Murdoch's First Novel. A highly entertaining while also phylosophical and thought provoking novel written in a plain, yet poetic, smooth and captivating style that is characteristic of all Iris Murdoch's writings.
No word is redundant in this novel. It is witty, clever and substantial.

RELEASE NOTES:

bookbox release on 25th November 2006

Taken from dodau's Four-Play Bookbox.
Can you believe I have never read an Iris Murdoch novel?
I took this from the box almost a month ago and am now getting around to making a journal entry. Guilty on all counts.

Anyway, I did enjoy it so thanks sterile for putting it in the box. I have two more boxes sitting here waiting to be posted on so it will go into one of them.
Who knows where it will show up next?

RELEASE NOTES:

It was good to see Lellie back amongst friends at the Ipswich meet-up, and she recommended this. I'm such a sucker!

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Taken along to today's Ipswich meet-up.

If you find this, welcome to BookCrossing, please write a journal here to let us know what happens to the book :)

I've never read an Iris Murdoch book either, shocking! Picked up at the Ipswich meetup.

An intricate, incestuous web, on which the narrator fumbles his way, cadging lodging and money off friends. A frustrated writer and translator of French novels, Jake Donaghue hopes he will one day make it big, though his only literary attempt sank without a trace and cost him a friendship. After Madge finally despairs of him and gives him the boot so she can shack up with her bookie boyfriend, Jake is forced to find alternative accommodation. Through a chance encounter, he ends up at an old girlfriend's, starting him on a journey which will cross London, going as far as Paris, old Paris, old friends, new acquaintance, a stunt dog and into politics.

Nothing is as it seems, ideas are shared, rehashed, reformulated so even the original thinker doesn't recognise them. Also central to the book are the masks we all wear and what happens when we choose to look behind the masks of others.

The book clips along at quite a pace, and indeed the interlocking relationships, add to the tension felt by the narrator. I'm still not sure how I feel towards him. A writer, dreamer, and waster, yet kind to animals and impulsive, Jake is a complicated man, but appears to feel like a pawn in someone else's game, never quite realising who is making the moves.

I enjoyed the setting in time of the book, the film companies, the rise of the choreographed firework display, the depiction of the arts. All together they encapsulate a certain era, but the story itself hasn't dated. A worthy edition to the 1001 Books list. My first Iris Murdoch, and it certainly won't be my last.