I thought (until moments ago) that this was Spark's first novel because it has all the Sparkian elements that, unfortunately, aren't as finely tuned in this work as they are in many of her other novels. A preoccupation with religious identity set against the backdrop of a very specific time and place? Most definitely. A variety of eccentric characters? Yes, but several seem to betray their own characters in contrived ways. (Spark gives us a latently lesbian headmistress who somewhat unaccountably ends up hopping into bed with a pro-Nasser Muslim communist. The possibly latently homosexual, staid British F.O. dogsbody ends hopping into bed with the rogue-ish, girlish tour guide. The protagonist who goes through a lot of trouble to fulfill her Catholic pilgrimage to the Holy Lands decides 3/4 of the way through that she'll abandon the Church if need be to marry the man she loves. The young Muslim-turned Catholic-turned I forget what is in love with his sister but...well, you get the idea...) Brevity of style? No, this one drags by Sparkian standards. Incisiveness? Yes, but again, it's still blunted by Sparkian standards. Flashbacks *and* flashforwards? Yes, but not nearly as deftly done as in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

In short, this isn't one of Spark's standouts, but Spark at her worst outshines many at their best. It's unfortunate that the books' thoughtful ruminations on the protagonist's divided religious identity amongst the unease of a divided city devolves into farce. The last half of the book turns into an espionage thriller that is less John le Carre and more Benny Hill, which isn't an entirely terrible thing.

Recommended for Spark completists. ( )

Read this first time back in late '60s: it was reviewed as quite a masterful tale of the characters against the background of rising Mid East-Arab-Israel/Jew tensions... Innocent by comparison with the tragedies that have since unfolded & continue to do so at ever deeper unhappy trajectory for all. However, Ms Spark was not to know/blame for any of that and as ever she writes with vigour and intelligent sensitivity - within the backdrop there's some poignant references to the Eichmann Trial & Europe's Holocaust failings - about a group of mostly Britons who intermingle their loves, prejudices & aspirations as they blunder in and out of the ancient sites & hot-spots of all types in the Holy Lands of the Christians, the Jews & the Muslims. A good read, but not Spark's best by some way. ( )

Een verhaal dat zich afspeelt in het Israel en Jordanië van begin jaren zestig. Het behandelt de invloed van de interpretatie van geloof (catholicisme, jodendom, en islam) op liefde, en geluk. Dit tegen een achtergrond van spionage en politieke tegenstellingen. De twee hoofdpersonen, Barbara Vaughan (katholiek) en Freddy Hamilton (diplomaat). Beiden zijn op zoek naar vrijheid en liefde, maar moeten zich eerst ontworstelen aan het geloof (Barbara) en de diplomatie en de 'Britishness" (Freddy). Dat doen ze in Jordanië tussen de Arabieren; een extra complicatie is het feit dat Barbara half joods is. De Arabieren zijn veel pragmatischer op het gebied van geloof en liefde, en wijzen ze de weg. De personages zijn leuk; het verhaal is soms gekunsteld; de stijl is typisch jaren zestig (John Fowles, ..). ( )

An exotic city poised between two wars; English diplomats and dubious foreigners engaged in a semi-comic spy story; a character with a moral dilemma that would make sense only to experts in Roman Catholic doctrine; sex, drugs and sandal-smuggling. Yes, it could only be a Graham Greene novel ... But hang on a moment: there are witty non-sequiturs, there's a character who discovers a new rhyme for "Capricorn", there are extensive conversations between female characters, there is as much Judaism as Catholicism, and the sex is treated as lightly as the spying. Could it be Muriel Spark after all?

The setting is Jerusalem in 1961, with the Eichmann trial going on, and the city divided between Israel and Jordan. Diplomats, clerics and tourists can pass between the two parts of the city through a checkpoint (by a house formerly occupied by someone called Mandelbaum), but the border is closed to Jews and Arabs. Barbara Vaughan, the very model of an English spinster schoolteacher, arrives in Israel on a conventional enough pilgrimage to the holy places. But things soon get more complicated, when we find out that she's actually hoping to meet her secret lover on the Jordanian side of the border...

This is a complicated book, rather longer than most of Spark's other novels, and with a great deal going on in many different directions, but at its core there is a woman who has one Jewish and one Christian parent, has not been brought up as a Jew, and has converted in adult life to Roman Catholicism, who is now trying to sort out how to respond to modern Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. And is also having a hard time dealing with the way English society refuses to see a single middle-class woman in her forties as anything other than a desexualised nun-figure. Obviously it's hard to avoid jumping to the conclusion that there's a lot of the author in Barbara (Spark had a Jewish father, whilst Barbara has a Jewish mother, though, so their situation is not quite the same).

Interesting, maybe more of a conventional "well-made-novel" and not quite as much fun as some of Spark's other books. Some of her observations about the Arab-Israeli conflict are still relevant, notably the way she puts her finger on how easy it is for legitimate criticism of Israeli actions to slide into the worst sort of antisemitism, but obviously a great deal has happened since 1961 and much is now merely of historical interest. And there does seem to be a certain amount that is merely repetition of popular prejudices, like the idea that every Palestinian claims to have lost beautiful orange groves, or that the Israelis are all humourless propagandists for their modern agro-industrial state. ( )

Interesting backdrop of a pre-unified Jerusaleum and the tensions between Israel and Jordan, the plot gained pace after a slow start. However, it was confusing at times as the author weaved back and forth between different periods, and it wasn't clear what happened to Freddy Hamilton during those 2 days. Nevertheless, the ending was superb. Finally explaining what is the Mandelbaum Gate, it is simple but a fitting end to the book. ( )