A review by cassiedymoke
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I will be thinking about this book for a long time. Wow.

Only thing keeping me from ranking it higher is my personal preferences in books - this was written by a philosopher and it does, at times, show. It is certainly not an easy read; at times it's not even an enjoyable one. But wow.

 I believed in the characterisation of Bradley so strongly that at times I absolutely hated this book, but in the best possible way of 'i am furious that I cannot slap this man and tell him to please leave the 20-year-old alone and stop talking about art'. 

The depiction of obsessive love  Bradley was limerent as fuck) was difficult to read - in that, it was excellently written. This is also perhaps the perfect unreliable narrator  narrative - the ending is fascinating and definitely the strongest part of the novel. 

In conclusion, every single female character in this book did absolutely nothing wrong ever.

And yes I definitely think Rachel probably was the one who killed Arnold and personally I think she was so right for that.