A review by knkoch
The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Oh, the high, churning emotion! There's so much I wish to say about this one, but I don't want to spoil plot. This was still different from The Black Prince; The Sea, The Sea; and The Bell; all three of which were more evenly humorous. This felt more cohesive a story than Flight from the Enchanter, and a bit more subtle (or, perhaps, I understood it better?). I rather liked that the disconsolate middle-aged man at the rough center of this story (because so far every Murdoch book has had at least one) was written more realistically, sympathetically, and less a buffoon. Here, schoolteacher Mor is less wrapped up in self-aggrandizement than he is paralyzed and passive. He struggles against his long-ingrained inclinations to avoid, delay, and capitulate. He so often makes the wrong move and knows it, even in the moment. His self-awareness is contrasted well against his outward actions. His crisis is both of his own making and painfully, emotionally real. It's possible to both empathize with and criticize him.

The other characters were fascinating, too, the children most of all. Donald and Felicity were the most obscure to me, as they were to both their parents. Their goals and actions were so much harder for me to read, and I'll be mulling them over for awhile. Their brief individual scenes (
the tower and the spell
) were the most visually compelling. Rain's role and perspective on portrait painting was intriguing, Demoyte was entertaining, and Nan! What a powerhouse! She felt the most complex to me, pleasingly, seeing as housewife characters are not usually afforded such attention. Hooray to this, hooray to Iris Murdoch, and on to either A Word Child or The Sacred and Profane Love Machine next! 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings