I haven't read any of hers and don't really know why I bought it. It looks a bit heavy for me.

I haven't given this book full rating because I found it a little hard going. The story was a good one and very well told but I didn't enjoy being inside the heads of the three main characters for such a long time. I did find Dora's thoughts I found quite entertaining but Michael's deliberations were so long winded and quite disturbing. I think they were all probably vital to the story but I'm not sure I would enjoy reading another Iris Murdoch book. I found her paragraphs much too long and, because the print was small too, it made my head spin a bit.

However, having said that, I'm glad I read it. It was a good experience on the whole.

It's off to Nell-lu now - her prize in my recent raffle. Happy reading Nell-lu.

Wow! A prize! This arrived this morning, thank you very much madmadge. I have a couple of books to be read first, but will look forward to this one. Iris Murdoch is one of my favourite authors.

Thanks also for the Dorset Heaths postcard.

I want to make quite a long JE, but I'm limited to ~800 characters (see the thread at http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/4/4315783), so it will have to be split over two entries. Sorry!

What a great book!

This was interesting, enjoyable and thought-provoking. Frustrating as the characters were, I found I cared about them. Murdoch chose to involve us most closely with the three most complex characters, so we get the confusions of youth (Toby), the complications that come from believing one’s inclinations to be sinful (Michael), and the implications of marrying before one is ready (Dora). The certainty that some of the minor characters exhibit (the rule-following saintliness of James Tayper Pace or the sanctimonious-ness of Mrs Mark) is not for them.

This means that the motivation of many of the characters, both major and minor, remains opaque. Even the – very eventful – ending doesn’t clarify what was going on in the mind of Nick Fawly or Paul Greenfield.

The symbolism of the bell is interesting, and I see how the art-school-trained Dora becomes obsessed with it. Others’ reactions to it are revealing, and the presence of journalist Noel gives a great opportunity to stand back and view the community from outside. The bishop is a wonderful comic vignette and the ceremonies surrounding the bell’s entrance to the Abbey hilarious, although the comedy is rather black.

I love the sense that the reader spends a little time in this world with these characters, but at the end we part ways and they carry on with their lives. There is no sense that their story is over.

Thanks again for sharing, madmadge. I'm going to start a bookray. PM me with your shipping preferences at any time if you'd like to join and I'll add you to the list. The book will be sent to the first person during w/c 03 Sep 07, and the list order may change at any time to accommodate people's preferences.

Bookray
cally-c, UK
shnedwards, UK
VeganMedusa, NZ
FreePages, Australia
nikkilovesbooks, Australia
tqd, Australia
ealasaidmae, US
Shimmy-crazy, UK
katrinat, UK - skipped
madnad, Spain
Martjxox, Italy
Dukesa, Portugal (int)
Bookray end - please either continue the ray, release it into the wild or give it to another BookCrosser as you prefer.

This is all packaged up and ready to be sent to cally-c later today.

Please could you all do four things for me:

1. Make a quick journal entry when you receive the book.
2. Read and send on within four weeks - or make a journal entry to let us know how you're getting on if you need longer.
3. Make a journal entry when you've finished.
4. Use the cheapest shipping method available.

And, enjoy the book!

Arrived about 5 minutes ago!
Will read this next.
Thanks for the ray Nell-Lu!

I found this quite difficult to get into at first, but as more characters were introduced & I got used to the writing style I found it more & more enjoyable.
My sympathies with the characters changed; thought Dora was a bit flighty & shallow till I read more about Paul, and disliked Michael because of his dodgy relationship with Nick, then realised what turmoil he was in due to his faith.
So I think I liked it!
Will hopefully be posted on later this week.

It's here! Thanks cally-c for sending this to me and Nell-Lu for starting the ring. I have another bookring book ahead of this one but will hopefully get it read in the next month.

Hello! Just popping in for a progress report: I've started this and I'm enjoying it so far. Will need a bit longer to finish it, though. Sorry to keep you waiting!

I'm so sorry everyone for hanging onto this book for so long! It feels like I've been reading it forever! That's not necessarily a bad thing, though - the characters really got under my skin and I could visualise the setting really clearly - but at times I did find myself craving something with more obvious laughs. I felt it deserved a deeper analysis but I could only enjoy it at a superficial level, poor, distracted, sleep-deprived old me!

I've already got VeganMedusa's address so I will get it in the post as soon as I can, along with another book I've owed her for ages. Thanks for waiting so patiently!

Sent on its way to VeganMedusa today!

Thanks! I have the flu and 2 other bookrings but hopefully it won't take too long to get to this book.
tqd has asked to be skipped, so am PMing FreePages for address.

My favourite Iris Murdoch book so far (okay, only out of 3) - definitely the easiest to read. Good characters - I loved Dora from the moment she stepped off the train with the butterfly, even though she could be annoying and ditzy I was prepared to forgive her anything.
To be posted tomorrow to freepages. Thanks Nell-Lu for this bookring, and shnedwards for posting it to me!

The Bell has arrived safe and sound in Canberra, Australia.
There is an amazing Arabic bookmark enclosed, I would love to know what it says, but the only person I know who reads Arabic has gone to Jerusalem for Chrissie (Us Aussies have tainted the English language by ending many things in "ie" eg. Pressie, Postie etc). Can anyone help with the translation?(Meaning the bookmark, not the Aussie slang) :-)

Well this took me forever!
It arrived close to christmas and the holiday period which seemed to be even busier than usual.
I was really interested to read one of Iris Murdochs books, however, it really didnt appeal to me at all, I found I had to really persist to get it finished. I didnt find the story engaging at all, it felt too cloistered (for want of a better word) to me. I didnt feel that Nicks character was explored enough at all, especially considering what happened near the end of the book. As for humour, I found many of the situations were humourous but related with no humour at all. All the characters seemed to take themselves too seriously. I'm glad I read it, thanks for the opportunity to read it, but sorry gang, not my sort of book at all (just in case you've been left in any doubt :-)

I've PM Nikkilovesbooks for her address, then on to her next.

Well, the book finally arrived (sorry for the length of time postage takes to reach me!!!). I'll read it next & pass it along as soon as possible. Thanks for posting it up, freepages & also for the lovely Canberra postie. Nikki.

I enjoyed this Iris Murdoch more than her other books I have read. I liked the characters & the storyline surprised me in a few places. It is on its way to tqd - hope you enjoy it too.

Turned up bright and early this morning in the post! Thanks nikkilovesbooks for passing it along, and thanks for the "we are here" map! I never realised the Never Never referred to a real place before, and I like learning a new thing before breakfast every morning too. A good start to the day (which has been ridiculously hectic ever since, but what are you going to do?).

I think this is the first bookring to arrive on my doorstep for a while (phew!), so I should be able to get to this one after I finish reading my current reads.

Well, I dragged my feet on starting this one, I kept on thinking it was going to be all Serious, and quite a Hard Slog. But it wasn't. (Okay, I really could have done without the theology - I found the sermons quite hard going, and ended up skimming them in the end.) It was really rather wryly amusing, I particularly liked the opening line(s):

Dora Greenfield left her husband because she was afraid of him. She decided six months later to return to him for the same reason.

I don't know, usually I would find such a start rather ponderous, but it somehow works, suckered me straight in, and made me positively snigger on the bus.

I found the descriptions of the community and the countryside and the nuns all quite fascinating. (Was I the only one who thought that The Abbess wasn't given to such depth of knowledge as Michael insisted she did? I was quite sure that she wasn't as omniscient as he felt, and that he was just projecting his needs - for absolution, for understanding - onto her. Not that she wasn't intelligent, just that he was raising her so far above what a person could actually do.)

I particularly liked Michael's character and his struggle between his desires and his religion. Dora was a bit too much of a flibbertigibbet, and Toby a bit too young (although both were very well written). I agree with FreePages that Nick could have been further explored (and Catherine was a bit of an enigma), but I don't really think that was the point of his character. He - like The Abbess - was there as a catalyst for Michael. Having said that, if Iris Murdoch had written a book all about Nick, I would be very happy to read that too. He did have a lot of story to be told!

Like Dora, I loved the story of the old bell. I'm a bit of a sucker for those old tales! And the scene where Toby climbs over the wall into the nunnery was great, although I think I got the impression that we are far more curious about these people who shut themselves away from the world than they are about us. I suppose they already know us since they once lived outside the walls (but do they wonder how we've changed? do they regret their decision?), but we don't know them, hence the imbalance of curiosity. I do find the idea of a life of contemplation quite fascinating too - I know I'm not cut out for it, but I am curious about those who are!

Thanks very much Nell-Lu for the chance to read this book! I've got ealasaidmae's address already and will pop this in the post to her next chance (probably payday next week!)

UPDATE 12 June 2008: And on its way to ealasaidmae now! Happy reading!

It's here!

I finally finished this book last night and it felt like quite an accomplishment. It's an interesting book and I did enjoy it. But I got a little winded there in the middle and had to put it aside for a few days. I didn't find any of the characters particularly likable but they were certainly very human. The main message that I got from this was how much damage religion can do, especially in the hands of people who are taught simply to have faith, rather than to think - which I don't think was quite what Iris Murdoch intended. I mailed the book off to Shimmy-crazy this morning.

Arrived yesterday, cheers Nell-Lu for organising this ray

This book was all about the characters and I loved them all despite there flaws. In another book I would probably have found Dora's ditsy nature quite annoying but found her adorable in this. Plus I ended up feeling quite sorry for Paul even though he was a horrible person.

katrinat has asked to be skipped so have sent to madnad 28/08/08

Received today with many thanks!:)

I "finished" this book last night and have to admit that I literally flew through the 2nd half - I was curious about the story line but the book in itself I found incredibly boring and tedious! It started off as an interesting read. I'd read "The Sea, the Sea" by Iris Murdoch and loved it, which is why I'd wanted to read something else by her, and I knew she's a sucker for descriptions and that the actions in her books are slow, but this? It was a case of either giving up entirely or reading through it real fast without reading every single word (which is something I never do!). Maybe I just didn't get the story, the symbolism of the bell, or I couldn't relate to the characters (I admit I wasn't intrigued by any of them or found them remotely interesting)... I don't know. But it's put me off reading more by Murdoch now:( In my opinion, the whole story could've been perfectly expressed in a short story.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

sent today to Martjxox

got this book today. will read it as soon as i am finished with one other ring. thank you!

honestly i couldn't go further page 20! when i don't like a book i cannot read it till the end. and it worked this way with it. i mean, i was trying to read it over the weekend and in 2 days i was able to read a couple of pages only... so, it is not worth the effort. sorry if i kept it and then didn't read it! will send to last bookcrosser in the list as soon as she gives me her addresse!

10th oct. 2008 - update

dukesa gave me her addresse today. i am posting the book on monday morning.

The book arrived today! It looks so "readable"!!! :D
I have some bookrings TBR ahead of this one, but since I'm the last in the bookray I hope it's not a problem :)
I'll keep you posted! :D
Thank you, Nell-Lu and Martjxox!

*********** 18/01/2009 ***********
This book is not forgotten, I'm going to start reading it soon :)

*********** 20/02/2009 ***********
I started reading it today.

I finally finished the book! :D
It was a long ride, but it was worth it :)
I liked Iris Murdoch's writing, although some phrases were just too long, I got lost in the middle of them. Dora was definitively my favourite character, even though she did some things I disapprove. Nick was really annoying, but I was sorry for him in the end.

I liked the book quite a lot! At first it was a bit hard to pick up the pace, but as the story progresses, it became easier because I was always looking forward to what was going to happen next! I admit I skipped one or two bits because I found them a bit boring, like when Catherine was reading some passage from a book.

I decided to free this book into the wild and I hope it gets picked up really soon :)

Thank you very much, Nell-Lu! :D

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Good luck!