Reviews - The Bell | The StoryGraph

328 reviews for:

The Bell

Iris Murdoch

3.93 AVERAGE

iabsi47's review against another edition

4.5

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Complicated

If there is one thing I love, it’s a book about a convent. The book exceeded all of my expectations and is definitely among some of my best reads this year. I know down and out male characters are Murdoch’s bread and butter, but wow she can really write a complex female character.

_cora_'s review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

donnawr1's review against another edition

5.0

Iris Murdoch is definitely a favorite author of mine after an older friend suggested I give her a try. She creates interesting and unpredictable characters, throws them all together in a pot and you never know what will come out at the end! This book was written in 1958 and enables us now to see the societal mindset of that time regarding things like the role of a wife in a marriage, homosexuality, religion and living a happy life. She also throws in a lot of symbolism and philosophy, which makes it even more fun because she does it without being boring. What most struck me in this novel was seeing inside the lives of people who were homosexual and not able to accept that about themselves, let alone live that way. I think of so many happy and well adjusted gay friends and feel badly for all those who could not live that way in earlier times.

The quality of her writing is worth the read no matter what.

inaczej's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

vfjowers's review against another edition

5.0

Dora is a seemingly unlikely but satisfying hero in this ironic Murdoch tale. Important lessons on love, and failures to love, are rich in The Bell.

hollygr's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

chris_dech's review against another edition

4.0

Even in this earlier novel, Murdoch gives the reader more cause to see why she won the Booker Prize for The Sea, The Sea. Each character, whether significant or not, carries this certain air that feels realistic and beyond that at the same time. And the setting, a religious community near an Anglican Benedictine, feels very Murdochian, inhabiting a space that's rather like a new gothic but very characteristic of her style.

At the core of this novel is the tensions between the individual and one's relations to not only societal but personal concepts of religion and sex. Arguably, Murdoch's thesis is not that one is happier by breaking free, but one only faces development after struggling with both, clearly evidenced by both Dora and Michael. I think those interested in those sorts of themes would find this novel quite enjoyable, and one can see Murdoch's earlier feelings and thoughts on the subject matter before novels like The Sea, The Sea.

Well worth the read, and if I were to suggest Murdoch to someone, I'd start here and then move to her bigger works.