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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
Simplesmente incrível!
Mais um livro para ser lido depois de “Hamlet”.
Mais um livro para ser lido depois de “Hamlet”.
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lately I’ve been rethinking what I want from a book. After taking a publishing class, I’ve understood (most) blurbs to be mainly advertisement, a business transaction or favor between publishing houses and peer authors, and while I have not considered them very truthful, some of their enthusiasm has nevertheless sunk in. I have always hoped to feel some of their breathless acclaim for, if not the particular book they were praising, some book at least. But that’s an awful lot to ask, and maybe better left to another medium. Maybe I shouldn’t want a book to upend my worldview, shatter me emotionally, and leave me sobbing and wrecked. That sort of emotional catharsis or experience is rare, best left to lived experiences, and probably deeply upsetting to truly endure.
I’ve been thinking that maybe instead I’d love a book that’s clever, layered, intellectually challenging, and that leaves me half in doubt as to its intent. This book is like that. It’s a love story told by a self-important older man, who is constantly interrupted and harassed by his gleefully interfering and difficult friends, family, and enemies. I read The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch a while back, which I disliked upon finishing it but in trying to describe it to someone, came around to happily reminiscing about its absurdities. This is my second time reading a book of hers, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s not straightforward, but that’s a good thing. It’s confusing and hilarious. It’s true joy, to me, is in the characters and their irrepressible need to outwit each other and vie for the last word. I only disliked one aspect of the plot:
Looking forward to The Bell next!
Funnier, lighter, and more in-depth, from a stunning caricature accuracy.
To quote a few female authors, this work resembles Virginia Woolf, Lispector, or Sylvia Plath.
To quote a few female authors, this work resembles Virginia Woolf, Lispector, or Sylvia Plath.
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Wow! What a surprise this was! A clever, intriguing, masterfully-written, darkly comic tale. Insightfully examines the human psyche, art, love, life, literature and passion. The editor’s note and postscripts add unexpected layers to this muddy tale. One of the best books I’ve read in long time. READ THIS!
challenging
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
She's an extraordinary writer with deep insights into human frailty. However, i had a hard time with this Murdoch because the narrator/protagonist is too despicable to appreciate.
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s perfectly fine and kind of intriguing but struggling to keep me reading. I want something compulsive and fun and that’s not what this is. Maybe I’ll return to this. Maybe not.
I can easily see why this book makes the must-read-before-one-dies lists; it's a layered and complex comment on truth and art in which the reader questions his or her own ideas of truth. By the end of the novel, I'd questioned several times the veracity of what I'd read - from different characters, no less.
Murdoch excels at what I call "intellectual madcap;" she creates situations in which characters are thrown together in odd circumstances and despite the tragic comedy of it all, try to make the best out of it. Hilarity invariably ensues. I love that about Murdoch.
About halfway through, things take a dark and bleak turn as marriages, lives, and sanity quickly disintegrate with the virtual lighter fluid of erotic love. The main character, Bradley, is a pathetic waste of a human being. His narcissism overwhelmed and disgusted me. Then, I realized that's what Murdoch was trying to do to clue the reader in about his unreliability as a narrator. I certainly wouldn't trust a misogynist.
The postscripts at the end of the novel speak volumes about the novel, itself (a work of fiction? a confessional? both?), and each gives it a Sixth Sense type feel. I began to think I hadn't understood the novel at all. But that was another of Murdoch's tricks: make you doubt yourself. So, at the end, I doubted everything Bradley told us and concluded that he was, indeed, the murderer. I wouldn't put it past that prick to have murdered his "friend" just to have something to write about.
What I got out of this book was that Murdoch wanted to make a comment on art and how we'll never know the true intent of the artist and we all experience the art in a different way. There are three sides to every story: his way, her way, and the truth. Well, Murdoch says we'll never know the truth but can certainly try our best to piece it together for ourselves from what *we* know to be true. But always doubt what you know because you can never be certain.
Murdoch excels at what I call "intellectual madcap;" she creates situations in which characters are thrown together in odd circumstances and despite the tragic comedy of it all, try to make the best out of it. Hilarity invariably ensues. I love that about Murdoch.
About halfway through, things take a dark and bleak turn as marriages, lives, and sanity quickly disintegrate with the virtual lighter fluid of erotic love. The main character, Bradley, is a pathetic waste of a human being. His narcissism overwhelmed and disgusted me. Then, I realized that's what Murdoch was trying to do to clue the reader in about his unreliability as a narrator. I certainly wouldn't trust a misogynist.
The postscripts at the end of the novel speak volumes about the novel, itself (a work of fiction? a confessional? both?), and each gives it a Sixth Sense type feel. I began to think I hadn't understood the novel at all. But that was another of Murdoch's tricks: make you doubt yourself. So, at the end, I doubted everything Bradley told us and concluded that he was, indeed, the murderer. I wouldn't put it past that prick to have murdered his "friend" just to have something to write about.
What I got out of this book was that Murdoch wanted to make a comment on art and how we'll never know the true intent of the artist and we all experience the art in a different way. There are three sides to every story: his way, her way, and the truth. Well, Murdoch says we'll never know the truth but can certainly try our best to piece it together for ourselves from what *we* know to be true. But always doubt what you know because you can never be certain.
1 for Brilliant Writing.
1 Star for Interesting Framing Device.
1 Star for Captivating Characters.
0.5 Star for Making me "Understand Hamlet"
0.5 Star for Inspiring Me to Wear Colored Tights.
1 Star for Interesting Framing Device.
1 Star for Captivating Characters.
0.5 Star for Making me "Understand Hamlet"
0.5 Star for Inspiring Me to Wear Colored Tights.