I'm reviewing House Arrest ...

... by Alan Bennett.  Read on...

I’ve always been a fan of Alan Bennett’s writing be it his books, memoirs or plays.  I’ve taken roles in some of his plays and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to recreate one of his characters.  I’ve also directed some of his work, too both full-length plays and some of his Talking Heads monologues.  And I can’t begin to count the number of productions of his work that I’ve seen at theatres across the country.  So, I suppose I could be labelled as biased when it comes to anything newly published by one of our greatest living writers.

I am also a member of the Book Club in the village where I live.  Finding Bennett’s House Arrest on the list from the library was too good an opportunity to miss and I put it on the selection of books for us all to read for this year.  I am so glad that I did.

House Arrest has the subtitle ‘Pandemic Diaries’ and I can fully understand why that might mean this book is returned to the shelf unopened by some people.  The pandemic was a frightening, unsettling, and for some, a very upsetting experience.  But that was then and this book is worth considering and reading.

A selection of the diary entries were first published in the London Review of Books, a paper that Bennett has been a regular contributor over the years.  But this collection of musings was put together and published in 2022.

The book is a collection of diary entries beginning just before the first lockdown in 2020.  Bennett, with his usual wit and sharp observation of human behaviour, records how the pandemic affected him and those around him.  He bemoans his arthritis, the bumping of elbows, and the sour milk one morning that meant there was no early cup of tea or breakfast until a trip to the local post office had been undertaken.  All those little things that we all get uptight about are here in this book.  They are of course presented in the light of Bennetts razor-sharp wit.  An done of my favourite quips is included in the entry for Good Friday.  ‘Good Friday,’ writes Bennett.  ‘… when this year Pontius Pilot is not the only one washing his hands.’  I have to say that I couldn’t stop myself laughing out loud at the point.  Luckily, I wasn’t on a train, bus or tram at that moment!

The quips keep coming too as time moves on.  Bennett lets you know, in no uncertain terms, what he thinks of Boris Johnson as an orator and compares him with Starmer.  Then there are the entries about, and his views on the management of the school exams.  Bennett has a view on everything, including some of the books he read during that time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this little – and the book is only 49 pages long – escape into the life of a magnificent writer.  I found I couldn’t put the book down and read it pretty much at one sitting.  I was also very disappointed when I reached the end.  I wanted more of the insight, the wit and the keen observation.  But I guess I will just have to wait for his next volume of memoirs instead.