobody with whom to sympathize, and an outlandish conceit that will be all but incomprehensible to those who don't have some knowledge of the Book of Job.
What the book does, though, is remarkable. What starts out as a kind of romantic comedy slowly turns into an extraordinary meditation on what it means to be Job-like in the present and, even more ballsily, what it would mean to *tell* the story of Job in the present. It turns out--and this is a bit of a stretch, I admit--that the author of Job is somewhat like Satan, able to do whatever she will with the characters before her, while also being a bit like God, inasmuch as she can, when and if she chooses, make the ending happy by seemingly ending the suffering. But that won't necessarily make the character of Job himself happy, and certainly won't make the reader happy either, because other sufferings are coming and we know it. And despite all that, it's a tale worth telling and pondering, simply because our other options are being the annoying aunt, being the irritating policemen (the police-woman is the one non-Job like, attractive option left to us), being the blockheaded terrorist, being the, erm, flighty woman, or being the asshole. These 'comforters' (note to self: re-read Spark's first novel with this in mind), like the comforters in Job, are unbearable and misleading. The only thing that matters is the book, and our relationship to it.
So, as in her The Comforters, Spark marshals all the hyper-textual trickery and self-reflexivity you could wish for, but instead of concluding that everything is uncertain and we can never say what we want to and vanity vanity vanity, you're left wit the idea that literature, ideas and morality really do matter. Revolutionary.
March 20, 2013
A very clever and involving novel. Harvey Gotham, his wife Effie, sister-in-law Ruth, her husband Edward and their student friend Nathan go on holiday to Italy. En route, Harvey leaves his wife after she confesses to stealing some chocolate. He goes to France to write (a study of the Book of Job). Ruth arrives at his cottage with Clara (Effie's baby by her lover, Ernie). She ends up stsying. Meanwhile Effie has seemingly got involved with terrorism and a policeman has been shot.....
Adroitly plotted, as well written as ever and with a cast of fascinating characters, this is a very satisfying read indeed. Recommended.
Adroitly plotted, as well written as ever and with a cast of fascinating characters, this is a very satisfying read indeed. Recommended.
July 12, 2021
I always find Muriel Spark’s writing somehow cheering and this novella was no exception, despite the ostensible topic of human suffering. Spark is such a polished, witty writer that every sentence is a joy to read. In 'The Only Problem', the protagonist, Harvey Gotham, is absorbed in studying the Book of Job to understand why God allows suffering. The narrative plays in a delicately ironic fashion with Harvey as a Job-like figure, wealthy and privileged but plagued by distractions. Although, as is repeatedly pointed out, Harvey is not cursed with boils. He is something of a stolid figure, but his seeming passivity is punctuated by the occasional proactive decision. Notably leaving his wife Effie at the start of the book. The motives of other characters who come to his rural retreat wanting things tend to be obscure, or at least more complex than they first appear. Harvey’s calm self-absorption is oddly fascinating, as well as deeply frustrating for others to deal with. The mysterious Effie is only present in the first scene, then hangs over the rest of the book like a spectre. Her behaviour and motives are discussed by all characters, without shedding much light on either. She seems to be placed in the role of God and/or Satan in the allegory of Harvey as Job. Meanwhile her sister Ruth oscillates between several different men who Effie has married, run off with, or fascinated.
I generally prefer Spark’s fiction when the focus is on a female main character, yet the witty weirdness of ‘The Only Problem’ makes it an exception. Harvey isn’t the one driving the narrative, Effie is. Ruth and the incredible Aunt Pet take the initiative and descend upon Harvey for more interesting reasons than his male visitors. Nathan reads as a subversion of a female stereotype: he is pretty to look at and good at domestic tasks, unable to find a career therefore follows around the opposite sex. Spark’s usual wit is very much present. The farcical scenes of Harvey’s interrogation and press conference were especially good, as was the running joke about baby clothes. Spark is far too subtle a writer to conclude neatly with an answer to the problem of suffering. Harvey’s suffering is of a frankly trivial sort, more at the level of mild inconvenience. One gets the impression that Effie would have a very different and probably more interesting perspective on the problem.
I generally prefer Spark’s fiction when the focus is on a female main character, yet the witty weirdness of ‘The Only Problem’ makes it an exception. Harvey isn’t the one driving the narrative, Effie is. Ruth and the incredible Aunt Pet take the initiative and descend upon Harvey for more interesting reasons than his male visitors. Nathan reads as a subversion of a female stereotype: he is pretty to look at and good at domestic tasks, unable to find a career therefore follows around the opposite sex. Spark’s usual wit is very much present. The farcical scenes of Harvey’s interrogation and press conference were especially good, as was the running joke about baby clothes. Spark is far too subtle a writer to conclude neatly with an answer to the problem of suffering. Harvey’s suffering is of a frankly trivial sort, more at the level of mild inconvenience. One gets the impression that Effie would have a very different and probably more interesting perspective on the problem.
April 22, 2024
3.5
The weakest Spark I've read so far; seems like she didn't know where to go with the idea but kept plodding on by force of sheer professionalism. Must be close to unreadable for people not interested in the Bible's Book of Job
The weakest Spark I've read so far; seems like she didn't know where to go with the idea but kept plodding on by force of sheer professionalism. Must be close to unreadable for people not interested in the Bible's Book of Job
July 6, 2011
Muriel Spark has for me become a sort of literary comfort food - I can reach for an unread title and be quite certain I will read quickly and with delight, and not find myself fighting shifting tides of stylistic uncertainty or elusive modernism. I once described her main preoccupations as "Catholicism and thieves" - this early 80s entry to her bibliography is impressive in how it reflects that pair but covers some new ground. One of the central characters, Harvey, is of no specified stripe of Christianity (not even clearly a believer) but is largely preoccupied with a scholarly monograph he is writing on Job (which quickly becomes a simile for his life) while the French police question him about his estranged wife who has become some sort of political terrorist. Meanwhile the wife's sister (Biblically named Ruth) has moved in with him, bringing his wife's abandoned infant daughter, of whom he is not actually the father; he makes up for this by impregnating Ruth, his wife's sister. This network of relationships (which has several more variations) is probably meant to be a bit absurd, but Harvey, if only by accident of wealth, ends up being sympathetic, as the only person who will consistently provide for these children. Short, funny, multivalent.
December 2, 2017
A man is obsessed with a book/character of the Old Testament: Job. He has left his wife and is holed up, alone, in a small shack on the grounds of a much larger home, a mansion. As he is delving deep into the "problem" of Job, his loneliness ends by constant interruptions, his life becomes more and more chaotic. It appears his life is running in parallel to job. I think. Spark's work, in effect, IS a problem to grasp, and I suppose that's the point. Is this an author whose fame is based on the very good "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"? That's my problem here.
December 29, 2024
Not quite sure what to make of this clever and crisp work; definitely a satire and I thought much better than Memento Mori, but sending up what?
“The only problem” is something that Harvey is obsessively working through – he’s writing a monograph on the problem Job (of bible fame) has with the concept and existence of suffering. Harvey is a rich, rather insufferable prat who rather fancies himself as a latter-day Job, surrounded as he is by a small cast of “comforters” - shiftless friends, lovers and hangers-on. He was once married to Effie, whose sister Ruth is married to Edward, Harvey’s close friend. There’s also an infatuated young student Nathan and an ex-lover of both sisters, but the relationships are fluid, and at least one baby is of uncertain fatherhood.
Harvey abruptly left Effie for “moral” reasons and has moved to a cottage in France to finish his work, where Edward and Ruth visit, successively. But the major part of the story concerns the French police who interrogate Harvey (but so politely!), after Effie is suspected of belonging to a radical terrorist organization who later kill a policeman.
Pretty good and quite amusing, though I did skip over some of the theological understory, what with the problem of suffering being so much pointless religious twaddle.
“The only problem” is something that Harvey is obsessively working through – he’s writing a monograph on the problem Job (of bible fame) has with the concept and existence of suffering. Harvey is a rich, rather insufferable prat who rather fancies himself as a latter-day Job, surrounded as he is by a small cast of “comforters” - shiftless friends, lovers and hangers-on. He was once married to Effie, whose sister Ruth is married to Edward, Harvey’s close friend. There’s also an infatuated young student Nathan and an ex-lover of both sisters, but the relationships are fluid, and at least one baby is of uncertain fatherhood.
Harvey abruptly left Effie for “moral” reasons and has moved to a cottage in France to finish his work, where Edward and Ruth visit, successively. But the major part of the story concerns the French police who interrogate Harvey (but so politely!), after Effie is suspected of belonging to a radical terrorist organization who later kill a policeman.
Pretty good and quite amusing, though I did skip over some of the theological understory, what with the problem of suffering being so much pointless religious twaddle.
November 20, 2024
Goodreads reviews (currently 358) suggest this is one of Spark's lesser-read books, together with others such as 'The Public Image' and 'Territorial Rights'. It is also the only one of Spark's 22 novels without its own Wikipedia page. Perhaps crime dramas attract a more niche audience when there Parisian murders are accompanied by a theological and religious backdrop? Tell that to Dan Brown.
My copy may have been gathering dust in a library stack, but I'm glad I picked it up. Spark's schtick for life immitating art is here replayed, as the wealthy 35 year old Harvey finds the outside world paying visits when he least wants them. Harvey is a student (adamantly not a scholar as he is doing it for himself alone) of the Book of Job drawn to a painting of the afflicted Biblical figure, before he finds himself confronted with Job-like persecutions of his own. It can be read as a straightforwardly suspenseful novel on the ties of friendship, romance and shared worldviews. Equally, it can be read as a philosophical and theological meditation on 'the only problem' - namely why God allows suffering in the universe he himself has created.
It sounds heavy, but Spark allows readers to choose how deep they want to go. No scriptural knowledge is needed, although those wanting a profounder reading might benefit from commentaries. In my case, I am reading through Spark's novels, and with passing interest was glad to just have the additional prompts to thought on the relative capriciousness of happiness, relationships and stability.
I was concurrently listening to 'A Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking as a companion read. Spark the Catholic novelist and Hawking the quantum physicist both talk in different ways about entropy, and the universal tendency from order to disorder. For all that Harvey is fascinated by what 140 years of the quiet life could mean (pace Job), neither Spark or Hawking (even with his timescales in millions of years), give much comfort or hope that the cosmos will ever offer much stability. But do we really want uniformity and stasis? At the surface level at least, Spark shows us that our partners, children, homes and happiness are none of them fixed. All this within <200 pages of crime, deceit, confessions, denials and plenty of action - and this rates among the best of Spark's work.
My copy may have been gathering dust in a library stack, but I'm glad I picked it up. Spark's schtick for life immitating art is here replayed, as the wealthy 35 year old Harvey finds the outside world paying visits when he least wants them. Harvey is a student (adamantly not a scholar as he is doing it for himself alone) of the Book of Job drawn to a painting of the afflicted Biblical figure, before he finds himself confronted with Job-like persecutions of his own. It can be read as a straightforwardly suspenseful novel on the ties of friendship, romance and shared worldviews. Equally, it can be read as a philosophical and theological meditation on 'the only problem' - namely why God allows suffering in the universe he himself has created.
It sounds heavy, but Spark allows readers to choose how deep they want to go. No scriptural knowledge is needed, although those wanting a profounder reading might benefit from commentaries. In my case, I am reading through Spark's novels, and with passing interest was glad to just have the additional prompts to thought on the relative capriciousness of happiness, relationships and stability.
I was concurrently listening to 'A Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking as a companion read. Spark the Catholic novelist and Hawking the quantum physicist both talk in different ways about entropy, and the universal tendency from order to disorder. For all that Harvey is fascinated by what 140 years of the quiet life could mean (pace Job), neither Spark or Hawking (even with his timescales in millions of years), give much comfort or hope that the cosmos will ever offer much stability. But do we really want uniformity and stasis? At the surface level at least, Spark shows us that our partners, children, homes and happiness are none of them fixed. All this within <200 pages of crime, deceit, confessions, denials and plenty of action - and this rates among the best of Spark's work.
November 22, 2020
I hadn't read a Spark story in quite a long time. This one did bring back to me how much I like her writing style in general, with characters and setting well done. However, I wasn't able to appreciate the religious, philosophical theme itself.
If you've never read any Spark, do not start here!
If you've never read any Spark, do not start here!
August 19, 2019
I didn't care for any of the characters and found that the story meandered slowly with a swift and sudden ending. The author's obsession with the Book of Job was tedious in the extreme.
August 26, 2014
No doubt it's fascinating if you're into the book of Job. I'm not.
February 11, 2022
If the only problem for Harvey Gotham was his wife Effie's shoplifting habit then life would not be so complicated. Not that he finds it particularly so. Having abandoned her on holiday due to her wish to acquire things without paying for them he finds himself a year later answering questions from the French police about why Effie is a leading member of terrorist organisation the FLE, while at the same time giving over his solitary existence to a visit from Effie's sister Ruth and Effie's baby Clara who she has abandoned along with her lover Ernie.
Another enthralling story from Muriel Spark. With her short novels it is difficult to discuss the plot any further as everything moves along so quickly. The characters and setting are well drawn, the plot and chapters conducive to losing yourself for a good few hours at a time. The ending, as usual delivers a surprise or two, with many a wry smile along the way.
Another enthralling story from Muriel Spark. With her short novels it is difficult to discuss the plot any further as everything moves along so quickly. The characters and setting are well drawn, the plot and chapters conducive to losing yourself for a good few hours at a time. The ending, as usual delivers a surprise or two, with many a wry smile along the way.
February 16, 2019
An academic writing a book on the Book of Job while his estranged wife runs around with French terrorists and a policewoman masquerades as a housekeeper – could any of this come from anyone other than Muriel Spark?
“Harvey was a rich man; he was in his mid-thirties. He had started writing a monograph about the Book of Job and the problem it deals with. For he could not face that a benevolent Creator, one whose charming and delicious light descended and spread over the world, and being powerful everywhere, could condone the unspeakable sufferings of the world; that God did permit all suffering and was therefore, by logic of his omnipotence the actual author of it, he was at a loss how to square with the existence of God, given the premise that God is good.”
This religious theme is certainly a familiar one for Muriel Spark, but don’t worry you don’t need to be religious or have a theology degree to get on board with this one.
Canadian scholar Harvey Gotham is living in a small remote cottage in France, in the grounds of an empty château. He spends most of his time thinking, writing and talking about the Book of Job. Harvey is obsessed with the question of suffering, and why God would allow it. Two years earlier, Harvey had separated from his wife Effie when they had been travelling with friends in Italy and Effie stole some chocolate as a protest against capitalism. Harvey walked away from the car that day in disgust and hasn’t seen Effie since.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
“Harvey was a rich man; he was in his mid-thirties. He had started writing a monograph about the Book of Job and the problem it deals with. For he could not face that a benevolent Creator, one whose charming and delicious light descended and spread over the world, and being powerful everywhere, could condone the unspeakable sufferings of the world; that God did permit all suffering and was therefore, by logic of his omnipotence the actual author of it, he was at a loss how to square with the existence of God, given the premise that God is good.”
This religious theme is certainly a familiar one for Muriel Spark, but don’t worry you don’t need to be religious or have a theology degree to get on board with this one.
Canadian scholar Harvey Gotham is living in a small remote cottage in France, in the grounds of an empty château. He spends most of his time thinking, writing and talking about the Book of Job. Harvey is obsessed with the question of suffering, and why God would allow it. Two years earlier, Harvey had separated from his wife Effie when they had been travelling with friends in Italy and Effie stole some chocolate as a protest against capitalism. Harvey walked away from the car that day in disgust and hasn’t seen Effie since.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
August 14, 2015
Utterly compelling.
Told with sharp wit.
You think you know who people are.
Quite a few twists and turns.
Sentences that leave you re- reading!
Loved this one!
Told with sharp wit.
You think you know who people are.
Quite a few twists and turns.
Sentences that leave you re- reading!
Loved this one!
January 30, 2018
Regret that I'd left it so long to get around to this middle-era Spark; delightful, ambiguous, funny, memorable; as good as her others which means its fabulous.
February 13, 2017
I bought this book because I had read and enjoyed The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie after watching the picture. This book is quite a departure from the other. It is the story of a wealthy man who lives a solitary life to be near a painting of Job. He is fascinated by Job's story and plans to publish a monograph on the subject.
His estranged wife, whom he left because of her kleptomania, is now a terrorist wanted by the police. The police don't believe him that he has no contact with her or knowledge of her whereabouts.
That's the bare bones of the story. Miscellaneous people drop in and out of the story without adding much interest. All in all I wonder why she bothered to write about them.
His estranged wife, whom he left because of her kleptomania, is now a terrorist wanted by the police. The police don't believe him that he has no contact with her or knowledge of her whereabouts.
That's the bare bones of the story. Miscellaneous people drop in and out of the story without adding much interest. All in all I wonder why she bothered to write about them.
July 12, 2016
I was intrigued by the central theme of Harvey's concern on Book of Job. But the actual story is populated with people who played music chair in one and other's life. The sharp poignancy of Spark's short stories is largely absent, leaving with a slowly evolving sketch of a small group of people who do not inspire profound interest nor emotion. I plan to return to Spark's short story only. This is very disappointing.
November 8, 2021
I threw this one against the wall at about page 50.
A motley collection of unsympathetic characters, all of them (except the nebbishes Nathan and Edward) entirely incapable of any kind of commitment or loyalty, and all wrapped in incessant prattling about the Book of Job, which -- sorry folks -- is the most absurd book in the so-called Old Testament.
I'm sure Spark is setting us up for some Great Moral Lesson but sorry, I'm not interested.
A motley collection of unsympathetic characters, all of them (except the nebbishes Nathan and Edward) entirely incapable of any kind of commitment or loyalty, and all wrapped in incessant prattling about the Book of Job, which -- sorry folks -- is the most absurd book in the so-called Old Testament.
I'm sure Spark is setting us up for some Great Moral Lesson but sorry, I'm not interested.
March 2, 2020
Enjoyable and quirky with a deep underlying message as seen in all Spark novels. Not my favourite from her, but far from least favourite. I often find that I either love or hate Spark novels. This and it’s characters is on the side of love.
April 17, 2022
Fine, but I preferred Reality and Dreams. Fake terrorist daughter is much funnier than real terrorist wife.
May 21, 2025
Hilarious! And very weird. Like talking to somebody ten times as smart as you who doesn’t care if you don’t understand what she says.
September 3, 2017
Attempts to summarize Muriel Spark’s concise and perceptive novels tend to become long-winded and sound ridiculous. So here goes –
Harvey Gotham, the heir to a Canadian canned salmon fortune, is bankrolling an Italian motor tour for Effie, his wife; Ruth, her sister; Edward, Ruth’s husband (a retired curate turned mildly successful actor); and, Nathan, an recent graduate in English studies who is not unexpectedly without a job. When Effie steals two chocolate bars from the shop at a filling station on the autostrada, Harvey asks to be let out to use the men’s room at the next stop. He is next seen hitching a ride on a truck.
Harvey holes up in a cabin attached to a chateau in the Vosges. Here he concentrates on his true passion, a monograph on The Book of Job. (Should you ever run into Harvey, don’t get him started on The Book of Job.) During the next 180 pages, sexual arrangements will be shuffled, babies born, and Effie’s shoplifting habits will escalate to her involvement with the Fronte de la Liberation de l’Europe, a terrorist organization that robs supermarkets and jewelry stores, sets off bombs, and eventually kills a policeman.
The novel is set at least thirty years in the past, and this time difference could have contributed to my American inability to fully grasp the behavior of this cast of characters. Spark is not a novelist known for her gracious embrace of those she writes about, but I am sure her sense of why these people do what they do is more nuanced than mine. I found the most sympathetic characters to be the remarkably tolerant French police, who display the patience of Job when dealing with these nitwits.
Spark’s title refers to the essential conundrum of the Book of Job, the question that obsesses Harvey. How can a supposedly benevolent God allow the persecutions and suffering inflicted on mankind? Spark’s never stretches an allegorical connection between Job and her salmon-canning scion, nor does she draw parallels to their travails. Yet in the rarefied atmosphere of Muriel Spark’s fiction, The Only Problem could be her angle on theodicy
Harvey Gotham, the heir to a Canadian canned salmon fortune, is bankrolling an Italian motor tour for Effie, his wife; Ruth, her sister; Edward, Ruth’s husband (a retired curate turned mildly successful actor); and, Nathan, an recent graduate in English studies who is not unexpectedly without a job. When Effie steals two chocolate bars from the shop at a filling station on the autostrada, Harvey asks to be let out to use the men’s room at the next stop. He is next seen hitching a ride on a truck.
Harvey holes up in a cabin attached to a chateau in the Vosges. Here he concentrates on his true passion, a monograph on The Book of Job. (Should you ever run into Harvey, don’t get him started on The Book of Job.) During the next 180 pages, sexual arrangements will be shuffled, babies born, and Effie’s shoplifting habits will escalate to her involvement with the Fronte de la Liberation de l’Europe, a terrorist organization that robs supermarkets and jewelry stores, sets off bombs, and eventually kills a policeman.
The novel is set at least thirty years in the past, and this time difference could have contributed to my American inability to fully grasp the behavior of this cast of characters. Spark is not a novelist known for her gracious embrace of those she writes about, but I am sure her sense of why these people do what they do is more nuanced than mine. I found the most sympathetic characters to be the remarkably tolerant French police, who display the patience of Job when dealing with these nitwits.
Spark’s title refers to the essential conundrum of the Book of Job, the question that obsesses Harvey. How can a supposedly benevolent God allow the persecutions and suffering inflicted on mankind? Spark’s never stretches an allegorical connection between Job and her salmon-canning scion, nor does she draw parallels to their travails. Yet in the rarefied atmosphere of Muriel Spark’s fiction, The Only Problem could be her angle on theodicy
May 21, 2023
"Having led a successful, comfortable life, Harvey Gotham retires to the French countryside to pursue bookish obsessions—namely, a long monograph on the Book of Job, the biblical narrative of faith in the face of extraordinary suffering. But Gotham’s intellectual interests soon bleed into his daily life when a series of misfortunes, from a destructive affair to his wife’s involvement with an extremist group, threaten to destroy everything he holds dear.
Harvey Gotham, a wealthy man in his midthirties, is told by police that his wife Effie, a member of a terrorist group, has bombed banks and committed murder and he finds that he loves Effie all the more. He refuses to believe it when the French police tell him that his estranged wife is a dangerous terrorist. As far as the police are concerned, that only serves to throw suspicion on Gotham himself."
~~Goodreads
Well, of course it's much more complicated that that. There's Effie's sister, married to a man who wants to be an actor, who takes Effie's baby by yet another man to see Harvey, and stays. Harvey adores the baby but not necessarily Ruth, even though he gets her pregnant. And then there's Nathan -- a boarder of Ruth & her husband, who's violently in love with Effie . . . Well, you can plainly see it gets more complicated.
This book almost fell into the "books to throw against the wall" category. It's 179 pages of absolutely nothing happening. Harvey continues to spout his reasonings about Job at every turn, Ruth waffles back & forth, are the rumors and the police suspicions true about Effie?, where's Nathan?, etc. Everyone's motives for thinking or acting as they do are abundantly unclear. And the ending? As muddled as the rest of the book.
Harvey Gotham, a wealthy man in his midthirties, is told by police that his wife Effie, a member of a terrorist group, has bombed banks and committed murder and he finds that he loves Effie all the more. He refuses to believe it when the French police tell him that his estranged wife is a dangerous terrorist. As far as the police are concerned, that only serves to throw suspicion on Gotham himself."
~~Goodreads
Well, of course it's much more complicated that that. There's Effie's sister, married to a man who wants to be an actor, who takes Effie's baby by yet another man to see Harvey, and stays. Harvey adores the baby but not necessarily Ruth, even though he gets her pregnant. And then there's Nathan -- a boarder of Ruth & her husband, who's violently in love with Effie . . . Well, you can plainly see it gets more complicated.
This book almost fell into the "books to throw against the wall" category. It's 179 pages of absolutely nothing happening. Harvey continues to spout his reasonings about Job at every turn, Ruth waffles back & forth, are the rumors and the police suspicions true about Effie?, where's Nathan?, etc. Everyone's motives for thinking or acting as they do are abundantly unclear. And the ending? As muddled as the rest of the book.
May 18, 2015
I'm not going to pretend that I understand most of Muriel Spark's books, but I continue reading them. I think this is #10 for me.
I love her off-beat sensibility;
I am intrigued by her somewhat odd characters; and,
I value that her books give me something to think about.
This one, THE ONLY PROBLEM, embodies all of that---in spades. In the forward to my edition the author mentioned that she was a poet before she became a novelist. She also stated that a noted literary critic commented that a good novel "should be a poem" and that she hoped that this, of all of her novels, would have "the construction . . . and the vision" of a poem. I can't comment on what that means, but I can say that this book is definitely one in which the whole adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
It is simple, yet it is complicated.
It is ridiculous, yet it is profound.
I found it very interesting and a refreshing departure from today's formulaic best-sellers.
I love her off-beat sensibility;
I am intrigued by her somewhat odd characters; and,
I value that her books give me something to think about.
This one, THE ONLY PROBLEM, embodies all of that---in spades. In the forward to my edition the author mentioned that she was a poet before she became a novelist. She also stated that a noted literary critic commented that a good novel "should be a poem" and that she hoped that this, of all of her novels, would have "the construction . . . and the vision" of a poem. I can't comment on what that means, but I can say that this book is definitely one in which the whole adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
It is simple, yet it is complicated.
It is ridiculous, yet it is profound.
I found it very interesting and a refreshing departure from today's formulaic best-sellers.
March 13, 2018
Unfortunately I don't have much to say about this. It was the last inclusion in a Muriel Spark bindup I had borrowed from the library, so after completing The Driver's Seat and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie I figured I didn't have much to lose by giving The Only Problem a shot. Unfortunately I did lose something, and that was my time and my enthusiasm for Spark's work.
It wasn't bad. She is still a fantastic writer. It's just that I didn't much care. The entire novella is a bit of a riff on the Book of Job, which the main character is writing a thesis about. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more if I knew more about the Book of Job, but unfortunately I didn't care about the book enough to try and find out more. I just muddled along bemusedly towards the end, and felt by the end of it that the wind had completely been taken out of my Muriel Spark wings.
Better luck with The Girls of Slender Means after a bit of a cooldown break, I suppose.
It wasn't bad. She is still a fantastic writer. It's just that I didn't much care. The entire novella is a bit of a riff on the Book of Job, which the main character is writing a thesis about. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more if I knew more about the Book of Job, but unfortunately I didn't care about the book enough to try and find out more. I just muddled along bemusedly towards the end, and felt by the end of it that the wind had completely been taken out of my Muriel Spark wings.
Better luck with The Girls of Slender Means after a bit of a cooldown break, I suppose.
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