What do you think?
Rate this book
Monjas y soldados
Guy, el núcleo central de un nutrido círculo de familiares y amigos, está en su lecho de muerte. Sus ojos releen por última vez la Odisea mientras su esposa Gertrude recibe el apoyo de toda una cohorte de allegados. Es entonces cuando Anne, su mejor amiga de la universidad, llama a su puerta por sorpresa, tras abandonar un convento de clausura en el que lleva interna los últimos quince años. Anne se instala con Gertrude al tiempo que varios pretendientes empiezan a cercar a esta última; no solo el Conde, hijo de exiliados polacos, que siempre ha estado enamorado de ella, sino también los demás hombres de su círculo: Gerald, el astrofísico; el doctor Schultz; Moses, el abogado; lord Balintoy; el afable Manfred... Pero quizá Gertrude opte por refugiarse en la protección de su amiga Anne…
600 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
57 people are currently reading
1241 people want to read
About the author
Iris Murdoch
142 books2,552 followersDame Jean Iris Murdoch
Irish-born British writer, university lecturer and prolific and highly professional novelist, Iris Murdoch dealt with everyday ethical or moral issues, sometimes in the light of myths. As a writer, she was a perfectionist who did not allow editors to change her text. Murdoch produced 26 novels in 40 years, the last written while she was suffering from Alzheimer disease.
"She wanted, through her novels, to reach all possible readers, in different ways and by different means: by the excitement of her story, its pace and its comedy, through its ideas and its philosophical implications, through the numinous atmosphere of her own original and created world--the world she must have glimpsed as she considered and planned her first steps in the art of fiction." (John Bayley in Elegy for Iris, 1998)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Mur...
Irish-born British writer, university lecturer and prolific and highly professional novelist, Iris Murdoch dealt with everyday ethical or moral issues, sometimes in the light of myths. As a writer, she was a perfectionist who did not allow editors to change her text. Murdoch produced 26 novels in 40 years, the last written while she was suffering from Alzheimer disease.
"She wanted, through her novels, to reach all possible readers, in different ways and by different means: by the excitement of her story, its pace and its comedy, through its ideas and its philosophical implications, through the numinous atmosphere of her own original and created world--the world she must have glimpsed as she considered and planned her first steps in the art of fiction." (John Bayley in Elegy for Iris, 1998)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Mur...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
November 23, 2020
My occasional project to finish all of Iris Murdoch's 26 novels is now nearing completion - after this one I have just four late works to go (The Good Apprentice, The Green Knight, The Message to the Planet and Jackson's Dilemma.
This one is another ensemble piece with farcical and philosophical elements, and I found it quite an absorbing read, if more than a little implausible at times. There is only one nun (now a former nun) in the cast, and the nearest thing to a soldier is the Polish exile known inaccurately as the Count.
The first part of the book introduces the cast as they gather to support the dying Guy Openshaw. The four main characters are Guy's widow Gertrude, Anne, the ex-nun who was her best friend at university, the Count (Peter Szczepanski), whose love for Gertrude is largely unrequited and Tim, a painter of rather limited talent and even more limited means. Tim is employed by Gertrude as a caretaker at their holiday home in France, and when Gertrude comes to stay they start an affair, and soon decide to marry as soon as a decent interval has elapsed since Guy's death. As always with Murdoch, the plot is a lot more complicated than a simple description would suggest, and she arranges for almost every member of the cast to love the wrong person, and some of her plot twists seem almost capricious.
In her introduction, Karen Armstrong notes "Finally, Tim has to undergo ordeal by water. This is a frequent motif in Murdoch's novels; characters often have to endure some watery trial before they can see their way clearly.". This had never struck be before, but I can think of several examples (The Sea, The Sea, The Nice and the Good, The Philosopher's Pupil and The Unicorn all qualify), and there are three separate watery incidents in this book.
The blurb describes Tim's "punk girlfriend", but Daisy, the character this refers to, is not a punk in any sense I would understand - she is an alcoholic former painter who likes to speak her mind in earthy language, but she is not malicious and does not try to cause trouble for Tim.
This one is another ensemble piece with farcical and philosophical elements, and I found it quite an absorbing read, if more than a little implausible at times. There is only one nun (now a former nun) in the cast, and the nearest thing to a soldier is the Polish exile known inaccurately as the Count.
The first part of the book introduces the cast as they gather to support the dying Guy Openshaw. The four main characters are Guy's widow Gertrude, Anne, the ex-nun who was her best friend at university, the Count (Peter Szczepanski), whose love for Gertrude is largely unrequited and Tim, a painter of rather limited talent and even more limited means. Tim is employed by Gertrude as a caretaker at their holiday home in France, and when Gertrude comes to stay they start an affair, and soon decide to marry as soon as a decent interval has elapsed since Guy's death. As always with Murdoch, the plot is a lot more complicated than a simple description would suggest, and she arranges for almost every member of the cast to love the wrong person, and some of her plot twists seem almost capricious.
In her introduction, Karen Armstrong notes "Finally, Tim has to undergo ordeal by water. This is a frequent motif in Murdoch's novels; characters often have to endure some watery trial before they can see their way clearly.". This had never struck be before, but I can think of several examples (The Sea, The Sea, The Nice and the Good, The Philosopher's Pupil and The Unicorn all qualify), and there are three separate watery incidents in this book.
The blurb describes Tim's "punk girlfriend", but Daisy, the character this refers to, is not a punk in any sense I would understand - she is an alcoholic former painter who likes to speak her mind in earthy language, but she is not malicious and does not try to cause trouble for Tim.
March 13, 2020
Cada vez que leo a Murdoch hay ideas que siempre irrumpen en mi mente: lo inteligente que hay que ser para ser tan divertida. Su maestría para estirar las costuras de la verosimilitud hasta límites que si no estuviésemos bajo el hechizo de su genio consideraríamos imposibles. Su talento para que el destino y el azar cobren una presencia casi divina en el devenir de sus personajes. El carácter teatral de su narración en el cual podríamos entender los capítulos como escenas.
Esta novela arranca con un aristócrata moribundo que le pide a su fiel esposa que sea feliz cuando él no esté mientras su círculo social burgués debate sobre cómo apoyarla en esos momentos difíciles. Con esa premisa Murdoch extiende una trama repleta de sorpresas, ingenio y una pizca de dulce maldad; todo con un ritmo logradísimo.
Monjas y Soldados es una historia sobre el amor, el duelo, la culpa o la inagotable búsqueda de la felicidad apoyándose casi siempre en personajes (todos maravillosos a su modo) que van y vienen fortaleciendo la esencia teatral que mencionaba al arrancar la reseña. Si bien la narración delega casi su totalidad a los diálogos y los pensamientos de los personajes, los breves espacios en los que Murdoch se permite dejar su huella sin esconderla en los otros son un tesoro.
La longitud de la novela permite a Murdoch no solo profundizar en la psicología de cada uno de sus muchos personajes, sino también en las relaciones que se entretejen y deshacen a lo largo de las seiscientas páginas. Y no, no le sobra ni una.
En el transcurso de la novela se recurre a una cita de Blaise Pascal que dice que “el corazón tiene razones que la razón no entiende”. Creo que la gran virtud de Murdoch reside en el profundo entendimiento de esa maravillosa frase.
Esta novela arranca con un aristócrata moribundo que le pide a su fiel esposa que sea feliz cuando él no esté mientras su círculo social burgués debate sobre cómo apoyarla en esos momentos difíciles. Con esa premisa Murdoch extiende una trama repleta de sorpresas, ingenio y una pizca de dulce maldad; todo con un ritmo logradísimo.
Monjas y Soldados es una historia sobre el amor, el duelo, la culpa o la inagotable búsqueda de la felicidad apoyándose casi siempre en personajes (todos maravillosos a su modo) que van y vienen fortaleciendo la esencia teatral que mencionaba al arrancar la reseña. Si bien la narración delega casi su totalidad a los diálogos y los pensamientos de los personajes, los breves espacios en los que Murdoch se permite dejar su huella sin esconderla en los otros son un tesoro.
La longitud de la novela permite a Murdoch no solo profundizar en la psicología de cada uno de sus muchos personajes, sino también en las relaciones que se entretejen y deshacen a lo largo de las seiscientas páginas. Y no, no le sobra ni una.
En el transcurso de la novela se recurre a una cita de Blaise Pascal que dice que “el corazón tiene razones que la razón no entiende”. Creo que la gran virtud de Murdoch reside en el profundo entendimiento de esa maravillosa frase.
April 3, 2020
The most lit-up, stunned - as in hit with a hammer - account of falling in love I've ever come across. Also at least one hella sexy Harlequin hero, set down in the middle of a cerebral English novel and buffeted about by a bunch of boho English eccentrics. Passionate spiritual experience, hopeless love, intellectual middle-aged women on the rampage.
Not actually my favourite Murdoch - that would be A Word Child. But ruddy close.
Not actually my favourite Murdoch - that would be A Word Child. But ruddy close.
June 30, 2019
4.5 stars
After a slew of novels featuring male narrators or central characters, the majority of which range from mildly irritating to thoroughly dislikable, it was a welcome change to read an Iris Murdoch novel where two of the central characters are female and aren’t objectionable. In fact there are few truly dislikable characters in the novel and you wonder whether, after The Sea, The Sea and Charles Arrowby that Murdoch wanted to give us a break from the obnoxious.
Nuns and Soldiers revolves around Gertrude, who loses her husband Guy in the first chapter of the book, The Count or Peter, son of Polish immigrants and another of Iris Murdoch’s, slim, tall, pale eyed and colorless haired men, Tim a poverty stricken painter and Anne, an ex-nun and as the novel progresses we are privy to their thoughts and experiences throughout the year after Guy’s death. There are a group of other satellite characters who flit in and out and help propel the action, the aunts and cousins as Guy called them, some of whom are family and some simply good friends but the bulk of the novel revolves around these four characters.
Too much detail would spoil the book but it’s safe to say that love requited, and otherwise, plays a large part in the story as does much soul searching about the past, friendship, spirituality, art and how others see us. Much of the novel takes place in a cottage in the South of France and the descriptions of the scenery and of nature are beautiful as they are in a short chapter in Cumbria. The rest of the novel is based in various flats, studios and pubs in London, with the British Museum making one of its frequent appearances. I always appreciate Murdoch’s descriptions of the flats and of the fashion of the time and felt entirely nostalgic when reading about the Count listening to The Archers and Women’s Hour on BBC Radio four, both of which, nearly forty years later, are still on the air.
With the women playing a much larger part we not only get their perspective but we get to see a female friendship between Anne and Gertrude, something I don’t think has really appeared in one of Murdoch’s previous novels. Gertrude and Anne seem so dissimilar in many ways with Anne keeping her feelings suppressed while Gertrude spills over with emotion and can be irritating in her desire to love and be loved by everyone, yet both are ultimately looking for a refuge. Daisy is another female character who makes a strong impression and I appreciated the portraits of her and Tim’s family and background while their arguments, although frustrating, are often amusing. Daisy seems very much her own women and hides any fragility or hurt behind this prickly shell which includes some wonderful outfits and makeup techniques.
The passion of Daisy and of other characters in the novel contrasts with the repressed feelings of others such as The Count who feels such guilt about his Polish background and dreams of Warsaw in war time. The Count is the soldier of the title and has the bearing and sense of honor of a military man yet there the comparison ends and his emotions are as fragile as any of the others who more openly reveal them. In this respect he and Anne are similar and in her role as ex-nun she is the confessor and support to the others around her while at the same time spending her time thinking about her spiritual life or lack of. Tim and Gertrude are far more childlike than these two with their emotions on the surface but both are appealing even in their upsets and mistakes and the beginning of the book where Gertrude is losing Guy is heart breaking as she vocalizes what I think many of us would feel on the loss of a partner.
It is because of Tim and Gertrude that despite the death at the beginning of the novel and the spiritual content that this feels a lighter novel than some of Murdoch’s others. There are some wonderful group scenes where the dialogue flies and the gossip flows and there is humor in how relationships form and come together. There is angst and depression and tortured souls but by the end of the novel most characters have resolved something in their lives and the ending feels satisfying after all that has come before. Nuns and Soldiers is a long book but I was always engaged and so another successful read for me in this Iris Murdoch journey.
Some Favorite Lines
‘Earlier Tim would have married Daisy had it not been for her surprisingly ferocious hostility to the institution of marriage, which she compared with “homes and gardens and hoovering the wall-to-wall carpet and generally becoming dead.” She had a special resentment against idle women who married so as not to work, and lived lives of bourgeois selfishness. The ‘haves’ with their bloody husbands and their kiddies and their houses full of furniture!’
‘His eyes were azure, not a pale snake-blue like the Count’s but the full glowing blue of a summer sky. He could perhaps have been diagnosed as Irish by a compatriot because of a certain quirkiness about his mouth and a quick nervous vagueness about the eyes. (There is a fierce hard Irish face, and a soft gentle one, and Tim had the latter.)’
‘It was a sunny morning. London was hot and dusty, full of tired smells, perhaps the smells of Londoner’s dreams of the countryside.’
‘She recalled Guy’s saying once, we have individual virtues but general vices. No one is good all through, in all relations, for all purposes. As virtuous agents we specialize, we have to, because vice is natural and virtue is not.’
‘The Count felt a little chagrin. He did not feel, as his compatriots were sometimes said to feel, that really ‘everyone is more or less of Polish origin’. But he did feel that every intelligent person must be interested in Poland’
‘At least she knew that she must now seek solitude, innocence and the silence of being totally uninteresting.’
After a slew of novels featuring male narrators or central characters, the majority of which range from mildly irritating to thoroughly dislikable, it was a welcome change to read an Iris Murdoch novel where two of the central characters are female and aren’t objectionable. In fact there are few truly dislikable characters in the novel and you wonder whether, after The Sea, The Sea and Charles Arrowby that Murdoch wanted to give us a break from the obnoxious.
Nuns and Soldiers revolves around Gertrude, who loses her husband Guy in the first chapter of the book, The Count or Peter, son of Polish immigrants and another of Iris Murdoch’s, slim, tall, pale eyed and colorless haired men, Tim a poverty stricken painter and Anne, an ex-nun and as the novel progresses we are privy to their thoughts and experiences throughout the year after Guy’s death. There are a group of other satellite characters who flit in and out and help propel the action, the aunts and cousins as Guy called them, some of whom are family and some simply good friends but the bulk of the novel revolves around these four characters.
Too much detail would spoil the book but it’s safe to say that love requited, and otherwise, plays a large part in the story as does much soul searching about the past, friendship, spirituality, art and how others see us. Much of the novel takes place in a cottage in the South of France and the descriptions of the scenery and of nature are beautiful as they are in a short chapter in Cumbria. The rest of the novel is based in various flats, studios and pubs in London, with the British Museum making one of its frequent appearances. I always appreciate Murdoch’s descriptions of the flats and of the fashion of the time and felt entirely nostalgic when reading about the Count listening to The Archers and Women’s Hour on BBC Radio four, both of which, nearly forty years later, are still on the air.
With the women playing a much larger part we not only get their perspective but we get to see a female friendship between Anne and Gertrude, something I don’t think has really appeared in one of Murdoch’s previous novels. Gertrude and Anne seem so dissimilar in many ways with Anne keeping her feelings suppressed while Gertrude spills over with emotion and can be irritating in her desire to love and be loved by everyone, yet both are ultimately looking for a refuge. Daisy is another female character who makes a strong impression and I appreciated the portraits of her and Tim’s family and background while their arguments, although frustrating, are often amusing. Daisy seems very much her own women and hides any fragility or hurt behind this prickly shell which includes some wonderful outfits and makeup techniques.
The passion of Daisy and of other characters in the novel contrasts with the repressed feelings of others such as The Count who feels such guilt about his Polish background and dreams of Warsaw in war time. The Count is the soldier of the title and has the bearing and sense of honor of a military man yet there the comparison ends and his emotions are as fragile as any of the others who more openly reveal them. In this respect he and Anne are similar and in her role as ex-nun she is the confessor and support to the others around her while at the same time spending her time thinking about her spiritual life or lack of. Tim and Gertrude are far more childlike than these two with their emotions on the surface but both are appealing even in their upsets and mistakes and the beginning of the book where Gertrude is losing Guy is heart breaking as she vocalizes what I think many of us would feel on the loss of a partner.
It is because of Tim and Gertrude that despite the death at the beginning of the novel and the spiritual content that this feels a lighter novel than some of Murdoch’s others. There are some wonderful group scenes where the dialogue flies and the gossip flows and there is humor in how relationships form and come together. There is angst and depression and tortured souls but by the end of the novel most characters have resolved something in their lives and the ending feels satisfying after all that has come before. Nuns and Soldiers is a long book but I was always engaged and so another successful read for me in this Iris Murdoch journey.
Some Favorite Lines
‘Earlier Tim would have married Daisy had it not been for her surprisingly ferocious hostility to the institution of marriage, which she compared with “homes and gardens and hoovering the wall-to-wall carpet and generally becoming dead.” She had a special resentment against idle women who married so as not to work, and lived lives of bourgeois selfishness. The ‘haves’ with their bloody husbands and their kiddies and their houses full of furniture!’
‘His eyes were azure, not a pale snake-blue like the Count’s but the full glowing blue of a summer sky. He could perhaps have been diagnosed as Irish by a compatriot because of a certain quirkiness about his mouth and a quick nervous vagueness about the eyes. (There is a fierce hard Irish face, and a soft gentle one, and Tim had the latter.)’
‘It was a sunny morning. London was hot and dusty, full of tired smells, perhaps the smells of Londoner’s dreams of the countryside.’
‘She recalled Guy’s saying once, we have individual virtues but general vices. No one is good all through, in all relations, for all purposes. As virtuous agents we specialize, we have to, because vice is natural and virtue is not.’
‘The Count felt a little chagrin. He did not feel, as his compatriots were sometimes said to feel, that really ‘everyone is more or less of Polish origin’. But he did feel that every intelligent person must be interested in Poland’
‘At least she knew that she must now seek solitude, innocence and the silence of being totally uninteresting.’
September 5, 2016
I don’t know how many times I’ve read this because my paperback copy (1982) has fallen apart, it’s just a pile of loose pages. Iris Murdoch’s novels are like Bach’s fugues, no matter how many times they’re read or played there’s always something new. I started this one again in the middle of the recent edition of Murdoch’s letters, meaning with yet another light on it, because it exasperated a good many ‘critics’ who made it their business to infer from it usually unflattering and – as it turns out - inaccurate interpretations of the authoress. It’s true that Nuns and Soldiers is a puzzling novel and, read literally, lends itself to ridicule. The nun, Anne Cavidge, is a genteelly hysterical nut-case who seems to go in for extreme gestures without any idea of why and in one episode receives a thrilling visit, in her kitchen, from no less a personage than Jesus. Escaped from her convent she latches on to her old pal Gertrude Openshaw, a complacently well-off woman who goes in for clothes in various shades of patterned mustard and mud to which she adds the odd floating Indian scarf in violent blue. While Gertrude kindly corrects Anne’s mousier dress sense they go on like a pair of fearfully earnest schoolgirls congratulating themselves on their own superior cleverness, flicking through Greek grammars, pretending to learn Urdu and engaging in (or vaguely talking about) desultory amateur ‘social work’. Gertrude’s husband, Guy, has been an official in the Home Office where his evidently very meagre duties leave him plenty of time to think about writing some profound work of his own (he’s a frankly incredible paragon of knowledge and sagacity and the last person therefore the British Public Service by that time would dream of employing). He didn’t get around to anything, probably because being indolent and possibly not really very bright he never would have but also because early in the story he dies a remarkably stoical and dignified death, granting his wife the blessing of urging her to marry someone else and “be happy”. A wispy and melancholy stray Pole (the ‘soldier’) nervously and un-optimistically contemplates the prospect. As a contrast to all that there’s a bunch of Jewish relatives as hard as nails and with ideas that are far from philosophical and a pair of disorderly hand-to-mouth bohemians who scrounge for a living because they have principles against out-and-out theft. It’s hard to stop reading from wondering what on earth Murdoch, a master story-teller, can possibly do with this lot and knowing for sure that she’ll be doing something surprising; it’s a source of interested speculation as to how far her enormous range of characters derive from observations of actual people and if they do where in her academic stronghold did she come across them?
The scene deftly changes to an unnaturally-isolated part of the South of France where Gertrude and the dithery male bohemian (a not very good ‘artist’, needless to say) promptly though with much discussion and soul-searching (“intense careful colloquy….vast metaphysical doubts assailed them”, etc) ‘fall in love’ while he wonders what he’ll do when his girl-friend, a belligerent feminist, turns up, as she’s supposed to any day (she hates all men but puts up with him because he’s too wet to count as one). The setting is a sinister-sounding rock-strewn landscape and an uncomfortable-sounding converted farm-house: “the sitting-room was large and square with two white-plastered walls where shaggy centipedes sat or scurried about like little bits of mobile carpet …. The furniture was simple, mostly made of cane with copious flowery cushions … One picture hung on the wall, a Munch reproduction of three stranded girls on a bridge”. Dowdy domestic settings with matching wardrobes and awful run-up meals are Murdochian stock-in-trades, and I don’t know whether I’m alone or not in finding this hilarious, partly because I don’t think it’s meant to be; Murdoch seems to have preserved a state of innocent naivety in some matters alongside the formidable intelligence and these lovingly-described settings are simply those of middle-class inter- and post-War austerity when no-one had heard of ‘chic’ and housewives who didn’t run to a bumbling maid and slap-dash cook did as best as they could with what they could find. It seems weirdly out of place by the end of the 1970’s while at the same time the main characters are prototypes of their period – endlessly and uselessly ruminating on their own and the world’s moral problems, drifting about in a daze of respectable alcohol-fuelled guilt-ridden flower-strewn joy and radiance while remaining totally self-centred and lying their heads off to each other, often in language that would have embarrassed even D. H. Lawrence at his worst. But all this allows plenty of pegs for Murdoch to hang on her customary very serious musings on the real problem, how to manage what she calls the contingencies of life, most of which is made up of accidents which can only be made artificial sense of by ‘philosophy’ ("Our being spreads out far beyond us and mingles with the beings of others ... we live in other people's thoughts, in their plans, in their dreams, this is where there were God ...") and her very firm grasp on these things is clear from her handling of Daisy, Gertrude’s rapidly-new husband’s former ‘girl-friend’, and Mrs Mount, a 'poor' relation with a very astute eye who unfortunately has no more than a minor walk-on part, the only characters who seems substantially ‘real’ rather than allegorical. If she ever invited half-indignant parody it’s here, but that’s cheap, it’s necessary to read not between the lines but underneath them where she really shines forth, especially in the later part of what was earlier a farce; the blend as always is irresistible as the story convolutes with many twists and trials by ordeal towards some sort of conclusion which only half-satisfies anyone but temporarily shuts them up as they lurch off into further obscurities. It’s not perhaps her best novel but that’s still saying a good deal when she was incapable of writing a bad one.
December 12, 2020
Another well written, interesting, entertaining, satisfying Iris Murdoch novel. Gertrude’s rich husband, Guy Openshaw, dies of cancer. Gertrude and Guy have no children. They have a number of friends, many who visit on a regular weekly basis. An old friend of Gertrude’s arrives, Anne Cavidge. Anne had been a nun. Gertrude is surrounded with love. The Count, a Polish exile was a good friend of Guy’s. The Count has always been in love with Gertrude. Tim Reede, a hanger-on of the Openshaws, is a painter and had been occasionally financially supported by Guy. After Guy’s death we learn more about the main characters and how their relationships with each other change.
Another enjoyable Iris Murdoch reading experience. This is my eleventh Murdoch novel. My favourites being ‘The Black Prince’, ‘The Bell’, and ‘The Sea, the Sea.’
Another enjoyable Iris Murdoch reading experience. This is my eleventh Murdoch novel. My favourites being ‘The Black Prince’, ‘The Bell’, and ‘The Sea, the Sea.’
March 1, 2022
2.5* rounded up, mainly because all dialogue Murdoch wrotes is brilliant. But this is not her strongest work...
January 6, 2009
I find Iris Murdoch novels as hard to keep separated in my head as Bond movies. Usually, though, there is at least one memorable incident which I clearly associate with the book.
Here, the scene I remember involves Gertrude and the odd, slightly geeky character that everyone calls the Count. Gertrude asks him whether he'd like to play chess. She's a complete beginner. He's very good, though she isn't aware of this. She's surprised when he refuses. "Why not?" she asks. He says, "Because it would be a completely different game for me."
And at that moment, Gertrude suddenly feels very close to him...
****************************************************
I cheated and looked at the Wikipedia entry to get some more clues as to which book this was. Okay, it was the one where the ex-nun has the very strange encounter with Jesus. That's also a great scene. I should say, in case you're wondering, that I love both Iris Murdoch and Bond. I just wish I had a better memory.
June 6, 2012
I first read this novel when I was in art school from the pov of a young budding artist. I am now enjoying it from an entirely different pov as an accomplished artist faced by the pains and struggle of social etiquette. Iris Murdoch is a relationship writer, sort of like Jane Austen, but British, semi-modern, I would also compare her human insights on feminine issues to those of Erica Jong, albeit more tame, almost in spite of her British modality. I really enjoy the picaresque descriptive writing.
With Murdoch's masterful emotional twists and turns among her rational wrestling of the social disorder in the circles of Ebury Street, and the ever watching conscience of a guy named Guy, who is no longer with us, two women wrestle with the soul of love, the divine desire of "what women want" before Mel Gibson ever thought about it. The artist struggle is the spectacle from which all characters in the book eventually draw their resolve and criticisms. The marriage of passion and reason, a most unlikely choice, yet nevertheless shows us that love always beats the demon, whatever demon that was.. and Murdoch's subtle sense of time and humour are fulfilling.
I was then who I am now.. nothing changes much, although it never stays the same.
However, then I was an artist in art school seeing things from the perspective of a starving artist. nowadays I see it more through the eyes of the others in the artist's way. ie. seeing life as an artist through the eyes of the social elite as seen through the life of the artist. Both the relationship with Daisy and the affair with Gertrude, both are lives that I have lived since the first time I had read this when it came out in 1980. Just out of art school, I was intrigued with older women, because they had a story, now they kind of wear on my conscience and I much prefer the empty whim of a lithe fairy.
The tale speaks both of the burdensome baggage of English social culture and the struggle of the artist to find place and meaning in any community where he/she may find themselves. I now can relate to Daisy as much as to Tim. Creativity knows no gender.. only critics think it so.
With Murdoch's masterful emotional twists and turns among her rational wrestling of the social disorder in the circles of Ebury Street, and the ever watching conscience of a guy named Guy, who is no longer with us, two women wrestle with the soul of love, the divine desire of "what women want" before Mel Gibson ever thought about it. The artist struggle is the spectacle from which all characters in the book eventually draw their resolve and criticisms. The marriage of passion and reason, a most unlikely choice, yet nevertheless shows us that love always beats the demon, whatever demon that was.. and Murdoch's subtle sense of time and humour are fulfilling.
I was then who I am now.. nothing changes much, although it never stays the same.
However, then I was an artist in art school seeing things from the perspective of a starving artist. nowadays I see it more through the eyes of the others in the artist's way. ie. seeing life as an artist through the eyes of the social elite as seen through the life of the artist. Both the relationship with Daisy and the affair with Gertrude, both are lives that I have lived since the first time I had read this when it came out in 1980. Just out of art school, I was intrigued with older women, because they had a story, now they kind of wear on my conscience and I much prefer the empty whim of a lithe fairy.
The tale speaks both of the burdensome baggage of English social culture and the struggle of the artist to find place and meaning in any community where he/she may find themselves. I now can relate to Daisy as much as to Tim. Creativity knows no gender.. only critics think it so.
October 16, 2020
Amo una buena historia sin drama verdadero, burguesa hasta la médula, con cierta belleza irreverente al desocuparse de las preocupaciones. Una novela de amor, de enredo, de melodrama. Una novela con una monja a la que visita el diablo y un polaco incapaz de pelear en la guerra.
Flores en la mesa de centro. La delicada belleza de la viudez, de la ternura. La amistad, y la ceguera de la amistad, y la distancia de la soledad de quienes buscan senderos y no pueden cruzar a la vera que les gustaría habitar.
¡Ah! Quién pudiera encontrar las palabras verdadera. Pero quiero terminar de reseñar los pendientes, no solo estrellas.
Hay belleza en Murdoch. Quiero leerla más. Sé que me esperan buenos días a su lado.
Flores en la mesa de centro. La delicada belleza de la viudez, de la ternura. La amistad, y la ceguera de la amistad, y la distancia de la soledad de quienes buscan senderos y no pueden cruzar a la vera que les gustaría habitar.
¡Ah! Quién pudiera encontrar las palabras verdadera. Pero quiero terminar de reseñar los pendientes, no solo estrellas.
Hay belleza en Murdoch. Quiero leerla más. Sé que me esperan buenos días a su lado.
July 2, 2021
For me, dealing with two losses in my family within a span of four days, the right book at the right time — I even pulled out a passage to read at my father's funeral. Vital meditations on mortality, grieving, love, friendship, and man's place in nature. Absorbing and frequently funny. Prime Murdoch, if I can make such a judgment after reading only four of her novels so far.
September 29, 2020
Much better than her previous book “The Sea The Sea”. However, I’m finding these longer novels of Murdoch a bit circular, with repeating patterns within the story that seem redundant rather than revelatory.
I like the main characters; the secondary seemed more like props, not fully realized.
I like the main characters; the secondary seemed more like props, not fully realized.
August 1, 2014
Iris is one author I wish were still alive and writing. Fantastic Author and books.
February 12, 2007
I love Iris Murdoch. I am working my way through her entire catalog.
A novel of two women: Gertrude Openshaw, bereft from the recent death of her husband, yet awakening to passion; and Anne Cavidge, who has returned in doubt from many years in a nunnery, only to encounter her personal Christ. A fascinating array of men and women hover in urgent orbit around them: the "Count," a lonely Pole obsessively reliving his émigré father's patriotic anguish; Tim Reede, a seedy yet appealing artist, and Daisy, his mistress; the manipulative Mrs. Mount; and many other magically drawn characters moving between desire and obligation, guilt and joy.
A novel of two women: Gertrude Openshaw, bereft from the recent death of her husband, yet awakening to passion; and Anne Cavidge, who has returned in doubt from many years in a nunnery, only to encounter her personal Christ. A fascinating array of men and women hover in urgent orbit around them: the "Count," a lonely Pole obsessively reliving his émigré father's patriotic anguish; Tim Reede, a seedy yet appealing artist, and Daisy, his mistress; the manipulative Mrs. Mount; and many other magically drawn characters moving between desire and obligation, guilt and joy.
May 5, 2012
I once characterized the typical Iris Murdoch plot as A loves B, who is involved with C, who wants to give his/her life to a Great Ideal.
Well, that's symplistic, of course. But I love Murdoch nonetheless, even though reading all her novels in the space of a summer of romance (I being in love with A, who loved B, and so on) I did find myself making bets with myself as to which page the black dog would appear upon, and where the stones would figure. She's unique. You will love her or you will be wholly.. "what???" about her.
Well, that's symplistic, of course. But I love Murdoch nonetheless, even though reading all her novels in the space of a summer of romance (I being in love with A, who loved B, and so on) I did find myself making bets with myself as to which page the black dog would appear upon, and where the stones would figure. She's unique. You will love her or you will be wholly.. "what???" about her.
May 21, 2008
The reviews on the bookjacket said this novel was about deceptions- deliberate and unconscious, inward and outward, but I felt it was more about the very different impulses that motivate people, paradoxically and overlapping, and an exploration of how four fundementally decent people attempt to navigate and make sense of the mysterious, inexplicable things that motivate them. And Iris Murdoch writes some exceptional sentences.
May 19, 2021
«Todos somos jueces y reos, víctimas de la malicia despreocupada y de la fantasía de los otros y, por nuestra parte, agentes propensos a la fantasía y la malicia. Y si a veces se nos acusa de pecados de los que somos inocentes, ¿no hay también otros pecados de los que somos culpables y que el mundo desconoce?»
January 3, 2021
My new favorite novelist...
April 29, 2023
Ah, the feminine urge on a saturday night de meterse a monja.
January 19, 2024
4 stars
Wow. That was quite the ride. A Nee York Times reviewer called this “a harlequin for highbrows” and I am taking offense on behalf of Iris Murdoch for that. Yes I had to make a flow chart to keep track of who fell in love with who, but the questions and realities she presents to us within these relationships are so much more.
Wow. That was quite the ride. A Nee York Times reviewer called this “a harlequin for highbrows” and I am taking offense on behalf of Iris Murdoch for that. Yes I had to make a flow chart to keep track of who fell in love with who, but the questions and realities she presents to us within these relationships are so much more.
May 24, 2024
I guess there comes a time when you stumble upon a book of your favorite author which seems horrible to you. I cannot believe Iris created characters like the ones in the novel, except for Guy & the Count. The others, as well as their relations, are abominable.
April 22, 2011
When I finally reached the end of Nuns and Soldiers, all I felt was relief. I took quite a bit of time to make it to the end, 6 weeks. The book is very much Iris Murdoch, examining the philosophy of life, love, religion.
The story's central figure, Gertrude went through her own personal turmoil, falling in love with a being who was considered to be morally and socially inferior after the passing of her husband. The web of lies spun, deceits thrown and emotional upheavals of the characters around Gertrude when the relationship was disclosed were well-doctored. The author's crafting of the brewing emotions was not lost on me but somehow, this book, did not get to me like the Sea, the Sea. The central theme which I gathered is jealousy. Ann was jealous of the Count's lifelong pledge to Gertrude, the Count's own descent into the hell of jealousy upon the discovery of Gertrude's affair... The story did drag out a bit and was tiresome. Oddly, I feel no sympathy to any of the characters and their sufferings. They had willingly placed themselves under the lock and chain of their personal prison.
Overall, this book is dependable if you are a fan of Iris Murdoch which I am...
The story's central figure, Gertrude went through her own personal turmoil, falling in love with a being who was considered to be morally and socially inferior after the passing of her husband. The web of lies spun, deceits thrown and emotional upheavals of the characters around Gertrude when the relationship was disclosed were well-doctored. The author's crafting of the brewing emotions was not lost on me but somehow, this book, did not get to me like the Sea, the Sea. The central theme which I gathered is jealousy. Ann was jealous of the Count's lifelong pledge to Gertrude, the Count's own descent into the hell of jealousy upon the discovery of Gertrude's affair... The story did drag out a bit and was tiresome. Oddly, I feel no sympathy to any of the characters and their sufferings. They had willingly placed themselves under the lock and chain of their personal prison.
Overall, this book is dependable if you are a fan of Iris Murdoch which I am...
July 25, 2017
Солдаты любви
С творчеством Айрис Мердок знакома не понаслышке, более того, отношу ее к разряду моих любимых, если не самых любимых, авторов. Если честно, я заметила, что я неохотно принимаюсь читать очередную ее книгу, но вовсе не по той причине, что вы наверняка подумали. Просто мне неимоверно нравится работы Айрис Мердок и первое время я читала их взахлеб, практически одну за другой, пока не наступил тот роковой момент, когда "нетронутых" осталась самая малость. Теперь же я оттягиваю удовольствие и с ужасом думаю о том моменте, когда в этом списке больше не останется ни одной нечитанной книги. При чем стоит отметить, что несмотря на внушительное количество написаных работ, все ее книги между собой не похожи друг на друга. Единственное, что их несомненно объединяет, подчеркивая стиль писательницы, так это тонкая психологическая игра, которую ведет с нами Айрис. Нет, это вовсе не триллер какой-то или новомодный детектив с закрученным сюжетом, но вниз есть что-то от домашнего уюта, где детально прорисовываются герои и их проблемы. С одной стороны, все предельно знакомо и, казалось бы, ничего подобного, ведь мы сталкиваемся с такими сюжетами чуть ли не каждый день в нашей повседневной жизни. С другой стороны, все это так умело и мастерски написано, что даже заведомо предсказуемые сюжеты нельзя назвать скучными - ты с упоением продолжаешь следить за каждым поворотом событий и...и... просто наслаждаешься хорошим языком. Нет, честно, вы знаете, в виду массового захвата книжного рынка всеми этими новомодными романами и бестселлерами, я стала все чаще замечать за собой, что мне катастрофически не хватает нормального литературного языка, со всеми его эпитетами, метафорами, сложными оборотами речи и как минимум "объемностью". Так вот, Мердок как раз идеальный, в этом плане, для меня автор, так как ее стиль все же не столь высокопарный, как у того же Набокова (которого я тоже очень люблю, как раз именно за высокий стиль) и Пруста, но при этом все же не примитивен. Но, давайте покончим с моим вступительным словом и перейдем наконец к самому сюжету книги.
Перед нами история нескольких человек, ясно связанных между собой по какой-то причуде природы, которым и такая близость в тягость, но при этом расстаться они не в силах - невидимые нити держат мертвой хваткой.
Роман начинается тем, что Айрис нам рассказывает о Гае, всеобщего любимца и человека несомненно заслуживающего уважения, но судьба, как правило бывает крайне несправедлива к таким людям, поэтому неудивительно, что Гаю суждено вскоре умереть, при чем об этом знают все, но все же не могут смириться с подобной несправедливостью. Жена Гая, Гертруда, тяжелей всех переживает болезнь супруга, так как искренне любит его и не представляет своей жизни без него. Как говорит сама героиня, когда Гай просит ее постараться оставаться счастливой после его смерти и повторно выйти замуж: "Гай, я не могу. Я тоже умру… буду ходить, разговаривать, но буду мертва… "
Однако, как мы знаем, ничто не вечно, а слезные клятвы практически все со временем блекнут и забываются. "Как быстро прошлое способно потерять власть над человеком и что это за власть? что значит считать недели, месяцы, какую роль тут играет время?" Гай все же умирает, но сможет ли Гертруда придерживаться своего слова и как долго она, подобно прекрасной Елене из Одиссеи, сможет оказывать сопротивление осаждающим ее дом женихам?!
Есть в романе так же не менее интересный персонаж, подруга юношества Гертруды, которая в свое время решила покинуть сий бренный мир, погрязший в грехах, и уйти в монахини, посвятив свою жизнь служению Богу. Тем не менее, как это случается (как мы имели возможность наблюдать в книге другого английского автора, Бойна, в его книге "Истрия одиночества"), вскоре она разочаровывается в своем решение и решает покинуть монастырь. В отличие от убеждений многих ее знакомых, Анна не утратила веры и продолжает искать своего Бога, более того, он даже является ей во снах, чтобы укрепить ее дух и любовь к нему, но теперь она понимает, что решение отказаться от мирских желаний было несколько поспешным, ибо ей, как и всем простым смертным, хочется любви и крепкого плеча рядом. До чего же мучительно наблюдать, когда мужчина твоей мечты влюблен в твою лучшую подругу и каждый раз приходит изливать свою душу тебе, не видя в тебе никого больше, кроме монашки, пусть и бывшей, и считает, что может доверить тебе свои горести. Более того, с каким-то изощренным мазохизмом ты еще и бросаешься ему помогать и "налаживаешь" его личную жизнь.
Не менее интересно раскрыт образ юного и, как положено, бедного художника, Тима, который является дальнем родственником Гая. Тим привык жить всегда за чей-то счет, опускаясь до того, что приторговывает еду их холодильника своего состоятельного родственника. Вы спросите, почему он не зарабатывает себе на жизнь своим творчеством? Он пытается, но как-то не особо усердно, его работы посредственны и никто не хочет их покупать, от чего ему приходится "малевать" кошечек, которых так любят англичане. В личной жизни у него тоже не все гладко: его подруга Дейзи — художница, которая, решив завязать с этим, переться писать романы, но и это у нее не очень получается. Собственно, она только и говорит, что пишет, но по сути, дальше разговоров дело не продвигается. Оба очень гордятся тем, что «свободны и не отягчены собственностью», но пагубный образ жизни, который они ведут, связал их по рукам и ногам как художников и как личности и, что они сами понимают, не дает двигаться вперед. Они погрязли в ежедневных проблемах и ссорах о том, как раздобыть деньги. Периодически они сходятся, чтобы вскоре опять расстаться с громким скандалом и взаимными обвинениями. Но вот однажды им приходит в голову гениальный план, как можно разжиться за счет богатенькой, но наивной, вдовушки...
Чем закончится весь этот калейдоскоп человеческих жизней и непростых отношений, думаю, вам лучше узнать самим.
Приятного прочтения!!!
С творчеством Айрис Мердок знакома не понаслышке, более того, отношу ее к разряду моих любимых, если не самых любимых, авторов. Если честно, я заметила, что я неохотно принимаюсь читать очередную ее книгу, но вовсе не по той причине, что вы наверняка подумали. Просто мне неимоверно нравится работы Айрис Мердок и первое время я читала их взахлеб, практически одну за другой, пока не наступил тот роковой момент, когда "нетронутых" осталась самая малость. Теперь же я оттягиваю удовольствие и с ужасом думаю о том моменте, когда в этом списке больше не останется ни одной нечитанной книги. При чем стоит отметить, что несмотря на внушительное количество написаных работ, все ее книги между собой не похожи друг на друга. Единственное, что их несомненно объединяет, подчеркивая стиль писательницы, так это тонкая психологическая игра, которую ведет с нами Айрис. Нет, это вовсе не триллер какой-то или новомодный детектив с закрученным сюжетом, но вниз есть что-то от домашнего уюта, где детально прорисовываются герои и их проблемы. С одной стороны, все предельно знакомо и, казалось бы, ничего подобного, ведь мы сталкиваемся с такими сюжетами чуть ли не каждый день в нашей повседневной жизни. С другой стороны, все это так умело и мастерски написано, что даже заведомо предсказуемые сюжеты нельзя назвать скучными - ты с упоением продолжаешь следить за каждым поворотом событий и...и... просто наслаждаешься хорошим языком. Нет, честно, вы знаете, в виду массового захвата книжного рынка всеми этими новомодными романами и бестселлерами, я стала все чаще замечать за собой, что мне катастрофически не хватает нормального литературного языка, со всеми его эпитетами, метафорами, сложными оборотами речи и как минимум "объемностью". Так вот, Мердок как раз идеальный, в этом плане, для меня автор, так как ее стиль все же не столь высокопарный, как у того же Набокова (которого я тоже очень люблю, как раз именно за высокий стиль) и Пруста, но при этом все же не примитивен. Но, давайте покончим с моим вступительным словом и перейдем наконец к самому сюжету книги.
Перед нами история нескольких человек, ясно связанных между собой по какой-то причуде природы, которым и такая близость в тягость, но при этом расстаться они не в силах - невидимые нити держат мертвой хваткой.
Роман начинается тем, что Айрис нам рассказывает о Гае, всеобщего любимца и человека несомненно заслуживающего уважения, но судьба, как правило бывает крайне несправедлива к таким людям, поэтому неудивительно, что Гаю суждено вскоре умереть, при чем об этом знают все, но все же не могут смириться с подобной несправедливостью. Жена Гая, Гертруда, тяжелей всех переживает болезнь супруга, так как искренне любит его и не представляет своей жизни без него. Как говорит сама героиня, когда Гай просит ее постараться оставаться счастливой после его смерти и повторно выйти замуж: "Гай, я не могу. Я тоже умру… буду ходить, разговаривать, но буду мертва… "
Однако, как мы знаем, ничто не вечно, а слезные клятвы практически все со временем блекнут и забываются. "Как быстро прошлое способно потерять власть над человеком и что это за власть? что значит считать недели, месяцы, какую роль тут играет время?" Гай все же умирает, но сможет ли Гертруда придерживаться своего слова и как долго она, подобно прекрасной Елене из Одиссеи, сможет оказывать сопротивление осаждающим ее дом женихам?!
Есть в романе так же не менее интересный персонаж, подруга юношества Гертруды, которая в свое время решила покинуть сий бренный мир, погрязший в грехах, и уйти в монахини, посвятив свою жизнь служению Богу. Тем не менее, как это случается (как мы имели возможность наблюдать в книге другого английского автора, Бойна, в его книге "Истрия одиночества"), вскоре она разочаровывается в своем решение и решает покинуть монастырь. В отличие от убеждений многих ее знакомых, Анна не утратила веры и продолжает искать своего Бога, более того, он даже является ей во снах, чтобы укрепить ее дух и любовь к нему, но теперь она понимает, что решение отказаться от мирских желаний было несколько поспешным, ибо ей, как и всем простым смертным, хочется любви и крепкого плеча рядом. До чего же мучительно наблюдать, когда мужчина твоей мечты влюблен в твою лучшую подругу и каждый раз приходит изливать свою душу тебе, не видя в тебе никого больше, кроме монашки, пусть и бывшей, и считает, что может доверить тебе свои горести. Более того, с каким-то изощренным мазохизмом ты еще и бросаешься ему помогать и "налаживаешь" его личную жизнь.
Не менее интересно раскрыт образ юного и, как положено, бедного художника, Тима, который является дальнем родственником Гая. Тим привык жить всегда за чей-то счет, опускаясь до того, что приторговывает еду их холодильника своего состоятельного родственника. Вы спросите, почему он не зарабатывает себе на жизнь своим творчеством? Он пытается, но как-то не особо усердно, его работы посредственны и никто не хочет их покупать, от чего ему приходится "малевать" кошечек, которых так любят англичане. В личной жизни у него тоже не все гладко: его подруга Дейзи — художница, которая, решив завязать с этим, переться писать романы, но и это у нее не очень получается. Собственно, она только и говорит, что пишет, но по сути, дальше разговоров дело не продвигается. Оба очень гордятся тем, что «свободны и не отягчены собственностью», но пагубный образ жизни, который они ведут, связал их по рукам и ногам как художников и как личности и, что они сами понимают, не дает двигаться вперед. Они погрязли в ежедневных проблемах и ссорах о том, как раздобыть деньги. Периодически они сходятся, чтобы вскоре опять расстаться с громким скандалом и взаимными обвинениями. Но вот однажды им приходит в голову гениальный план, как можно разжиться за счет богатенькой, но наивной, вдовушки...
Чем закончится весь этот калейдоскоп человеческих жизней и непростых отношений, думаю, вам лучше узнать самим.
Приятного прочтения!!!
April 2, 2018
4 stars?
4 1/2 stars?
5 stars?
Somewhere in there.
This book is one long heartbreak. It dives deep into the feelings and emotions of the main characters, pages and pages at a time. And for me, those feelings and emotions were all too real. Often I found myself questioning whether Iris Murdoch had actually had the experiences she illustrated, because otherwise it would take either magic or a very close study of someone(s) going through such painful yearnings, regrets, and loneliness to see, understand, and capture them. In that way, despite some of its quite tolerable flaws, this book is a masterpiece.
“Gertrude wanted him to do the impossible, to accept her marriage to (???) and to go on loving her all the same.
He struggled, or rather he did not struggle, he lived, with black demons of jealousy and resentment and remorse...”
4 1/2 stars?
5 stars?
Somewhere in there.
This book is one long heartbreak. It dives deep into the feelings and emotions of the main characters, pages and pages at a time. And for me, those feelings and emotions were all too real. Often I found myself questioning whether Iris Murdoch had actually had the experiences she illustrated, because otherwise it would take either magic or a very close study of someone(s) going through such painful yearnings, regrets, and loneliness to see, understand, and capture them. In that way, despite some of its quite tolerable flaws, this book is a masterpiece.
“Gertrude wanted him to do the impossible, to accept her marriage to (???) and to go on loving her all the same.
He struggled, or rather he did not struggle, he lived, with black demons of jealousy and resentment and remorse...”
May 7, 2021
Otra gran novela de la escritora irlandesa. Yo considero que esta novela es de las más redondas de Murdoch, su trama roza la perfección; sus personajes, como siempre, son muy interesantes, complejos y muy bien perfilados en el aspecto psicológico. La novela trata sobre el amor y el odio, sobre el amor disparatado como refugio contra la muerte. Reflexiona muy acertadamente sobre el duelo y la supervivencia. Tiene toques de humor surrealista como casi todas sus novelas. Muy recomendable, mucho. Sin duda, Iris Murdoch es de los/as mejores escritores/as del siglo veinte.
June 6, 2014
Early on in Nuns and Soldiers, one character reminds another that it is their duty to resist despair. I actually was taken aback at that. Of all the reasons to resist despair somehow duty had never presented itself to me. And I'll tell you: it sounded good. There is something so appealing about that kind of simple moral authority. Unfortunately for our ability to gain consolation, but fortunately, I guess, for the quality of the novel, things don't remain so simple.
November 2, 2009
Like another reviewer said, it is easy for Murdoch's books to blend together. I was thinking about it last night--a Murdoch novel is a thinking person's melodrama. But the melodrama can start to wear on one after reading a lot of her books. I still think that everyone should give her books a try--I loved them all the first time I read them 20 years ago. Perhaps I have just overdosed?
March 11, 2019
They say ‘never judge a book my its cover’, and this one was pretty awful! But, wow! What a fantastic book - totally indulged myself and switched off from the real world. Beautifully written and with likeable, but flawed, characters all trying to make sense of love. What a delicious novel! Can you tell I liked it??!!
August 21, 2021
This is perhaps my favourite Murdoch; the Count is one of her best realised characters, and I love to hate Gertrude and Tim.
March 24, 2024
This is a much more accessible read than the previous Murdoch novels I have attempted, but the dialogue is often syrupy and dainty. Too often, all the "my darlings" and "my dears" and protestations of love everlasting are a reminder that real people don't talk the way Murdoch's characters do. Perhaps the upper echelons of British society ARE this insincere and given to self-absorption, but there never seems to be a character in a Murdoch novel who is confident and comfortable in his or her own skin. Gertrude Openshaw is absolutely the princess her friend Anne Cavidge deems her to be, and in the end is perfectly matched with the feckless, rudderless Tim Reede. The Count is a caricature and martyr, as is Anne Cavidge, and both suffer from a sense of honor the others of their class don't seem to possess. All in all, these rich, educated gossips and manipulators seem little different than the less fortunate they disdain, and perhaps that is Murdoch's point. None of us are who we think we are, and certainly not what others think. We all muddle on in a land of illusion and delusion, passing each other, as they say, like ships in the night.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews