Iris Murdoch: the sea, the sea

This is the first time I have read a book by Murdoch, as I have previously been a little frightened by Murdoch's reputation as an intellectual.

The book is written in the form of a diary, kept by Charles Arrowby, theatre actor turned director, retired to an isolated neglected house on the edge of the sea. The plot is fairly brief; Charles recognises one of his neighbors as childhood love who had run from him forty years before, and obsessively pursues her. The main body of the writing (502 pages of small type) is description, of Charles's moods, thoughts, worries, meals, and of the sea, the rocks and the weather.

There is a sense of unease about Charles. Shortly after the narrative begins he spots a huge sea serpent off the cost by his house, writhing in coils above the sea, which remains unexplained. There are strange rooms in his house. There are continual shadows, faces, drafts, noises, rustlings and clickings about the house, and there is no electricity, so nights are dark except for candles, oil lamps, firelight. The very residents of the area are hostile to Charles, for no reason.

The book charts Charles' loss of control over his life. At the beginning he schemes and influences past loves by letter, bringing them back into his life, deciding who to disrupt, who to hurt. Then he sees Hartley, and it all changes. He schemes as before, but he has miscalculated; Hartley does not want him, something he cannot conceive of, so all his plans go awry. As he continues to focus on Hartley, he loses control over all the other people in his life, who make plans without him, who change how they relate to him. Revelations are made, relationships he broke apart are mended, people he thought he disliked out turn out to be vitally important to him.

I really enjoyed this book, though I did tire of Charles Arrowby. This is another book written in the first person, and I admit that I was speed reading through the pages at the end, not wanting to miss anything that was happening, but keen to skim over more of Charles' ruminations.

I had an interest in Titus. As soon as his name was mentioned I felt that it had occurred before in the book in relation to Charles, though I can't now find it. Titus is a theatre name isn't it? It doesn't really belong in the world of Roy and Mary. And Titus is red haired; Lizzie was described as having red hair, and her description is like the description of Titus. Charles grows a red beard at the end of the book. I wondered if those were hints that in the cruelest of ironies, Titus actually was Charles's son.

The best bit of the book for me was during the kidnapping of Mary/Hartley, when the novel became a farce, with everyone turning up at the door, and Charles' house of cards falling round his ears.

I have not yet decided if I would read more Murdoch. I did enjoy this book, and though it was very long, and to some extent wearying, there really wasn't a wasted word.

The Bone People - Jackie's Review

The Bone People won the Booker Prize in 1985. It is set on the South Island of New Zealand, and centres around three characters. The first, Kerewin, is a painter, who having won the lottery builds herself a tower by the sea and lives as a virtual recluse. One day, Simon, a young, mute boy turns up at her tower and they begin a strange friendship. Simon's foster father, Joe, is then drawn towards Kerewin and the three characters begin to discover secrets lurking in each of their pasts.

The book deals with many difficult issues, but domestic violence is the most dominant. Joe beats his foster son, and the delicate line between punishment and cruelty if seen to be very hazy at times. The characters are all really well developed, deeply flawed and incredibly interesting!

The book is very well written, and the writing is almost poetic at times, but at other times it was a 'stream of conciousness' and, particularly in the beginning, was very confusing. I fluctuated between loving it, and being irritated by it!

The book was filled with Maori myths and symbolism, some of which went over my head. I think that this book is one which needs to be read several times, in order to appreicate it's many layers. In many ways it is very similar to Beloved - difficult to understand at first, complex, moving and full of symbolism.

I'm not sure I'd ever recommend this book to anyone, but I'm glad that I read it.

Originally reviewed here.

Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger

Here is a review of the book The White Tiger that I wrote for my blog Shades of Writing.

The book is written in the format of a series of letters written by an Indian entrepreneur Balram to His Excellency Wen Jiabao (Chinese premier) in a seven day period after Balram hears on the radio that Wen Jiabao is visiting Bangalore to a) find out the truth about Bangalore and b) to meet Indian entrepreneurs and hear their stories, so that he might learn how to make Chinese entrepreneurs. Balram tells Wen Jiabao the story of his success, and it is a story that chills the blood.

Now I find that by the end of a book written in the first person that I am heartily sick of being, as it were, stuck in one person's mind, and that was particularly true here as the Balram was someone who I did not much like; he was too much of a cynic, too pessimistic, too cold blooded. Actually there wasn't really anyone in the book that I liked. Mr Ashok and Pinky Madam were the only two people in the book not greedy and arrogant, but Mr Ashok was pathetic in his attempts to be modern, and Pinky Madam too spiky. Despite this, the story kept me enthralled.

I never like to take as fact anything in a novel, as authors of novels have carte blanche to create from their imagination anything they wish to embellish their tale with, so I cannot comment on India, as described in the book.

I do not think this is such a brilliant book, especially when compared to A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, a book about people similarly trapped by circumstance, but which showed us humanity flourishing amongst the most terrible of situations, something I would much rather believe in.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha - Jackie's Review

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha won the Booker Prize in 1993. It is the first Roddy Doyle book I have read, so I didn’t really know what to expect.

It follows Paddy Clarke, as he grows up in 1960’s Dublin, witnessing the break down of his parent’s marriage

He has a real talent for being able to describe the thoughts and feelings of a ten year old boy:

I prefer magnifying glasses to matches. We spent afternoons burning little piles of cut grass. I loved watching the grass change colour. I loved it when the flame began to race through the grass. You had more control with a magnifying glass. It was easier but it took more skill.

I found some scenes touching, and I managed to read the whole book fairly quickly, but the plot meandered about a bit too much for me, so I didn’t get drawn into it fully. His childhood had very little in common with mine, so this may be another reason I was not as enthralled with this book as others seem to be. I was only born in 1978, so have no nostalgia for the 60s, and I was never a little boy, who had fights and played jokes on my teachers!

It was OK, but I think I’d only recommend it to older people, who would be able to fully appreciate the nostalgia this book has to offer.

Originally reviewed here.

Laura's Review - Moon Tiger

Moon Tiger
Penelope Lively
208 pages

Claudia Hampton is 76 years old, and dying in hospital. Having spent her career as a journalist and historian, she decides to spend her last days recounting her own history. The telling takes place in her mind, interrupted by nursing care and visits from family members. Born in 1909, Claudia was a bit of a radical and far more independent than most women of that period. She was an intellectual, pursued a career, and refused to marry even when she found herself pregnant. She was attractive, but not interested in the men who pursued her. She was a distant and non-traditional parent, and her relationship with her adult daughter was uncomfortable. Claudia's brother Gordon was the only person she could identify with; in fact, this bond was a bit too strong, and intimidating to others.

Claudia initially seemed cold and aloof, and I was worried we were heading towards the "career woman as bitch" stereotype. Then Penelope Lively took me deep inside Claudia, revealing her inner core, and the private, unforgettable love that changed her life. Suddenly, the other events in Claudia's life were cast in a far different light. This was a woman in extreme emotional pain, made all the worse by her unwillingness to share her feelings with anyone else. She simply could not appear vulnerable, and so kept her young adult experiences to herself for her entire life.

Moon Tiger is a moving, rich character study which also has me considering how to live life in such a way as to have no regrets at the end. ( )

My original review can be found here.

Making progress: "knocked" off two more Bookers, started a third

With so many ardent readers subscribed to The Complete Booker to motivate me, I'm pleased to say I just recently completed two more award-winning books (making a total now of 15 that I've read so far) -- Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac and Kingsley Amis's The Old Devils. Next, I'm starting Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.

Hotel du Lac was, as another reader put it, "a gem," but I wasn't as enamored of The Old Devils. Perhaps Amis is just too sophisticated for me, but I thought it difficult to warm up to any of the novel's characters and found their endless rounds of drinking and arguing over their local Wales not nearly as invigorating a read for me as have been so many other Booker recipients and even quite a few of the finalists that did not take home the prize (among them Cloud Atlas, The Master, Arthur and George and Mister Pip.)

Don't overlook the non-winners; many of them are gems as well.



MEL