Fun. Clever. Tense. Elegant. Intriguing. Sparky! Everything you'd expect from a Muriel Spark novel is here in abundance. "Symposium" is a wicked and sharp novella about a dinner party, yet almost all of it set away from dinner, delving into the tangled and dramatic web of guests' backstories. It seems a story of divided class, or more generally a story of opposing factions... it's sometimes not entirely possible to pin down what the story is 'about', in a wider sense. That is not necessarily a criticism however, as it is clear that a great mind is at work at all times, picking out the detail in a fascinating cast of characters, and peppering in Sparkian epithets. (The best one is "They met in the fruit aisle of Marks and Spencer. He reached for a grapefruit and she said, 'Not that one. It's bruised.'"). Spark's eye for a catchy or punchy phrase remains unrivalled, despite this being one of her later works. Overall, an enjoyable yarn with hidden depths!