{"id":16505,"date":"2025-12-30T13:07:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16505"},"modified":"2025-12-30T13:07:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T12:07:37","slug":"killing-time-by-alan-bennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16505","title":{"rendered":"“Killing Time ” by Alan Bennett"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

OFF THE SHELF<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“Killing Time ” by Alan Bennett<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>We were looking forward to reading Alan Bennett\u2019s Killing Time, but as a group we were ultimately disappointed. The story follows a group of elderly residents in a care home, among them Winnie \u2014 a once-glamorous actress whose memory and health are beginning to fail. Around her, other residents navigate the boredom, indignities and small absurdities that make up the daily rhythm of institutional life.<\/p>\n

When COVID arrives, the home goes into lockdown. Residents are cut off from their families, routines crumble, and staff are pushed to their limits.<\/p>\n

Although we appreciated Bennett\u2019s flashes of wry humour and the darkly comic moments that surface as the residents pass their remaining time in confinement, the overall tone felt unexpectedly unkind. Instead of the honest, moving and bitingly funny voice we associate with Bennett. The writing struck us as dispassionate, grim, stark and often emotionally distant \u2014 at times even edging towards the hurtful in its portrayal of the characters lives.<\/p>\n

We also felt the story was rushed and under-developed. Characters appear and disappear quickly, leaving little space to build a sense of connection or emotional investment. Rather than feeling engaged or comfortably moved, many of us were left unsettled by the book\u2019s bleakness and its abrupt handling of both life and death in the home.<\/p>\n

As a group we admired Bennett\u2019s skill, but Killing Time didn\u2019t resonate with us as hoped. We gave it 5\/10.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OFF THE SHELF “Killing Time ” by Alan Bennett We were looking forward to reading Alan Bennett\u2019s Killing Time, but as a group we were ultimately disappointed. The story follows a group of elderly residents in a care home, among them Winnie \u2014 a once-glamorous actress whose memory and health are beginning to fail. Around her, other residents navigate the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[429,347],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-4id","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13563,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13563","url_meta":{"origin":16505,"position":0},"title":"THE PROSECUTOR by Nazir Afzal","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th September 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"The Prosecutor\" by Nazir Afzal \u00a0 Nazir Afzal knows a thing or two about justice. As a Chief Prosecutor, it was his job to make sure the most complex, violent, and harrowing crimes made it to court, and that their perpetrators were convicted. From the Rochdale sex\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12497,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12497","url_meta":{"origin":16505,"position":1},"title":"Before The Coffee Gets Cold","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd November 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 OFF THE SHELF \"Before the coffee gets cold\" by Toshikazu Kawaguchi I think we all found the idea of this book interesting. Who would not like to go back in time, even for a few minutes. The book provided lots of discussion. The writing at times was a little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8854,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8854","url_meta":{"origin":16505,"position":2},"title":"My Mother\u2019s House by Lily Tobias","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th December 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF My Mother\u2019s House by Lily Tobias was written around 1930, so the style of writing is different, in so far as it is lyrical, explanatory and very vivid. The story concerns an intelligent boy who wants to break away from Judaism. The beliefs and actions of Judaism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14060,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14060","url_meta":{"origin":16505,"position":3},"title":"“Metronome” by Tom Watson","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th March 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Metronome\" by Tom Watson This dystopian novel was highly praised on BBC TV programme \u2018Between the Covers\u2019 We had mixed feelings; most agreed that it was well written and portrayed the desolate island landscapes convincingly. The thoughts and feelings of the characters drew the reader into their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16099,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16099","url_meta":{"origin":16505,"position":4},"title":"“Managing Expectations” by Minnie Driver","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st October 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Managing Expectations\" by Minnie Driver We all really enjoyed this book. It is not an autobiography but rather accounts of episodes in Minnie Driver\u2019s extraordinary life. It is hilarious, happy, poignant and sad. She writes so well about trying to understand the relationships and events that have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for October 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for October 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=426"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16754,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16754","url_meta":{"origin":16505,"position":5},"title":"“The Colour Purple ” by Alice Walker","author":"Alan Williams","date":"26th March 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"The Colour Purple \" by Alice Walker \u00a0 \u00a0 This is a modern classic first published in 1982. It is a powerful story of severe trauma, domestic abuse, racism and violence that came with being a black woman in the Southern States of America in the early\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for April 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for April 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=432"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16505"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16507,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16505\/revisions\/16507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}