The Laying On of Hands: Stories [Paperback]

Alan Bennett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0312422253 | ISBN-13: 978-0312422257 | Edition: First Picador Paperback Edition

Alan Bennett’s extraordinary ear for dialogue and sharpness of perception have made him a master storyteller. In “Father! Father! Burning Bright” he writes with tragicomic insight about a son’s vigil at his father’s deathbed where their lifelong battle continues to the end. “The Laying on of Hands,” a brilliantly funny satire, describes a society memorial service for a rather special masseur who died tragically young; and in “Miss Fozzard Finds her Feet,” a lonely, unmarried department store clerk discovers there’s more to life than looking after her brother through her only indulgence, her podiatrist.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With his actor's ear for dialogue, his dead-on pacing, and his talent for social comedy, British playwright Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George) is hardly lacking in literary gifts. The three stories in The Laying On of Hands, two of which have been filmed by the BBC, are funny in different ways. The title piece is a slow-to-ripen satire set at the Anglican funeral service of a handsome young masseur, whose clients turn out to include cabinet ministers, soap opera stars, and the presiding clergyman. The second story, "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet," describes the odd relationship a pure-minded middle-aged woman develops with her charming chiropodist (podiatrist). And the final story, "Father! Father! Burning Bright," follows a mousy schoolteacher named Midgley through the self-searching and nurse-hunting days preceding his father's death in Intensive Care. The range and subtle coloration of Bennett's humor will appeal, especially, to readers of Robertson Davies and Muriel Spark. --Regina Marler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Bennett hits the mark in the title novella of this brief collection, which also features a second, shorter novella as well as a single short story. The funeral of a masseur who serviced British celebrities in a variety of ways becomes the setting for a cheeky comedy of manners in the title yarn, as a young gay priest fails his first big test when he lets the final testimonials turn into an outrageous debate over whether the masseur died of AIDS or contracted an obscure disease while traveling in South America. The punch line falls flat in the second effort, "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet," when a woman finds a mutual outlet for her unusual sexual fetish in her ongoing appointments with her podiatrist. The final novella, "Father! Father! Burning Bright," gets off to a murky start as a married, middle-aged schoolteacher struggles to sort through his mixed emotions when a stroke leaves his father at death's door, but the ending, involving the teacher's strange attraction to his father's comely nurse, closes the narrative with a nice satiric twist. Bennett's multileveled approach makes the title story work, as he slowly layers his conceit with observations on the celebrity scene in Britain and the priest's recollections of his romantic interaction with the deceased. Unfortunately, the quality of craft drops significantly in the other two efforts, with the second novella in particular focusing more on manners than comedy.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Picador; First Picador Paperback Edition edition (May 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312422253
• ISBN-13: 978-0312422257
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #842,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Bennett is a renowned playwright and essayist, a succession of whose plays have been staged at the Royal National Theatre and whose screenplay for The Madness of King George was nominated for an Academy Award. He made his first stage appearance with Beyond the Fringe and his latest play was The Lady in the Van with Maggie Smith. Episodes from his award-winning Talking Heads series have been shown on PBS. His first novel, The Clothes They Stood Up In, was published in 2000. He lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Subversively Funny Send-up, May 6, 2007

By 

Clifton Snider (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Laying On of Hands: Stories (Paperback)

The title story of Alan Bennett's "The Laying on of Hands," a novella that takes up half the book of three stories, demonstrates the playwright's sparkling versatility as a writer.

Anyone who has seen or read Bennett's recent Tony-award-winning play, "The History Boys," will appreciate the more subtle humor of "The Laying on of Hands," the focus of which is a memorial service for a highly attractive, skillful, and young (dead at age 34) masseur conducted by a High Anglican priest who, like most of those attending the service, has enjoyed the virile masseur's services, albeit without the knowledge of the others.

Among the attendees is wide selection of mourners, including many of England's wealthy and famous, male and female, a "version of England," as it were. Add a self-righteous Archdeacon, there to report on the conduct of Father Geoffrey Jolliffe, who is conducting the service, and you have the ingredients for a smart, subversive dark comedy revolving around the question of "What did he die of?"

To supply the answer would spoil the story. Read it and enjoy it; then read and see the movie version, available on DVD, of "The History Boys" if you haven't already.

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic from a Master, November 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Laying On of Hands: Stories (Hardcover)

Alan Bennett is the classiest act in literature. His personal style--wry, self-effacing--shades his writing, which manages to be delicate, ironic, and hysterically funny all at once. The title story is destined to be a classic, and if you loved "The Clothes They Stood Up In," it's sure to be something you read and reread. It's genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, and it's quite astonishing how a seemingly lightweight take about the death of an ambisexual masseur can hone in on people's hopes and fears without ever becoming less than a breathtaking feat. The second, also more a novella than a shirt story, is less impressive but still very funny, sexy, and also sweet. The last is the least compelling--the prat of a protagonist makes it rough going--but this is the shortest of the lot by far. And the first take alone is well worth the price.